If social media and marketing are a part of your job, chances are you’ve worked with influencers at some point to promote a product or service for your company or client. If you haven’t, now is the time to start.
Out of 2 billion monthly and 500 million daily active Instagram users, more than 65 million are influencers, and 44% of Instagram users say they use Instagram to shop every week. The conditions are ideal for you to break into social media influencer marketing.
The good news? You don’t have to start this journey alone. If working with influencers is a new territory for you or your organization, we’re here to help.
What Is Social Media Influencer Marketing?
Social media influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing used to increase visibility, sales, or other desired areas of brand awareness. This strategic type of marketing uses people with influence across social media platforms to encourage the audience to buy the product or check out the brand’s service via the influencer. It can include everything from paid advertisements and product placement to endorsements from industry influencers.
Why Is Influencer Marketing Important for Businesses?
There are only so many ways a brand or organization can market its product without repeating the same tactics over and over. Utilizing influencers can open a new world of creativity and highlight the brand from a different, unique perspective. Influencers can also strengthen social media content’s organic feel and avoid the typical commercial look. By collaborating with influencers, you can tap into their established trust with their audience, expand your reach, and create authentic, engaging content that resonates.
5 Benefits of Social Media Influencer Marketing
If you’re wondering how influencer marketing can help your business, here are five key benefits that make it a must-have in your social media and marketing toolkits.
1. Increases Brand Awareness
One of the main reasons brands choose to work with influencers is to increase their brand awareness and visibility on social media. Often encompassing thousands to hundreds of thousands of followers, influencers can reach different and sometimes more targeted audiences, gaining the brand a whole new set of viewers and potential customers.
Social media users follow the influencers whose content aligns most with their interests. They’re likely avoiding the commercial ads that are heavily baked into their feed and instead prefer to view an advertisement from an influencer, which is perceived as much more genuine.
2. Provides Access to New, Unique Content
In addition to increasing brand awareness, working with social media marketing influencers gives the brand’s content a different look and feel. It’s challenging to constantly generate fresh ideas, create new ways to engage your audience, and keep up with current trends. Influencers can provide an original, creative, and timely approach to content, giving the audience a new perspective on your brand.
3. Builds Trust with Your Audience (& Theirs)
Influencers are aptly named for their “influence” on their followers. While the brand is the expert on their business, the influencer is the expert on their audience. Influencers build loyal and attentive followings by being honest and consistent, fostering a sense of credibility. When an influencer poses a recommendation to their followers, the audience is enticed to check it out because they trust that the creator is recommending a good product or service. Of course, a brand will promote what they’re selling, but it can come across as more meaningful from an influencer who genuinely enjoys the product and wants to talk about it.
4. Saves on Marketing Costs
Paid advertisements can be costly for businesses, but social influencer marketing can alternatively be a cost-effective option. Though price varies from influencer to influencer, advertising with them is ultimately more affordable and valuable. You get to build a relationship with someone who loves your brand, and you’re potentially gaining new followers or customers, building brand awareness, and ultimately boosting your sales.
Additionally, you gain all the above for the price of one influencer instead of paying for commercial advertisements that people are likely to ignore.
5. Stays Accessible to All
Whether you’re a major corporation or a small business, influencer marketing is accessible to organizations of all sizes. When you’re just beginning to work with influencers or if you have a smaller budget, investigate nano- and micro-influencers in your industry. Once you measure the success of those campaigns using social influencer marketing platforms and tools, or if you have a larger budget, it is worth exploring macro- or mega-influencers. Enlisting influencers is also an accessible avenue to pursue when you’re part of a smaller advertising or social media content team. With your guidance and expertise, influencers can take some of the content creation workload off your plate.
Who Are Social Media Influencers?
In social media marketing, influencers have established a strong presence and following on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube—to name a few. These people have the power to shape opinions, influence trends, and impact purchasing decisions. They do this by creating content that resonates with their followers and building a community that trusts their recommendations.
Influencers have earned their status through authenticity, creativity, and engagement. What makes them even more remarkable is their ability to connect deeply with their audience—often making their endorsement of a product or service feel like a trusted friend’s recommendation. But influencers aren’t all the same. Depending on their reach, audience size, and niche, there are different types of influencers.
4 Types of Influencers You Should Know About
1. Nano-Influencers (1K‒10K followers)
Nano-influencers may have a smaller following but pack a punch regarding influence. With a community of 1,000 to 10,000 followers, these influencers often engage more personally with their audience, leading to high trust and loyalty. Their content feels relatable and authentic, and they are often seen as more approachable and down-to-earth.
Nano-influencers are great for brands looking to connect with a niche market or build a tight-knit community. Their engagement rates are typically higher, making them ideal for campaigns focused on creating genuine buzz and word-of-mouth promotion. These influencers are best for small businesses, local brands, or products with a specific target audience.
2. Micro-Influencers (10K–100K followers)
Micro-influencers are a sweet spot for many brands. With follower counts between 10,000 and 100,000, they have a more extensive reach than nano-influencers but maintain a close-knit relationship with their audience. Micro-influencers are experts in their niche, like fashion, travel, food, , or fitness, and their followers trust their insights. These influencers have a very engaged and loyal following. Their recommendations often feel personal and authentic, which leads to higher engagement and conversion rates. Brands can work with several micro-influencers to target different segments of their audience. Micro-influencers are ideal for brands looking to increase awareness and engagement while staying within a budget.
