An Introduction To The Influencer Marketing Industry

A decade or so ago, the term ‘influencer’ was niche. Society generally took inspiration and buying decisions from celebrities in magazines, movies, or adverts. Today, with the popular appeal of social media, it’s almost impossible to ignore the impact of influencers.

We often see unknown members of the public quickly become influential content creators on social platforms and mainstream media channels, sharing endless user-generated content with their loyal fanbases such as the latest products, clothing hauls, lifestyles or gaming.

This industry is influencer marketing, and it’s now ubiquitous.

Influencer marketing is the promotion or endorsement of a product or service by a person or group with a significant presence on social media platforms. Influencers create content that influences their follower base – those who view them as an expert in their field or with who they share a view of the world.

These people are more commonly known as influencers. Brands use influencer marketing to promote their message to a more extensive consumer base.

Consumers’ buying behaviour may be influenced when they see a post from someone they trust, such as reading a post from an influencer who shares a brand experience on social media. Audiences naturally interact with brands that align with their lifestyle or values and feel inspired.

Businesses considering the use of influencer marketing follow a process of research and identification of influencers to ensure those persons hired resonate with the business target audience and act as brand advocates to communicate key messages into the market on their behalf.

Influencer marketing should be reviewed with your business objectives, product or service line, and brand positioning to determine if this strategy is suitable.

Here are a few advantages of using influencer marketing:

• Influencers usually maintain several social media channels, which can be used to promote your product or service.
• Influencer marketing helps improve brand awareness and exposure to a broader audience range.
• This strategy can drive increased word-of-mouth, virality which provides social proof.
• Consumers usually follow accounts and content made by influencers they feel are credible and trustworthy. Consumers can often follow influencers recommendations over branded advertising.
• Younger consumers may relate to influencers more than enterprises and companies. This human factor plays a significant role, as influencers are observed as truthful or objective, selecting to work with brands that align with their values and their audience’s values.

Influencers belong to many different categories and it is crucial to choose the right one for your brand. 

The type of influencer you choose can be based on many different things but the two main things to keep in mind are the influencer’s follower count and the type of content they make.    

Some examples of types of influencers based on content:

• Sports and fitness influencers – usually support sports brands, healthy food and beverage businesses and in general anything to do with fitness and wellness.
• Bloggers and vlogger influencers –  are usually based on content-creators that already have quite a large follower base from their blog or vlogs. They are known to create high-quality and well thought out content on different mediums too.
  
• Travel influencers – provide content based on travelling and tourism. They give travel advice, hacks, tips and reviews to their followers who usually look for travel inspirations. 
• Beauty influencers – focus their content creating on beauty and makeup. They work on product reviews, tutorials and creative new makeup ideas too. If you’re a beauty-based brand then working with beauty influencers might just be the right way to quickly and effeciently increase sales. 
• Photographers influencers – create content that best showcases the art of photography. Camera brands and firms often turn to photography influencers to sell their products (camera gear). 
• Gamers influencers – generally promote video games and game-related items. They are influencers that are a niche targeting to a niche audience. 
• Fashion influencers – are one of the most common types of influencers. They promote a wide variety of different products, from shoes, accessories, full looks etc. Their content also ranges from giving reviews to showcasing new ideas and trends.
• Parenting influencers – are all about the life of parents. They make content based on parenting tips, reviews, they share their personal parenting stories to relate to other parents from around the world. 

Yes. Influencers profiles vary based on their number of followers.

NanoInfluencers 

• 1–10K followers
• Usually highly active
• Build close relationships with their fans through interaction and communication

Micro-Influencers

• 10k–100k followers
• Large active following
• Relatable, with active communication with their followers

Macro Influencers 

• 100K–1M followers
• Usually social media stars, bloggers, vloggers, or podcasters
• Developed over a long period of time maintaining relationships and growing followers
• Lower engagement rate

Mega Influencers 

• Mega influencers and celebrities
• At least one million followers
• Need a large marketing budget to hire
• Audiences are extremely broad.

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