Brands That Work With Micro Influencers

Micro-influencers are everyday individuals who show an unmatching passion for certain niches and industries.

Smaller influencers proactively create communities based on their voices, personal preferences, and unique opinions.

Although micro-influencers lack the millions of followers of larger influencers, they can still create a big impact on younger generations through their points of view.

The global influencer marketing market size has doubled from 2019 to 2023 .

According to a study by Statista, the influencer marketing market will reach a record 21.1 billion USD , which directly shows us the immense potential of influencer marketing campaigns.

Today, we are going to check out widely known top brands that work with micro-influencers and have experienced huge success in their strategies.

Brands That Work With Micro-Influencers: 11 Notable Mentions

Many brands collaborate with notable celebrities and mega influencers for obvious reasons: influencer partnerships with big personalities can reach thousands of potential customers and social media accounts within a short period of time.

However, other brands opt for creating a marketing strategy focused on harvesting the potential of micro-influencers.

The following 11 brands work side-by-side with small and micro-influencers who are on their way to increasing their engaged audience - let’s check out how it has worked for them so far.

1. ASOS

Brand Overview: ASOS

Industry: Fashion

Social Media Platforms: Instagram and Tiktok

ASOS is a widely known fashion brand based in the United Kingdom.

Like many other fashion brands, ASOS decided to work with influencers who can directly reach their niche audience.

This led to the creation of the ASOS Insider Program, a system designed to create sponsored profiles from scratch and help influencers grow from nano to micro and so on.

Influencer programs often create a predetermined style for influencers to showcase the brand values.

For example, this small influencer promotes ASOS content on TikTok. ASOS is responsible for sending them the brand’s clothes, and she does the rest.

Other nano Instagram influencers (such as this Instagrammer) create authentic content to increase brand recognition at a transparent level.

However, perhaps the most interesting part of ASOS’ influencer marketing campaign is the creation of ASOS-related profiles.

These Instagram and TikTok accounts had direct participation in the influencer program, and the objective was to showcase ASOS’ products organically.

Key Takeaways:

The ASOS Insider Program standardizes the way in which small influencers communicate the brand’s value on their social media accounts.
The creation of Instagram and TikTok accounts with ASOS-related usernames works to organically showcase the brand to the potential target market.

2. Coca Cola

Brand Overview: Coca-Cola

Industry : Beverages.

Social Media Platforms: Instagram, TikTok & YouTube

Coca-Cola is a brand that needs no introduction. Although Coca-Cola has been sponsored by massive and traditional celebrities over the decades, they have also opted to include micro-influencers in its marketing efforts.

#ShareTheMagic was the first Coca-Cola TikTok campaign, focused on using branded hashtags through sponsored posts.

Campaign #ShareTheMagic achieved over 11.9 billion views on TikTok , and by being combined with the Coca-Cola Brand Ambassadors Program, the brand was capable of expanding into further markets by collaborating with massive personalities.

Personalities can find brands that support them on their journey. For example, the That’s Gold campaign collaborated with the Olympic Swimmer , Nathan Adrian (brand ambassador), whose social media profiles weren’t as big back then, and he gradually earned a massive following over the years.

But that’s not everything - Coca-Cola has collaborated with micro-influencers in the European travel niche that have integrated the famous beverage into their personal brand.

A good example is Yannick Merckx ( 42k followers ), a micro-influencer and travel blogger who has integrated the Coca-Cola brand into his social media posts through paid collaborations.

Key Takeaways:

Coca-Cola’s marketing team collaborates with massive, small, and medium-sized influencers from all over the world.
The integration of relevant hashtags has brought amazing results to Coca-Cola’s influencer campaigns.
Coca-Cola keeps betting on small influencers in certain niches by paying for sponsored content on Instagram accounts that have less than 50k followers.

3. Adidas

Brand Overview: Adidas

Industry: Athletic Apparel and Footwear

Social Media Platforms: Instagram and YouTube

Adidas believes in both small and celebrity influencers working together toward a common objective.

Student-athletes do not have highly engaged audiences as other types of influencers, and still, Adidas opted for creating an equitable network for aspiring athletes of all ages and genders.

