Explore the different types of influencers and help you determine which one is right for your brand
Are you looking to collaborate with an influencer to promote your brand but are unsure which type of influencer would be the best fit? In this article, we will explore the different types of influencers and help you determine which one is right for your brand.
Whether you’re targeting a specific niche or aiming for a broader audience, understanding the various categories of influencers can greatly enhance your marketing strategy. From micro-influencers who have a small yet highly engaged following, to macro-influencers who have a massive reach, each type offers unique benefits.
Additionally, there are different social media platforms to consider, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and more, each with its own influential figures. By understanding the characteristics, reach, and engagement of each type of influencer, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your brand’s voice and goals. So, if you’re ready to elevate your brand’s presence and effectively engage with your target audience, keep reading to discover the perfect influencer for your brand
The influencer marketing landscape
Regardless of their focus, all influencers have one thing in common: they have built a loyal following on social media and are able to leverage that following to promote products and services to their audience.
Influencer culture has become so popular that you can hear about it almost anywhere these days. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find someone whose interest isn’t piqued by influencer culture. People are usually curious about why becoming an influencer is such a goal for some and how much they actually earn for it.
The answer is that it is debatable. It depends on the type of content the influencer produces, how well-known they are, and what platform they post their content on. This is why breaking down the different types of influencers is important. Christiano Ronaldo, the football great, was crowned the wealthiest Instagram user in 2021 by HopperHQ. He has around 300 million followers on Instagram and earns $1.6 million per sponsored post. The adolescent star Jojo Siwa, ranked 104th, earns $44,400 for every Instagram post. Those are unquestionably impressive figures. Even so, this is to be expected, given that influencers are practically universally renowned celebrities.
The real question is, how much money do ordinary people who have become influencers on social media make?
Before we dive into that, let us look first at what influencer marketing is.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a mix of traditional and innovative marketing techniques. It incorporates the concept of celebrity endorsement into a modern content-driven marketing campaign. In the case of influencer marketing, the primary differentiation is that the results of the campaign are collaborations between businesses and influencers.
One of the most common blunders made by traditional media is failing to distinguish between celebrities and online influencers. If we break it down further, after distinguishing between influencers and celebrities, it’s also important to distinguish between types of influencers.
Influencer marketing is not limited to celebrities. Instead, it is centered on influencers, many of who would never consider themselves famous in a traditional sense. An influencer can also be defined as a person who has the power to affect buying decisions of others due to their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience.
It’s also crucial to remember that most influencers have worked hard to cultivate a loyal and enthusiastic following. It’s no coincidence that these folks prefer to follow influencers over brands. Your audience couldn’t care less about that flashy advertisement for your latest product. They just care about the influencers’ thoughts. Don’t try to impose corporate norms and practices on your influencers. They own the audience, and they can walk away at any time, taking their followers with them.
Where to connect with influencers
Unlike celebrities, different types of influencers can be found anywhere. Anyone can be an influencer. Their massive online and social media followings are what make them influential. A well-known fashion photographer on Instagram, a well-read cybersecurity writer who tweets, or a recognized marketing executive on LinkedIn are all examples of influencers. There are prominent people in every industry—you simply have to look for them. Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people will follow these people. However, many influencers will appear to be average folks.
In some situations, an influencer may only have a few thousand followers or even less. Nonetheless, the common factor that determines an influencer across the board is someone who has earned a reputation as a specialist in their profession. Influencers are the people to whom people turn for answers to their questions. They are the ones who create the most engaging social posts in their particular niches, depending on their realm of knowledge. They post the most enjoyable photos, create the most interesting videos, and moderate the most educational internet forums.
Why is influencer marketing important?
Influencer marketing offers lots of potential for your business. This type of marketing can help you achieve some fantastic goals since it breaks down many previously insurmountable boundaries.
When it comes down to it, the primary benefit of influencer marketing is to increase sales. However, that isn’t all that influencer marketing has to offer.
Let’s look at the advantages of influencer marketing for your business.
1) Increased sales
Again, this is the ultimate advantage of influencer marketing, but looking at influencer marketing data might help you understand its effectiveness.
Remember that for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, businesses earn $18.
