YouTube micro-influencers: how to find and work with them

"Micro" is shorthand for a channel that is small but established. Agencies and platforms sort creators into size bands by subscribers, and the most common bands look like this. They vary from one source to the next, and some put the top of micro at 50,000, so treat them as a convention rather than a standard.

The bands describe subscribers, which record past growth. For planning a sponsorship, a channel's recent median views matter more: a 40,000-subscriber channel whose videos get 20,000 views is a better buy than an 80,000-subscriber channel whose videos get 5,000. The glossary entry on micro-creators has the short version.

A product with a narrow audience, such as a fountain pen ink, a climbing chalk or a sourdough tool, rarely suits a big general channel. Small channels can be a better match for several reasons:

• Narrow topics. A channel about restoring vintage fountain pens has viewers who care about fountain pens. A large stationery channel has many viewers who don't.
• Viewers who arrived with a problem. Small channels are often found through search, by viewers looking for a specific answer. They came for a solution, not just entertainment.
• Closeness. A small creator can read and answer most of their comments. Viewers know them, and a recommendation lands as advice from someone they trust.
• Fewer sponsors. A small channel may have few or no other sponsors, so your segment isn't one of three in the same video.
• A lower fee per video. Fees tend to follow views, so a smaller channel usually costs less per video. That lets you test several creators instead of betting on one. See how much to pay YouTubers for the arithmetic.

Working with small channels is more work per view than working with one large one. Plan for that before you start.

Broad searches tend to return established channels with big view counts. The narrower the search, the more small channels you'll see. These kinds of search work well:

• how to fix [specific problem]
• [product] for [specific use]
• [product] after 6 months
• [hobby] for beginners [year]
• [product model] setup
• my [hobby] routine
• [niche] on a budget
• [problem] at home

• Filter by upload date to see channels that are active now.
• Scroll past the first screen. Smaller channels often sit further down, below the bigger names.
• Read the comments of bigger channels in your niche. Small creators often comment there, and their names link to their channels.
• Check who good fits recommend on their channel home pages.

Our guide to finding YouTubers to sponsor covers the full process, from search keywords to a shortlist.

• Pay, or offer product with no strings. If you want a guaranteed video, pay for it. If you're only sending a product, say there's no obligation to post. Our product seeding guide covers how to do that well.
• Make one clear ask. Say exactly what you want: the length of the mention, the link, the timing. A small creator shouldn't have to guess.
• Give a realistic turnaround. Weeks, not days, and ask what fits their schedule rather than imposing one.
• Keep the brief short. A page of must-say lines turns a personal recommendation into an advert. Give the facts and let them say it their way.
• Explain disclosure. Tell them how you'd like the sponsorship disclosed, and remind them to tick YouTube's paid promotion box. See sponsorship disclosure rules.
• Pay on time, and don't ask for extra usage rights, such as using their video in your ads, without paying for them.

Nakodo's brief includes a subscriber range for the kind of creator that fits, which you can set to a micro band or anything else. Each creator is scored on their own numbers against fixed thresholds and is never ranked against bigger channels, so a small channel with an engaged, on-topic audience can score well. Nakodo also finds the business email small creators publish and says so when there is none, and a creator with no published email is never contacted. The method is on how Nakodo works.