At what point is a person a celebrity?

Around a year ago, we penned a piece on “The power of influencer marketing” that touched on the rise of authentic promotion from trusted sources – in this example, influencers. That blog was quite heavy on the side of “mega influencers” (1M+ followers), but it got us thinking… at what point is a person a celebrity?

Now we know what you’re thinking… a celebrity is a movie star, a tv personality or perhaps even the latest Love Island exports. But let’s play devil’s advocate, who is to say a celebrity is determined solely by followers? Or whether they are a household name?

The biggest celebrity you’ve never heard of

Let’s take YouTube as an example, if we said Jimmy Donaldson – you might have no idea who we mean. If we said MrBeast, maybe now it is a little clearer. But if you mention MrBeast to anyone of a certain age – he still could be unknown. But in reality, Jimmy is a multi-millionaire with over 100million subscribers – one giant influencer.

Once you delve a little deeper into a platform, let’s look at TikTok, you can find “celebrities” everywhere. Recently for a construction client, we attended the largest transport and logistics conference in the world (IAA in Germany) alongside a “macro influencer” (100k-1million followers) for their industry.

Even though the total of her followers is at 275k across platforms, and someone like MrBeast has over 100million, the Hiab Princess (the influencer we partnered with) can still be called a “celebrity” in that particular industry.

How do you know what type of influencer is right for your brand?

This is where the discussion gets analytical and objective-driven. A lot of the time you would be excused for jumping to “let’s get a reality star on board because that will get us lots of views” – but this is certainly not where the conversation should begin. In this instance, the views will be high for sure, but the cost will also be high, and the audience could be sporadic.

When it comes to an influencer strategy, there’s many steps to take when choosing the right fit for your brand. At CWA, we follow the below process:

1. We look at the desired outcomes of the campaign/project/success

2. We set specific objectives to achieve those outcomes through influencer marketing

3. We set KPIs to measure the results, and this is where it’ll tell us which influencer bracket to go for

How much influence can an influencer have?

Nano influencers (1K – 10K followers)

Nano influencers have between 1k and 10k followers on at least one social media platform. As a result, this type of influencer typically has a high engagement rate.

Micro-influencers (10K-100K followers)

While the name suggests a small following, these individuals have up to 100k followers. At this level, influencers are considered to be relatable and genuine with a decent engagement.

Macro influencers (100K – 1M followers)

This bracket is typically made up of social media celebrities. These individuals may be overnight sensations, or they may have built up a following over the years. However, it’s worth noting that their engagement levels may be less than micro and nano influencers.

Mega influencer (1M+ followers)

The next level of influencer marketing delves into the realm of elite influencers and creators. These individuals have over a million followers, but the audience target is broader than other influencer types.

So… a celebrity or an army of “nanos”?

And that’s where we come in. There’s a lot to take in when looking at influencer marketing, and it isn’t a quick process.

A lot of the time, a quick mega influencer could be the first point of call, but if you have several authentic voices with smaller curated audiences promoting your brand – it could be ten times as powerful.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the process, reach out and let us know. Alternatively, message Dave, our Media & Comms Director, on dl@cwa.co.uk