16 Types Of Influencers You Need To Know (With Examples)
Are you curious about the different types of influencers that exist on the internet?
Maybe you’ve heard terms like “nano influencers” and “micro influencers” but aren’t quite sure of what they mean.
Maybe you’re a brand looking to get into influencer marketing and need to brush up on your knowledge of influencers.
Whatever your reasoning for wanting to know more about influencer types, we’ve listed over a dozen influencer types in this article.
We’ve organized them by follower count, content type and niche.
Let’s get started.
Types of influencers by follower count
The most common way to identify different types of influencers is through defining them by follower count.
There are four categories for identifying influencers by the number of followers they have:
- Nano Influencers – 1,000 to 10,000 followers
- Micro Influencers – 10,000 to 100,000 followers
- Macro Influencers – 100,000 to 1 million followers
- Mega Influencers – 1 million+ followers
Let’s talk about each influencer type.
1. Nano influencers
When you think of the term “influencer,” you probably picture popular social media stars with hundreds of thousands of followers or more.
In actuality, an “influencer” is any content creator who’s able to affect the opinions and behaviors of others.
So, if a TikTok creator with 25 followers covers a topic in their niche well enough to get at least one viewer to change their mind on that topic, that creator, by definition, is an influencer.
However, influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers are less likely to earn the attention of brands and larger audiences, so when we categorize influencers by follower count, we typically start with “nano influencers,” who are influencers with follower counts ranging from 1,000 to 10,000.
These influencers are still in the process of growing their audiences.
They may have landed a brand deal here and there, but for the most part, their primary concern is pumping out as much high-quality content as quickly as possible in hopes of increasing their follower count.
Example of a nano influencer
This is the Instagram account of food blogger Sarah Jayne (@gluten_free_sjb).
She has over 1,700 followers, which means she’s just crossed over to what the marketing world considers an influencer.
She posts gluten free recipes and products, receiving a few dozen likes and a handful of comments per post.
In spite of her small following, Sarah already has a sponsorship in which her followers can get access to discounts on gluten free products.
Her affiliate link for this deal can be found in her bio link.
2. Micro influencers
Micro influencers represent a group of influencers who have figured out their niche well enough to attract new subscribers and encourage current subscribers to return.
They’re not yet receiving widespread attention in their niche, but if they get to know the target audience they’ve built and work toward creating better and better content for that audience, they’ll move into the next influencer phase in no time.
From a marketing perspective, micro influencers may seem more attractive to certain brands since these influencers have enough of an audience to receive a consistent number of views per post but small enough of an audience to where they’re still able to engage with their followers quite easily.
Example of a micro influencer
This is Ally’s Instagram account, who goes by @pure_foolery on the platform.
She’s a tattoo artist based in Vancouver, and as such, her Instagram account is dedicated to tattoos she’s done for clients as well as illustrations she’s working on.
She had just over 45,000 followers at the time this article was written, and her posts received a few thousand likes and a couple dozen comments each.
Her Instagram account seems to act as a marketing channel for her tattoo services, and it seems to be her only one.
Her bio link leads to a booking form hosted by Jotform, which means she’s not yet at the stage of creating a dedicated portfolio website or taking on additional marketing strategies.
3. Macro influencers
The macro influencer group of influencers is where things start to get interesting.
It’s a huge group, for starters, as it includes any influencer whose follower count is over 100,000 but less than 1 million.
This group of influencers have made it past the hard, excruciatingly slow part of growing an audience and are now actively working toward keeping that audience engaged with bolder and bolder content.
You may think influencers in this category have it made, and for the most part, they do.
They’ve been around long enough to have an active, loyal following, and they can expect to receive a consistent amount of traffic to each post they publish.
However, it’s a long road from 100,000 to 1 million. A lot of influencers hit a wall at this point and stop growing altogether.
Sure, they still earn that consistent amount of traffic we mentioned, but in terms of growth, many influencers find it difficult to move past this point.
Fortunately, this isn’t an issue for a lot of influencers.
They still receive enough attention to their content to generate revenue, and they still have what brands want to see most from the influencers they work with: a consistent number of views and an engaged community eager to interact with an influencer’s content.
Example of a macro influencer
The Korean Farmer (@koren.kornfarmer on TikTok) is an example of a macro influencer.
