It is the act of influencing by inspiring change in thinking or behavior. An influencer is someone who has the power to influence the perception of others or gets them to do something differently or try something new. The use of an influencer has become one of the top trends in social media marketing.

The concept of an influencer is simple – they’re a ‘normal’ person who is a representative of the general public, honestly reviewing and discussing products and building a relationship of trust with their audience.

They have the power to affect the purchase of specific products by reviewing them across platforms like YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram among others, effectively utilising their authority, knowledge, authenticity, leverage or position of power within the industry to engage with their followers.

Social Media influencers are people who have gained a following in a particular niche and have built a reputation and relationship with their followers on a specific topic. Influencers make regular posts on social media about a specific niche on their social media channels. These posts can be photos, videos, podcasts, or tweets. Their relationship with their followers is predicated on the connection their followers have to their social media posts.

Types of Influencers

1. Celebrity Influencers
2. Industry Experts 
3. Bloggers and content creators
4. Micro-Influencers

The majority of influencers rely on social media. Specific careers lead to an individual becoming an influencer. For example, actors, models, and journalists are often considered as influencers and hold an essential connection to brands. Bloggers and influencers on social media tend to have the closest relationship with their followers and brands are now actively seeking influencers.

1- Celebrity Influencers

When it comes to influencer marketing, celebrity influencers are often what people think of first. 

With all of their money and fame, people tend to look to celebrities for what’s trendy and “hot” right now. While they often have the most followers, celebrities are great for driving traffic and sales but are notoriously tough to connect with. It’s not like people like Rihanna or Drake have a “Contact Me” button on their social media pages.

If you do have the resources  and connections to collaborate with a celebrity, keep in mind that they may not necessarily be The best thing that happened for your business . Compared to niche or micro-influencers, celebrity influencers tend to have a much lower engagement rate.

2-  Industry Experts 

An industry expert influencer is a respected individual for their career position, experience or qualifications. Often, this respect leads over to a large social media following on Instagram, YouTube or Twitter.

Industry expert influencers include the following:

• Writers
• Professionals
• Academics/Researchers
• Experienced Industry Experts

Content creators often work with industry experts, and it is not uncommon for industry expert influencers to have their comments, research and opinions quotes in major news outlets.

3- Bloggers and content creators

Blogging has been connected to influencer marketing for some time now. There are many highly influential blogs on the internet. If a popular blogger positively mentions your product in a post, it can lead to the blogger’s supporters wanting to try out your product.

A blog is not the only type of popular content on the internet. Another popular type of content is video. In this case, rather than each videomaker having their own site, most create a channel on YouTube. Brands often align with popular YouTube content creators.

Of course, bloggers and YouTubers rarely rely solely on their existing audiences to just turn up to their site hoping there is new material. They usually promote new posts or videos heavily on social media – which makes most of these bloggers and content creators micro influencers as well.

4- Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers are normal everyday people who have become known for their knowledge about some specialist niche. Unlike traditional influencers, micro-influencers have a much more humble amount of followers ranging from about 1-100k. The thing with these baby influencers, though, is that their followings are ultra engaged compared to their more popular counterparts. 

Benefits of working with micro-influencers include their relative low cost, their authenticity, their level of popularity, their creativity, the trust their have with their followers, and their insanely high engagement rates.

The nature of influence is changing. Micro influencers are becoming more important, and growing in popularity with Millennials who spend more time on the internet than watching TV, sports, or movies.