Influencer marketing has taken the social media industry and Instagram platform by storm.
And for good reason, too! Did you know that influencer marketing delivers 11x higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing? Or the fact that 94% of marketers who’ve used influencer marketing believe the tactic to be effective?
A quick search via a media monitoring dashboard shows just how popular of a topic “influencer marketing” has been in 2018 thus far – returning more than 500 hits per week:
With all of its popularity, there are hundreds of types of influencers that have emerged on Instagram and capitalized on what can be an extremely lucrative platform.
Today, we’re looking at 5 types of Instagram Influencers you’ve definitely seen at least once in your feed before.
5 Types of Instagram Influencers
1. The Eternal Traveler
The eternal traveler is an influencer because they’re always somewhere exotic – filling your feed with photos of incredible destinations. They’re some of the most jealousy-inducing FOMO (fear of missing out) Instagram feeds out there.
How do they get all of those epic images, you might ask? Well, believe it or not, brands and businesses pay these vagabonds to travel the world and promote their product.
Whether you’re planning a trip or just want to live vicariously, following a few of today’s top travel influencers on Instagram can give you insight into how to show off the best angles of any destination.
2. The Entrepreneurial Guru
You know you’ve seen the entrepreneurial guru influencer if your feed is a never-ending stream of sage wisdom.
These influencers have grown a significant following from helping other businesses and entrepreneurs in their own journeys to success. Inspirational quotes, videos, new course offerings, and the latest top business tips are what you can usually expect.
Oh, and don’t forget about their profile bios! Usually something along the lines of: CEO featured in Entrepreneur, Inc., Fast Company, Forbes, Time, and More. Beyond professionally aspirational, these entrepreneurs often have insight into their industry and sometimes give us a clue into what happens at the conferences that we aren’t attending.
3. The Fitness Expert
You know the fitness expert influencer because they’re always sporting the latest in Outdoor Voices and sharing their cutting edge workout or nutrition secrets. They’re also great for the occasional motivation as well as sharing insights into a personal life that might impact their workouts or sponsorship deals.
The fitness expert inspires us all to live our best healthy lives.
4. The Zen Master
The zen master influencer fills your Instagram feed with peaceful thoughts, best-practices for meditation, and new yoga poses for you to try, of course!
With more than 200 million people practising yoga worldwide, the space for Instagram influencers has exploded in this niche over the past several years. One influencer even claims to make roughly $25,000 per Instagram post on a regular basis.
A general rule of thumb, according to Forbes, is that an Instagram user with 100,000 followers can command $5,000 for a post made in partnership with a company or brand.
5. The Mommy Blogger
The “mommy blogger” influencer is a total boss that manages to take on a full-time job, three kids, and a side hustle all while running a blog that generates more than 100k visits per monthand a highly engaged Instagram feed with hundreds of comments on every post.
Their niche is an audience of men, women, and everyone in-between that love to follow along with fun recipes, life with kids, and experiences in the big city. Lauren’s Latest, for example, is a “pro recipe developer pumping out family-friendly food recipe plan, favorite restaurants and family milestones.”
What’s great about mommy influencers is that they give insight into their take on the do’s-n-don’ts of parenting and offer lifestyle advice – almost as guardian parent for Instagram.
Tip: Take a look at the best global food influencers to inspire you and learn How To Amplify Your Brand With a Blogger Outreach Campaign
Lessons From Popular Instagram Influencers
Now that you’ve read our taxonomy of top Instagram Influencers, it’s time to put that knowledge to work.
If you’re a PR pro or brand marketer, it’s never too late to get started with an influencer strategy of your own.
If you’re inspired by the content that influencers produce and want to encourage colleagues to become brand ambassadors, we have an ebook you can download for free to help with strategies to encourage in-house content production.
And did you know that Meltwater’s Social Influencers can ensure you find influencers to co-create campaigns that will the most impact with your chosen audience?