3. Macro-Influencers (100K–1M followers)
Macro-influencers have a much larger following—typically between 100,000 and 1 million followers—but are still considered “niche” compared to mega-influencers. They are often public figures, experts, or well-known personalities in an industry.
With their broad reach, macro-influencers can bring massive exposure to your brand. They’re great for campaigns aiming to raise awareness on a national or global level. However, while their audience is vast, the relationship with followers may be less personal than that of micro- or nano-influencers. Macro-influencers are best for brands looking to expand their reach significantly but still want a targeted and relevant influence.
4. Mega-Influencers (1M+ followers)
Mega-influencers are the celebrities of the influencer world. With 1 million or more followers, they have a massive platform and can generate huge brand visibility waves. Think of top YouTubers, supermodels, actors, and athletes. If you want to make a big splash and reach a mainstream audience, mega-influencers are your go-to. They have a vast and diverse reach, making them perfect for high-budget, high-impact campaigns.
The mega-influencer’s audience may be less engaged and more general, meaning you may not always see as much direct conversion. Large brands or businesses with a significant marketing budget looking to build broad brand awareness may be interested in partnering with mega-influencers.
Which Type of Influencer Is Right for You?
Choosing the correct type of influencer for your brand largely depends on your goals. If you’re a small business looking to build a loyal community, nano- and micro-influencers may be the perfect choice. If you aim for widespread exposure, macro- and mega-influencers are your best bet. Always choose influencers whose values align with your brand, whose audience matches your target demographic, and whose content feels authentic and trustworthy. Influencers are powerful, but their authenticity and connection with their followers drive results.
How to Get Started with Influencer Marketing on Social Media
Getting started with social media influencers may seem overwhelming, but you can develop a strategy that aligns with your social media campaign with a few simple steps.
Step 1: Outline Your Goals
When planning your social media campaign to include influencers, the first step is to consider what you want to achieve. Are you hoping to gain more followers? Do you want to grow your engagement? Is boosting sales the main priority? Outline your objectives and keep them in mind as you reach out to influencers. Who is the best fit to help you accomplish these goals? It’s also a good time to determine which social media platforms you want to use with influencers. Influencers are most prevalent on Instagram and TikTok.
Step 2: Research Influencers in Your Industry
After your goals are defined, it’s time to assemble a list of influencers you’d be interested in partnering with. You can do research in a variety of ways:
- Option 1: Use the search function on Instagram, TikTok, or the platform you want to work with influencers. Come up with a few keywords and targeted search terms that will help you discover influencers in your industry.
- Option 2: Utilizing the exact keywords, do a simple Google search to see who pops up. You may find an already curated list of influencers specializing in your industry.
- Option 3: Try influencer research platforms like Upfluence and BuzzStream, which are designed to help you identify the best creators for your brand and assist in influencer outreach. While Options 1 and 2 are free, this step is worth investing in if you have a little extra budget.
As you or your team research influencers to partner with, consider what other businesses they partner with (any of your competitors?), their values, the frequency of their posts, and their engagement rate. It’s important to conduct a complete engagement audit—checking more than just follower counts, such as likes and comments.
Step 3: Reach Out to Potential Influencers
Once you’ve solidified your list of prospective influencers, it’s time to begin your outreach. While you may think sliding into their DMs (direct messages) is the most effective way to reach them, your message can get lost, as most highly engaged influencers receive hundreds of emails and direct messages daily. Instead, stick to sending them an email.
Most will have their email or preferred method of contact in their bio. For larger-scale influencers, you may notice the email belongs to a talent agency or manager who is fielding inquiries on their behalf. Email is the way to go for your initial outreach message, and if you don’t hear back, it doesn’t hurt to shoot them a quick DM to let them know you’ve sent them an email.
As with any email outreach, be personal and specific in your request for the best results.
Step 4: Send a Contract & Brand Guidelines
After you’ve nailed down the influencer(s) for your campaign, before any content gets created, send them a contract outlining the scope of work, posting requirements, compensation terms, exclusivity clause if preferred, and other conditions regarding your partnership. It is also critical to send them brand guidelines to adhere to, so they represent you and your brand appropriately.
Be sure to include any critical information about your business, messaging points, ongoing promotions (if applicable), links to your social media profiles, relevant hashtags, a posting timeline, and any other brand requirements or values.
Following these steps, be sure to communicate with your influencer(s) regularly to ensure that content is delivered on time and meets the standards you’ve outlined in your contract.
Looking for Help with Social Media Influencer Marketing? Turn to The Castle Group
Influencers can add tremendous value to your social media marketing and content strategy. Consider researching the influencers in your industry or niche to curate content for your next campaign. You never know what kind of creativity and fresh new ideas you’ll discover!
At Castle, we can help get you started with your social media influencer marketing campaign, whether research, outreach, or strategy development. Check out the full overview of our social media and digital services to see how our consultants can support you.
Is your business ready to explore influencer marketing? Let’s connect today.