But this is not new - when Adidas launched the Glitch App, they implemented one of the best influencer programs to provide small creators with the opportunity to work with Adidas.

At the time, the campaign was a huge success, as Marc Makowski (Adidas’ Director of Business Development) said, “It was interesting to see how they [micro-influencers] established ownership of the concept , and that’s one of the things that triggered a lot of the decisions around making it an invite-only community and allowing them to spread the access themselves.”

Moreover, the launch of Adidas Tango Squad documentary series on YouTube also provided small influencers the opportunity to collaborate with big personalities.

Tango Squad by Adidas connected world-known soccer players, such as Paul Pogba, with several micro-influencers, such as Chinedu, a football podcaster who only has 1.3k followers on Instagram.

Key Takeaways:

Adidas is constantly looking for nano and micro-influencers to collaborate with in different types of campaigns.
Adidas heavily considers the needs of its ideal target audience in the selection process of micro-influencers.
The German company understands the huge potential of small niche communities created by micro-influencers, which is why they have used them to reach modern consumers by following specific strategies.

4. Daniel Wellington

Brand Overview: Daniel Wellington

Industry: Watches and Accessories

Social Media Platforms: TikTok and Instagram

Daniel Wellington is a relatively new competitor in the watch market. Their official TikTok account still has a long way to go, but they are headed in the right direction.

Daniel Wellington has implemented branded hashtags to connect with their audiences and small influencers.

The company focuses on both American and European markets, and by using the hashtag “#DWPickofTheDay” on Instagram, they have harnessed the power of user-generated content.

The brand constantly promotes users who mention brands on their social media stories, giving them exposure and recognition.

Moreover, they are known for sending watches and other apparel to micro-influencers , so they promote it on their social media posts.

An example is this European TikToker, who promotes Daniel Wellington watches sent by the brand to her 1,8k followers.

Micro-influencers can also find the opportunity to collaborate with Daniel Wellington on Instagram, and they participate in the brand’s “ non-aggressive ” influencer marketing campaigns (such as Carl Richards - 16.6k followers) .

Key Takeaways:

Daniel Wellington does not compete against luxury watch brands, which allows them to get to their audience through micro-influencers.
Since micro-influencers are still growing, Daniel Wellington can proceed with their influencer strategy by sending them free products to use, which creates a win-win scenario for both parties.

5. Banana Republic

Brand Overview: Banana Republic

Industry: Clothing and Accessories Retailer

Social Media Platforms: Instagram

Banana Republic has experienced a steady increase in revenue over the past few years, and they have worked with both big and micro-influencers campaigns on their social media platforms.

The company runs multiple seasonal campaigns throughout the year, and they work with micro-influencers in the fashion and apparel niche by using relevant hashtags.

Some of the most prominent hashtags used by the brand are #itsbanana, #brmovesyou and #brmakeitmatter.

Mary Orton, a style enthusiast who has massively grown her Instagram following, collaborated with Banana Republic over 7 years ago when she was just a micro-influencer as a brand ambassador.

Moreover, sending pieces of brand clothing to small influencers has also resulted in a great strategy for Banana Republic.

Aspiring singer and actress Sydney Stephan ( 2k followers on Instagram ) happily posted a picture using the brand’s hashtags and wearing products sent by the marketing team.

Key Takeaways:

Banana Republic has 45 years of trajectory. However, even if we are talking about a massively established brand, they still opt for working with small influencers across different platforms.
The brand has recognized the potential of aspiring influencers in the lifestyle niche to collaborate with them over the years.
Banana Republic has an annual revenue of $2.11 billion in 2022, which represents a 7.1% increase compared to 2021’s revenue.

6. Sephora

Brand Overview: Sephora

Industry: Cosmetic Beauty Brand

Social Media Platforms: TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube

Sephora’s brand awareness in the United States is at 74%, which makes it one of the most famous beauty brands in the country.

Although Sephora is known for collaborating with massive influencers, such as James Charles, the brand has a program to onboard beauty influencers who wish to collaborate with the company.

The Sephora Squad Program provides small influencers and creators the opportunity to get sponsored by the brand through a deep selection process.

The company provides equal opportunities to creators of all sizes, ages, and genders , but it is worth noting that the program opens and closes throughout the year.

