Simple Tips for Running Lifestyles

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Are you looking to shift your priorities and diversify your content strategy beyond TikTok? This guide offers tips for micro-influencers looking to transition in case of a TikTok ban.

Why Micro-Influencers Should Diversify Beyond TikTok

Why Am I Starting This New Blog?

The real answer? I am sure it will surprise you. And before I say something wild like, it’s because of the government, I’ll explain. 

Ever since the murmurs of a TikTok ban, I thought it was time to diversify. I absolutely love the TikTok running community, known as RunTok. When I recently had three surgeries to correct my varicose veins, I was really nervous I’d lose the momentum I’d created in the months prior. I pivoted and they followed. I received the sweetest messages for my recovery and encouragement for frustrations with my insurance company. I’m still blown away by how much people are invested in these 90-second videos. And it’s really humbling to grow something from scratch.

Transitioning from Videos to Content Writing

With the speed of TikTok content and how quickly it can peak, I found the process exhausting. I would get overwhelmed with the process of figuring out how to grow my TikTok account or to get out of “200 view jail” and it was really frustrating. Even though I was doing everything right, I was still not getting where I wanted to be.

I fell in love with writing when I was younger and it helped me sort through some self-discovery and I thought it would be a way to slow down the process and still allow me to share my story.

I started to monetize my TikTok account as a micro-influencer and it seemed like a good time to shift and expand to other social media platforms. This post is a guide with what I’ve learned as a micro-influencer.

What is a Micro Influencer on TikTok?

A micro-influencer is a social media influencer with a specific threshold for their follower count. It’s usually defined as someone with a following under 10,000 followers. While 10,000 followers might seem low, micro-influencers tend to have a higher engagement level since their ratio of engagement to follower count is more concentrated. Aligning your follower base with your core topics (defined as a niche) is a great way to drive engagement.

Focus on Engagement From the Start

I thought I needed thousands of followers to monetize my account, it’s more about engagement. It would probably be a little more profitable if I had a bigger following, but everyone starts at zero. As a new account, you’ll want to start building a community around your niche.

Over the last few years, I’ve been focused on creating genuine content based on my personal running journey. I’ve been picking up a few followers a day and I’ve been focused on creating connection to drive engagement and build community.

Be proactive and start focusing on the following:

• Create content that focused on your niche audience and your journey.
• Tag brands in your niche if you are featuring their products. You never know who might see your video! This is a great way to make an introduction to collaborating with brands in your niche.
• Post a mix of images and video-based types of content to see what resonates with your target audience.
• Respond to comments to ensure you’re creating an engaged audience. Ask questions when you reply in the comments to drive addtional responses. This also helps promote your engagement rates overall!

Brands are starting to focus on smaller influencers to promote their products and services as part of their marketing campaigns over bigger accounts since micro-influencers tend to have higher engagement rates and closer community connections. While micro-influencers might sound like a cost-effective option over a larger creator, micro-influencers have metrics that are worth every penny!

Related Post: Sharing your journey is a great way to advocate for yourself. For more tips on speaking up, check out this post with tips to advocate for yourself!

How to Get Started as a Micro-Influencer

If your goal is to become a micro influencer (maybe it’s on your bingo card for this year), you’ve come to the right place. I’ve slowly started to focus on my position as a micro influencer as I grow this blog.

How to Become a Micro-Influencer

One of the biggest steps with being an influencer is getting comfortable with being uncomfotable.

Looking back, I remember wanting to start building something on TikTok, but I also wasn’t comfortable filming myself. I didn’t realize that sometimes finding your path takes time. As I started letting go of trying to be perfect, embraced the cringe and eventually I started to feel comfortable filming myself. I learned different camera settings, how to hold it to frame myself while I was running, and I watched others for inspiration. The practice helped me find my voice.

Related: Get a good tripod! This tripod is 62″ tall (I’ve bought so many tripods thinking they’re tall enough and this one should do the trick). I also love this small table phone stand for filming b-roll (known as the “shy girl tripod”).

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Where Do You Find Other Micro Influencers?

Start following other accounts in your niche. While it may seem like these creators would be your competition, it’s great to see how other’s perceive your topics of expertise. Find other creators who have the same passions so you can see things from another perspective. You can also learn a lot from others in the same field and share experiences for how to connect with brands.

Sign Up for Affiliate Marketing Offers

Look for opportunities to add affiliate links to start an influencer marketing campaign. There are so many businesses who are looking for influencers to promote their products. This is a great chance to work with brands! Start tagging brands in your posts, you never know where this might lead you! Building raport with brands through tags is a great way to get noticed brands that work with micro influencers.

