Do you know Google is fielding tens of thousands of searches every month from people looking to find out, what actually qualifies someone to be a social media influencer? We get it all the time, too, which is what gave us the brilliant idea to create an infographic that would include all the most pertinent information you need to know if you’re looking for a clear definition of an influencer…. minus the jargon.
A Jargon-Free Definition of an Influencer
In social media marketing, an influencer is a social media user who has built a reputation for being knowledgeable about something. Influencers create content around their area of expertise that’s compelling enough to get other people to take specific actions.
That last part – the part about getting people to take specific actions – is what takes someone from being a content creator to being an influencer. There are influencers on every social media platform, and most influencers are active on more than one platform.
The Basic Characteristics of an Influencer
Based on our definition, it seems like anyone can be an influencer, right? Yah… that’s where things get interesting, because, despite the simple definition of an influencer, they only make up a small percentage of actual social media users. Less than ten percent of all social media users fall into the category of influencer.
For instance, in order to qualify as an Instagram influencer, you have to:
- Have at least 1,000 real followers
- Be an expert at something
- Be great at creating compelling content, and
- Be intentionally aiming your efforts toward becoming a social media influencer.
So, even if you have the minimum number of real followers it takes to qualify as a nano-influencer, the other three characteristics must be present as well.
We wrote a really great, super detailed post called What Is An Influencer? In fact, this infographic highlights a lot of what we covered in the post. So, if you’re looking for more details about this whole thing, check out that post.
And now, with no further fuss…
