A micro influencer is a creator with a mid-sized, usually niche following: bigger than a nano account, smaller than the macro accounts brands use for broad reach. There is no official definition. Collabstr's guide puts micro-influencers at 10K to 100K followers, while a Business Insider explainer draws separate bands for each platform and starts micro at 50,000 followers on TikTok. Platforms do not use these labels at all; they set their own floors for brand-deal tools, and disclosure rules apply at every size.
Why tier cut-offs disagree
Nano, micro, mid-tier, macro and mega are shorthand that marketers and agencies use to sort creators quickly. No platform or regulator defines them, so each source draws its own lines, and the same account can be micro in one report and nano or mid-tier in the next. Follower count is also a blunt measure. It is easy to see, but it says nothing about whether those followers live in the brand's market, still watch, or care about what you post now.
The platform changes the picture as well. The Business Insider explainer, which dates from 2020, uses different ranges for YouTube, Instagram and TikTok because subscribers and followers build up differently on each. Some sources skip the mid tier entirely. When a brand or agency mentions a tier, ask which definition they are using and which platform it refers to before you agree that you fit it.
Tier positioning table
Use the labels as conversational shorthand, then position yourself with evidence. The last column shows where each cut-off comes from, so you can name the source if a brand asks which definition you mean. The figures are each source's own definitions, not targets.
| Label | Requests to prepare for | Proof assets to show | Where this cut-off comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano | Gifted product seeding, first-person reviews, community or local posts, simple UGC-style clips | A tight niche, comments from real people about the subject, clean disclosure on every gifted post | Collabstr: 1K to 10K followers. Brandwatch: 1,000 to 10,000. Business Insider: 2,500 to 10,000 on Instagram, fewer than 5,000 YouTube subscribers, 5,000 to 50,000 on TikTok |
| Micro | Niche campaigns pairing a post with reuse of the content, affiliate codes, short multi-post series | Dated reach and audience-location screenshots, earlier brand posts you can point to, a media kit | Collabstr: 10K to 100K. Brandwatch: 10,000 to 100,000. Business Insider: 10,000 to 100,000 on Instagram, 5,000 to 25,000 YouTube subscribers, 50,000 to 150,000 on TikTok |
| Mid-tier | Campaigns with partnership ads or whitelisting, post-campaign reports, exclusivity periods | Reports from earlier campaigns, audience demographics, a rate card that prices usage separately | Business Insider: 100,000 to 500,000 on Instagram, 25,000 to 250,000 YouTube subscribers, 150,000 to 750,000 on TikTok. Collabstr and Brandwatch use no mid tier |
| Macro | Product launches, approval rounds, contracts negotiated through agents, longer exclusivity | A manager or agent contact, legal review of contracts, a clean brand-safety history | Brandwatch: 100,000 to 1,000,000. Business Insider: 500,000 to 2.5 million on Instagram, 250,000 to 1 million YouTube subscribers, 750,000 to 2.5 million on TikTok |
| Mega | Celebrity-style endorsements and long-term ambassador roles | Full representation and a record of handling complex contracts | Brandwatch: 1,000,000 and up. Collabstr: millions of followers. Business Insider: above 2.5 million on Instagram and TikTok, above 1 million YouTube subscribers |
Notice how far apart the TikTok bands sit from the generic ones: an account that is micro by Collabstr's definition can still be nano in Business Insider's TikTok column. That gap is the best argument for describing your audience in your own terms rather than leaning on a label.
Platform floors are not tiers
Platforms skip the labels and set their own minimums for their brand-deal tools. These floors decide whether brands can find you inside an official marketplace; they say nothing about whether you count as micro.
| Tool | Floor stated on the official page | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Meta creator marketplace on Instagram | Aged 18 or over, a professional and public account, and a minimum of 1,000 followers | Instagram Help: marketplace eligibility |
| TikTok One, support centre version | At least 10,000 followers (the page says this may differ by region), 1,000 post views and 3 posts in the last 30 days, aged 18 or over | TikTok Support: TikTok One |
| TikTok One, Business Help Centre version | TikTok One launched in your region, aged 18 or over, and compliance with the Community Guidelines and Branded Content Policy, with no follower figure listed | TikTok Business Help: TikTok One for creators |
| YouTube Creator Partnerships | Aged 18 or over, in the YouTube Partner Program, based in an available country or region, no active Community Guidelines strikes | YouTube Help: Creator Partnerships |
TikTok's two official pages disagree on followers. When that happens, the in-app eligibility check that the support page describes shows which version applies to your account, and the TikTok Creator Marketplace guide walks through joining. Meta's version is covered in the Instagram creator marketplace guide, and YouTube's route depends on partner program status, explained in the YouTube monetisation requirements guide.
