The age of the digital influencer is upon us. They are people who build an incredible following on social media platforms and, like a movie celebrity or rock star, have incredible admiration and influence. They have the power to affect the purchasing decisions of their followers because of the way they engage, inform and entertain.
Many companies have seen the potential of partnering with an influencer, which helps build their brands and increase sales. It, in turn, increases the popularity of the influencer at the same time, and these cohesive relationships are sought after across the platforms. Are you looking to increase your company’s exposure with an influencer but don’t know where to start?
There are different niches where social media influencers concentrate in. Here are the eleven different types of influencers:
Type #1: Live Streamers
Live streamers come to us on all the major platforms in real-time. They broadcast live videos of themselves doing many things, including:
- Gaming
- Cooking
- Makeup
- Painting
- Live chat
This is all done in real-time without any editing, so it is raw and unfiltered. Many followers love to get in on the conversation with comments, likes, thumbs up and down, hearts and lots of different emojis. It is a dynamic and fluid way for influencers to connect with their audience. A recent streaming trend is to do live shopping, which involves selling online merchandise in real time.
Type #2: Fashion Influencers
Fashion influencers focus on clothing, jewelry, watches and other accessories to promote products for many brands. They offer styling tips, show their shopping haul videos, and many product reviews.
Type #3: Travel Influencers
For those who like to watch content about amazing destinations to visit, there is no shortage of travel influencers. These types of influencers partner with destination companies, travel businesses, and cruise ships to promote travel and exotic destinations. They also provide content on:
- Packing tips
- How-tos
- Cheapest resorts
- What to bring
- Best photo gadgets
Type #4: Vloggers
These popular influencers provide valuable content in various areas, although many stay in their niche and build their following around it. They become authorities for their followers and can successfully market many products and services to the loyalists as they are seen as experts. They use all the platforms to drive traffic to their websites and clients’ sites.
Type #5: Podcasters
This relatively new audio and video communication method is there to entertain and inform in long-form media. Podcasting is recorded and distributed to different streaming services where subscribed users can listening watch the content on their computers, tablets and smartphones. It is often broken up into smaller bites for use on other platforms.
Podcasting is all about niches, and people follow the creator that produces content they regularly enjoy. This intimate relationship builds trust as the podcaster quickly becomes an authority and can effectively market to their fanbase and influence their purchasing decisions.
Type #6: Instagram Influencers
Instagram is the platform that dominates influencer marketing. Originally a location to post photos and memes, Instagram has ballooned to be a platform where people share photos, videos and all things visual. Instagram stars have risen from the population, and celebrities have joined the market for various goods and services to the masses.
Type #7: Twitter Influencers
Twitter has been around since 2006 and is a social media platform where people connect and communicate. Many people build huge followings on Twitter, start trends, and influence their audience to try products and services they are hired to market. These influencers can be social media stars or industry experts with great reputations and are credible to their Twitter followers.
Type #8: Facebook Influencers
Facebook proceeded with Instagram for a few years and is where family and friends would connect with short and long-form posts, pictures and videos, sharing and posting regular updates to friends. People build a following on Facebook, and it is an easy way for young and old to connect and follow.
Influencers use this platform to build their reputation and gain followers. Ultimately, their brand increases and attracts companies that want to market to their audience and use their popularity for business gain.
Type #9: YouTube Influencers
YouTube is another great platform for influencers to market products and is used for entertainment, information, vlogs and how-to guides. Huge followings are built here because the platform enables the content provider to make an income through ads while building their subscribers.
These types of YouTube influencers then gain enough influence to market products to their followers. Many social media people use other platforms to drive traffic to their YouTube channels.
Type #10: TikTok Influencers
The new kid on the block is the hugely popular TikTok. It has taken the web like a hurricane, produced many new influencers through dancing videos and makeup tutorials, and now is expanded into many other entertainment forms. Their short-form videos capture quick attention, and influencers can successfully market products to their fans with great success.
Type #11: Other Online Influencers
Other popular types of influencers include:
- Parenting
- Beauty
- Photography
- Fitness
- Sports
- Gaming
These influencers range from:
- Nano Influencer 1k-10k
- Micro-Influencer 10k-100k
- Macro Influencers 100k-1M
- Mega Influencers 1M+
Using social media influencers is the new way to advertise directly to the consumer. It is a trend that is only building, and businesses are using these new celebrities to maximize their reach and increase sales to a captivated audience.