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Perhaps you want to get more exposure for your brand. Maybe you would like to promote a particular product or event. You’ve decided to try influencer marketing in order to create a positive brand experience. But, how do you decide which influencer is the right fit for you?
In this post, we will go through the different types of influencers and how to work with them effectively.
Types of Influencers
There are roughly five different types of influencers.
- Micro-influencers
- Bloggers
- Celebrities
- Social Media Influencers
- Thought leaders
The Micro-Influencer
The micro-influencer is someone who has a relatively smaller following. Usually the range is from two thousand followers to fifty thousand followers. But, don’t let the size of their audience fool you—working with them can be more valuable to your business than getting a big star on board.
Why? Micro-influencers are likely to have higher engagement rates.
At this level, it’s still possible for the micro-influencer to maintain contact with their audience. They will be able to read and respond to comments and be more attuned to the needs of their followers.
In fact, engagement rates can be as much as 60% higher with micro-influencers than with bigger channels. This results in campaigns that are up to 6.7 times more effective.
Do You Want to Work with a Micro-Influencer?
If you’re trying to build a stable relationship with clients, this is an excellent way to start. And higher levels of engagement aren’t the only advantage. It’s also a cost-effective way of running these campaigns.
If you want a micro-influencer to promote a product for you, it can sometimes be enough to send them some free merchandise. Some will require a paid arrangement, but the rates won’t be nearly as high as they are for celebrity influencers.
Pros
- Lower cost.
- Better engagement with the audience—if the followers have questions, the influencer has the time to answer them.
- The opportunity to focus more on a local area. If you need foot traffic, a tweet from halfway around the world won’t do much good. Find a local in the area that has a significant following instead.
- Getting in touch can be easier.
Cons
- The follower base is smaller.
The Celebrity Influencer
The celebrity influencer has been around for a while. Famous people can have followers in the millions; they’re easily recognized and can contribute valuable social proof for your product.
It’s worth looking into this option when you need to build credibility for your business. The celebrity’s followers might not be your target market, but they could be connected to them.
Do You Want to Work With a Celebrity?
The options are wide open in terms of the types of campaigns you can run here. With pictures of celebrities going viral, just about any photo or video with a celeb using your product can be gold.
Getting in touch with the celeb might prove to be difficult, however. You’re probably going to need to do some serious work to initiate contact. A way around this might be to host a concert or an event that the celebrity would be willing to attend.
Pros
- Celebrities have a broad reach.
- Endorsements from celebrities carry a lot of weight with their fans.
- It should be easy to get the publicity you need.
Cons
- It could be expensive.
- Bad behavior by the celebrity could tarnish your brand image.
The Blogger
By blogger, we mean someone who is successful in their field, and has at least a few thousand subscribers. Bloggers are a good option because their content tends to be more enduring. A blog post reviewing a particular product could appear in search engine results for many years to come.
In contrast, the Instagram post that you pay a star for has a rather fleeting lifespan. You’re looking at exposure of a day or two at best.
Do You Want to Work With a Blogger?
Ordinarily, this might entail creating some killer content for their blog or sponsoring a post. Sponsoring a post is more expensive than guest posting, but you control the situation better. When you sponsor a post, you get to call the shots. You could even arrange for the blogger to rewrite your content in their own words.
With guest posting, there are no guarantees about when the post will go live, or if it will be accepted. You’ll have to work hard to make the post fit with the content on the site already.
Whichever way you go, reaching out should be fairly simple.
If you’re creating content, it must be:
- Well-executed: Make sure it’s an interesting read and that there are no typos. Make sure that every sentence is relevant to the reader.
- Matched to the blog’s target audience. What do they want to read about? What are they interested in? How can you make their day better?
- In line with the blogger’s style of writing as much as possible.
Pros
- Good reach.
- Content stays active for a long time.
- A great post will compound over time, bringing in more traffic as it ages.
Cons
- You might not be able to control when or if created content goes live.
The Social Media Influencer
The social media influencer is someone who has developed a substantial following on any of their social media platforms. They should have at least a few thousand followers. If you’d like to give your brand a quick boost, this could be who you’re looking for. It’s good for growing your following on social media.
Do You Want to Work With a Social Media Star?
You’re going to have to tailor your campaigns to suit the platform you’re targeting. If they’re on Facebook or Instagram, this could be a simple matter of some excellent shots or a quick video. With Twitter, you’ll need to use teaser content. Speak to your social media star about what kind of content they prefer.
Our suggestion is to speak to the influencer and see what approach they would recommend. They know their audience very well, so this can bring in some great ideas for you. They understand what works and what doesn’t.
Pros
- It’s a good way to get instant exposure.
- It’s a great way to get extra reach and build your own social media following.
- It’s an excellent and fast way to build brand awareness.
- You’ll be able to launch or relaunch a product with a bang.
Cons
- Posts are only active for a short while.
- Costs can vary.
The Thought Leader
If you’re a B2B business, this is a space that you want to get into. You need to impress people with buying power in the business. That’s going to take more than a quick celebrity tweet. Here you’ll want to work with a subject matter expert in your industry.
The content will vary: it could be a blog post, whitepapers, podcasts, videos, or even an interview. Whatever platform you decide on, the content will definitely be thoroughly researched and flawlessly executed. You’re dealing with professional business people here – it’s going to take more than a trendy photo.
Do You Want to Work With a Thought Leader?
You’ll have to put your best foot forward. By endorsing your business, these thought leaders are putting their reputation on the line. They’re not going to do that if your pitch is poorly prepared. Do your homework and make sure all the facts and figures add up.
Provide proof of the value of your product. Who knows, the thought leader might promote it without asking for anything in return if it’s good enough. They also want to be seen as cutting-edge leaders, so spreading the word about an innovative new service or product is advantageous to them as well.
It’ll be quite a good way to assess how receptive the industry is. The thought leader understands a lot about the current trends in the industry. They can assess whether or not your idea has merit.
Another potential advantage is that you’re likely to get some good advice along the way. They know the industry well, so they’ll be able to point out potential sticking points. Even if they decide not to come on board, you may still end up with some valuable tips.
Pros
- It’s a great way to gain credibility in the business community.
- A thought leader can put you in touch with other businesses and people who can assist you in your future endeavors.
- They’re usually fairly accessible.
- They might be willing to work for free if your idea is good enough.
- There are different types of thought leaders that might also be able to assist you with your business processes.
Cons
- You have to ensure that your presentation is perfect.
Final Notes About The Right Influencers for your Brand
There you have it—a rundown of the five different types of influencers and how you can work with each of them. As you can see, while the services they offer are similar, they appeal to some rather different sub-niches.
If you want to get the best possible results, take the time and choose the type that is going to work best for your brand.
Just keep in mind that Influencer Marketing is just one tactic you could use. We invite you to read Interesting Ways to Get your Business more Leads for even more ideas.
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