How to find micro-influencers for your small brand

01What a micro-influencer is (and why fit beats size)

There’s no official cutoff. Most people mean creators with somewhere between a few thousand and roughly a hundred thousand followers. For a small beauty brand, the number matters less than the fit: a creator who already talks about the kind of products you make, to people who would actually buy them.

Smaller creators often know their audience well and reply to comments themselves. They’re also more likely to answer a small brand, and to say yes to gifted product or an affiliate deal when the product genuinely suits them.

02Decide your goal and your offer first

Before you search, write down two things:

• What you want. People discovering your brand, photos and videos you can reuse on your own pages (get permission in writing), or sales you can track with a code or link.
• What you’ll offer. Gifted product, an affiliate commission, a paid fee, or a mix. Be upfront about it in your first message. Gifted product is not the same as payment, and some creators only take paid work. That’s fine.

Whatever you agree, the creator has to tell their followers about it, for example with #gifted or #ad. In the US the FTC expects that disclosure for gifts as well as payments.

03Where to look

• Your own people first. Check who already tags you, follows you or leaves good reviews. A creator who already uses your product is the easiest yes.
• Search the platforms. On TikTok and Instagram, search your product type plus words your buyers use, like “hooded eye makeup”, “sensitive skin routine” or “clean lip oil”, and hashtags like #indiebeauty or #makeuptutorial. Sort by recent so you find active creators.
• Look at similar small brands. See which creators tag brands like yours. They already make this kind of content.
• YouTube for longer reviews. Good for skincare and products that need explaining.
• Local creators. If you sell at markets or in local shops, a creator in your city can bring both online and in-person buyers.

04Vet them before you reach out

Spend five minutes on each profile. Look for:

• They’ve posted in the last couple of weeks.
• Comments react to the content (questions, opinions), not just emojis or “nice pic”.
• Views on recent posts are roughly steady, not one viral video and nothing else.
• Their audience seems to be where you ship.
• Their style, tone and values fit your brand.
• Past brand posts are clearly marked #ad or #gifted.
• No sudden jumps in follower count with no viral post to explain them.

05Reach out: short, specific, no pressure

Use the contact email in their bio if there is one, otherwise a DM. Say who you are, why them in particular (name a post you liked), what you’re offering and what you’d like in return. Make it easy to say no.

“Hi Maya, I run Glow Studio, a small lip-care brand. Your drugstore lip-oil comparison was so useful. Would you like to try our new tinted oil? We’d send it gifted, with no obligation to post. If you love it and want to share it, we’d ask you to tag us and add #gifted. Happy to talk about a paid post too.”

Then wait a week before one polite follow-up.

06Agree the details in writing

• What gets made: the number of posts or videos, the platform and rough timing.
• What you’re giving: the product, the fee or commission, and when it’s paid or shipped.
• How it will be disclosed (#ad, #gifted or the platform’s paid-partnership label).
• Whether you can reuse the content, where, and for how long.
• Whether you want to see it before it goes live, and how many changes are reasonable.

07Red flags

• Promises of guaranteed sales or views.
• Asking you to pay upfront for “promotion” before agreeing to anything.
• A big follower count with almost no comments or views.
• Refusing to disclose the collab to their followers.

08Where SponsorMatch fits

SponsorMatch matches small beauty brands with makeup, skincare and beauty creators. Once you join, you can browse creator profiles, post a campaign and review the creators who apply. Contact emails are shared only after a creator accepts an introduction, and you choose who you work with.

To keep it honest: SponsorMatch is new, so there may not be a creator for every niche yet, and we can’t promise results. The steps above work whether or not you use us.