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While most brands would kill to have a partnership with one of the Kardashians or Jenners, not all influencers are a good fit for every brand. After all, it wouldn’t make much sense for an accounting firm to partner with a beauty influencer. That’s why it’s so important for businesses to do their homework and find influencers that line up with their brand and values.
To help you find the right influencer that will fit naturally into your influencer marketing
strategy, we’ll explain all the different types of influencers you should be looking at and how to go about facilitating a relationship with them.
But first, let’s back up a bit.
What Is Influencer Marketing?
At its core, influencer marketing refers to partnerships between brands and influencers that are paid to promote their products or services to their followers.
There are several different types of partnerships to consider. You might consider:
Paying an influencer to create an Instagram feed or Story post promoting your brand
Gifting an influencer free products in exchange for featuring or reviewing your product or service in a post
Paying an influencer to feature or review your product in a YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok video
Offering an influencer a discount code to give their followers in exchange for a commission
Are there Different Sizes of Influencers?
Yes! While many brands aim to partner with influencers with 1 million+ followers, it’s important not to dismiss those with smaller followings, as they tend to have a more niche audience and higher levels of engagement compared to larger influencers.
With that being said, let’s take a closer look at the different sizes of influencers and the benefits they offer.
Nano: 1K–10K Followers
Nano influencers have small followings, but tend to have very high levels of engagement and close relationships with their followers. Followers have a high level of trust in nano influencers and will often make purchasing decisions based on their recommendations.
Nano influencers are also often eager to partner with brands and are quite cost effective to work with.
Working with nano influencers is a great option if you are a small-to-medium-sized business with a smaller marketing budget.
Micro: 10K–100K Followers
Although they may have tens of thousands of more followers, micro-influencers receive similar levels of trust and engagement from their followers compared to nano influencers.
Like nano influencers, micro-influencers tend to specialize in a particular niche and have a very targeted audience.
However, micro influencers have the upper hand when it comes to the size of their audience.
When building relationships with micro influencers, look for influencers who are already following and interacting with your brand. This can be done by searching for hashtags that relate to your brand, specialty, or niche.
Macro: 100K–1M Followers
Macro influencers have developed a certain level of “fame” on social media and have a broader audience than smaller influencers.
Most macro influencers have been doing social media professionally for many years and will likely have experience working with brands.
This can include:
Social media stars
Reality TV personalities
Athletes
B or C list celebrities
Podcasters
Partnerships with macro influencers are great for building brand awareness, as you have access to a wider audience than you would with smaller influencers.
A downside, though, is that they usually have lower levels of engagement.
Mega: 1M+ Followers
Mega influencers are the highest level of influencer you can work with, and will have a minimum of 1 million followers.
This includes:
Any of the Kardashians or Jenners
Models
Musicians or actors
Internet celebrities
Professional athletes
Reality TV stars
Influential figures
A-list celebrities
Partnering with mega influencers is an incredible way to supercharge your brand awareness. Look at companies like Sugar Bear Hair Vitamins, Fashion Nova, and Flat Tummy Tea. All three companies went from unknown brands to household names thanks to partnerships with mega influencers.
For this reason, having your brand featured in a sponsored post from a mega influencer is like snagging the Holy Grail in the world of influencer marketing.
Therefore, it should be no surprise that partnerships with mega influencers are highly coveted and will cost you a pretty penny. For example, it’s estimated that Kylie Jenner makes $1 million for just one sponsored Instagram post. While this may seem outrageously high, consider the fact that she has 219 million followers and an incredible amount of influence.
Unless you’re feeling super ambitious, it’s best to leave mega influencers to larger brands with healthy marketing budgets that are looking to get their brand in front of as many eyes as possible.
Influencers By Platform
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. There are so many options for creating content on Instagram, making the platform a great place to start for brands looking to partner with influencers. From IGTV videos to stories, reels, and of course, the OG feed post, the opportunities are endless.
While there are specific niches that live on Instagram, the majority of these influencers focus on general lifestyle and have gained a following just by posting about their everyday lives.
YouTube
YouTube is a great place to look for influencers if your brand is looking to target a specific niche. With the exception of daily vloggers and ‘story time’ YouTubers, most YouTubers fall into a very specific niche such as:
Beauty
Fashion
Food
Gaming
Parenting
DIY
YouTubers are great to work with for product reviews as they are able to talk in depth about a product and how it’s used.
