Influencer Marketing is a tactic that hits the sweet spot for non-profit attractions.
It’s cool. It’s fun. It can reach nearly any audience you can think of. And…it can be relatively inexpensive.
That checks a lot of boxes on our list.
But, hey. We’re not getting Kim Kardashian.
What we, as marketers of non-profit attractions, should aim for is ‘Nano Influencer.’
What exactly is a Nano Influencer?
Technically, a Nano Influencer is a social media influencer with an audience size (followers) of less than 10,000.
A Nano Influencer does what Kim Kardashian does – gets paid to leverage their social media audience to promote a brand. But, instead of champagne on a yacht; we’re talking bottled water at the gorilla exhibit.
And, as with all advertising, the cost is relative to the audience size.
In other words, an influencer with an audience of a few million will charge more for their services compared to an influencer with an audience of a few thousand.
For us in the local attraction space, we want to work with influencers who have a local presence.
It’s one thing to have a following devoted to an influencer’s Italian cooking recipes and it’s another to have a following of folks looking for the ‘best things to do in Cincinnati.’
So, for non-profit attractions, a Nano Influencer…
- Has a small audience size and, in turn, requires a smaller investment to use its content
- Is in your market and, more importantly, has followers who are also in your market
Six Reasons Why You Should Use Nano Influencers to Promote Your Attraction
1. People watch user-generated video content
You don’t need a fancy marketing degree to understand that video content is king. And, in 2024, video content is even more engaging when it’s created by real people.
User-generated videos on TikTok are 10 times more effective at ‘encoding emotion’ than advertiser-created videos according to this study.
2. Influencers will create engaging video content for you much cheaper and faster than (most of) you can
Remember the last time you did a video shoot? Remember how long it took? Remember how expensive it was?
Social media influencers make their living (or at least their side hustle) by creating video content with the amazing camera in their pocket. This content is fresh, unique, and from the perspective of your visitors.
Let’s pull that thread a little more…
Even if your marketing team has a dedicated video production person there is nothing like telling a story from the eyes of a visitor.
Also, content ‘wear out’ on social media is a thing.
Check out the graph below. People are spending an average of 53 minutes a day on TikTok.
You can watch a lot of videos in 53 minutes. The more time people spend on a platform the faster your content gets consumed and turns stale.
Since content from Nano Influencers can be (should be) affordable to use we can ‘buy’ a lot of it.
This gives us a chance to build a large library of engaging content to keep our messaging fresh.
3. People are already creating content at your attraction
Your place is fun!
People create memories at your attraction.
They take photos. They take videos.
You already have an incredible backdrop for these photos and pictures.
For attractions, the essential ingredients to create engaging video content are already there.
An amazing backdrop. A variety of experiences. Something beyond the everyday.
In my experience, social media influencers are super excited to work with attractions like yours.
Think about this…
What if you were the marketing director at a bank or a dentist’s office? A social media influencer campaign would be…well…a tough sell.
I say ‘lean into’ your brand’s strengths. And, I can’t think of a better way to do that than with Nano Influencers.
4. You can ‘stack’ influencers to build reach and connect with different audiences
One of the drawbacks of Nano Influencers is their small audience sizes. I mean…we’re calling them ‘nano’!
But, that’s okay.
We can hire several influencers to achieve our target reach goal.
Plus, there are several opportunities to amplify reach that I will cover later in this guide.
The opportunity lies in Nano Influencer marketing is the ability to work with influencers that match our target audience.
We want to partner with influencers that look like and talk like our different audiences.
Think about your attraction’s diversity initiatives here.
And, remember with user-generated content, we don’t need to create a new TV spot or radio buy for each audience.
5. Ten Pieces of Content is Better Than One Content from a Macro Influencer
We think one of the missteps attractions make in their social media influencer campaigns is prioritizing ‘celebrity.’
In other words, marketers pay a premium for an influencer’s fame and audience size.
