Who are Social media influencers?

Different Social media influencers Defined

As many of us understand what social media is, a broad spectrum that facilitates sharing of ideas, thoughts and information through virtual networks and communities. Social media was originally used to as a medium to interact with friends and family but have evolved to suit business needs to reach out to cold market users.

The penetration rate of social media is at an all-time high with a year to year growth of 1.6% or 72,000 new users based on statistic given. It’s no doubt that marketers will want to leverage on social media platforms to reach various audiences and users on social media platforms. With this comes the birth of influencers, users on social media who have established a strong credibility with huge audience and followers. The primary role of influencers is to influence and persuade others in user perception of brands and products.

 

What does an influencer do?

Influencers are individuals who spend most of their time on social media trying to influence the behavior and beliefs of their followers or fan base. They engage with a group of users by engaging in live shows, regular posting and reviews on preferred or specialize topic to generate more followers and fan base while building and influencing user behavior and perception of products and brands.

How many followers needed for you to be an influencer?

There is no fix number of followers to be an influencer, it depends on the niche and industry an influencer is operating or targeting at. Influencer fan base can start from as many as 1 million followers to as little as nano influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers. You can categorize influencers based on the number of followers into 4 different categories based on AnyMind predicaments. From the largest scale in descending order, we have the largest top star, macro, micro, nano and the least with end users.

Top Stars:

Top Stars are influencers with more than 500,000 followers and might not necessary be celebrities. These top stars can drive social engagement and influence their fan base. Engaging with top stars might generally cost more as they are of big “influence” to the general fan base they have built up. Top star social media influencers in Singapore are attractive to marketers as they reach out to a wider network creating strong brand presence and generating awareness and brand lift.

Macro Influencers:

Typically, Macro influencers have followers ranging from 100,000 to about 500,000 followers that are significant in altering user perception and influencer a general mass of fan base too. They are great in building interest and hype on products.

 

Micro-influencers:

Micro-influencers seem to be emerging stronger in Singapore as compared to other markets in Asia. These influencers have follower size of from 10,000 to 100,000 with a strong niche in specific communities and audience segment. They are intended to help drive conversion. As these group of followers are specific in age groups perhaps or even interest this helps in influencing them to convert and purchase brand and products.

 

Nano-influencers:

Nano influencers are growing tremendously over the recent years and being one of the most common tiers of influencers found in Singapore. They are typically used by marketers in generating brand connection, credibility and loyalty of brands with a small group of fans based of 1,000 to 10,000.

 

End-users:

End-user influencers are common users most likely to be consumers. They do not consider themselves as influencers but they do provide credibility and reviews on products to reach their own social circle groups. More often, end-users with followers of 100 to 1,000 would use their personal clout to convince followers on brands and products.

 

How do influencers get paid?

We have briefly explained what social media and their type and usage for social media influencers is. But how much do you have to pay to hire one for your campaign? This largely depends on where they are operating and the different payment models that influencers may choose to engage in. Such as affiliate marketing, Display advertising sponsored posting for images, videos or brand reviews or even by campaign basis. They can also be hired as ambassadors of merchandise or to be paid per production of review for products or services. Therefore, the pricing ultimately depends on the business nature and influencer agreement on these payment terms.

Keen to start working with influencers or starting a viral social media campaign? Contact us at Adssential Marketing where we ensure KPI and deliverables are achieved. Contact us to discuss on engaging social media influencers and social media campaigns.