Influencers have become a large part of social media marketing. So what influencers are best for your brand?
First…What Is an Influencer?
An Influencer is is someone who exerts his or her influence on social media due to the size of their online following. Influencers have sway on the intended target audience of a niche or industry. People tend to follow what influencers do, the clothing they wear, and the products they use. There are different types of influencers including celebrities, athletes, industry experts, bloggers, content creators, and many more.
You might be wondering what influencer marketing is…
Influencer marketing focuses on using influencers to promote a brand, message, product, or service to their larger market. Brands are able to partner with influencers to promote their product. Influencer marketing has been present for a long time in the form of celebrity and athlete endorsements. Now, influencer marketing has moved over to the social media world. Brands will pay influencers in money or product depending on the level of influencer. Influencer marketing has changes the way brands market on social media. Brands begin to see higher conversion rates when they participate in influencer marketing
What makes a good Influencer?
There are five important attributes that make an influencer good. These attributes are reach, credibility, authenticity, activity, and engaging. We will dive a little deeper into these five qualities of what makes a good influencer.
1. Reach
On social media platforms, reach on social media is the total number of unique users who see your content in their feed. Reach on social media is not the same as engagement. Reach alone is not the sole requirement to be an influencer, and this is a common misconception. There are are different types of influencers based on their reach.
Mega Influencers have a large reach but their engagement tends to be a lot lower. Meanwhile, Nano influencers have a smaller reach, but have higher engagement levels.
2. Credibility
Credibility is is considered more important than reach. This is because credibility is the level of trust given by followers based on the perceived knowledge or expertise of the Influencer.
Lower tier influencers usually have high credibility because they are focused on a niche or industry. Their followers trust them in that certain niche. Higher tier influencers tend to have credibility in their name because they are well know.
3. Authenticity
Authenticity is when influencers genuinely believe in the brand they are promoting and what it stands for. Good influencers promote brands or products based on more than how much they will make off of the promotion.
Authenticity also comes in the form of partnering with the right brands for their target market. For example, DJ Khaled would not partner with a makeup brand because that would not be authentic or in line with his followers. If an Influencer like James Charles could partner with a makeup brand, it would be in line with his personal brand and would reach the correct target audience
4. Activity
Good Influencers should be constantly active on social media channels.
For example, an Instagram Influencer should be posting multiple times per day on their story. They should also being making posts daily. This allows the influencers to stay in their followers feed and mind.
An example of an influencer that stays active constantly is Emma Chamberlain. She posts on Instagram about every other day, and she posts on her Instagram story daily. She is constantly active and this allows her to keep her reach and engagement high.
5.Engaging
Social media influencers can not get away with just having high engagement on their page. Good influencers need to be engaging with their followers. It is essential for influencer to engage with followers through liking comments and commenting back.
For example, Victoria Paris does really well engaging with her followers. She likes comments on every tiktok video she makes, and she will comment back to people as well. One thing she does that stands out is that she engages with her followers by duetting videos. This shows her followers that she is seeing their videos and engaging with them.
Tiers of Influencers
Nano influencers have the least amount of followers. Do not let this lead you away from them, because their followers are have a strong and credible connection. These influencers have a more personal reach to their audience. Nano influencers are a great way to reach niche audiences at a low cost.
Micro influencers are the next tier up. These influencers see high engagement rates on their posts. They are a bit larger, but they constantly engage with followers. There is a strong trust and connection in this tier that increases the engagement rates of the campaign.
Mid tier influencers have a larger reach, but still maintain a high engagement rate. Mid influencers continue to maintain a connection with their followers. Despite the larger reach, these influencers are still affordable.
Macro influencers have large followings. These influencers are perfect if you are looking to connect you brand to a well-known name. Macro influencers increase sales and tend to share discount codes to use at purchase. These influencers are pricey, but the increase of sales makes up for the price.
Mega influencers are the highest tier. These influencers tend to be celebrities, and they are the most expensive to work with. They have a very large reach and spread brand awareness efficiently.
Influencer Marketing Benefits
- Increased Exposure
- Brand Awareness
- Improved Search Ranking
- More Credibility
- Effectively Reach a Target Market
- New Leads
- Conversions
Pros and Cons of Influencers with different reach levels
Mega, Macro, and Mid Influencers
Pros
- High reach
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase in conversions
Cons
- Expensive to work with
- Lower engagement levels
- Tend to work through agents which means less direct communication with the influencer
- Fake followers
Micro and Nano Influencers
Pros
- Cheaper to work with
- Higher engagement rates
- Reach a relevant target audience
- Increasered ROI
- They have good authenticity
Cons
- Lower reach level
- They are not professionals in the influencer field
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