Over the years, you might have built up a large following on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or even Facebook. Your fans may have followed you because you tend to make engaging content of products and services you use around the home or something you do for a hobby. Your followers tend to react to your content, leave comments, and share your content with their friends. If you have many followers, post regularly, and get great engagement, influencer marketing is a means for you to monetize your social media presence.
Influencer marketing involves using a profile with many engaged followers to promote a product or service. These types of profiles are very niche in nature. For example, a fitness guru may post pictures of their workout sessions on Instagram; this type of profile might be an excellent way for that fitness guru to promote a company's supplement products. A monetary incentive is usually involved when a person promotes products or services on their niche social media accounts.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How big of an industry is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is not necessarily a new thing. Many social media platforms evolved to support influencer marketing during the 2010s. One of the significant drivers of influencer marketing was Facebook's acquisition of Instagram in 2012. In addition, other platforms have developed to help support influencer marketing, such as TikTok and YouTube.
In recent years, influencer marketing as an industry has grown from $1.7 billion in 2015 to $9.7 billion in 2020. That's an average increase of $2 billion every year. Social media followers gravitate to specific influencer profiles because they are experts in their field. As a result, some influencers make hundreds of thousands of dollars every time they make a post. Here are a few examples:
- Cristiano Ronaldo: Minimum of $800,000 for every post made.
- Kylie Jenner: Minimum of $670,000 for every post.
- Selena Gomez: Minimum of $630,000 for every post.
How do influencers make money for their social media content? There are a lot of different ways that they can make money:
- Sponsored posts are when a brand pays the influencer to make a post on their social media account, showcasing a product.
- A brand ambassador contract usually involves the influencer promoting a product for a set number of months (whereas a sponsored post is just a one-off).
- Affiliate marketing involves posts with a link to the brand's website. An affiliate link helps the brand determine revenue attributed to that particular influencer, letting them pay out a percentage of each sale.
- Promoting live events is also another way that influencers can earn money.
How many followers do you need to be an influencer?
Influencers tend to fall into two groups: macro-influencers and micro-influencers. Macro- influencers have between 40,000 and 1,000,000 followers. Micro-influencers tend to have 1,000 to 40,000 followers. In really niche spaces, it's possible to be a nano-influencer and promote a brand to less than 1,000 followers. All types of influencers share a few different characteristics:
- They share content that emphasizes an industry, hobby, or activity that empassions them.
- People love the content that they create and curate.
- They engage with their followers when they comment or react to their content.
With any number of followers, it is possible to become an influencer. You only need to generate content that focuses on something that empassions you.
How much money can you potentially make as an influencer?
Celebrities can command several hundred thousand dollars per post because they have millions of followers naturally. However, when it comes to making money, influencers might charge a formula, such as $100 for every 10,000 followers they have. For example, some influencers with a high number of followers might charge $1,000 for a sponsored post, while smaller influencers might charge $100 per post.
In 2018, the typical influencer with around 40,000 followers could make about $100,000 per year. This level of income is easily sustained with affiliate marketing and sponsored posts.
Which social media platforms are best for influencer marketing?
The top influencer platforms include Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. Influencers also use Facebook and Twitter to engage with their followers. Note that the leading social media focus on photo and video content. For example, one of Instagram's goals is to be the top platform for content creators to make a living doing what they do best, sharing the content they love. YouTube is one of the leading platforms because of how long it's been around and how many users it has. TikTok is up and coming and makes sharing video content a breeze.
Influencers tend to congregate on the platform that serves them best. So, for example, YouTube might be a more suitable platform for educating your followers about a product or service. On the other hand, Instagram and TikTok will be more appropriate for posts intended for impulse purchases.
What type of content is best for influencer marketing?
In recent years, video content has grown exponentially. In 2022, video content will make up 82% of all Internet consumer traffic. In addition, about 80% of people engage with online video content weekly, consuming up to sixteen hours of video content per week. Also, most people making an Internet purchase tend to learn about the product through video content.
If you are considering video as a means of influencer marketing, here are a few stats about video consumption on social media:
- On Instagram, 60% of people engage with video content with the sound on.
- On any social media platform, video content receives about twice as much engagement compared to other types of posts (such as text or static images).
- Posting a story on Facebook or Instagram tends to get twice as much engagement compared to a newsfeed video post.
Video content is the way to go if you want to take up influencer marketing. Images also work well. Many influencers will use photos in tandem with promoted videos. As a rule of thumb, a balance of pictures and video will help keep your followers engaged.
What types of limits do influencers face with the platforms they use?
A company called Earthweb did a study on influencers in 2022. The study revealed that globally, there are a maximum of 32 million influencers. Influencers face several unique challenges when it comes to making a living:
∙Many do not have a website to unify their social media presence.
∙Many are concerned with maintaining their image, which is essentially their brand.
∙Some influencers find it hard to promote products because they need to get people to a
link for the product they are promoting.
In recent years, social media influencers have started using link bios to overcome some of these obstacles. A platform like Campsite.bio can let influencers:
- Unify their social media presence with links to their different social media platforms.
- Share additional content, such as blogs and feeds, without having to post links to a website.
- Brand their online presence and maintain their online image.
- Make opt-ins and monetization a little bit easier.
What tools do you need to be an influencer?
Many influencers get by with just a smartphone. But those that take it to the next level invest in the right equipment and software to help them get the best content. First and foremost, an influencer needs a good phone to take the best pictures. Additionally, some influencers invest in an action camera for more detailed photos. Many influencers also invest in a tripod or selfie stick to get stable images and video.
Influencers who take it to the next level invest in social media software to help manage their online presence. They might invest in a scheduling tool to map their posts out and an analytics platform to understand when their engagement is the best. Influencers often use a link bio tool like Campsite.bio to mitigate the "one-link" rule of Instagram, letting followers engage with more content and get links to promoted products.
Should you be an influencer?
If you partake in an activity or hobby, share that passion with others on social media, and post regularly, then you should try being an influencer. The income is attractive, and you get to set the hours. The influencer industry is continually growing, and your authority in your niche is an excellent opportunity to grow your income.