Who are your brand influencers? 9 must-have influencers for business growth

Getting to Know Your Brand Influencers

Businesses that want to succeed in the modern marketplace need to upgrade their teams and arsenal to survive and thrive. The market is rapidly changing, and old tricks and strategies won’t do the job anymore. 

Just look at the cemetery of obsolete brands – forgotten by the new generation. 

Today, for brands to succeed in conquering the world, they need to upgrade their toolkits and add more characters into the mix. Some of the essential characters brands need to add to their team are brand influencers through influencer marketing. 

Brand influencers are people who have a lot of followers and connections in the digital space. They are well respected and loved by their fans. That’s why they have a lot of influence on people’s purchasing decisions. 

Businesses love working with these characters because they can encourage their followers to buy a product with a single post. 

Now imagine what having several of these characters can do for you in your quest for your brand’s glory!  

 

Different brand influencers for different missions

Different kinds of brand influencers can help you in your mission to grow your business. Each type can help you with a specific objective that’ll bring you closer to winning. 

Since all of them have pros and cons, you must be careful in choosing your brand’s influencers to get the most returns from each of them. 

In this article, we’ll divide brand influencers into two major categories. And list down the different types of influencers for each category. This format would help you choose the right mix of influencers for your marketing campaigns. 

 

Brand Influencers by Audience Size

The most common way people categorize brand influencers is by filtering them out based on their audience size. 

Nano-influencers

The smallest audience size in the bunch. Nano-influencers are those with a thousand to ten thousand followers. 

Since these influencers have the smallest reach, they also charge the lowest fees, making them perfect for smaller businesses with limited budgets and lower marketing targets. 

The upside for these influencers is that since they have a smaller audience, they also have the most engaged audience since they have more bandwidth to engage on a personal level. 

 

Micro-influencers

Having a decent audience size, micro-influencers have anywhere between 10 to 50 thousand followers. 

Like Nano-influencers, these Micro-influencers are relatively cheaper than other influencers and still have a high engagement rate with their audience. These influencers are perfect for growing businesses that need to reach a wider audience without spending a lot. 

The most significant advantage of working with micro-influencers is that they have a decent following – which is suitable for raising brand awareness. And because they already have a decent audience size, they are more credible and can create social proof. 

 

Mid-tier influencers

 Being more popular than the Micro & Nano-influencers, mid-tier influencers have anywhere between 50 to 500 thousand followers.

Most brand influencers that fall into the mid-tier category can be considered local celebrities and niche content creators. These people have built a following by showing they can create relevant and relatable content. 

This means that mid-tier influencers are reaching more people and are more trusted by consumers. However, at this point in their social media journey, their engagement rates are lower than those of the Micro and Nano-influencers. Something they make up with the volume of reach.  

 

Macro-influencers

Now we’re entering the big leagues. Macro-influencers have anywhere between 500 thousand to a million followers. 

These Macro-influencers have serious reach, reputation, and credibility in their respective spaces. Most are already atop their respective niches and considered well-respected characters. 

They can help your business amplify your reach and introduce your brand to more potential customers. However, it already comes with a higher price tag and less room for negotiation. 

 

Mega-influencers

And the biggest of them all. Mega-influencers are those with more than a million followers. 

These mega-influencers are atop the food chain already. They’re immensely popular and have a global following. Since most of them are celebrities, athletes, and entertainers, they become icons of aspiration for consumers. 

The global reach of these mega-influencers comes at a hefty price tag. This is why these brand influencers are only reserved for those who can afford multiple 6-figure deals with these influencers. 

Brand Influencers by personality

Aside from categorizing influencers by audience size, we can also put them into personality buckets. This segmentation helps you decide which buying stage an influencer can deliver the most value. 

 

Celebrities

From the word itself, celebrities are known by millions of people worldwide. They have the most extensive reach among all the influencers since they are known across different platforms. Think Kardashians, movie stars, and internet celebrities. 

