VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: How micro-influencers are impacting small businesses in CNY
Marianna Ryan: “So we knew that if we just put it in the hands of the people that we’re gonna get the word out themselves that they would do it for us.”
Kyra Wood: Owner Ashley Robinson had one question before opening Heathouse. How do we expedite word-of-mouth? The answer?Micro influencers.
Ryan: Syracuse itself is a small community. The micro influencers make a large impact especially because there’s so many
Wood: The concept was simple. Offer free classes to local influencers in exchange for one thing: a post.
Ryan: Just putting a picture up on someone’s Instagram story and letting all of those little lines like trickle out to the different even like influences around is perfect.
Wood: Project coordinator for the center for the creator economy at Syracuse University Thomas O’Brien says the strategy makes complete sense but it’s less about the more about the people.
Thomas O’Brien: That’s someone that people can watch their video and say I see myself in person and I relate to that person and I want to relate to that experience that they’re talking about.
Wood: O’Brien says it’s a learning curve.
O’Brien: We want to promote in this way. We just don’t know how because it’s a newer language.
Wood: At Heathouse, Robinson didn’t just build a business. She built a team.
Gianna Pezzino: Ashley trained all of us.
Wood: and that investment from the top is hard to replicate.
Pezzino: it just is a sense of community that I don’t think I have really seen before
Wood: Creating a community where there’s already one built.
Ryan: Everyone that walks in the door says Syracuse really needed this.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Before the doors opened at Heathouse on May 2, owner Ashley Robinson had one thing in mind: how do we expedite word of mouth?
Her answer was not your typical outreach or even her own social media page. It was the people who already built a community.
Heathouse, an infrared-heated boutique fitness studio, the first of its kind in Central New York, promoted their business in a different way. They offered free classes to local micro-influencers in exchange for their following; a post.
Thomas O’Brien, project coordinator for the Center for the Creator Economy says it’s the authenticity that allows these creators to be trusted within their community.
“That’s someone that people can watch their video and say,‘I see myself in that person,’” O’Brien said. “I relate to that person and I want to relate to that experience they’re talking about.”
That relatability is something advertisements cannot replicate O’Brien said. And for new businesses in CNY, the hesitation in adopting a similar strategy isn’t because they don’t want to, it’s the novelty of the space.
“You could talk to 99% of small businesses and they’ll say we want to go into this space, we want to promote in this way… we just don’t know how because it’s a newer language,” O’Brien said.
New businesses have the opportunity to reach groups of people they never thought possible by leaning into a new space in the digital world. Heathouse studio manager Marianna Ryan says the influence is powerful.
“Just putting a picture up on someone’s Instagram story and letting all these little lines trickle out to the different influences around is perfect,” Ryan said.
Robinson, who is also the owner of Spoke Fitness Studio, wanted to create something meaningful in her sister location. She individually certified each one of the instructors at Heathouse.
“It’s just a community that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before,” sculpt instructor Gianna Pezzino said. “Just getting to move my body with other people that have the same love for it is great.”
And the community is only getting bigger and better with expansion at the top of everyone’s mind already after sold-out classes and waitlists of more than 20 people.
“Everyone who walks in the door always says ‘Syracuse really needed this,’” Ryan said.