The Different Types of Influencers

The range and type of influencers have grown, to the delight of consumers and brands. User-generated content is a gold mine for marketers.

An essential marketing tool in recent years, influencer campaigns are on the rise. But in just 3 years, the concept of influencers has evolved enormously. A few years ago, you had to be a celebrity or be followed by an army of subscribers to be approached by brands. In 2018, the situation changed. Each internet user can instill influence on their scale and trigger a purchasing act from their online and offline networks.

The spectrum of influence marketing has, therefore, widened. Formerly focused on the mega and macro types of influencers, marketing departments are now interested in less popular profiles but more targeted and very engaged audiences. These pickups and nano-influencers are increasingly attracting brands and are changing the way companies communicate with their customers.

So, how do you differentiate the types of influencers? What are their characteristics? How does influencer marketing impact on the business? And how to work with the different types of influencers? This blog highlights all this and more. 

How to Select the Right Type of Influencers?

Mega influencers

Audience: 1 million +

Visibility: 4 stars

Engagement: 1

Conversion: 1

According to a survey by Collective Bias, only 3% of consumers are influenced by celebrities to buy a product. Another problem to highlight: the lack of credibility with consumers from celebrities.

For consumers, seeing a celebrity promoting a product on their social networks is not authentic. They, therefore, tend to rely less on the content of sponsored celebrities, questioning their actual use of the product. The problem is often encountered by brands that collaborate with micro-influencers who have comparable follower communities.

Here are some advantages of working with celebrities and mega types of influencers: 

• Attracts attention and makes the brand identifiable and recognizable

• Establishes demographic and geographic positioning

• Revitalizes a brand or can counterbalance a tarnished image

• Increases media coverage and brand recall value

Macro influencers

Audience: up to a million

Visibility: 3 stars

Engagement: 2

Conversion: 1

Macro-influencers are characterized by their large community (at least more than 100,000 followers). Previously, only celebrities were privileged to reach a large audience. But social media has allowed the emergence of new online personalities with remarkable reach and influence. From there developed influencer marketing, used more and more frequently by brands today.

Why work with them?

While working with these types of influencers involves a significant investment, brands are more empowered to select a good influencer and provide them with specific instructions, which gives marketers more control over their campaign.

Here are some advantages of working with a macro-influencer:

• A large audience which results in a significant reach 

• Save time compared to selecting and micromanaging a larger number of influencers

• A higher level of professionalism

Micro-influencers

Audience: 10,000 – 50,000

Visibility: 2 stars

Engagement: 3

Conversion: 2

There has been increasing interest in working with micro-influencers. They are recognized as those who not only have a higher audience engagement rate as compared to macro-influencers but are also capable of developing close relationships with the company. This trust and faith among the community are the base of their influence. The audience considers the content from these types of influencers, whether sponsored or not, to be authentic. 

Why choose micro-influencers:

• Their lower investment cost makes them more accessible to more brands. It is possible to work with several influencers at the same time

• Brands can reach new niche audiences

• Higher conversion rate

• The ability to generate sales growth

• more authentic and natural content

If it’s a question of authenticity, collaborate with a micro-influencer. Unlike macro-influencers, micro-influencers inspire confidence and authenticity. In fact, a study by Collect Bias suggests that 30% of consumers prefer buying a product that was promoted by an influencer and not a celebrity.  There has also been a 20% conversion rate improvement for brands that collaborate with micro-influencers. This is obvious since our audience is more influenced by word-of-mouth. Statistics indicate that 86% of consumers trust their close friends, 39% trust acquaintances, and 31% trust influencer recommendations for a product or service. 

Nano influencers

Audience: 1000 – 10,000

Visibility: 1 star

Engagement: 3

Conversion: 4

Tired of traditional advertisements, deceptive marketing messages, and sponsored content, consumers are looking for authenticity. 87% of consumers say they consult customer reviews and are influenced by their peers in their purchasing process. Why not use these customers as your influencers? 

Here are some advantages of working with a nano-influencer:

• They know your products, have tested them

• They have identified the strengths and shortcomings of the products

• They do it out of interest and not because they are paid for communicating their opinion.

Take, for instance, Goibibo encourages its customers to share reviews and real photos of the properties visited to build trust for prospects. In this case, the customers act as nano influencers. 

Nano-influencers are people who like and talk about a brand, a product, a cause, or an event. They are not paid to do it; they just want to share their opinion in order to enlighten their peers in their purchases. They regularly post content, customer reviews, ratings, and share their favorite products and services with their entire network. Thus, nano influencers are a new lever with which the marketing and communication departments must start working today to spread the word about their brands and their products. 

So which types of influencers to choose?

For a successful campaign, authenticity is an essential factor. Your influencer should be able to send a strong, personal message about the product or service and convince the audience of its credibility. 

Efficiency is another aspect that brands need to consider while engaging with influencers. Focusing only on the number of followers, or the percentage of engagement may not suffice. While mega and macro-influencers may create awareness due to high reach, the costs in influencer marketing will be very high with lower conversions. In the case of micro and nano influencers, the costs are minimal and engagement is relatively higher but they may not offer global reach to your brand. 

There is no defined method for influencer marketing. Your brand objectives and goals will help you understand which type of influencer best suits your requirement. Another point to consider is if the influencer is able to connect with his/her followers with their content. This is where social media listening can be your ally as it helps to visualize the trends in the community and network of the influencers. This is the easiest way to understand if the audience of your influencer is the target audience for your brand too. 

In addition, for monitoring the performance of multiple influencers, you will, like any marketing campaign, define the most appropriate KPIs to assess their ROI.

Have you found the types of influencers you need? Is your brand positioning well defined? Influencers will have a direct impact on your brand marketing. Need help defining or revising your brand strategy? Connect with us.