If you’re thinking about getting started with influencer marketing, it can seem confusing to know which type of influencer marketing campaign will be right for your business. This article will go over the different types of influencer campaigns you can use, the different types of influencers, and ideas to create engaging content. 

What Is the Most Popular Type of Influencer Marketing?

A simple sponsored post is the most popular type of influencer marketing campaign or promotion. Sponsored posts are easy to plan for and implement. They involve an influencer promoting a brand’s product or service in part of their content or making the entire post around the product or service. 

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Sponsored posts can be good and bad. If the influencer simply does an ad read or makes the post’s content feel like a big ad for the product, it can turn some people away. So, for sponsored content, it’s important to remember what makes influencer marketing special in the first place, which is the natural feel that promoting through an influencer can have. 

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To get the most out of sponsored posts, you should allow the influencer to have some creativity in displaying the ad and the product. Creative influencer content will engage their audience and have a unique and natural feel. This will help you get more reach, clicks, and sales. 

Other Types of Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Along with sponsored posts, other types of influencer marketing campaigns can also be effective. Other types of influencer campaigns are:

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• Event activations
• Giveaways
• Pre-release campaigns
• Product placements
• Reviews/unboxings
• Social media takeovers

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Each of these other types of campaigns can be effective when implemented correctly. The following sections will explain in more detail about each one. 

Event Activations

If you want to get an influencer’s audience involved, one of the best ways is creating an engaging event that encourages audience participation. These can either be virtual or in-person events your brand is hosting or sponsoring that could benefit from more traffic created by influencer promotions. 

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Influencer content can help promote the event and the main attractions that make it interesting. During the event, you should integrate your brand, so participants can easily make purchases and gain interest in what you offer. 

Giveaways

Giveaway contests are often a compelling type of campaign for influencer marketing. Everyone likes the opportunity of getting something of value for free by simply spending a little bit of their time to get entered into a contest. Promoting contests through influencers can help spread their reach and get more people involved.

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However, with giveaways, it’s important to make sure the integrated aspects of your brand are engaging and get consumers’ attention. Many people may sign up for the giveaway to try to get something for free but then become unengaged after the contest ends. So, implementing some sort of follow-up or other interactiveness in the contest will be the best bet. 

Pre-Release Campaigns

If you want to get an audience excited about your new product or service that’s about to be released, pre-release campaigns are the way to go. Influencers can create engaging content that showcases the new product or service and its usefulness. When done in a way that builds anticipation, these campaigns can be very effective. 

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However, the timing for pre-release campaigns is important. Make sure it isn’t too long of a wait before the product hits the market after promoting it. Also, implementing elements like the ability to pre-order can be a great way to gauge consumer interest while also getting some committed sales before the release date. 

Product Placements

Product placement in influencer posts can be a subtle but effective way to promote your brand. Product placements typically involve having your brand name, logo, or product displayed clearly in some part of an influencer’s content. This can include influencers wearing clothing with your brand’s logo, showcasing how they use the product in their daily life, or simply having it present in the image. 

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Product placements can be great for larger brands that are more well-known and want to create subtle reminders that keep your brand name at the top of consumers’ minds. Products or services with unique features may also stand out in this type of content. However, brands that don’t possess these qualities will have less results with product placements. 

Reviews/Unboxings

Influencer posts that unbox products or review their features can be a particularly effective way to help consumers learn more about what your brand offers. This type of content feels natural when the influencer can express their full opinion on the product and give a good overview. 

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However, if you do give influencers the freedom to provide a full review, you should be prepared if they express any downfalls about your product or service. This doesn’t necessarily mean someone won’t still purchase your product, especially if the review is overall positive, but you should have an idea of what the influencer might look at before going this route. 

Social Media Takeovers

A social media takeover is an interesting influencer marketing concept. For this type of content, instead of the influencer posting a promotion on their account, they will create content on your brand’s account instead. Commonly, influencers who do this will also give a shoutout on their account saying that they recently made a post for your brand. 

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This can be a unique collaboration between your brand and an influencer. It often provides your social media account with unique content that gets more engagement than usual. You may also gain new followers or subscribers through this method. It can be an excellent way to build your brand’s image and get more people interested in what you offer. 

What Are the Different Types of Influencers?

Along with the different types of influencer campaigns, there are also different types of influencers you can promote through. The four categories of influencers are:

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• Nano influencers: Content creators in this category have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. While their audiences are smaller, they often have much more engaged followers or are in very specific niches, which can benefit many brands. Nano influencer promotions are also usually the cheapest out of the four categories.
• Micro influencers: Micro influencers have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Like nano influencers, they tend to have more engaged followers in niche industries. Promotions through them are still very affordable, even though they are more expensive than nano influencers due to increased reach from audience size.
• Macro influencers: If you want to promote to audiences on a larger scale, macro influencers may be the way to go. These influencers have between 100,000 and 1 million followers. Increased reach leads to a higher cost per promotion, but these broader audiences can be great for developing brand awareness.
• Mega influencers: Mega influencers are big online personalities and celebrities who have 1 million or more followers. Mega influencer promotions will cost the most. However, promoting through them gets significant reach and can make your brand appear as an authority.

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Overall, any of these types of influencers can be effective. To choose the right type of influencer for your brand, it’s important to consider your budget, audience, and goals for influencer marketing. 

What Is the Most Popular Type of Influencer?

While the influencers with the most followers are the most popular on social media, they are less popular for influencer marketing, since promoting with them is expensive. Micro influencers are the most popular type of influencer that brands use for marketing campaigns. These content creators tend to have audiences that provide significant reach while still being affordable for promotions. 

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Both big and small brands can benefit from working with micro influencers. Many of the top brands work with them like Nike, La Croix, and Coca-Cola. If big brands like these are partnered with micro influencers, you know it is an effective route to go with your promotional strategy. 

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However, each of the four categories of influencers can be effective for influencer marketing. So the best type for your brand depends on your goals. If you want additional resources, an influencer marketing platform like Lionize can help you decide which influencers are right for you and give you detailed matches with good influencers for collaborations. 

What Are Some Social Media Influencer Ideas?

There are many great ways for influencers to create engaging content that implements your brand’s products. To create engaging promotions, some great influencer ideas include:

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• How-to content explaining how to use your product or showing how your brand’s products can be a useful solution for a common problem.
• Haul videos showcasing what an influencer picked up while shopping. You can simply have these content creators integrate your product into their haul.
• Contests using your product or service. Things like daily use challenges can be great for weight loss products, where consumers will benefit from using them frequently. Other challenges that encourage an influencer’s audience to make something with a product or service can be great for things that involve a lot of creativity. 
• Memes or other fun types of posts. These can be a fun way to spice up influencer promotions. However, it should be noted that incorporating the product’s features can be harder with this content, so influencers will have to get creative to achieve this. 

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Each of these types of content can be very effective for influencer marketing when done right. If you would like additional help planning your influencer strategy, Lionize will be an excellent resource for you. 

How Lionize Can Help with Your Influencer Marketing Strategy

Lionize is an influencer marketing platform that helps match brands with the right influencers for their needs. Lionize aims to simplify influencer marketing through artificial intelligence software that learns about your brand’s needs and gives you accurate recommendations. 

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Lionize also helps with other aspects of influencer marketing, like tracking essential data, helping automate parts of the influencer management process, and giving recommendations to improve your influencer strategy. 

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To learn more about what Lionize has to offer, Book a Discovery Call today.