Nano Influencers: What Are They, And How to Find Them

Sometimes it feels like marketers make words up: What’s a nano influencer, anyway– right?

We get it. But we promise we’re not making them up!

Nano influencers are a specific type of influencer with a small but mighty following. We’ll talk more about that in this article, and also:

• The pros and cons of working with nano influencers
• The differences between nano and other categories of influencers.
• Our honest opinion on whether or not you should work with them.
• How to find nano influencers.

If you’re ready to figure out if nano influencers are a good fit for your brand, let’s get started!

What are nano influencers?

If you’ve read about micro influencers on our blog before, you might wonder why we’re even talking about nano influencers.

After all– aren’t they just a specific type of micro influencer?

Yes and no. For most purposes, you can consider nano influencers to be micro influencers.

But if you’re on a super tight budget or hoping to penetrate a niche, you’ll want to know the difference.

So, what are nano influencers? They have between 1,000-5,000 followers or subscribers– usually on TikTok and Instagram. (Although this can apply to YouTube as well).

You may see other articles describe it differently. This isn’t a reason to be concerned– after all, what distinguishes one type of influencer from another is generally opinion. There’s no governing body giving us the “right” answer.

Another note: usually, when determining an influencer’s category is based solely on the number of followers/subscribers they have, not on engagement– and we’ll talk about why that’s important in a moment.

What are the pros and cons?

If you’re thinking about hiring a nano influencer, here are some things to consider:

Pros of working with nano influencers

• Highly engaged. In general, smaller influencers have more engaged audiences– their audience cares about what they recommend. This is good news for your brand because they are more likely to buy.
• Easy outreach. You shouldn’t have to track down a nano influencer. Because they’re small and aren’t flooded with messages, you can send them a DM and usually receive a response.
• More affordable. Because they’re small, prices aren’t high and they’re usually open to gifted collaborations- which are some of the best ways to start working with influencers on campaigns.
• Better feedback. Since nano influencers are small and work within a clearly defined niche, they get closer to the brands they work with. This means you’ll have more opportunities for ongoing collaborations (GREAT for reach and engagement) and authentic, honest feedback on your products and marketing.

Cons of hiring nano influencers

• Low reach. Nano influencers don’t have many followers. So, even though their followers are more engaged than micro or macro influencers, they aren’t going to get your brand in front of as many eyeballs. You win some, you lose some– right?
• Smaller engagement spikes. If you’re hoping for a huge spike in engagement with your brand’s social media or website after working with a nano influencer, you may be disappointed. They are less likely to make your brand go “viral” on all of social media.
• Content quality. This isn’t a guarantee, but since they’re super small, most nano influencers are still polishing their video and content creation skills. Be aware that the quality of their videos may not be high– unless, they have previous experience as a UGC creator or have photography and videography as hobbies.

What are the differences between nano influencers and other influencers?

Nano, micro, macro, mega, celebrity influencers… What’s the difference? Thankfully, that’s an easy question: It’s based on the number of followers they have.

Yes, there are generally differences in how audiences interact with different kinds of influencers. But, from a categorization standpoint, you look at their number of followers or subscribers.

Engagement rate, reach, impressions, and other metrics don’t affect the categorization– although they can make a huge difference in the success of your marketing campaigns. So in the next section, we’ll talk about how you can leverage the amazing engagement rates that nano influencers bring to the table.

Should you work with nano influencers?

When you weigh the pros and cons, you may wonder– is working with nano influencers a good idea?

It’s a great question. And after 10+ years of experience in influencer marketing, we can tell you with certainty: YES.

If you’re a small or medium-sized business with a tight budget (or no experience working with influencers), brands that work with nano influencers will tell you they’re an absolute godsend. Here’s why:

• If you have a tight budget, this opens up a new option: In 99% of cases, nano influencers are interested in gifted collaborations. It also allows you to reach small and engaged communities, so it’s super advantageous for growing a loyal following. Just be careful about the content they create for you. Give them plenty of guidance about what you want, and don’t expect Mr. Beast-level content on a shoestring budget.

• If you’ve never worked with influencers before (either as a marketeer or business owner) you should start by working with nano influencers. You’ll learn the ropes at an affordable rate, and won’t accidentally waste thousands of dollars on an expensive influencer.

We’re not saying you should only work with nano influencers– but ideally, you want to learn as much as possible before moving on to bigger influencers.

The nice thing is that you’re never too big to work with nano influencers. We’ve spotted brands like Daniel Wellington working with nano and micro influencers.

So if they see the benefits, why wouldn’t you try them for your brand?

How to find nano influencers

Okay, real talk– you probably don’t need any of the expensive nano influencer outreach products out there, because most of them are EXPENSIVE for simple databases. And, there are problems with databases. Namely:

• You’ll need to export a list of nano influencers and then contact them via DM or email. (If you’re trying to do this at scale, it costs)
• It takes A LOT of time to find and contact influencers using a database. No one has that much time.
• It’s expensive. We already mentioned this, but most databases are super expensive and add fees for services like email software to contact influencers. Not to mention that influencer fees and licensing usually aren’t included.

So if buying access to a database is a bad idea, what’s a good idea? Going the old-fashioned manual route?

Not exactly. Manual influencer outreach is time-consuming, hard to keep organized, and tedious. Operationally, it’s a nightmare.

That’s why we created Social Cat: To solve the problems these approaches have. It’s a great solution because:

• It’s super affordable– you can work with 5 micro and nano influencers for just $99. Content licensing is included.
• Reaching influencers is easy. You can find, communicate with, and get content from nano influencers all in one place. Plus, you can keep track of their social media campaigns with you on our platform, too.
• You can research before collaborating. Check portfolios, reviews, and metrics for each nano influencer on our platform. By the way, our metrics come from Meta and TikTok integrations, so they’re super accurate.
• Finally, you can create briefs and have influencers come to you– which saves you time and gives you the chance to connect with influencers who love your brand already.

What else could you need? If you can think of something- let us know in the comments below. Maybe we could build it!

Start a completely free trial and book your free onboarding call with someone from our team to see it in action.

Let us help you reach your audience with nano influencers!