For brands
How to find micro-influencers for your brand
The best creators for a small brand have 5K–50K followers, post in your niche every week, and have never been contacted by an agency. Here's where they are and how to tell the real ones from the rest.
1. Your competitors' tagged posts
Open a competitor's Instagram profile → Tagged tab. Every creator there has already made content about a product like yours, often as a gifted collaboration. Filter for 5K–50K followers and recent posts. This is the highest-yield source there is and it costs nothing.
2. Niche hashtags, "Recent" not "Top"
Top posts are big accounts. The Recent tab of a specific hashtag (#skincareroutine, #homeworkout, #weeknightdinners) surfaces active micro-creators. Open profiles, check the last 30 days, shortlist.
3. Your own customers and followers
Search your order list and follower list for creators with 3K+ followers. They already like the product; a gifted top-up and a simple ask converts at several times the rate of cold outreach.
4. Comment sections of bigger creators in your niche
The people leaving thoughtful comments under a 200K creator's posts are often 5K–20K creators in the same niche. It's slower, but the fit is excellent.
5. A creator marketplace
When you're running this monthly, scrolling stops scaling. A marketplace lets you filter by niche, location, follower range and engagement rate, and shows each creator's media kit — rates, audience, content types — before you send a single message. On Kitvine, creators list their own rates and which collaboration types (gifted, paid, affiliate) they're open to, so you only contact people who want what you're offering.
What to check before you reach out
- Engagement rate ≥ 3%. (Likes + comments) ÷ followers on recent posts. Under 1% usually means bought followers.
- Real comments. Sentences, questions, in-jokes — not rows of emojis from other creators.
- Audience location. If you ship to the US, their audience must be mostly US. Ask for their audience snapshot; a media kit will have it.
- Face on camera, recent posts. A grid of stock-looking product shots or nothing in 30 days is a pass.
- Past brand posts. One or two is ideal — they know the process. Ten a month means their audience tunes ads out.
The outreach message
Under 80 words. Name a specific post of theirs, say what you'd send and what you'd like back, and ask for their media kit or rate. Creators reply to brands that clearly looked at their content and skip the ones that didn't.
More on what a creator's kit should show you: the micro-influencer media kit. Rate expectations: what micro-influencers charge.
Find micro-influencers who list their rates
Search creators by niche, location, followers and engagement — every profile is a full media kit with rates upfront.
Request brand accessFrequently asked
How much does it cost to work with micro-influencers?
Gifted collaborations cost you the product plus shipping. Paid collaborations with micro-influencers typically run $25–$500 per deliverable, with $100–$300 the most common range for a Reel or TikTok from a 10K–30K creator.
How many micro-influencers should I work with?
For a first campaign, 5–10. That's enough to learn which content style and creator profile converts for your product without betting on one person. Scale the ones that work.
Gifted or paid — which should I start with?
Gifted for your first round if your product is worth $40+; it filters for creators who actually want it. Move to paid for creators whose content performs, and for anyone whose content you want to run as ads.
How do I check a micro-influencer isn't fake?
Compare likes to followers (under 1% is a red flag), read the comments for real sentences rather than emojis, check that follower growth looks gradual, and look for a face on camera. Ask for a media kit with audience demographics — genuine creators have one.
Do I need a platform to find micro-influencers?
No, but it saves hours: instead of scrolling hashtags, you filter by niche, location, follower range and engagement, and every profile is already a media kit with rates. It matters more once you're doing this monthly.
Keep reading
What is a micro-influencer?
Follower ranges, why brands prefer them, and how the tier compares.
Micro-influencer media kit
The seven things brands look for, with a free template.
How much do micro-influencers charge?
Rate benchmarks by platform and format, plus a calculator.
Gifted vs paid collaborations
When free product is fair, when to ask for a fee, and what to reply.
Engagement rate calculator
Work out your real engagement rate in 10 seconds.
Influencer rate calculator
A starting price for your next paid collaboration.