We recommend prioritizing content.
Let’s say we have $1,000 budgeted to pay social media influencers.
We would rather pay 10 smaller, lesser-known influencers $100 each to get 10 pieces of unique content rather than pay one, more-popular, influencer and get one piece of content.
Why more content is better:
- Content can be (and should be) diverse, speaking to different audiences
- Content stays fresh – social media content can ‘wear out’ in a matter of days
- Your brand can seem bigger because everyone is talking about it
6. People Engage with Nano Influencer’s Content at a Higher Rate
The smaller the influencer’s audience size the higher the engagement rate. This is according to influencer marketplace upfluence.
This holds across all major social media platforms.
Remember our last point about more content being better?
If you work with 10 nano-influencers at 10,000 followers with an average engagement rate of 15% each vs. 1 midsize influencer with 100,000 and a 5% engagement rate, you’ll have the potential to reach the same amount of followers, yet triple your amount of engagement.
5 Steps to Launch Your Nano Influencer Campaign
Let’s preface this exercise a bit.
In this scenario, your attraction already had a TikTok page/presence but has not yet engaged with social media influencers.
TikTok is the only social media platform with a built-in influencer management tool.
While there are plenty of thirty-party influencer management tools available, TikTok offers the quickest, easiest way to get user-generated video content.
For those reasons…let’s start with TikTok.
Step 1 – Hop on the TikTok Creator Marketplace
Here’s how TikTok describes the TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM)…
TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM) is the official platform for brand and creator collaborations on TikTok, allowing brands and agencies to connect with over 2,000,000 qualified creators across the globe. For brands and agencies, the Creator Marketplace enables instant and easy access to a diverse variety of creators, to deliver high-performing campaigns based on your brief.
In short, it’s a web portal where you can find influencers in your market.
A few thoughts on finding your ideal influencer…
- Search for creators who are posting about your attraction or exhibit already.
- When searching, think “Does this person represent our brand?”
- As mentioned above, look for influencers based in your local market whose followers are aligned with your target audience.
Step 2 – Contract with Your Influencers
So, you’ve identified video content that conveys your attraction’s message.
Now, through the TikTok Creator Marketplace, you will ask the influencer if you ‘could promote their content.’
For the individual influencers (TikTok calls them Creators) it’s a matter of them logging into the platform and clicking a button to agree for you to use their content.
This is the point where you would pay the influencer for the right to promote (or amplify) their content using your attraction’s TikTok business account.
Pricing is often included in TTCM for each creator, but expect to pay based on the length of time you want to use the content (1 week, 1 month, 1 year…).
If you are working with a Creator to produce NEW content for you, they may allow you to promote the content at no additional rate. Prepare to pay for usage rights if you did not pay them for the original content.
Step 3 – Use Spark Ads on TikTok to Amplify Your Influencer’s Content
You’ll need a TikTok page
We see that most zoos, aquariums, gardens, and museums have created a TikTok page for their attraction…with varying levels of activity.
Note – your attraction will need to have a TikTok business page to run paid advertising.
If your attraction’s TikTok page’s last post was from 2021 and looks like a desert that’s not ideal but we wouldn’t let that stop you.
The plan we are outlining in this article is sort of a ‘fast track’ to produce engaging, user-generated content for ads.
What is a Spark Ad?
Here’s how TikTok describes its Spark Ad format…
Spark Ads is a native ad format that enables you to leverage organic TikTok posts and their features in your advertising.
This unique format lets you publish ads:
- Using your own TikTok account’s posts
- Using organic posts made by other creators – with their authorization
Spark Ads are similar to a promoted post on Facebook.
One big thing to note about Spark Ads from creators…
Spark Ads with creator content differ from other TikTok ad formats in that Spark Ads nudge the user to the influencer’s TikTok page rather than your attraction’s website.
That’s a pretty big minus…right?
We’re paying for ads to promote our attraction…not our influencer.
