You are probably familiar with the term ‘digital influencers’ and digital influencer marketing but may not know much about it. Well, we’re going to take a deep dive into digital influencer marketing and how you can take advantage of this tremendous opportunity, using it to generate more leads and sales. We’ll teach you how to expand your digital influencer marketing strategy using some tried-and-true marketing methods.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is when people who have large social media followings promote products and services for businesses in exchange for valuable equity (usually money). Digital Influencer marketing is considered to have high ROI due to the fact it creates similar motivation to purchase as traditional word-of-mouth from an acquaintance.

The influencer’s popularity and authority coupled with the fact it appears as if they had personal experience with the product or service makes people more open to buying.

digital influencers platforms

Social Media Influencer Platform

A social influencer can be someone who is a person, group, or brand with some major pull when it comes to persuading others to take action in some way. Celebrities are usually thought of first when the term ‘social influencer’ is used. However, there are many types of digital influencers.

A good number of them turn it into a full-time job. They make a living off of promoting the products and services of other businesses. Social media isn’t the only domain of digital influencer marketing. A comprehensive influencer marketing strategy should also be aware of full-time bloggers as being key influencers.

These individuals are looked at as being genuine and garnering loyal followings. When a blogger is recommending something, they appear trustworthy because they are speaking as if they had personal experience with the product or service.

Using a social influencer marketing strategy can help your business bypass the cynicism and skepticism that many have today. People have been exposed to a great deal of traditional advertising that simply doesn’t work that effectively anymore.

That’s why adapting to the times is vital if you want to stretch your advertising dollars and make it worth it. The influencer marketing industry reached an astonishing $10 billion in 2020. A growing number of small businesses and entrepreneurs are seeing the value in using digital influencers to market and increase their brand awareness, generate leads, and get more sales.

Impact of social media influencer marketing

social influencer campaigns have been making quite an impact on the sales of small businesses. Here are some quick stats showing just how powerful influencer campaigns are in increasing leads and brand awareness.

Social Influencer marketing has become so popular that intermediaries have popped up to act as matchmakers for businesses and digital influencers. This type of marketing isn’t going away anytime soon, so it’s a good idea to know more about it, including the types of digital influencers out there.

Types of digital Influencer Marketing

There are a few different tiers of influencers you should know about. There are pros and cons to each, depending on what tier of influencer you use as part of your influencer marketing strategy.

Here are the main types of influencers you will find on social media today:

  • Mega digital influencers – These are celebrities or major internet personalities. They have at least 1,000,000 subscribers or followers on one or more social networks. These influencers have larger audiences but have the lowest engagement rates.

  • Macro digital influencers – These are people who became famous on the internet through methods like blogging, going viral, or being some kind of social media star.

    They have 100,000 to 1,000,000 followers. These digital influencers have huge audiences that are more engaged than those of mega influencers.

  • Micro digital influencers – Most digital influencers are in this category. They are experts in a specific niche and are passionate about it.

    Their audiences are between 10,000 and 100,000 followers and are very loyal. They are more trusted than mega and macro-influencers.

  • Nano digital influencers – These are everyday consumers who have influence within a small or local community. They have 5,000 to 10,000 followers and lack experience working with brands.


    For the most part. They have the highest engagement rates out of any tier of influencers and are very trusted.

Types of digital influencer campaigns

When it comes to developing an influencer marketing strategy. You have plenty of options for what types of influencer marketing you could use.

We’re going to give you a list of some of the most effective types of influencer marketing campaigns used today by small businesses.

1. Affiliate marketing

This is the darling of influencer campaigns. Affiliate marketing has proven to be incredibly lucrative for both businesses selling products or services, and the affiliate influencers promoting those products.

With affiliate marketing, an influencer gets a commission for promoting a business’ product or service. With each sale made, a kickback is received by the influencer.

Let’s say you sold a course on how to take professional photos. You could reach out to an influencer in the photography niche and offer them 10% of the revenue for each course sold.

The more courses they sell for you, the more money both of you make. It’s a win-win! We recommend using Instagram for affiliate marketing for the best results.

influencer marketing example video - amazon coupons

2. Giveaways

Everyone loves getting something for free. When you run a giveaway influencer campaign, you stand to gain a lot.

These bring in a diverse crowd that interacts with an influencer when they are giving away something.

It brings in a tremendous amount of value for businesses and brands involved with a giveaway done by an influencer.

The most popular social media platforms for giveaways are Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you’re an artist, you can find an influencer in your specific art niche and come to an agreement with them about the terms of the giveaway. You could tell them that you want to give away prints of your artwork. In exchange, they will receive money from you for their services.

You giving something away will bring you more social media likes, followers, and engagement. Plus, you’ll be gaining more leads as well that can turn into sales.

3. Social media partnership:

Refers to collaborations, or collabs, social media partnerships are one of the most popular types of influencer marketing. There are actually five different forms a social media partnership can come in.

  1. Partnerships: you have an agreement with an influencer to share in revenues or leads with them.
  2. Collaborations: you link up with an influencer on a single project or campaign and share the rewards of it.
  3. Cross-promotion: you and an influencer promote one another’s products and services.
  4. Content placement: is when businesses and digital nfluencers agree to occasionally share one another’s content with their audiences.
  5. A value-add is when you make a deal with an influencer to access their audience based on some sort of agreement you made with them.

In general, social media partnerships can be made on any of the major social media platforms, but those made on Instagram are wildly popular.

online influencer

4. Paid influencer marketing

Paid influencer marketing is sponsored posts that digital influencers make about a product or service for an X amount of money. These are paid promotional posts. It’s a comfortable transactional relationship to have with an influencer that can be lucrative. However, you need to pick the right influencer. Otherwise, you will be wasting your money.

Entrepreneurs like photographers, fashion designers, realtors, and others can benefit from sponsored social media posts.

facebook influencer

5. Guest blogging

Guest blogging involves identifying digital influencers in your niche who stand to gain something from promoting your products or services. This usually involves paying a fee for them to write up a blog article on something you are selling. Your brand will become exposed to a large audience, and you can gain a lot of leads and sales.

6. Brand awareness programs

Brand awareness is vital for every business because it increases awareness of your brand. It’s as simple as that. Some of the benefits include increase peoples’ trust in your business, having an easier time marketing your products and services, and growing brand equity.

Your social influencer marketing strategy should include a brand awareness program where you team up with digital influencers to get the word out about your brand. This is especially crucial for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs who don’t have large audiences.

facebook influencer

Instafamous and social media influencer marketing model

Wrapping Up

Social influencer marketing has become an indispensable tool that every small business should take advantage of. People no longer respond well to traditional advertising techniques. That’s why digital influencers have become so popular to use as part of marketing strategies.

Now that you know how it all works! You can get started on picking a type of influencer that matches your needs and budget. Also a type of influencer campaign, and go from there. You’re going to be able to get a lot of bang for your buck with this proven marketing method. Especially if you’re a budding entrepreneur or small business.