He’s a Korean-American farmer based out of Nebraska who specializes in one key crop…corn.
He has over 275,000 followers on TikTok and has received over 6.8 million likes throughout his time on the platform.
Most of his videos receive tens of thousands of views, but he has a few viral videos here and there as well, which will certainly help his continued success on the platform.
4. Mega influencers
Here’s where we get into influencers whose success has really taken off.
Mega influencers are influencers who have more than 1 million followers. They’re social media content creators, but they’re also politicians, athletes and celebrities.
Like macro influencers, these influencers have found their niche within a particular social media platform. They’ve become really good at cultivating the audience they’ve built on that platform and know exactly how to push out content that consistently gets views.
These are the kinds of influencers we think of when we hear the term “influencer.”
They’re much more likely to collaborate with bigger brands who have budgets large enough to sponsor creators who receive hundreds of thousands or even millions of views per video.
Plus, with such a huge following, a mega influencer is in the unique position of being able to create their own product (or product line in collaboration with an established brand) and have it take off immediately.
Example of a mega influencer
KallMeKris is a great example of one of TikTok’s biggest mega influencers.
She has over 49 million followers on the platform and more than 2.3 billion likes.
She’s even crossed over to YouTube quite successfully, receiving more than 9 million subscribers on the platform. Plus, she has over 3.1 million followers on Instagram.
As for her content? KallMeKris’ TikTok account took off a few years ago after she consistently posted comedy clips in which she played different characters.
And while macro influencers often use other social media platforms to repurpose content they’ve already made, Kris has been able to successfully dominate other platforms as well by creating original content optimized for each platform she tackles.
She’s also extremely brand friendly and makes her willingness to accept sponsorships quite obvious by:
- Having her Brands & Business Inquiries information be a top link on her Linktree page.
- Putting her business email in her TikTok bio.
- Putting her follower counts for TikTok and YouTube in her Instagram bio.
A quick word about follower counts between platforms
Before we continue with other types of influencers, we should talk about the difference between follower counts on certain platforms.
If you scroll through your For You Page on TikTok, it’s not uncommon to find an influencer you’ve never heard of with millions and millions of followers.
This is because 1 million followers on TikTok is much different than having 1 million subscribers on YouTube or 1 million followers on Instagram.
Generally speaking, it’s much easier to earn 1 million followers on TikTok than it is on any other platform.
KallMeKris is a great example of this. While she has 49 million followers on TikTok, she has much less on YouTube and Instagram combined.
Remember this fact as you start to learn more about influencers, especially if those influencers only publish to YouTube and Instagram where earning a following is much harder.
Types of influencers by content type
When you hear the term “influencer,” you probably think of TikTok influencers, Twitch streamers and YouTubers who publish video content.
However, there are other types of influencers as well:
- Video – Influencers who publish short or longform video clips to TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
- Streamers – Influencers who livestream their content to Twitch, YouTube and TikTok, though other livestreaming platforms exist as well.
- Podcast – These influencers create episodic talk shows and upload them as longform audio clips to Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
- Social Media Posts – Influencers who primarily publish their content as social media posts on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
- Bloggers – Influencers who publish articles, typically on their own websites.
Let’s talk about each influencer type.
5. Video influencers
For lack of a better phrase, “video influencers” are content creators who publish video content to TikTok, YouTube, Instagram or Facebook.
TikTok and YouTube are the two most popular platforms video influencers target.
TikTok is great for short-form content while YouTube is the go-to platform for all content longer than five minutes.
When influencers publish content to Instagram and Facebook, they usually repurpose content they’ve already published on TikTok and YouTube.
Video content is the most popular form of influencer content, and it comes in all forms and suits a variety of different genres.
If you’ve ever browsed any of the platforms we’ve mentioned, here are video styles you’re most likely familiar with:
- Comedy sketches.
- Comedic clips.
- Vlogs that consist of creators recording video while going about their day.
- Reviews.
- Tutorials.
- Video gameplay.
- Reactions.
- Music covers.
- Interviews.
- Commentary on specific topics.
That list pretty much sums up influencer content in a nutshell.
Example a video influencer
MrBeast is, by far, the most popular video influencer at the moment.
He has over 184 million subscribers on YouTube, a platform he’s absolutely dominating with original content.
