How do you grow your following and break the nano influencer barrier? We’re back with more outstanding tips from @mattrossofficial on how to be a successful micro-influencer!
Don’t miss his top 5 tips mentioned in Part 1 of his series HERE.
Breaking Down Barriers
Q: You have just broken the barrier from being a nano-influencer. What was your strategy to break this barrier?
MATT:
Being candid with you guys, I didn’t have a clear cut plan or a list of things I needed to do to grow from Nano to Micro-Influencer, I just did the below things as often as I humanly could and it happened:
- I posted the best content I could.
- I responded to every single comment, even when it was a damn thumbs up emoji. Every. single. one.
- I responded to every single Direct Message.
- I pushed myself to add value to my audience by listening to the content they liked and put out more of it.
- I invested as much cash as I could into running Instagram Ads, which are insanely underpriced.
- I reached out to Feature Pages (with a similar topic/aesthetic to mine) on Instagram and offered them content which had performed well on my page –in case them featuring or reposting it might add value to their audience.
- I also paid Feature Pages to feature my content, which drove traffic back to my account.
- I pushed myself to open up in my content about personal struggles, my goals, my shortfalls etc. I spoke on working off my debt, my plan to travel the world, my dad’s heartache, my grandmother’s death, etc. I did it because the human element is what connects us all and by sharing more, I have developed a loyal audience who is truly invested in my journey. While you might not be comfortable with talking about everything (that’s ok), the more you can share, the more invested your audience can become.
- I was impatient with the day-to-day, doing as much as I possibly could to push my brand/career forward, but patient as hell with the long term, realising that what I wanted to manifest would take time. A lot of people have this in reverse, doing very little in the day-to-day and expecting what they want to happen overnight.
Evolved Brand Collaborations
Q: How has crossing the nano barrier affected your brand partnerships?
MATT:
Firstly, the frequency of requests.
This includes everything from offers to work together, brands wanting shout-outs, invites to events, all of it. Overall, while the frequency of these offers/propositions have increased, one thing that hasn’t changed is my confidence in my worth, but it has been validated.
Being able to select one’s rates/fees for services rendered (posts, Instagram stories, live events, etc.) is challenging, as it means you have to directly decide upon a monetary value for what you feel you’re worth. I chose an amount I felt I would be willing to do all the work for (i.e. driving to the location, shooting it, editing it, and then factoring in the exposure the brand would be getting). Once I decided on a monetary amount I had my base rate.
Now, this is where it got special.
When I was approached by a company (shout out because they’re amazing, @MioMarino) and they accepted my rate without any questions, that’s when my confidence in myself was set in stone.
The market (the brands) had decided I was worth what I thought I was. Not my mom, not a great uncle Bob, no other person but those that I wanted to work with.
Now, you still have to go through the process of deducing your rate but what I can tell you with 100% surety is that having a couple brands agree to it is the greatest feeling and validates what you knew about yourself in the first place. Knowing that brands are willing to pay my asking rate has allowed me to quickly [assess if a prospective brand partner is] in line with my brand or not. And then if they are, I can comfortably offer my services and accompanying rates without any hesitation or fear.
Good Things Take Time
Q: What has been the most difficult part of being a nano-influencer?
MATT:
Definitely patience.
It ties back into the Questions #1 and #2, but being able to constantly remind myself to compete/compare my current self to my potential self, and to remember that what I’m wanting to achieve (a life built around traveling the world & inspiring others) is going to take longer than I expect have been key insights.
These beliefs kept me motivated, focused, and driven throughout [the nano influencer] phase of my career.
Growing Your Tribe
Q: What is the most rewarding part of being a now micro-influencer?
MATT:
This is the easiest question for me — when I’m a macro-influencer/mainstream influencer it will be the same thing as when I was a nano-influencer.
My community.
It is 1000% the people who actually give a f*ck about my story/journey and the content I put out. Seeing people DM me about their own progression, having questions regularly sent in, watching other’s accounts grow, all that micro-human-level sh*t that so many forget, that’s my oxygen.
It’s so special because on socials, we often forget there is another human on the end of those likes/comments and when people really, I mean REALLY get involved, it’s the most surreal thing!
Prioritizing Your Goals
Q: Is becoming a macro-influencer a goal of yours? Why or why not?
MATT:
Another d*mn fire question!
Yes, but it’s a micro-goal, let me explain.
So I only have 2 ambitions/goals in life. Only 2 things that I care about: traveling the world and inspiring people to do the sh*t they love.
I’m doing this already, so I’ve already won. I realise that sounds cocky but my point is that by knowing yourself/deploying self-awareness, you can rig the d*mn game so you win from the outset. That’s what I have done. On a daily basis, I wake up and do sh*t I love, so I’ve already won.With that in mind yes, I definitely want to become a macro-influencer because it will enable me to do what I love on a bigger scale (more trips & reaching more people) but I don’t really focus on the numbers (like count/follower number etc.) because it isn’t my macro-goal.
As long as I am daily pushing my macro-goals by producing the best content I humanly can and giving back to my audience as sincerely as possible, I have faith in my potential that it will happen, but I’m not consumed by a specific follower count/engagement rate.
When I reach the level of macro-influencer, I won’t be doing anything differently, I will just be scaling what I love/enjoy doing already, and that’s a pretty special thing because nothing has to be compromised.
So basically, Matt Ross is slaying the influencer game. Stay tuned for more outstanding tips in this 3 PART SERIES feat. @mattrossofficial!
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