When the program is over, Sephora posts on their TikTok account a welcome video for the selected brand ambassadors.

The brand creates a sense of community around its products, and the community celebrates when new creators, such as Lindsey, get accepted into the program.

Additionally, they also support micro Instagram influencers, such as BeautyByElena ( 15k followers ), who gladly upload sponsored posts to her social media profiles.

Key Takeaways:

Sephora brings the opportunity to creators of all sizes, nationalities, and ages to collaborate with the brand through their own influencer program.
By constantly collaborating with medium-sized and small influencers, the brand creates a sense of community among its audience.
Small creators have the opportunity to turn into mega and macro influencers with the help of Sephora.

7. Nivea

Brand Overview: Nivea

Industry: Skincare Brand

Social Media Platforms: Instagram, TikTok & Other Platforms

Nivea is one of the most popular skincare brands in the world. The awareness level of Nivea in the United States is 88% (Statista), which turns this German beauty company into a highly recognized competitor in its market.

However, in order to expand their growth in different countries, Nivea started a micro-influencer hunting process with their #NiveaSoftFreshBatch initiative.

75 diverse GenZ creators from India and other countries had the opportunity to become part of the skincare brand, which provided them with a great way to jumpstart their social media careers.

Likewise, the Feeling Good in My Skin campaign moved forward thanks to the help of influencers who created sponsored content on Instagram, such as Kool Kid Nelly.

But Nivea also wanted to reach the European market during the summer season , which is why they hired micro and nano influencers from Spain, Germany, and other European countries to promote their products.

Some of the greatest examples are Verena Ezenhofer ( German micro-influencer with 46k followers on Instagram ) and Radostina Kostadinova, a Bulgarian influencer who managed to grow her IG following to 87k followers.

Key Takeaways:

Nivea collaborates with micro-influencers from different countries based on the season.
Nivea has multiple initiatives to collaborate with widely known social media personalities through branded hashtags and events.

8. Knix

Brand Overview: Knix

Industry: Intimates and Apparel Brand

Social Media Platforms: TikTok & Instagram

Knix is a Canadian brand known for selling clothing apparel designed with comfort in mind, such as period-proof underwear and wireless bras.

The brand has been working with influencers on TikTok and other platforms in order to reach their target audience, which is American and Canadian women.

During this period, many Knix Partners, such as the previously mentioned Tiffany Jeffcoat , have transitioned from small into macro influencers as they create content consistently through the years.

The brand has a well-defined market (Canadian and American), which is why they target creators such as Sabriena Abrre, who promotes Knix products on her fairly big TikTok account.

However, Knix has also shown interest in sponsoring other types of micro-influencers.

A good example is Aaliya, a creator originally from Trinidad and Tobago but who lives in Canada.

She is a micro-influencer ambassador for Knix, as her current following on Instagram is around 3.6k.

Key Takeaways:

Knix is a good example of a brand that has successfully defined its target audience: Canadian and American women.
Knix works with Canadian and American-based creators, whether they are originally from those countries or not.
Ambassadors of the brand often receive a discount code that their audiences can use, which works to encourage sales and track the result of the influencer campaign.

9. Nike

Brand Overview: Nike

Industry: Athletic Apparel Company

Social Media Platforms: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube & More

Nike is a direct competitor of Adidas, and they surely haven’t missed the chance to work with micro-influencers.

The Nike Affiliate Program , mainly created for websites, allows content creators to sell Nike products by using affiliate links.

Sellers get an 11% commission on valid sales generated through the affiliate program, and as affiliate partners promote the brand’s products, they get nice perks as well.

Nike is also known for working with big influencers on TikTok, and they also expand their reach to creators in Latin American and European countries.

Nike also works with micro-influencers in very specific sports niches, such as Karem Keiko on TikTok, who focuses on sneakers and football t-shirt reviews.

Micro football influencers on Instagram, such as C Mobike ( 47k followers ), also have the chance to turn into Nike partners through direct contracts with the brand.

