Editor's Note: This article has been updated on June 21, 2023, to include new data and information.

In 2018, the social media influencer market hit $4.6 billion in size — taking the marketing world by storm as an innovative new avenue to reach target audiences. Today, in 2023, experts predict the social media influencer market to top $21.1 billion.

As the years pass, the influencer marketing marketplace took a recognizable shape, one that can split into four categories: mega-influencers, macro-influencers, micro-influencers and nano-influencers.

It might seem like the distinction between these four categories is merely the size of their following. However, the differences are really far more nuanced. And if you’re looking to dive into the lucrative world of influencer marketing, knowing a mega-influencer from a micro-influencer is absolutely essential.

We asked leading industry experts and practitioners to help CMSWire define the types of social media influencers and identify the best use case for each one.

The 4 Types of Social Media Influencer

To start, let's break down the types of social media influencer by the most obvious factor: follower count.

Now let's dig a little further and see how these types of social media influencers differ beyond their number of followers, and which would work best for your organization.

Related Article: Why Your Brand Should Care About Influencer Marketing

What Is a Mega-Influencer?

Mega-influencers are the highest-ranking category of social media influencer, with a typical following of more than one million people.

Gil Eyal, head of marketing and innovation at Silverstein Properties' Inspire, and former CEO and founder of HYPR Brands, said mega-influencers “are often more famous than influential."

"They often have a very diverse audience with different topics of interest," Eyal explained. "Their relationships with the individual members of their followership tend to be more distant. They aren’t necessarily subject matter experts but they definitely provide a lot of reach in one hit.”

If you’re looking for examples of mega influencers, sometimes called celebrity influencers, think Will Smith and other A-list or B-list celebrities.

Should Your Brand Leverage Mega-Influencer Marketing?

In having a substantially large following, mega-influencers provide brands with a notably greater reach, but at a very high cost.

Back in 2018, for example, celebrity entrepreneur Kylie Jenner charged $1 million per sponsored social media post.

Some of the top-paid mega influencers in 2023, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, include:

• Cristiano Ronaldo, at $2.3 billion per post
• Kylie Jenner, at $1.8 billion per post
• Leo Messi, at $1.7 billion per post
• Selena Gomez, at $1.7 billion per post

“The pro for [mega-influencers] is that they give you the greatest amount of exposure and are usually accustomed to working with brands and companies on influencer outreach campaigns. However, they're usually more expensive than other types of influencers,” explained John Huntinghouse, VP of marketing at TAB Bank and former director of digital marketing at Epic Marketing.  

He also noted that mega influencers do not have “real converting influencer power” due to their following being so diverse demographically and psychographically. He mentioned that mega-influencers are more suitable for top-of-the-funnel marketing campaigns that promote products that appeal to the masses.

What Is a Macro-Influencer?

Macro-influencers are a notch down from mega-influencers.

A macro-influencer's follower count should fall somewhere between 100,000 and one million followers. “Your average macro-influencer lies somewhere between micro and mega. There’s no exact science differentiating these categories,” Deepak Shukla, founder of PearlLemon, explained.

“Unlike most mega-influencers, macro-influencers usually gained fame through the internet itself, whether that was through vlogging, or by producing funny or inspiring content,” he said.  

Should Your Brand Leverage Macro-Influencer Marketing?

If you’re looking to target a certain type of customer, but still want to reach the masses, then a macro-influencer might be more useful than a mega-influencer.

“If you want to reach a broad demographic — like young females — a macro-influencer is probably the way to go,” Shukla said.  

Some well-known macro influencers include:

• Amy Jackson, a fashion macro-influencer with 847,000 followers
• Charlie Berens, a comedy macro-influencer with 803,000 followers
• Ashley Galvin, a yoga and fitness macro-influencer with 547,000 followers

Article: How Influencers Help Build a Better Customer Experience

What Is a Micro-Influencer?

A micro-influencer is someone who has between 1,000 to 100,000 followers. A micro-influencer focuses on a specific niche or area and is generally regarded as an industry expert or topic specialist.

“[Micro-influencers] have stronger relationships than a typical influencer. This is often driven by their perception as an opinion leader of [a] subject matter. A micro-influencer, as opposed to a celebrity or regular influencer, often has a very uniform audience,” Gyal said.

Tech companies including Adobe and Squarespace are well known to engage in micro-influencer marketing campaigns.

Should Your Brand Leverage Micro-Influencer Marketing?

Micro-influencers have a comparatively smaller following and don’t often boast celebrity status. Because of that, brands can bank on their followers being interested in whatever made the micro-influencer "internet famous.”

Shukla underscored the relevance of this point, “If a micro-influencer gained a sizeable following through travel vlogging, that’s the ideal option for a travel agency or airline."

Some well-known micro-influencers include:

• Alina Gavrilov, a fashion micro-influencer with 99,800 followers
• Francesca Newman-Young, a travel micro-influencer with 84,900 followers
• Lonni Smith, a beauty micro-influencer with 64,000 followers
• Russ Crandall, a food micro-influencer with 40,400 followers

Huntinghouse highlighted that micro-influencers will often cost far less than macro-influencers. “[Micro-influencers] typically give you the best bang for your buck. They have a following, but typically don't charge the same rate as those who have a larger following.”

However, Simon Pilkington, an online strategic consultant and former digital marketing manager at Hello Social Australia, added that while micro-influencers have high levels of engagement, especially on Instagram, some micro-influencers do charge a hefty fee.

“The main [disadvantage] of working with micro-influencers [is what they charge] per post, sometimes they're extremely expensive, and there's no unification to make sure you're getting a good deal.”

What Is a Nano-Influencer?

Nano-influencers are a relatively new breed of influencer. They tend to have a smaller number of followers in comparison to micro-influencers, less than 1,000 followers.

“[A nano-influencer is] someone who has influence within their community. This would be someone who has influence in the local neighborhood or community. Some examples might be a local pastor, local community leader or local government leader,” Huntinghouse said.

The idea behind nano-influencers, as noted by Gyal, is to get “regular everyday people” to influence a brand’s product or service to their friends and family. Most of the time this can be achieved through user-generated content.

Should Your Brand Leverage Nano-Influencer Marketing?

One of the benefits of utilizing nano-influencers is that they have the highest level of engagement. Because of this, many brands have started to place a larger focus on nano-influencers.

“Brands represented by nano-influencers are often deemed more authentic, given the higher likelihood that the nano-influencer has a real-life relationship with the majority of his or her followers,” shared Mike Lu, co-founder and CEO of Triller.

But despite the high levels of engagement, the typical audience size of a nano-influencer doesn’t allow for a great reach.

“The main [drawback] of working with nano-influencers [is] the audience size. For big and ambitious social media campaigns, you'll have to look for more connections and make more orders which is a time-consuming task,” said Pilkington.

Related Article: Why Brands Should Tread Carefully With Influencer Marketing in 2023

How to Choose the Right Social Media Influencer

If you’re still looking for guidance on how to choose the best category of social media influencer, you may want to pay close attention to the words of Joe Sinkwitz, co-founder and CEO at Intellifluence.

“One generally needs to understand that the larger the audience, the less focused it is likely to be, and therefore the broader the offer will probably have to be. It’s no coincidence that we find Instagram celebrities selling green tea diet supplements, which have a broad appeal rather than something extremely specific. [That’s why for] general appeal products, celebrities and larger influencers are great,” he said.

Sinkwitz further explained that, similarly, if a brand is selling a product or service for a specific target market, it should consider partnering with either nano or micro-influencers due to their more "narrow" audience.