In recent years, the use of influencers to promote brands or products on social media has grown significantly. While large businesses and organizations have the budget to hire celebrities and high-profile influencers, smaller companies are less likely to do so. However, not all influencers are that pricey. Small businesses can leverage influencers with smaller yet trusted followings who concentrate on a specific niche that may better align with their business goals and target audience.
What is a social media influencer?
A social media influencer is an individual who is recognized for their authority or expertise in a specific field and leverages that status to interact with their substantial following on social media. Influencers can be major celebrities, such as movie stars, singers, and sports figures, who primarily engage in celebrity endorsements and often charge exorbitant fees. There are also influencers who have amassed a large social media following by producing original and creative content centered around a specific topic or interest. These influencers typically achieve higher engagement rates from their target audience and offer more affordable pricing.
Why would businesses use influencers?
By promoting a brand, a product, a service or even a thought or an idea, influencers can shape people’s perceptions and can lead to increased brand awareness and sales. For example, a running shoe company might hire the services of an influencer in the sports or lifestyle field. Or an art gallery might use an influencer in the art marketing field to gain followers and potential sales.
Types of social media influencers
According to Kaya Ismail from CMSWire, based on follower count these are the basic social media influencer types:
- Mega-Influencer (over 1 million followers)
- Macro-Influencer (100,000 – 1 million followers)
- Micro-Influencer (1,000 – 100,000 followers)
- Nano-Influencer (less than 1,000 followers)
Mega-influencers tend to be celebrities, movie stars, sports figures that are followed by millions of people. However, these stars are charging exorbitant sums for even a single post. According to Werner Geyser from the Influencer Marketing Hub, the highest-paid celebrity influencers on Instagram in 2024 are soccer players Christian Ronaldo ($3,234,000 per post) and Leo Messi ($2, 597,000 per post), followed by singer Selena Gomez ($2,558,000 per post). However, not all mega and macro influencers charge these sums. According to Geyser, “An influencer with 1 million Instagram followers will make $10,000 per post. If you are an influencer with more than 1 million followers, you can charge anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per post or campaign.”
Some macro-influencers, as identified by Kaya Ismail from CMSWire are Amy Jackson, a fashion macro-influencer, Charlie Berens, a comedy macro-influencer, and Ashley Galvin, a yoga and fitness macro-influencer. As these are influencers in a specific niche, businesses might do better by using their services, which also come at a less expensive cost.
Micro-influencers and nano-influencers, despite having fewer followers, can be ideal for small businesses and organizations with limited budgets. A large follower count doesn’t always ensure that your posts will reach all the followers. A smaller, but consistently engaged audience is more valuable than a large audience that rarely interacts with your content through likes, comments, or shares.
Are there any risks involved in using influencers?
Like nearly any endeavour, utilizing a social media influencer comes with inherent risks. One such risk involves the control over the content influencers produce, which may occasionally diverge from the brand’s intended message. A prudent approach would be to review influencer-created posts prior to their social media publication, but this protocol should be established in advance.
Certain influencers may manipulate metrics, such as follower counts and engagement rates, which complicates the assessment of their genuine influence.
How to find an influencer?
The easiest way to find an influencer on social media in a specific niche is by doing a search on a keyword or hashtag. For example, if you want to look for an influencer in the food industry, you might do a search on Instagram or Facebook on #foodie or #ILoveFood.
There are also several tools available to find social media influencers, such as Talkwalker, which I myself use. Based on a keyword, you can get a list of influencers and their social media pages.
In addition to that, there are quite a few influencer marketing agencies, such as MomentIQ, Ubiquitous or Upfluence that can act as a middleman between a business and an influencer and manage the overall marketing campaign.
Should businesses invest in social media influencers?
The response isn’t a straightforward yes or no. Before making any decisions while carefully considering their budget and any associated risks, it is up to each business to assess whether collaborating with respected influencers who hold genuine sway in their niche can yield real benefits and expected return on investment for their business.
What do you think? Would you use a social media influencer to promote your brand or small business if money would be “no object”? Which influencer would you use? Please leave me a comment below.