For many brands, this figure is far higher. The actual value will vary depending on how much you invest in influencer marketing and how effective each campaign is, but the ROI is undeniably high.
2) Social proof
Regardless of the type of business you have, it’s important to obtain social proof. As humans, we desire to fit in, typically following the crowd. In other words, we have an inbuilt need to be accepted by others. When we see something that other people are interested in, we naturally become interested in it as well. That is what social proof is all about. This is particularly true in the case of influencer marketing. Influencers can amplify the effect of social proof. Followers will believe influencers’ opinions of your products more than your own opinion of your products.
Influencer support is the most powerful type of social proof, and it’s been shown to work with almost any product in any market. Surprisingly, influencers without a large audience can still have a large social proof. Even if they don’t have millions of followers, smaller influencers, known as micro-and nano-influencers, have a large influence over the opinions of the few people who follow them. Simply put, when you employ influencer marketing to promote your company, you’re gaining social proof.
3) Direct connection to an audience
In order to sell your products, you need to get your message in front of your target audience and this isn’t always easy. Influencer marketing effectively tackles this problem by putting your message in front of your clients on a platform they utilize on a daily basis. Keep in mind that the people who follow influencers in your industry are the same people you’re trying to reach, and influencer marketing is far superior to traditional social media advertising. Even better, because influencer marketing is so natural, it doesn’t feel like advertising; therefore, people will be more responsive to your brand than usual.
Content plays a massive role in getting audiences to engage with a business, and this applies to both members of the public as well as the influencers that you want to partner with. Whether you’re creating images, videos, guest articles, or podcasts, having content that resonates with your audience will give you a direct connection to these people.
How Pressfarm can boost your content creation
If you want to create the kind of content that influencers find appealing, you should consider partnering with Pressfarm. Armed with a team of PR specialists, expert writers, and certified designers, Pressfarm can create professional press releases, winning guest posts, and eye-catching media kits for your brand.
In addition, the team at Pressfarm has developed a content distribution strategy that has proven to work for hundreds of brands. By submitting your content to the right media outlets and startup directories, Pressfarm can boost your online visibility and ensure your brand ranks in relevant search results across search engines.
Moreover, with custom media lists and a database of over 1 million journalists across different industries, you can connect with the best journalists in your niche. If you need help creating a brand that is appealing to both influencers as well as your target audience, then one of Pressfarm’s packages might be just the thing for you.
Types of influencer marketing
Influencer marketing can take a variety of forms. At its most basic level, it’s about persuading an influencer to share your product or service with their audience, but there are a variety of approaches that will align with different types of influencers.
1) Sponsored content
This is one of the most popular influencer marketing strategies you’ll come across. Sponsored content is just a social media post that includes a product or service advertisement.
Think of influencer marketing as a combination of old and new marketing strategies, similar to a celebrity endorsement for the digital age. The content is frequently shared on the influencer’s social media channels, with call-to-action inviting followers to buy the product. Influencers often post about their experiences with the product or service in question. This type of personal narrative works effectively because it gives the influencer credibility and builds trust with their audience.
The Instagram shoutout is another type of sponsored content that is growing in popularity. While this is usually a one-time strategy, it may bring lots of attention to your brand, and shoutouts from influencers are easy to arrange.
2) Discounts/affiliate links
Everyone loves a good deal, and influencer-specific discounts can be particularly effective. Affiliate or referral links can be used to track the engagement an audience has with content that an influencer produces for your brand.
Even if you do not give a discount, referral links can help you track and analyze the campaign. Discounts have almost always been bundled with sponsored content.
3) Contests and giveaways
Everyone enjoys receiving gifts. This is especially true of influencer audiences. Why? Because the influencer will only promote things that their fans are passionate about.
Influencer contests and giveaways usually generate a lot of buzz and reach thousands of people. You can partner with an influencer to host a contest or giveaway with products from your brand, thus putting these products in the spotlight.
4) Publishing influencer content on your channels
Influencer marketing often involves influencers promoting products on their networks; however, the conventional influencer marketing campaign reverses that approach.
Instead, the influencer appears on your channels, which might result in a significant increase in social media traffic. This can be a single post or a “takeover” where the influencer has complete control of your brand’s social media platforms for a day.