How to position yourself at each size
Whatever label a brand uses, the conversation moves faster when you lead with evidence: who your audience is, what your content does for them and how you work. What counts as convincing evidence shifts as an account grows.
Smaller accounts sell fit, not reach. Show that your audience matches the brand's customers, that your comments come from people engaging with the subject rather than generic praise, and that every gifted post you have made was disclosed. A narrow, well-defined community is the reason a brand would choose a small account at all, so the more precisely you can describe yours, the stronger your position.
Middle-sized accounts sell repeatability. Bring results from earlier campaigns with the dates visible, explain how you report after a campaign, and have clear terms for content reuse and partnership ads. Pricing is a separate method rather than a function of follower count; the rate card worksheet shows how to build prices from deliverables and usage.
Larger accounts sell reliability. Expect contracts with approval steps, exclusivity and brand-safety clauses, and budget for representation and legal review. At every size, an engagement rate you can explain is more persuasive than one you cannot; the engagement rate worksheet sets out three formulas, and the media kit template shows where the dated figures belong.
Describe your size without the label
Brands searching official tools see far more than a follower total. YouTube's Creator Partnerships page, for example, offers creators a media kit built from channel insights and says that turning on insights sharing gives advertisers more data when they search for creators. Match that level of detail in your own pitches with a sentence you fill in from your analytics, instead of naming a tier:
[Follower or subscriber count] on [platform] as of [date]. In the last [period], my posts reached [reach figure], and the largest audience locations were [countries or cities] according to [platform] analytics. My audience comes to me for [subject], and recent brand work includes [deliverable] for [category of brand].
Every bracket is a figure you can screenshot with its date range, which is what makes the sentence more persuasive than a label: it can be checked. Refresh it whenever you update your media kit, and keep the screenshots on file in case a brand asks to see them.
Disclosure applies at every tier
Smaller creators sometimes assume advertising rules are for big accounts. The CMA's guidance for content creators says it applies to anyone who received a product free, at a discount or with another incentive in connection with their accounts, no matter how many followers they have. The FTC's Disclosures 101 likewise says to disclose free or discounted products even when you were not asked to mention them.
Product seeding, the most common offer at the nano end, is exactly where disclosure gets skipped, because nothing feels like a deal when no money changes hands. Treat the parcel as payment: label the post, keep a note of what arrived and when, and use the platform's partnership tools where they are available.
Types of influencers beyond follower count
Size is only one way brands sort creators. The other common groupings matter just as much when a brand decides whether you fit a brief.
- By subject: specialists and educators, hobbyists who document a craft, and lifestyle or personality-led accounts.
- By relationship with the brand: one-off sponsored posts, affiliates paid on sales, long-term ambassadors, and UGC creators whose work runs on the brand's own channels.
- By format: streamers, podcasters, short-video creators, long-form YouTubers and newsletter writers.
- By presence on screen: on-camera personalities, voice-only or faceless accounts, and animated or virtual personas.
The relationship grouping overlaps with the bigger question of whether you are paid for your audience or for your work, which the content creator vs influencer comparison covers. If you are still building towards your first tier, start with the influencer launch worksheet.
Limitations of tier labels
Tier labels are informal and their cut-offs are each publisher's own choice; the figures in this guide are definitions quoted from the linked sources, not benchmarks you should aim for, and none of them says anything about what any tier earns. The Business Insider bands date from 2020, and marketplace eligibility pages can change without notice, so recheck the official pages before relying on a floor.
Follower counts also have limits as evidence: they can include inactive or out-of-market accounts, and a brand that knows this will look past the number to audience data and past work. Disclosure guidance quoted here is from UK and US regulators and is general information; check the rules where you and your audience are based, and get legal advice on any contract terms.