It’s hard to describe MrBeast’s genre of content, but it mostly consists of bold ideas guaranteed to go viral.
Here are the titles of his most popular videos:
- $456,000 Squid Game in Real Life – 500 million views
- Last to Leave Circle Wins $500,000 – 342 million views
- I Spent 50 Hours Buried Alive – 297 million views
- $1 vs $1,000,000 Hotel Room – 295 million views
- I Spent 50 Hours in Solitary Confinement – 295 million views
In spite of the crazy titles and content, his content is easy to consume.
Each video is under 20 minutes long, and he only publishes a few videos a month.
And while his numbers may seem unattainable to other creators, just know that MrBeast was able to go viral on a platform that was already dominated by numerous channels that had well over 1 million subscribers at the time he started making content.
Other influencers simply need to find a way to put out unique content in their niche and find their own style other influencers in that niche aren’t using.
6. Streamers
Streamers are content creators who stream their content live, usually to platforms like Twitch and YouTube, though TikTok has become a great source for livestreaming as well.
When people hear the term “streamer,” they mostly think of Twitch streamers who livestream themselves playing video games on the platform.
However, Twitch isn’t just known for video game content these days. In fact, the platform’s most popular category is “Just Chatting,” a streaming category streamers use when they’re simply talking to their audience.
Gamers stream gaming content to YouTube Gaming as well.
On TikTok, creators use livestreaming as a way to advertise products or partake in a form of streaming known as “IRL streaming” or “in-real-life streaming.”
In this form of streaming, influencers film themselves going about their days in their personal or professional lives.
Streaming is popular among influencers due to its low commitment in terms of content creation.
While it requires influencers to be present in order for content to be made consistently, influencers don’t need to write, film or edit content, at least not to the same degree. Filming is done on the spot and does not need to be edited.
Livestreaming is popular among viewers due to its interactive nature. Viewers can chat with their favorite streamer as well as other members of a streamer’s audience.
Example of a streamer
KaiCenat is one of the biggest streamers at the moment.
He has 7.1 million followers on Twitch and is estimated to have over 87,000 active paid subscribers.
Like many streamers, his content consists of him playing the latest gaming titles and having conversations with friends live on stream.
He has a captivating and vibrant personality, which has only helped to excel his popularity on streaming platforms.
7. Podcast influencers
Podcasts are not a new form of content creation. They’ve been around for as long as blogging has been around.
However, the podcast genre has exploded over the last 10 years.
Some influencers are known for their podcast content while other influencers are known for other content but still create podcasts on the side.
That’s how influential this content type has become.
A podcast is an internet talk show that consists of one but usually two or more hosts discussing a specific topic.
Most podcasts target a specific niche, and each episode is dedicated to a different topic in that niche.
Audio versions of each episode gets uploaded to podcast libraries like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but many podcasts are filmed as well. The video is either uploaded to YouTube or filmed live on YouTube or Twitch.
Example of a podcast influencer
Controversial as he may be, Joe Rogan is one of the most popular podcast influencers on the web.
He hosts his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, exclusively with Spotify, a deal that’s said to be worth $200 million.
Prior to this deal, he hosted his podcast, available in video and audio formats, on YouTube.
Joe Rogan’s podcast is an interview style podcast in which each episode consists of him interviewing a different guest.
He’s a comedian and host for the UFC, so many of his guests include fellow comedians and athletes.
However, he invites all kinds of guests to his show, and while that choice has landed him in hot water quite a few times, his audience can expect to hear a wide assortment of conversations and opinions from his content.
8. Social media influencers
While most influencers publish video or podcast content these days, some influencers only publish social media posts to platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
It’s not the best way to earn a following these days since these platforms aren’t known for having the best algorithms or UIs for finding new content, but many influencers have been able to find success by only publishing this type of content regardless.
It’s also still an effective way to go about influencer marketing as you can just as easily create sponsored content and promote affiliate links in regular social media posts.
As for the types of content these types of influencers create, they usually post photos and stories to Instagram, short tweets to Twitter (Elon Musk’s “X”) and text-based posts to Facebook.
They also publish short clips as Instagram and Facebook reels.
Example of a social media influencer
Borrowing our example from earlier, @pure_foolery, Ally is a terrific example of a social media influencer who only publishes social media posts.
