If you are in the business of digital marketing and branding, or digital advertising, there are chances that you have come across the term \u2013 \u201cInfluencer Marketing\u201d or Influencers, or Micro-Influencers. No! They are not superspreaders of Influenza. But, they are indeed superspreaders of information about a particular product or a service or a brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To define them in simple words, they are individuals with tremendous social media \u2018fan\u2019 following and are considered to be experts within their niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is believed that influencer marketing works wonders because of quite a few things \u2013 firstly, it reinforces trust with the brand because of the followers of that particular \u2018Influencer\u2019 have. When an influencer recommends a product\/service of a brand; that becomes a social proof<\/em><\/strong> for its customers. Okay now! Lots of jargon being tossed around? Let\u2019s catch \u2018em all, one by one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social Proof<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not about proving your existence on social media. Social Proof was a term coined by Robert Cialdini in his book – Influence<\/em>, published in 1984. He initially termed this phenomenon as informational social influence<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When people imitate the actions of others so as to initiate a particular behavior in a given situation, that\u2019s what Social Proof is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have TikTok stars and Insta-celebs today who earn so much in a month that a government employee would, in a year. Well, the value of these influencers has indeed shot up to the stars. But, why is that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Insta-Value<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a report by Influencer Marketing Hub, 67% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing. While Instagram is still leading the influencer marketing bandwagon, the percentage plummeted from 80% in 2020. There are so many influencers in the market that even they have to market their influence! But, how many types of influencers exist exactly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Influencer Types<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Understanding the types of influencers is more or less like finding a needle in the haystack. It\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but technology has made magnets stronger. So, here\u2019s a categorical list of these influencer types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n