We are hearing the term “influencer” very often lately and it is making its way through the web of digital marketing rapidly. The real challenge is to define and find the right influencer for your brand. The image of an influencer depends on the brand or campaign.
What is an Influencer?
An influencer can be defined as an individual who is well-known for their expertise and is famous with special recognition among a certain group of people in a specific area or profession. Influencers are followed by hundreds and thousands of admirers.
Traditionally, most common influencers include politicians, movie stars, famous authors etc. But today’s influencers also include bloggers, social media experts, YouTube stars, forums etc. Sometimes, these non-traditional influencers are more effective than famous celebrities. According to Upfluence, there are four categories of influencers:
- Celebrity – These are the individuals who are traditional movie stars or athletes who are recognizable around the world.
- Top 5% – These are high ranking individuals whose website receive about 250k monthly visitors.
- Top 10% – Influencers who have 250,000-25,000 recurring visitors per month.
- Power Middle – An influencer with average influence belong to power middle. They have 2,500-25,000 recurring monthly victors. Power Middle has more influence though they have limited reach because their audience is highly targeted and intensely engaged.
An influencer can be a person, a group or a place. If a team of soccer game recommends an energy drink, the whole team will be considered as an influencer. Influencers can be at different levels. Some influencers have more reach and some have more influence on the audience. For example, celebrities are most commonly used as influencers because of their higher visibility in the society and more reach but friends and family have more influence on consumers compared to celebrities.
