It's not necessarily the number of followers as much as how engaged that audience is. Micro-influencers have specific niche audiences and are highly engaged with them.

High interaction with following.

What makes a micro-influencer more approachable and relatable? Engagement on social media and other platforms. Specifically, high frequency of likes and comments with followers build trust.

To be clear, high frequency of engagement also encompasses quality responses too. Not a generic spammy response like a smiley emoticon or one-word response.

Authentic engagement.

Also, one could argue that trolls and haters can have a lot of "engagement" based on their comments. Yet, trolls and haters don't always have a highly engaged following.

Genuine and meaningful interaction with the audience impacts a micro-influencer’s commercial viability. At the end of the day, brands and marketers value the engagement between (micro and macro) influencers and their audiences.

What other success factors?

Different social media platforms have different algorithms. And they always seem to be changing too. Here’s what holds true today across various platforms:

• Provide authentic and engaging story-telling around the brand
• Give the good (and bad!) review of the product/service
• Ensure promoted product/service is relevant to entire niche
• Be consistent in posts + quality engagement
• Use a mix of relevant hashtags
• Don’t constantly promote a brand
• Be upfront with disclaimer when promoting

Let's use the example of pet micro-influencers.

Say you got a cute dog. Why not share the love and adorableness with others?

Currently, I manage an IG account for a pet micro-influencer with 100 followers.

Yep, only 100 followers and a ton of DMs + comments from pet stores + dog clothing companies for sponsorship.

100 loyal followers is all it takes sometimes!

When companies see there is potential and the user is already applying digital marketing strategies from the start, they are more likely to reach out.