Key Takeaways:

Nike’s Affiliate Program has been widely spread across the Internet, and nowadays, it is possible to find multiple small creators on different platforms promoting Nike products.
Nike focuses on the Sports niche, but they have more than one continent to focus on (Europe, America, etc.).
Small Instagram creators can also get sponsored by Nike based on brand agreements and contracts. Micro-influencers can be part of the Nike Team if eligible under the brand’s requirements.

10. Canon

Brand Overview: Canon

Industry: Digital Cameras

Social Media Platforms: Instagram

When Instagram was released back in 2010, the main purpose of this social media platform was to allow users to upload unique, beautiful, and special pictures to their feeds.

Canon, a brand that dominates the global digital camera market share with almost half of it (Statista), took advantage of the main concept of Instagram to work with micro-influencers.

Canon has multiple brand ambassadors in both Europe and America. Canon ambassadors mainly focus on creating photographic content for their Instagram accounts.

This is not a big niche, so most of these creators, such as Ahmet Polat ( 5.2k followers ), are micro-influencers.

Canon also has massive influencers working with them, such as Emma Chamberlain in the United States, with a social media following of over 35 million.

Canon bets for small creators with great projection and vast knowledge of their niche . In fact, some Canon creators, such as Justin Wu, have gained exposure as a direct result of their partnership with the brand.

Key Takeaways:

Canon collaborates with creators who are savvy enough in the photography niche, regardless of their following levels.
Micro-influencers have the opportunity to gain exposure and grow their careers as they become part of Canon’s team.

11. Headspace

Brand Overview: Headspace

Industry: Healthcare

Social Media Platforms: Instagram and TikTok

Mental health has become a very important topic in the past few years.

Headspace is the second highest-grossing health-related app worldwide (Statista), and it provides creators with the opportunity to become brand ambassadors for the app.

Of course, the main goal of Headspace is to get more downloads and grow in its niche.

Therefore, creators in the mental health niche , such as That Curly Top, have the chance to grow greatly in their niche thanks to direct partnerships with Headspace.

Moreover, the nature of the well-being niche gives Headspace the opportunity to increase brand engagement through user-generated content.

Since Headspace focuses on a global niche, micro-influencers can give exposure to the brand organically due to the useful nature of the content provided by the company.

Key Takeaways:

Headspace is constantly looking for micro-influencers who want to become brand ambassadors for the company.
Since Headspace is widely known as one of the best well-being apps available, the brand takes advantage of organic UGC in their campaigns.

Summary: 11 Brands that Work with Micro-Influencers

All of these brands that work with micro-influencers have something in common: they have focused their marketing efforts on reaching their targeted audiences through the voices, thoughts, and content of creators with growing communities.

This is a quick summary of the best 11 brands that work with micro-influencers:

ASOS: Uses the ASOS Insider Program to foster small influencers' growth while maintaining authentic styles.
Coca-Cola: Leverages branded hashtags like .ShareTheMagic to collaborate with both massive celebrities and micro-influencers for TikTok campaigns.
Adidas: Collaborates with micro-influencers, notably in niche communities like the Tango Squad campaign.
Daniel Wellington: Engages micro-influencers by sending products for promotion in markets where luxury brands are less prominent.
Banana Republic: Works with micro-influencers for fashion campaigns, using hashtags and capitalizing on revenue growth.
Sephora: Brings the Sephora Squad Program to collaborate deeply with influencers of all sizes, fostering a community.
Nivea: Targets specific regions with micro-influencers through initiatives like .NiveaSoftFreshBatch.
Knix: Engages Canadian and American women through TikTok and Instagram micro-influencers.
Nike: Combines affiliate programs, contracts, and campaigns on TikTok and Instagram to collaborate with micro-influencers.
Canon: Partners with photographers on Instagram, using brand ambassadors for photographic content.
Headspace: Engages micro-influencers, offering opportunities as social media ambassadors in the wellness niche.

FAQ

Why Do Brands Choose Micro-Influencer Campaigns?

Brands tend to choose micro-influencers for their marketing campaigns due to their cost-effective nature. According to Neal Schaffer, for every dollar spent in influencer marketing, companies earn approximately $5.20 profit.

How Do Brands Pay Small Influencers?

Typically, brands pay micro-influencers for posting branded content, promoting the brand’s product or service through social media channels, and creating quality content for their audiences. These payments are usually performed through private contracts and agreements .