As mentioned above, celebrities are aspirational icons. It means that the people who follow and listen to them usually aspire to the lifestyle they have. 

Celebrities are perfect for marketing campaigns around brand awareness since they have a massive reach. But they’re also perfect for campaigns with an aspirational message—like Nike with their professional athletes. 

 

Subject-matter Experts

These brand influencers may or may not have the reach of celebrities, but they have more respect and credibility. Unlike celebrities who are influential because of their fame and reach, subject-matter experts are known for their skills and knowledge. Gordon Ramsay, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Jordan Peterson can be good examples of influencers who are well respected in their field because of their ability.  

If celebrity influencers were aspirational icons suited for lifestyle, subject-matter experts are influencers who influence with their technical know-how. These influencers are perfect for solidifying your products’ technical advantages and features. 

For instance, computer companies use pro gamers, artists, and game developers as their subject-matter experts to solidify their products’ technical capabilities and specs. 

 

Niche

Here, you can categorize gamers and streamers, make-up tutorial vloggers, and fashion influencers. Niche influencers are closer to subject-matter experts than celebrities. These brand influencers create a lot of content around a particular niche. They have a lot of knowledge and experience related to their niche, but they are not as credible and respected as subject-matter experts. 

What sets niche influencers apart from subject-matter experts is the degree of technical knowledge they have about a particular topic. While subject-matter experts are credible for their highly specialized expertise and requirements, niche influencers have extensive knowledge closer to consumers’ needs.  

This means niche influencers are excellent for solidifying your brand’s user experience to your customers since niche influencers are a close representation of your consumers. 

 

Internal Influencers

Based on their persona, the last kind of brand influencer is the internal influencer. These are the people who work inside your company as employees and experts. They may or may not have many followers, but they still carry some weight of influence because of their upfront experiences with your brand. 

Internal influencers are usually used on a company’s pages. They’re the best tool to humanize the brand and give people access to what’s happening behind the doors. 

Using internal influencers can help your brand solidify its marketing message by showing how your company adheres to it and strives to deliver value to your consumers. 

Moreover, internal influencers can help you acquire talent by showcasing your company’s culture. 

 

Picking the right brand influencer for your quests

Since there are many brand influencers to choose from, it’s crucial for you to have at least a framework on how to choose the right influencers for your brand. So, here are three quick tips you can apply when planning for your influencer marketing campaign. 

 

Know your mission

Marketing campaigns usually have a specific objective. It can aim to increase awareness, build brand credibility, create consideration, or encourage conversions. Knowing your campaign’s primary purpose will help you decide what kind of brand influencer you need to work with. 

For example, you are a global brand that wants to introduce your products to more potential customers. Then, you’ll need to find an influencer with a broad reach, especially on demographics you’re not covering. 

 

Know your targets

Aside from knowing your goals for the campaign, you also need to know whom you’re targeting and what they are interested in. Knowing their interests will make it easier for you to know whom they watch, like, and trust—ultimately leading you to who can influence them the best. 

For instance, you’re an old brand that has undergone a major rebranding. Now, you want to introduce your brand to the younger market. The best approach would be to segment your audiences by interest, then look for the top influencers in those niches. 

 

Know who you are

Once you know your goal and target audience, you must establish who you are and how you want people to see your brand. This is important in shortlisting potential influencers because knowing how you want to be seen will eliminate influencers who aren’t aligned with your values. 

You wouldn’t want someone loud and lewd representing your conservative brand, do you? 

 

Conquering your quest

If you’re motivated to succeed in your quest to make your brand the best, you must take influencer marketing seriously. You need to be discerning and strategic about the influencers you partner with. Choosing the right influencers for your brand is much more critical than getting influencers with the most reach and engagement. It’s about how they fit your goals and your brand’s image. And how influential they are with your target customers. 

Ultimately, you won’t want to bring the wrong gear to a battle, would you?