Getting into the Amazon Influencer Program

A few months ago I opted to apply for the Amazon Influencer program. I thought for sure I needed a much larger following. After receiving multiple targeted ads, a first-round rejection and a successful second attempt, I was accepted in the Amazon Influencer program. I didn’t have a huge following but I did have an engaged following, which is why I believe I was accepted.

I initially wasn’t sure how to approach the program and so it took me months to find my groove. I now tag products in blog posts, create ideas lists and tag products in my stories to slowly grow my influencer income.

Other Types of Affiliate Programs

And a lot of platforms offer referral codes just for using their product, which can help increase your diversification of opportunities. I love being able to promote products or services I love, such as this offer to invest with Acorns or this fitness reward program with Evidation. I also discovered my favorite suitcase brand, Away, has a referral program, which is great for my brand as a travel blogger. It’s all about connecting with your niche audience.

I’ve started adding these links in one place on a landing page to help keep track for my followers. Originally I set up a Linktree page but realized I could use a page on my own blow to not only get traffic to my own platform but also add valuable internal links for my posts. These are both great for adding SEO value with internal links and a user’s experience.

Enroll in Micro Influencer Programs

At first I started dabbling with influencer tendencies by adding a product reference here, an affiliate link there. (And before I forget to mention, this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn commissions on eligible purchases. (Whew, so glad I got that out of the way). I was convinced I’d need 10 times the followers to even think about monetizing. 

We’re not talking a ton of money but the process is humbling and inspires my creativity. Micro influencers charge various amounts for promoting products or services and it’s important to know your rate is determined by your current following and engagement metrics.

Find Your Micro Influencer Niche

It’s important to know what you’re passionate about and when it comes to finding a niche, you’ll position yourself as a subject matter expert if you know at least 1% more than everyone else. So whether you’re an art influencer, a fitness micro influencer, or a sports micro influencer, you’ll be able to position yourself as a knowledgeable expert.

I added the “Wear” category as a focus when I was on vacation earlier this year. My girlfriends and I were sharing pics and links of the outfits we had planned for our trip. When we arrived we shared even more details on our finds. At the time I was sharing a daily vlog on my TikTok feed. I’d note when certain outfits or accessories were available on my Amazon storefront in small text at the bottom of the video.

Just like my friends asking for a link for our cute outfits, I saw this as an opportunity to proactively share links of my favorite finds and show I had a passion for finding my style. I also wanted to find ways to engage with a community more than what TikTok offers.

Related Post: Here are tips for creating running content if you’re looking to document your journey on social.

TikTok Isn’t Enough in 2026

I also noticed I’ve been struggling to find a balance between finding a way to express the stories I want to tell and having the time to tell them. The effort to create, edit and and publish a TikTok or an Instagram Reel is a lot, even for videos that seem like they have a low production value. I found myself feeling maxed out and I was on a path to burnout. 

Writing as been a source for me to express myself, work through emotions and get to a “good place.” And I love I can come back and modify or edit my posts if I have additional inspiration. I love I’m creating something that’s authentically me and it can live in one place, no matter the medium (and I can support the content through Pinterest, Instagram or TikTok).

What Free Services are Available for Micro-Influencers? 

There are so many cool tools available to you to support you as a micro-influencer! When you’re just getting started, having a budget for these tools can be a little bit of a challenge. The good news is there are plenty of free options you can explore until you have a budget to add services.

• WordPress has a free hosting platform you can use to get started now, as well as relatively inexpensive options for more features.
• Hootsuite has a ton of free social media features including social post, hashtag and blog topic generators. I love to use these tools to iron out an idea or get another perspective to launch an idea.
• Canva is a great free tool! I honestly thought I’d need Canva Pro to have beautiful templates to support my content and discovered they have so many cute free templates.
• CapCut is a god-send as a free video editor. Most of the features are available on the free version. You don’t need to upgrade unless you want to.
• Ubersuggest offers free keyword research (limited to 1 to 3 searches per day) if you’re patient or building a keyword library for the long term.

These are all really great service with low to minimal overhead to help support your business while you’re getting started. You can also partner with small businesses to help promote each other (here’s an example for one I did with a spray tan salon on Chicago).

Sometimes the paid options are worth it, if they create an avenue to take something off your plate. There are also are options for freemium or paid services that have lower tiered offers for creators just getting started.

Tips for Micro-Influencers Wandering Forward

I probably won’t be publishing as many TikToks and honestly, it’s what I need right now. I’m having so much fun exploring other mediums and tapping into the whole digital model. Plus, the racing stress of keeping up with that platform was getting to be a lot. It’s really reassuring to build something for keeps. I am so excited to share my personal tips and experiences that make me who I am, while also learning about myself along the way.

Have any tips for micro-influencers? If you have great options for platforms and tools to make life easier for a micro-influencer, leave a note in the comments!

Let’s wander together! Follow along on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest. And never miss a post by subscribing to my newsletter.

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