Don’t worry. There’s a solution for this.
Place a Call To Action Banner on your Spark Ad
We strongly recommend utilizing Spark Ad’s Call To Action (CTA) feature.
This feature allows you to place a small banner overlay on your Spark Ad with some sort of prompt like “Buy Tickets.”
This CTA banner should link back to your website…more specifically the ‘buy ticket’s page.
Spark Ads are an Impactful tactic
In our Media Planning Guide for Non-Profit Attractions, we define media channels as either Opportunistic or Impactful.
We’re considering TikTok Spark Ads utilizing creator content as an Impactful channel – it amplifies influencer marketing – even though there is the built-in ability for users to click on your ad and go to either your TikTok page or website.
With Impactful channel tactics, we prioritize the placement and reach of the ad over metrics like click-through rate.
Step 4 – Negotiate with the best performers, turn them into Ambassadors
At this step, let’s say you have ‘bought’ and promoted the content of 2, 5, or 10 Nano Influencers.
(Remember, one benefit of using Nano Influencers is they are affordable and you can work many.)
At this point, we typically see one of these influencers stand out.
Their content fits the look and feel of your attraction.
They may best match an audience you are actively speaking to.
Their content metrics are strong. Engagement rates are in the 10-15% range.
Let’s build our working relationship with this influencer and turn them into an ambassador.
A social media ambassador is someone who…
- You provide direction on what content to produce
- You contract with for a series of content pieces – say 3 videos throughout the year
- The world knows that this is someone who works with you
- Their audience expects to see content from them about your attraction
- Your trust to share your organization’s mission
Now, we’re shifting from using an influencer’s existing content about your attraction to asking the influencer to create content about your attraction.
Prioritize working with influencers who create great content versus those who have a large social media following. We can always pay to promote the content.
Thoughts on ambassadors creating content at your direction:
- Events – specifically events that best match their personality and lifestyle
- Content could (and should) go beyond ‘how fun the event is’ to a deeper message
- Allow the ambassador to keep the content authentic – it’s okay if they complain about the long lines (and perhaps they share a tip to avoid them???)
- Offer behind-the-scenes access for content like animal feedings
- Give exclusive access to capture video first – think event preview nights
- Sharing your organization’s mission
Step 5 – Expand to Instagram
Now that we have ‘perfect fit’ content, let’s reach audiences that live outside of TikTok.
Our next move is to repurpose that content for Instagram and Facebook.
Contract directly with your ambassador and specify that content should be delivered for each platform.
- Instagram Reel
- Intsagram Post
- TikTok Video
Use $100 per 10,000 followers per piece of content as a pricing guideline. Remember to incorporate usage rights for ads.
You can promote an influencer’s content on Instagram in a very similar way to TikTok in your business manager account.
Rinse and repeat the amplification strategy.
Influencer Marketing for Non-Profit Attractions: Putting it All Together
This guide walked you through how you can launch your attraction’s first – or double-down on your current – social media influencer marketing campaign.
Assuming your attraction’s TikTok page is in order, you can launch the campaign in a matter of days or even hours. (Really.)
Stay nimble and within budget by using content created by Nano Influencers. This is easy to find within TikTok’s Creator Marketplace.
Once you’ve found one (or a dozen) influencers you like, have them create custom content for your attraction.
Use paid ads to promote this content.
There are plenty of influencer management tools you can use to manage influencers across all social platforms. These might be beneficial as your influencer investment grows.
Our recommendation is more of a DIY way to get started with your only costs being time and paying the influencers along with the fewest barriers to entry.
Talk to Us About Your Attraction’s Nano Influencer Marketing Campaign
We help zoos, aquariums, gardens, and museums develop engaging and cost-effective social media influencer marketing campaigns.
Let’s talk about your attraction.
For AZA members, we offer a free, 30-minute strategy session on your attraction’s influencer campaign.
Schedule your free Strategy Session here.
