Over the past decade, the increase of social media users has surged the popularity of influencers. Influencers are social media personalities capable of creating promotional content modeled to boost the brand’s online presence, brand authority, and revenue.
Social media influencers are well-known individuals who have earned the trust and credibility of social media communities. They have a large number of social media followers who respect and listen to what they have to say.
The following are the types of social media influencers categorized according to their social media follower count and their type of content:
According to their number of followers:
- Nano-Influencers
- Micro-Influencers
- Macro-Influencers
- Mega-Influencers
According to their type of content:
- Blogger/Vlogger
- Photographers
- Sports And Fitness
- Beauty
- Fashion
- Gamers
- Travel
Social media Influencers By Types
Influencer marketing is currently one of the most popular content marketing trends in terms of ROI. Below will show you a clear view of the distinguishing features of the different types of social media influencers.
- Number Of Followers
The increasing number of social media influencers on different social media platforms has made significant changes to brands marketing strategies. There is no doubt that their existence was able to help brands build awareness and authority online. But what is really the difference between the influencers that have a different number of followers?
1. Nano-Influencers
They have more personal connections.
Nano-influencers are a new type of influencer. They usually have smaller follower counts compared to other types of social media influencers, ranging from a thousand to ten thousand followers. They are online personalities that have influence within their community. The idea behind nano-influencers is that they are seen and recognized the same as any other social media user, wherein, they use this to their advantage to allow their audience to relate to them.
Brands benefit from leveraging nano-influencers that among the other types of social media influencers, they have the highest level of engagement with their audiences. Brands that are represented by nano-influencers are more likely to have a trusting relationship with their audiences.
The majority of nano-influencer followers are family and friends. People are more likely to regard them as genuine than other types of influencers. And because a significant number of their followers know them personally, they can deliver content that is both impactful and credible. However, the main drawback of nano-influencers is that they have a smaller number of followers in comparison to other types of social media influencers. Despite their high engagement with their audiences, they do not have the capability to reach large audiences and broad communities.
2. Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers generally have between 10,000 – 100,000 followers. They tend to focus more on their specific niche or area of expertise for the content of their posts. Their audiences regard them as experts who specialize in particular topics.
The goal of brands collaborating with influencers is to raise awareness, promote products and service offerings, create interesting content, and encourage sales. Though micro-influencers have a smaller follower count, the majority of their followers are genuinely interested in their content This is all the more important, especially for new or small brands with very limited marketing campaign budgets, a partnership with nano-influencers is the right choice for a cost-effective marketing campaign. They enable brands to connect with audiences that have a trusting relationship with the influencers.
Micro-influencers can help brands deliver the right messages to the right people. Brands can benefit the most from working with micro-influencers by switching their influencer marketing strategy to a more specific approach. They have acquired a larger reach compared to nano-influencers and were also able to retain a high level of engagement with their audiences.
For the promotion of the launch of the movie Ghost In The Shell, Paramount partnered with Tanke to collaborate with 8 social media micro-influencers in order to create exciting content that would pique the interest of the audiences. The influencer marketing campaign garnered 2.8 million followers and 1.3 million organic views.
3. Macro-Influencers
Macro-influencers followers count ranges from 100,000 to 500,000 followers. They are like the in-between category of micro-influencers and mega-influencers. Unlike mega-influencers, macro-influencers typically gained their popularity through vlogging and doing other popular internet trends, such as product or service reviews.
Social media influencers’ capability to promote brands comes from their authenticity and their large number of engaged followers. The best opportunity to leverage collaborations with macro-influencers is if you want to increase your reach and engagement rate. Micro-influencers are capable of sending your brand image and message to their followers, piquing their interest in your brand, and leaving them wondering why your brand is something macro-influencers want to promote.
Macro-influencers are typically social media influencers known for their blogs, vlogs, and podcast on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.
4. Mega-Influencers
Among other types of influencers mentioned above, mega-influencers have the largest follower count ranging from 500,000 and above, making them have the highest capability to reach large audiences and communities. They typically have more than a million followers with audiences that are more diverse and are interested in different topics. Unlike nano and micro-influencers which have a higher engagement rate, mega influencers relationships with their followers are typically distant. they tend to be broader in their content, making it hard for them to stay on a specific topic, resulting in a distant relationship with their followers.
Corollary to their large number of followers, mega-influencers are able to provide brands with greater reach, but at a high cost. They provide brands with the greatest amount of exposure online and are also accustomed to collaborating with brands for brand promotions and outreach. However, mega-influencers are not known to have converting capabilities compared to other types of social media influencers. They are more suitable in marketing campaigns with the goal of promoting their brand to the masses.
To promote the release of Tomb Raider, Warner Bros partnered with Tanke to launch an influencer marketing campaign with Danielle, a well-known web granny on YouTube. The influencer campaign was able to reach 2 million followers and garnered 120 thousand of organic views.
