What is an influencer?

Content Creators

First of all, social media influencers are also called content creators (they usually prefer this term). Influencers usually share content regarding things they are passionate about on their social media; it can be related to fashion, beauty, fitness, nutrition, wellness, or even just their everyday life. People follow them because they want to learn about a particular subject, they want inspiration, they relate to them, or even just because they like their personality.

Because they have big audiences, these creators can bring visibility and awareness to a brand as well as have a big impact on the purchasing decisions of their followers.

4 Categories of Influencers

We can separate them into 4 categories based on their number of followers. Each category has its strengths and can be used to target different goals.

Nano-Influencers

A nano-influencer has between 1K and 10K followers. This type of profile usually works with companies they are clients or fans of. They are close with their followers, which makes the followers trust them a lot. Because of that, these smaller creators are a good choice to bring conversions and sales. They are great for affiliate programs.

Micro-Influencers

A micro-influencer has between 10K and 100K followers. This category comports mostly bloggers. They are polyvalent and can bring conversions as well as visibility. These creators usually have a high engagement rate, this is why their main strength is engagement. This type of creator is great for influencer marketing campaigns as their rates are usually less expensive than the ones with a bigger following.

Macro-Influencers

A macro-influencer has more than 100K followers. They are usually bloggers or creators that have been in this industry for a few years and that have grown their following or local celebrities. This category is best to reach visibility and awareness. When doing an influencer marketing campaign, it’s good to invest in a few macro-influencer to increase the chance of your target clientele hearing about your brand a few times.

Mega-Influencers

A mega-influencer has more than 1M followers. This category usually regroups celebrities, such as actors, singers, or supermodels. Because they have huge audiences, this type of celebrity is best to reach visibility. For example, they can be used as the face of the brand for a social media campaign.

To conclude, what is an influencer? A social media influencer is someone that has a significant following on social media and that can help a brand reach different marketing goals. We saw four different categories of content creators that all have their purpose and by combining them it is possible to achieve many goals. The use of influencers is a great tactic for digital marketing as they have great reach and good engagement with their audiences.