According to a Mediakix report, influencers can dramatically boost brand awareness, so much so that they do this, on average, by 82%. For those who have been living under a rock and are unaware of what influencer marketing is, this is a collaboration between social-media users with robust followings and companies looking to promote their brands.
Over the past decade, this marketing genre has dramatically impacted the advertising industry. This has not only happened due to the rise of social media platforms but also because e-commerce exploded at the same time as these hubs. On top of this, how people communicate, consume media, and connect with content/products has significantly changed. That is notable in how customers avoided ads like the plague to seek opinions from trusted voices.
Currently, we are in an age where business entities pay individuals with small followings, called micro-influencers, between $100 and $500 per post. In contrast, celebrities get paid tens of thousands for videos where they talk about specific products on Instagram or TikTok. These are modern-day advertisements.
If they are not paid outright fees for posts or working on sponsorship agreements, influencers usually earn their money through referral fees. Believe it or not, this sector is projected to generate $24 billion in revenues in the US alone. Below, we explore the top niches and how much their main stars earn.
Beauty & Fashion
Without question, this is the most lucrative influencer marketing category. Its chief target group is young adults with buckets of disposable income who heavily use social media. Hence, this audience can get highly engaged by visual content, and those influencers who understand how Instagram and TikTok function usually do great in this field that features a constant demand for new products, with skincare and cosmetics being the most popular.
Kylie Jenner stands atop the beauty influencer mountain and is considered one of this sphere’s initial top players. Her Kylie Lip Kits caused massive waves in this landscape and helped her grow her net worth to $750 million. TikTok famous Alix Earle and rising makeup and skincare content creator Emilie Kiser are drumming up substantial attention as of late, each boasting wealth of $3 million.
Health & Fitness
Post-COVID, pre-data from Mindshare, 66% of the planet’s population is paying more attention to their health than before the worldwide pandemic. Moreover, four in ten people claim they are eating better and exercising more, prioritizing these aspects of life as tools for managing their general well-being. The Health & Fitness arena seems to be growing at a yearly rate of 9.61%, on track to hit an estimated market volume of $6.7 billion in the next three years.
This is likely the most saturated influencer field, as thousands, if not over a million, of fitness gurus can be found on Instagram. One of the most respected is Kayla Itsines, who has nearly 16 million followers and author of Bikini Body Guides. Reportedly, this Australian’s empire is worth well over $165 million, far above other Instagram fitness head-turners.
Venezuelan bodybuilder Michelle Lewin has more fans on Facebook’s sibling platform, with 16.1 million, but her net worth is “only” $14 million. That is one million shy of American Jen Selter, a prominent modern fitness person with a 13.9 million Instagram follower count.
Personal Development
It may shock you to learn that personal development services and products generated $43 billion in revenues in 2022, according to finance intelligence from Grand View Research. What does this industry entail? It is a market for individuals trying to acquire self-improvement and social skills, better decision-making, and improved life outlook and self-awareness. A section of this realm that has gained substantial traction in recent times is online programs. These are presented as Zoom workshops, allowing people from all around the globe to participate.
Tony Robbins has been a development mainstay for decades, and he is still going strong today, with seven million Instagram followers and a net worth of over $500 million, much of this coming from his book sales and thousands of hosted career seminars. Gary Vaynerchuk, the CEO of VaynerMedia and VeeFriends, has carved out a place for himself as an internet mentor, with Forbes (in 2017) calling him a top social influencer. He has ten million Instagram admirers and a capital of $200 million.
Jay Shetty, the host of the On Purpose podcast and bestselling author, can get ranked as the third-most-popular personal development sage, with a fortune of $30 million.
Influencers You Have Never Heard Of
How about we close off this article with some Internet figures making banks that few readers know about?
Online gambling is big business, and gaming marketers thrive thanks to lifetime affiliate commissions. Francine Maric, nicknamed Lady Luck, is a primarily YouTube creator like Brian Christopher Slots, who also has impressive follower numbers and works with famed gaming brands to promote games, sites, and venues. Lady Luck’s net worth is $3 million, a figure identical to Brain Christopher’s.
Travel influencers are doing more than well, with German model Nataly Osmann and Russian photographer Murad Osmann flying under most people’s radars while worth over $5 million.
Marques Brownlee is a tech YouTuber most people over thirty cannot pick out of a lineup, but he has raked in more than $45 million through his online content.
