As a job board, we receive views from both social influencers as well as influencer marketers. Keeping this in mind, we’ve built this list to serve as a reference for both parties.
If you’re a social influencer and don’t already have a significant audience, this list will help you know where the best place to grow might be.
If you’re an influencer marketer, this list will help you understand which platforms are most beneficial for finding social influencers.
If you feel that anything on in this article is inaccurate, feel free to leave a comment below and we will take it into consideration!
Current Active Users
[source: Influencer Marketing Hub]
6.) Twitter – 330 Million Monthly Users
At the bottom of our list is Twitter. Now, there are still a lot of good things about Twitter as a platform and this doesn’t mean that it’s not an effective platform for influencer marketing.
Pros:
More than other platforms, Twitter is about the conversation. This sets them apart from other platforms and can be a big plus depending on your brand.
Recently banned political ads which could pay off in the long run as social media becomes more and more political.
Probably the easiest platform to “go viral”. Of all platforms, we see random things go viral on twitter every day. Its where the conversation is so if you can get your opinion out there and it goes viral, you can get a big following quickly.
Cons:
Fake accounts or bots. Twitter, in particular, has a problem with fake bots and disinformation. Not good for a brand trying to build trust with its audience.
It can be a tough place to gain traction. Since twitter is mainly focused around language, it can be difficult to gain an audience. You really have to consistently create quality content.
Not a strong “influencer” culture. Many of the popular accounts are either meme accounts, celebrities, or trolls.
5.) Snapchat – 310 Million Monthly Users
Pros:
One of the most popular platforms with upcoming generations. This could be a good platform to start building an audience now in anticipation of where the market might be in the future.
Particularly effective for events. Because Snapchat is an in-the-moment type of platform, it’s good for documenting events or shows.
It creates a strong word-of-mouth buzz. Snapchat is a very intimate platform and almost acts like organized word-of-mouth marketing. In our opinion, it also feels the most authentic when it comes to influencers promoting products. This is because Snapchat, out of all platforms, is about getting insight into people’s lives where they might naturally share their opinions of products.
Cons:
Smaller audience compared to other platforms. This means fewer eyeballs to see your posts.
Content only lasts for 24 hours. This creates a constant need for new posts which can be expensive and time-consuming to create.
Expensive for advertisers. Snapchat has reportedly asked advertisers for as much as $750,000 per day to advertise on the platform. This is for general advertising, not influencer marketing, but still good information to consider.
Hard to build an audience. People generally follow their friends or people they already identify as influencers. There’s very little middle ground.
4.) Facebook – 2.45 Billion Monthly Users
The king of social media, Facebook boasts the largest user numbers by far. But does that make it the best platform for influencer marketing?
Pros:
Size. Facebook is the biggest social platform by far. This means more eyeballs will be seeing your brands.
Very targeted ads. Facebook has the most sophisticated advertising software. They do a great job of allowing you to choose exactly what type of demographic you want to target.
Facebook groups. More than other platforms, Facebook users are very categorized. It’s easy to tell what people’s likes are, see what groups they join, and use that information to your advantage.
Cons:
Facebook has been scandal-ridden lately. They have a history of selling personal data and violating privacy. This isn’t good if you’re a brand trying to win trust.
Due to new algorithm changes, Facebook is becoming more of a pay-to-play environment.
Slow growth. Since they already have 2 billion users, Facebook isn’t growing nearly as quickly as other platforms. It is still a good idea to have a presence here, but you might not want to make it the centerpiece of your campaign.
3.) TikTok – 1 Billion Monthly Users
Originally called musical.ly, TikTok is a rapidly growing community where users create and share video snippets. TikTok has been much more popular overseas but is gaining lots of traction with younger generations lately.
Pros:
Lots of room to grow. It can be difficult to build an audience on sites like Facebook and Instagram because they’re much older and many of the big pages are already established. Because TikTok is newer, it isn’t as crowded.
Downloaded in 154 countries. This is good if you work/sell overseas.
They’re growing rapidly. Check out these stats to see just how quickly TikTok is taking over. It could be wise to get on the boat now!
Cheap. Studies show that Influencer marketing campaigns are relatively cheaper on TikTok.
Popular with younger demographics. In social media, it’s generally kids who decide what is/isn’t cool. In TikTok’s case, kids have decided it’s cool. This means that it will only continue to grow.
Cons:
They’re currently being investigated by the FBI. TikTok is suspected to be an intelligence threat.
There are also reports of users being “exploited” by influencers. Not good.
It’s newer. This means instability. If its investigations go poorly people might be discouraged from joining. Or users could simply lose interest. Other platforms are more established and there is less risk of this happening to them.
2.) YouTube – 2 Billion Monthly Users
Pros:
One of the most lucrative for influencers. This is because YouTube is the only platform where influencers can incorporate Google Adsense in addition to endorsements and views.
Reap much higher rewards from one post. On Twitter and even Instagram, things are posted and then covered pretty quickly with new content. Whereas on YouTube, videos can stay popular, relevant, or valuable for longer periods of time.
Flexibility. There are a lot of different routes you can choose if you want to become an influencer on YouTube. You can create videos to make people laugh, educate them, or entertain them.
Cons:
Time. Speaking of time, YouTube is probably one of the most time-consuming platforms to get started on. It takes a lot more effort to create a captivating video than an Instagram post or a tweet.
Competition – All platforms will have competition but YouTube, in particular, has a lot and most common niches are most likely saturated.
1.) Instagram – 1 Billion Monthly Users
Instagram is the current king of influencer marketing. This is mostly to do with the visual nature of the platform.
Pros:
For influencers, it’s relatively quick and easy to do sponsored posts.
It’s easier than other platforms to find influencers. You can get a good idea just from glancing at a person’s profile what their interests are and if they’d be a good fit for your brand.
Lots of interested influencers. A CNN study found that 86% of younger generations want to post on Instagram for money.
Cons:
Volume. There are over 1 billion profiles out there of users who are churning out new content every day. That’s a lot of noise that your brand will have to slice through.
Users losing trust. Influencer marketing essentially started on Instagram. However, most users are now wise to most branded content. They realize that branded posts on their timeline are essentially no different from an advertisement.
There it is! Our breakdown of which platforms are the best for social influencers! We hope that you found this valuable and wish you the best of luck in your influencing endeavors. Please follow us on Twitter or Instagram if you’re interested in seeing more content like this.