Influencers and brands! These two entities are standing at the two ends of a rope called social media marketing. A person with handsome followers on social media can really make your brand a household name in no time. A successful influencer marketing campaign guarantees more revenue conversions and sustenance of your brand. However, it is always important to collaborate with an influencer who creates content that resonates with your brand ethos and can reach the same niche.
We have created this guide to make it easier for brands to work with the right social influencers.
What is Influencer Marketing?
This is a very common question: what is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers who have built strong followings on social media and are viewed as experts in their field. Nowadays, it is considered a smart social media influencer marketing strategy. As social influencers like Amazon influencers have grown trust with their following through their content, they can provide social proof about your brand to your brand’s potential customers.
Types of Social Media Influencers

Today, the internet has become a hub of influencers. According to the latest studies, more than half a million social influencers are active just on Instagram. In this scenario, it is often difficult to decide which type of influencers to work with. As we mentioned in the marketing influencer definition, you should choose influencers based on your marketing objectives and target audience. Here are the top 5 types of social media influencers:
1. Bloggers and Vloggers
Bloggers regularly publish content on their blogs. Their content is frequently promoted on multiple social media platforms as well. A popular blogger acts like an active influencer on social media since he/she has a highly engaged and loyal audience that looks forward to the next posts. It is often considered that they are experts and trustworthy sources of information. A vlogger shares videos as content, similar to a blogger. Their videos are often published on platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. Engaging bloggers and vloggers is usually a highly effective way to revamp your content strategy. In addition to generating leads, this is an effective way to promote your brand. The most popular bloggers are found in a wide array of fields, including travel, marketing, fashion, and lifestyle.
2. Social Media Sensations
While bloggers rely on blogs or videos in order to keep audiences engaged, social media stars do not. Instead, they share glimpses of their regular lives with their followers and build strong bonds. They are people who have become famous solely because of their social media profiles. Despite not necessarily being considered niche experts, they have the ability to influence purchasing decisions. Especially since such online influencers tend to connect with their followers more personally, they are viewed as regular consumers as opposed to celebrities. Their followers often trust their recommendations and are highly engaged.
3. Mega-Influencers
Because of their celebrity status, mega-influencers attract more than a million followers on social media. Their audience spends a lot of time on social platforms where they are very active, and generate a lot of engagement. Brands looking to leverage influencer marketing appreciate them for this reason, but they are also quite pricey.
4. Micro-Influencers
Marketers often give preference to social media influencers with millions of followers when evaluating social media influencers. Reach, however, is not your only deciding factor for success. High levels of engagement are equally important. Micro-influencers can play a crucial role in this process. The majority of micro-influencers have a few hundred thousand followers, if not fewer. However, their fan communities are extremely engaged as they cater to a very specific audience. So, they will be more likely to be able to persuade their followers to take the desired action. In this way, they can effectively promote a particular brand without seeming too promotional.
5. Nano-Influencers
Marketers have been forced to explore new types of influencers due to the rising demand for social media influencers. Nano-influencers have risen as a result of this. Like micro-influencers, they have a small but engaged social media following. Nano-influencers typically have a few thousand followers (sometimes even fewer). Small businesses can benefit from them. Their main distinguishing characteristic is loyalty to a specific brand or product. Their social media profiles are likely to reflect this. By offering the right incentive, they are more likely to become loyal consumers and advocate for your brand. In this sense, their followers will perceive this as a real endorsement and not a branded endorsement.
How much does influencer marketing cost?
Here are the general guidelines for how much a social media influencer charges for influencer marketing cost:
The price that brands pay for Instagram influencer marketing varies between $75 and $3,000 per post. Depending on their audience size and the quality of their content, sponsored Instagram posts will be priced differently. Middle-level influencers charge an average of $271 per Instagram post. For an advertisement, a micro-influencer with less than 1,000 followers charges an average of $83 per post.
Instagram Influencer Advertising Rates:
- A post that has 2,000 to 10,000 Instagram followers costs $75 to $250
- A post that has 10,000 to 50,000 Instagram followers costs $250 to $500
- A post that has 50,000 to 100,000 Instagram followers costs $500 to $1,000
- A post that has 100,000 to 500,000 Instagram followers costs $1,000 to $3,000
- A post that has 500,000+ Instagram followers costs $3,000+
Selena Gomez, the Instagram influencer with the most followers, holds the title of the highest-paid Instagram influencer with 122 million followers. $550,000 is the cost of each sponsored Instagram post she makes!
YouTube
Influencers use YouTube to promote videos to target audiences to promote brands using influencer marketing. YouTube social influencers usually have higher marketing costs than other social media platforms. An average brand pays $2,000 for every 100,000 followers.
YouTube Influencer Rates:
- A channel that has 50,000 to 100,000 subscribers costs $500 to $1,000 per video
- A channel that has 100,000 to 500,000 subscribers costs $1,000 to $3,000 per video
- A channel that has 500,000+ subscribers costs $3,000 to 5,000+ per video
Influencer Marketing Tools
An influencer marketing tool enables marketers to identify the most relevant and engaging bloggers, journalists, and media outlets in their specific market segments. This identification is important to communicate more effectively, automate routine tasks, and measure and optimize results. Influencer marketing tools facilitate MarTech’s decision-making processes for founders and marketing executives. Influencer calculator is one type of influencer marketing tool used by Influencer Marketing Hub, which is by far the largest influencer marketing agency in the world as measured by unique monthly visitors. Nowadays, there are so many influencer marketing tools on the market that it would take you hours, if not days, to sift through all the reviews to narrow it down to a few. Here are some top influencer marketing tools for you.
Instagram Money Calculator
If you believe you are an influencer, you can use the Instagram Money Calculator to calculate your estimated earnings based on your engagement and number of followers on Instagram. Please note that this tool is not the official Instagram marketing hub tool and is not in any way associated or endorsed by Instagram. It provides guidelines on earning potential to influencers.
TikTok Money Calculator
Based on engagement and follower count, the TikTok Money Calculator will estimate your TikTok worth if you consider yourself an influencer. The version of TikTok here relates to the “Western” version, not the “Chinese” version, Douyin. In the same way as the Instagram Money Calculator, this tool is also not an official TikTok tool, nor is it supported by or affiliated with TikTok. TikTok launched the TikTok Creator Marketplace in 2020. This works as an analytics tool that measures the engagement, views, and demographics of an influencer.
Influencer Marketing Platforms
An Influencer Marketing Platform is a software solution designed to assist brands with their Influencer Marketing Campaigns with the help of influencer networks. Many influencer marketing platforms present brand and agency talent discovery tools, along with searchable databases of influencers. Influencer marketing platforms may prefer to use opt-in models for influencers, in which the staff of the platform vets potential influencers to ensure that they are genuine and willing to work with brands. Recently, influencer platforms have expanded to offer relationship management, campaign management, influencer marketplace, third-party analytics, and influencer content amplification.
Conclusion:
Influencer marketing is here to stay and grow. From a better return on your investments to helping your brand carve a place in this highly competitive market, influencer marketing seems to be really useful when exercised properly. So, get familiar with how influencer marketing works and consult professional marketers for collaborating with content creators.