Beauty, fashion, and travel are all industries that dominate influencer marketing. Brands within these industries are thriving because of the creative tactics they employ in their influencer marketing strategy. However, these aren’t the only brands that can benefit from influencer marketing. Brands are partnering with niche influencers to tap into highly engaged communities and are consequently benefiting from strong social proof. Don’t underestimate the power that a specialized influencer can bring to your market strategy. Here are eight influencers who have diversified influencer marketing by curating communities focused on niche interests.
Susan Santoro
Susan Santoro isn’t bluffing when she calls herself a professional organizer. With 1.4 million viewers a month on Pinterest, Susan is always sharing with her community of followers the most effective ways to live a life full of organization and creativity. Susan only partners with brands that resonate with these organizing junkies and always stays on-brand and true to herself — giving her social proof that’s exceptionally strong. She encourages brands who are looking to work with niche influencers.
"When you treat us as unique individuals, it opens up a whole new horizon of possibilities for your brand. Imagine how unique my presentation of your brand and product will be if you don't think of me as ‘just a mom blogger’. Allow us the freedom to harness the power of our unique brand and audience to promote your brand and product."
If you’re a brand made in the USA or with a mission to simplify consumer's lives, then Susan Santoro is the perfect influencer to partner with. After all, she is a professional.
Krista Hooper
Krista Hooper works with a diverse group of many brands, so what do they all have in common? It can be summed up in one word — Walmart. Krista helps build Walmart's social proof by sharing with her followers the best products you can find in Walmart stores. These brands range from goods, such as Simply Protein to ONYX bath bubbles, but can all be purchased from Walmart.
Krista notes that authenticity is very important to both her and her community of Walmart shoppers. She explains, “Let influencers stay authentic to their own voice! Some brands will change your content so much that it doesn't even sound like something you'd say, and you know your audience is going to see right through it. Authenticity sells!”
At 64.3K Instagram followers, Krista is helping unexpected brands build connections with target consumers by uncovering them within this niche community. So if your branding echoes modern fashion or the latest food crazes, and can be found at Walmart, Krista Hooper is the idyllic influencer to represent your brand.
Rebecca Pytell
Whether it be an allergy or a lifestyle change, the number of gluten-free Americans has tripled in the last decade. That’s why Rebecca Pyell has been able to bring together a community dedicated to all things gluten-free. Rebecca works with brands that meet the strict dietary needs of her followers and are affordable in the average household. Because her community is so specific, marketing to this audience is highly effective. Examples of some brands she cooks with are Sunbutter and "Bfreefoods".
Rebecca explains, “Whether it is brand recognition, driving clicks to a special offer, introducing a new product or just presenting a busy mom's testimonial to help customers see the brand in a new light, the ROI should be measured by whether that goal was reached."
If you have a gluten-free or allergy-free product that you’d like to bring more awareness to, hit that follow button!
Bonnie Taudbix
Bonnie Taudbix is a registered dietician nutritionist dedicated to breaking down confusing and misleading terminology on food labels and translating it into “consumer-friendly information.” Her passion for health has led her to build a community of followers committed to their own dietary needs. Bonnie gives her followers a range of recipes—always clearly highlighting the dietary and nutrition information.
Bonnie advises brands who are interested in partnering with influencers, to “collaborate with influencers that display credibility, transparency, honesty, and sincerity. I see myself as being a conduit, connecting brands to their target audiences by speaking in a language that consumers will understand. In other words, I make sense of confusing science so that people can actually use the news that appears in the headlines."
By staying true to her principles of integrity and authenticity, Bonnie works with brands that will resonate with her followers and deliver healthy, honest products, such as Almond Breeze. Now at an Instagram following of just over 5K, Bonnie continues to build her community and blog the healthiest go-to recipes and nutrition advice.
Victoria Davis
Victoria Davis created a brand for herself after recognizing the importance of DIY ingredients in products.