5) Brand ambassadorship
If a particular influencer is an excellent fit for your company, you should consider making them a brand ambassador.
An influencer who works with your brand for a long time is known as a brand ambassador. This has several advantages since it is a form of long-term influencer marketing, unlike the shorter-term tactics on this list. When you develop a long-term partnership with an influencer, they become the face of your brand, giving your brand an image that the public can connect with. What’s more, when an influencer works with you for a long time, they have more of a chance to learn more about your brand and what makes it tick, putting them in the perfect position to make recommendations that will boost your brand image.
While there are a variety of additional influencer marketing strategies, the aforementioned strategies are the most popular and effective. When working with an influencer, most brands will use more than one of these strategies.
Types of influencers on social media
An influencer’s reach is one aspect that impacts how much money they make. Influencers’ earnings are directly proportionate to their number of followers. In other words, the more followers they have, the more money they make.
Nano-influencer
Reach: 1,000 – 10,000 followers
Nano influencers are those who have less than 10,000 followers on social media. Although some people might classify nano-influencers as influencers with fewer than 5,000 followers, the essential point is that these influencers have the smallest following out of all the influencer tiers.
Despite the fact that nano influencers are the smallest influencers a brand may work with, they should not be neglected. These influencers are a lot of fun to work with and they also have wide influence over the followers that they do have.
Micro-influencers
Reach: 10,000 – 50,000 followers
Micro-influencers are content creators who have created a loyal following in a specific area, such as travel, gastronomy, or photography, and nurture those communities with custom material. Micro-influencers often have a larger audience and can communicate with their followers more frequently and sometimes more intimately. This is a major reason why micro-influencers can increase engagement due to their efforts.
Micro-influencers are members of the community who have become known for their expertise in their niche. They are one step above nano influencers. Their audience can range from a small group of people interested in their lifestyle to a large group of people interested in that niche. Since micro-influencers differ from their counterparts in more ways than one, this form of contact and trusted relationship is crucial to their success.
Mid-tier Influencers
Reach: 50,000 – 500,000 followers
An Instagram influencer with 50,000 to 500,000 followers is considered mid-tier. Mid-tier influencers live up to their name, with a reach in the middle of the pack compared to the other four tiers of influencers. It’s true that mid-tier audiences are not as small as those of nano-influencers or as large as mega-influencers. Mid-tier influencers generate significant engagement and powerful effects nonetheless.
In a study of the engagement of influencers with various following sizes, people found that mid-level influencers had more engagement than micro-influencers.
Influencers in the middle tier may not be as well-known as they should be. Many Instagram users follow mid-tier influencers without realizing it, as these producers have risen through the ranks without their followers noticing. More often than not, people mistake them for micro-influencers, since their growth is not dramatic. The mid-tier level is the sweet spot because from this point it’s easy to shift from an influencer with mild popularity to an absolute superstar.
Macro-influencers
Reach: 500,000 – 1,000,000 followers
Macro-influencers are social media influencers who have the most followers on major social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and, in some cases, individual blogs. As more people spend their time on social media, a group of senior expert media influencers and leaders has arisen. More individual users seek to become macro-influencers themselves.
The macro-influencer tier is popular and well-known. Out of today’s trendsetters, macro-influencers are specialists and key opinion leaders in various fields and categories, making them reliable tools and advertising channels for companies and marketers.
Mega-influencers
Reach: 1,000,000 or more followers
Mega-influencers are, as the term implies, “mega-famous” people. Actors, artists, athletes, and social media personalities with a following of at least 1 million people fall into this group. Mega-influencers have the most considerable reach in the sense that their posts will be seen by most individuals on the influencer spectrum, thanks to their celebrity appeal. If you want to get your product in front of the broadest potential audience, then mega influencers are the way to go. However, since celebrities are frequently utilized as product spokespeople, they are viewed as less trustworthy than “self-made” influencers. These influencers are, of course, the most expensive to work with.
How much do different types of influencers make on social media?
According to specialists in influencer marketing, Instagram is the ideal platform for influencers.
