Instagram has introduced a new type of ‘celebrity’ into today’s society called social media influencers. These are normal people who have a large, niche following on their social media accounts.
Influencers will generate sales and click through rates for your business – they have such a big influence on those that follow them, hence the title ‘influencer’. But why do they have such a big say in what is popular now and whether or not their audience should buy a certain product? The answer is simple; It’s because many people look up to them and follow them as they see them as more of a friendly, relatable figure compared to big A-list celebrities.
Types of influencers
Many influencers make posting on social media sites, such as Instagram and YouTube, their full time job. Therefore, they probably know their audience’s likes, dislikes, behaviours and demographics, so first off, you need to make sure your campaign is a match for both the influencer and their audience. Here is a list of the 5 types of social media influencers, to read more about each one head over to Repped.io:
- Celebrity Influencers
- Authority Influencers
- Social Media ‘Sensations’
- Micro-Influencers/Macro-influencers
- Bloggers
Each of the influencers listed above will give your brand a boost, however each one will have a different level of impact as well as very different price tags. One of the most successful influencers is the micro-influencer, this is someone with a following of under 20,000 followers. A macro-influencer is someone with a following that exceeds 500,000 followers but is still seen as a friendly figure to followers and has a good relationship with big brands. Below is a case study of how an influencer with a ‘small’ following can boost sales for brands.
How Mrs Hinch used her influence to increase sales for cleaning product Zoflora
Mrs Hinch is a social media influencer with a following of 2.2M on Instagram. She has seen a rapid growth of followers in the last few months. Mrs Hinch is best known for her love of cleaning and often shares tips and tricks with her followers. In April 2019, she released a book which is both a biography and a how-to guide. She mainly uses Instagram stories to keep fans up to date about products she loves, life updates as well as recent buys. In many of her Instagram stories, Mrs Hinch can be seen using the different scented, disinfectant spray, Zoflora. Her influence caused the low-cost disinfectant to be sold out around the country and the manufacturers have had to increase the production rates to 70,000 bottles per week.
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