Because of Danielle’s popularity, the promotional content was able to reach large audiences
Type Of Content
In collaboration with social media influencers for your brand marketing campaign, your only need not consider their number of followers, but instead, also consider the relevance of their niche to your brand. Below are some of the
1. Bloggers/Vloggers
Macro-influencers and mega-influencers are usually known for their blog and vlog content. Because of their large follower count in their social media channels, macro-influencers and mega-influencers’ blogs and vlogs are able to keep their audiences engaged and interested.
An influencer’s blog or vlog typically has a short segment or message that usually contains referral links for the brands they are promoting in their social media posts. This helps brands boost their traffic, awareness, and authority online.
2. Photographers
The micro to mega influencers is typically known for their photo posts. Brands that want to promote their camera and accessories work with well-known photographers online for influencer marketing campaigns.
Photography influencers can create effective promotional content simply by posting high-quality photos to their social media channels. The posted photo demonstrates the high quality of the brand’s products that the influencer intends to promote.
3. Sports And Fitness
Sports and fitness influencers can be categorized further into different niches such as sports and fitness gear, clothing, food supplements, and other related products and services. They typically endorse brands relating to any form of sports and fitness products. They are usually their audience’s role model and source of motivation.
4. Beauty
Beauty brands search for innovative ways that they could incorporate into their marketing strategies. This is where beauty influencers come into the picture. They provide brands healthy following wherein, their audiences see them as someone trustworthy and to whom they can relate.
Beauty influencers provide their audience with product reviews typically from makeup brands, usually cosmetic, haircare, and skincare products. Their promotional content posts include how-tos and other beauty tips.
5. Fashion
Brands collaborate with fashion influencers to promote products such as clothing, shoes, jewelry, watch, and other accessories. Their social media content for their promotional posts contains product reviews of a broad range of products.
6. Gamers
Gaming influencers are usually on social media platforms that allow live streaming such as YouTube and Twitch. Their general audience is composed of people who wanted to improve their gameplay or are just curious about the game that the gaming influencers are trying to promote.
Gaming influencers do not just limit their post to game streams but also promote gaming units or devices such as game gaming computers, consoles, and other peripherals used by general gamers.
7. Travel
Travel influencers commonly include travel hacks and tips in their social media posts. Brands collaborate with travel influencers in making innovative promotions for their products, which include travel equipment, gear, and other travel-related products.
Choose What Suits Your Brand
The surge of social media influencers nowadays brought not only benefits but has also created hurdles for brands. Searching for the right influencers for your brand campaign has become a strenuous task for marketers.
Here are some of the factors that brands need to consider in selecting influencers for their marketing campaigns.
- Audience
Selecting the right influencers for your brand does not end with determining the influencers’ follower count. Begin the next step by analyzing their followers. Do their audiences match your target audiences? If not, they may have difficulty in sending your brand messages across. Do they have a high engagement rate? How about their followers’ comments and responses to their social media posts? Brands also have to consider the audiences and not solely focus on the influencers.
- Expertise
Are the influencers you have in mind knowledgeable about your brand’s industry? Are their social media posts related to your brand’s products and services? If yes, do they have a considerable amount of expertise to fully present your brands’ messages across the audiences?
Influencers that would represent your brand should have a considerable amount of expertise about your niche.
- Campaign Goals
The type of influencer brands to choose from should be dependent on the set marketing goals. If part of your marketing goal is to boost conversions, then social media influencers with higher engagement rates with the audiences might be suited for your brand campaign. However, if part of your goals is to build awareness.
- Platform
The platform where the influencer you are planning to collaborate with should also be taken into consideration. Still, depending on your brand marketing goals and strategy, you have to determine which social media platform is best for your brand-which platform will you get the highest reach and the most conversions,
Leverage Influencer Marketing By Choosing The Right Influencer For Your Brand
There are various types of social media influencers that you can choose from to promote your brand. However, finding the right influencer to help your brand grow is not an easy task. There are a number of factors and metrics you need to consider to effectively determine which social media influencers are best for your brand.
The rapid growth of social media platforms and the increasing number of influencers have provided brands with several options and enhanced marketing strategies. The rise of social media influencer marketing has provided both advantages and disadvantages—companies have a large number of influencers to choose from, but choosing the right influencer among the various types of influencers has become more difficult.
By understanding the various types of influencers, you can determine which content creator is the best fit for your brand, budget, and marketing goals when developing an effective influencer marketing strategy for your company.
When selecting influencers, it is vital to ensure that your brand’s image and the influencers’ niche are in sync. Choosing the ideal influencer for your brand campaign will help your brand achieve your marketing goals- reach larger audiences, build brand awareness and authority online, boost traffic, boost sales, and increase revenue.