She doesn’t use Instagram reels, YouTube videos or TikTok content.
She simply publishes her latest tattoos and ideas to Instagram, and uses relevant hashtags to find her audience on the platform.
9. Bloggers
Yes, bloggers are influencers, even our blog here at Blogging Wizard.
Blog posts may not go as viral as social media posts or video content, but they’re still a valid way to grow an audience in a specific niche.
And if you have an audience, you have the ability to influence the opinions and behaviors of others.
Blog post content is kind of similar to video content in terms of the type of content bloggers create.
You’ll find tutorials, reviews, opinionated posts and other hot takes, news articles, interviews, case studies, and more.
Example of a blogger
Other than our own blog, which targets the online business niche, a great example of a blogger is Pinch of Yum.
Pinch of Yum is a food blogger whose website receives over 3 million visits every month.
It’s run by Lindsay, a 4th grade teacher turned food blogger.
She publishes all sorts of recipes in categories like Quick & Easy, Dinner, Vegetarian, Healthy, Instant Pot, Soups, and more.
Types of influencers by niche
We can also categorize influencers by the niches they target since each niche handles content differently.
Here are the niches we’ll be covering:
- Fashion
- Lifestyle
- Beauty
- Food
- Technology
- Travel
- Healthy & fitness
10., 11., 12. Fashion, lifestyle and beauty influencers
Let’s group fashion, lifestyle and beauty influencers together since there’s a lot of crossover between these niches.
Fashion influencers often make content involving all sorts of clothing and styles. Beauty influencers do the same but with makeup instead.
Lifestyle influencers typically make vlogging content that shows their day to day lives.
The reason we wanted to group these influencers together is because it’s not uncommon for fashion influencers to also make beauty and lifestyle content, and vice versa for beauty and lifestyle influencers.
Even so, each niche is still quite different, and each influencer typically specializes in one niche or another in spite of also creating content that appeals to the other niches as well.
These types of influencers create video content for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube and also upload images to Instagram.
13. Food influencers
We already touched base on this niche through Pinch of Yum, but food influencers are influencers who create content for the food niche.
This usually involves creating recipes of a certain style, such as italian recipes, gluten free recipes, etc.
However, some influencers get a little experimentative. B. Dylan Hollis, for example, dedicates his TikTok account to creating unorthodox recipes he finds in old cookbooks.
His videos consist of him creating the recipes for the very first time, so they’re often entertaining.
14. Tech influencers
Tech influencers create content for the technology niche. Marques Browlnee from YouTube is one of the most popular tech influencers on the internet.
Like most tech influencers, he’s mostly known for publishing reviews and first looks at the latest gadgets, especially smartphones.
15. Travel influencers
Influencers in the travel niche create content that consists of them visiting different places around the world.
While most influencers create the same content—vlogs and images showcasing different places around the world—@imjoshfromengland2, a British man, has put his own spin on the travel niche by publishing his reactions and first impressions with bits and pieces from American culture.
16. Health & fitness influencers
Health and fitness influencers make content that revolves around taking care of our bodies in different ways.
Some influencers create tutorials and wellness guides for their respective niches while others become experts and thought leaders within these niches.
One of the most influential health influencers is Doctor Mike, a doctor turned YouTuber who’s earned a following sharing his advice and insights from a professional working in the American healthcare industry.
Final thoughts
That concludes our list of the types of influencers you need to know as well as different ways to categorize influencers.
There are a few niches we didn’t cover, such as comedy, sports, video games, entertainment, commentary and even pets.
Yes, there are entire TikTok and Instagram accounts dedicated to pets, and they do have influence in their respective niches.
We also didn’t mention fake influencers, which is a growing problem on the web.
Nevertheless, these categories are important to brands because they let brands know how many consumers a particular influencer can expose their products to as well as if that influencer’s audience matches a brand’s target market.
We didn’t really mention it, but you can also categorize influencers by the platforms they target.
There are TikTok influencers, YouTube influencers, Twitch influencers, Instagram influencers, and so on and so forth.
Not all influencers target multiple platforms, so making these kinds of distinctions can be important as you learn more about influencers.
All in all, the influencer marketing strategy has become a powerful marketing strategy for brands and content creation has become a lucrative career path for many, which means influencers, while relatively new, are here to stay.