Nano-influencers like Laura DeMartino, who has 5,200 Instagram followers, can earn $10 to $100 for every post. Meanwhile, Ashley Jones, a lifestyle and fashion influencer can earn $100 to $500 for every Instagram post. Jehava Brown, on the other hand, is a mid-tier influencer who can earn up to $5,000 each post. She also told Business Insider that she charges an average of $3,000 per Instagram Story.
Influencers ranging from macro-influencers to mega-influencers can earn anything from $5,000 to more than $100,000 on each post. Again, celebrity influencers have been known to earn up to $1 million for each Instagram post.
Later on, you’ll see that a YouTube video can earn more money than an Instagram video. On the other hand, making a YouTube video takes a long time. In fact, an influencer can create and publish several Instagram posts in the amount of time it takes to produce one YouTube video. As a result, Instagram is the most popular medium for influencers.
YouTube
The second-best medium for social media influencers is YouTube. Unlike on Instagram, influencers do not need to rely on sponsorships to make money on YouTube. By applying to the YouTube Partner Program, influencers can monetize their material. On the other hand, brand partnerships are welcome because they provide the influencers with more funds.
Given how the monetization system works, no two influencers make the same amount of money. Their earnings primarily relate to the number of times their videos are viewed, which is beyond their control. They can, however, set the price for a shoutout or endorsement from a sponsor.
Jen Lauren, a nano-influencer with 1,900 subscribers, can charge $20 to $200 for every video. Mega-influencers like Tiffany Ma, on the other hand, may view $20,000 as the minimum acceptable remuneration for each video.
Some YouTube influencers work with a range of rates for brands. They wait for the views to arrive before charging between $50 and $100 for every 1,000 views.
TikTok
Influencers now have another source of revenue when it comes to making money on TikTok, according to TikTok’s new Creator Fund, which is well underway. Only individuals who meet the following conditions are eligible for the TikTok creator fund:
- The influencer is based in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
- They must be at least 18 years old.
- Said influencer must have a minimum of 10,000 followers.
- In the last 30 days, this influencer must have received at least 10,000 video views.
- The influencer needs a TikTok account that is compliant with the TikTok Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
Although this new function is beneficial to the majority of influencers, many of the items on this list also apply to brands.
As with the other social media platforms, specific factors contribute to an influencer getting paid to promote a product on TikTok. These factors include the number of followers, presence on the platform, and engagement rate.
TikTok Community Guidelines
As mentioned previously, the amount an influencer is paid is heavily influenced by the number of followers they have. More views come with a more extensive following, which is something that marketers crave. The number of individuals who will see a post, piece of material, or other content is referred to as reach, and brands want as wide a reach as they can get. After all, the larger the reach, the more followers you have.
The profile of an influencer can influence how much an influencer is paid when brands select influencers and pricing points for future campaign partnerships. Mega-influencers like Bryce Hall, Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio, and others are typically paid more than nano and micro-influencers. This is thanks to their ability to produce quality content promptly with many other major influencers. A number of “content houses” in Los Angeles are renowned for acquiring big brand endorsements.
College student Addison Rae, for example, swiftly rose to stardom on TikTok thanks to a slew of viral videos. As her fame expanded, she received more and more brand endorsements. Rae is a hot commodity with brands, with various deals from Moose Toys, Peacock TV, Good Hair Day, Amazon, Just Dance, Grubhub, American Eagle, and many more. According to Celeb’s Fortune, Rae is one of the highest-paid TikTok stars for brand partnerships. She earns almost $15,000 on average for each sponsored post.
The future of influencer marketing
Despite initial fears that COVID-19 would reduce influencer marketing (and, by extension, all marketing), it has actually increased. Sure, some businesses, such as tourism and airlines, have drastically cut back on their operations. However, many others have adapted their business strategies to survive in the COVID (and post-COVID) era.
From a mere $1.7 billion in 2016, influencer marketing is estimated to have grown to have a market size of $9.7 billion in 2020. This is expected to jump to more than $13.8 billion in 2022.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing has become a game-changer in the world of advertising, with various types of influencers emerging in recent years. Each type of influencer has its own unique benefits and can be used to target different audiences. As influencer marketing continues to evolve, brands are constantly exploring new ways to collaborate with influencers and reach their target market.