She started out by teaching beauty classes and expanded her brand into Make It Classy Beauty Boxes that help women find all-natural beauty products derived from plant-based ingredients. Victoria blogs to her community about many different topics from hair care, the best skin products, to plant-based recipes.
Victoria describes her community as "The ClassyCurlies audience loves plant-based beauty and DIY beauty recipes. They are very cautious about what their beauty products are made of and how they can overall live a healthier lifestyle. I believe this comes from societal changes that make us all more aware of clean and green beauty products."
With a mission to help women feel confident and achieve healthier lifestyles, the @classycurlies is still expanding. If all of this speaks to your own brand, then Victoria Davis be your go-to influencer!
Katina Mountanos
Katina Mountanos has mastered #adulting. With a blog full of resources and inspiration for entering the “real” world, Katina has created a space for millennials to find their passion and dive into adulthood. Katina partners with brands who are keen on impacting the world and helping people live a happier healthier life.
Still a micro-influencer and growing her community, Katina shares the most crucial part of building her community, “I've found that it's extremely important to be an engaged, honest and vulnerable leader when creating a strong community - especially online. It's hard to demonstrate those qualities every day because often these communities are ‘on’ 24/7. Since I feel so passionately about sharing and modeling a conscious, mindful life with my community it's hard to turn off - but I've had to create limits for myself as my community has grown to preserve my own health and happiness!”
Katina not only shares profound advice with her followers, but she offers one-on-one private mentorships. She’ll continue to grow her community and partner with brands who share her vision of helping people set and accomplish goals in their #adulthoods.
Talia Koren
Talia Koren is the founder of Workweek Lunch, a meal prep program designed to be maintainable and flexible. Talia helps members by providing grocery lists, recipes, and more for long-term success and sustainability. Talia’s community of followers appreciate brands that are eco-friendly, affordable, and high-quality. Since Talia’s objective is to help make meal prepping easy and doable, she works with cookware brands that are good for the environment.
Talia advises brands, “The biggest misconception I think a lot of brands have about influencers is that all they have to do post a photo of your product and the campaign is complete. That's not even close to the reality of how effective influencer marketing works. It takes a lot of work from an influencer to create, photograph and edit one photo. Most brands have a hard time understanding what they are paying for when it comes to influencer marketing and the amount of time and resources it actually takes."
By finding a community that shares her excitement about being in the kitchen and preparing yummy yet healthy meals, Talia has gained a following of 327K Instagram followers — and is still seeking out brands to collaborate with. If you think your brand fits in with the meal-prepping crowd, get in touch with Talia!
Bunmi
Bunmi from Afro Eclectics is a creative strategist ready to help people elevate their social media presence and get connected. She partners with brands like Dove and Rent the Runway who are passionate about embracing diversity and bringing different communities together. Bunmi determines to help fellow influencers with their marketing strategy by sharing tips and templates to increase engagement and partnerships.
Regarding influencing marketing, Bunmi shares, “Personalization is the future of successful influencer marketing campaigns. We like to see that you’ve done your research to get to know us and our personality. While working at a beauty brand, they had me and other influencer managers do research on each influencer before reaching out. This worked wonders and the influencers expressed how much they felt appreciated. Personalizing your end-to-end approach will generate even more brand love and motivate the influencer to create winning content."
Bunmi has succeeded in creating an influencer community of influencers. With such a distinctive following, she is keen on staying authentic to herself by working with brands who have a purpose. Now at 14K followers on Instagram, Bunmi is continuing to inspire the best marketing campaigns.
Niche influencers are optimal for reaching specialized communities that have high engagement. So, if your brand speaks to a specific niche, then these influencers are a great asset to your marketing strategy. Remember — the number of followers an influencer has isn’t necessarily the only measure of success. Identify your niche and get your campaign started today!
Isabella Tarantino is a senior at the University of California, Riverside and a marketing Intern at Pixlee. Majoring in Administrative Studies with a marketing emphasis, she is excited about marketing trends in the digital age.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on pixlee.com. Any statistics or statements included in this article were current at the time of original publication.