People don’t typically associate Facebook with influencers. While some of the most popular Facebook pages belong to A-list celebrities posting personal content, there are, in fact, influencers on Facebook producing killer video content that generates millions of views and shares. Think 5-minute crafts and Tipsy Bartender.
With such a massive audience on Facebook, partnering up with one of these influencers can be great for brand awareness
TikTok
TikTok is huge right now. With over 2 billion downloads and a 70 per cent increase in engagement over the past year, Tik Tok is the fastest growing social media platform. It’s also one of the top influencer marketing channels. TikTok even has its own Creator Marketplace which helps facilitate partnerships between brands and influencers.
The most popular genre of Tik Tok video is dance and entertainment, however, other niches like Life Hacks/Advice, Recipes, and Home Renovation are also popular.
Twitch
Twitch is a livestreaming service popular with the gaming community. However, there are other types of streamers as well.
The main difference between Twitch influencers and those who live on other platforms is that their content is broadcasted live, so any promotions they do for your brand will be live as well.
Podcasts
While not an influencer in the traditional sense, many brands have benefited from advertising on podcasts.
This option is similar to traditional radio advertising, however, typically, the podcast host will be the one doing the voiceover.
Types of Influencer Content
While some influencers are known solely for posting artsy selfies and funny daily vlogs, many fall into certain specific niches.
Keep reading earn more about some of the most common influencer niches.
Gaming
Gaming influencers are most popular on Twitch and YouTube and can create the following types of sponsored content:
Game reviews
Tutorials
Game walkthroughs
Fitness
Fitness influencers can be found on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. They typically create workout videos and inspirational content, and provide advice on food and nutrition.
Fitness influencers often have a high level of trust from their followers and can help promote:
Workout gear
Exercise apps
Fitness equipment
Lifestyle and wellness products
Food and drink products
Travel
Travel influencers are most commonly found on Instagram and YouTube. Whether it’s stunning photography or travel advice, travel influencers will usually partner up with travel and tourism related brands to promote:
Hotels
Restaurants
Airlines
Travel companies
Clothing and accessories
Apps
Beauty and Fashion
The beauty and fashion community is huge on YouTube and Instagram and is most popular amongst women. However, influencers like James Charles are carving out space for men as well.
The makeup industry is largely controlled by the opinions of influencers, making partnerships with beauty influencers incredibly lucrative for beauty brands looking to increase brand awareness.
The most common types of content include trying on clothing, outfit ideas, makeup tutorials, and product reviews.
Parenting
Parenting is a huge community on Instagram and YouTube, with millions of followers tuning in for daily vlogs and parenting advice.
Comedy/Memes
This niche typically refers to meme/sketch pages on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. These pages typically re-post funny memes and produce original sketch videos as opposed to personal content.
Food
Food influencer content is mainly recipe videos and food product reviews, and is especially popular on TikTok and Facebook.
Tips For Finding the Right Influencer For Your Brand
Don’t Just Look At Follower Count
Many brands are excited about the idea of working with influencers with millions of followers, however, it’s important to understand that follower count doesn’t automatically translate to audience engagement and trust.
Even if an influencer has over a million followers, if they have lost the trust of their audience, the partnership will not be as effective.
Always do your research and make sure the influencer hasn’t had any major scandals or backlash that could reflect poorly on your brand.
Make Sure Your Brand and Values Align With the Influencer
In order to achieve the best possible results and have an influencer be receptive to working with your brand, it’s important that you maintain similar values.
For example, if the influencer follows a vegan lifestyle, brands that sell leather or fur products wouldn’t be a good fit.
Understand the Influencer’s Audience
When working with influencers with a niche audience, it’s important that your brand lines up with the content that influencer is producing. When it comes to micro and nano influencers, people are following them for a reason, and won’t be receptive to a partnership if it feels forced and unnatural.
Consider Your Budget and Don’t Aim Too High
When most brands decide to start working with influencers, they want to work with the best of the best, not realizing how much a sponsored post actually costs. With many mega influencers charging hundreds of thousands of dollars per post, this simply is not realistic for most budgets. Determine how much money you want to spend first, and then look for influencers that are willing to work for what you have to offer.
How to Reach Out To Influencers
Start off slowly by laying the groundwork for a relationship with any influencer you are pursuing.
Start liking and commenting on their posts and work your way up to a direct message. Also look at an influencer’s bio section to see if there is an email address for brands to reach out to.
Working with influencers doesn’t have to be daunting. With a bit of research and a healthy budget, building relationships with influencers is a simple and cost-effective way to grow your brand awareness and reach a massive audience.
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