In recent years, we’ve watched as social media has changed the way we engage with the world around us in our daily lives. Instagram’s boom has given rise to and legitimized being an influencer, but of all the influencer types you hear about the most, lifestyle influencers are likely right up there. With their carefully curated feeds, highly engaging captions, and relatable personalities, lifestyle bloggers have become some of the most influential voices on social media, shaping trends and consumer behavior in a plethora of industries — but just what is a lifestyle influencer, exactly? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the concept of the lifestyle influencer, what they are and what they do, and outline some of the most prominent creators that you should be keeping an eye on.
What is a lifestyle influencer?
A lifestyle influencer is a person on social media that showcases their daily life in various ways, focusing on different aspects depending on their interests. They typically have a large following on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, and thanks to their great influence, often share information, recommendations, and reviews with their followers across these platforms.
Depending on the lifestyle blogger, they will typically focus on a particular niche, including but not limited to fashion, food, fitness, travel, or beauty. Their content usually involves sharing their experiences and opinions on whatever interests them, and may include insights into their personal lives and relationships, their personal journeys or challenges they may be going through, and overall offer an ‘intimate’ look into their lives, however curated they may be. Often, these creators will collaborate with brands in the niches they focus on to create sponsored posts, particularly because they are among the most popular category of influencers on Instagram. Aside from Instagram, some of these creators may also run their own fashion blog or travel blog on the side.
Generally, these influencers can be said to have a great impact on their followers in terms of influencing their behavior or purchases and can be seen as effective in settings trends on social media, too.
Which audiences are interested in lifestyle influencers?
Naturally, these influencers tend to have followings that consist of people with similar interests to their content, but thanks to their more ‘daily life’ content and personable nature, lifestyle influencers appeal to a fairly wide audience as compared to very specific, niche creators.
It’s commonly observed that lifestyle influencers have a large following of younger individuals, specifically those classed as Millennials and Gen Z. This can be attributed to the fact, first of all, that these young audiences are most likely to spend a lot of time on social media platforms and actively engage with influencers’ content. As a general rule, the demographic that engages with influencers on social media the most is Gen Z, followed by Millennials, and then Gen X.
Another reason these creators resonate with younger followers is that they tend to promote more aspirational lifestyles that appeal to young users. This can include inspiring, motivational content as well as that focused on self-care, which is very relevant to younger audiences who are still building and figuring out their own personalities and paths in life. Such idealistic, day-to-day content serves as an inspiration for younger audiences in terms of their own goals and achievements, and they will avidly follow those that lead a lifestyle they would love to emulate.
Of course, it can’t be ignored that young audiences favor authenticity and relatability to a great degree, which is something lifestyle influencers aim to achieve with their content. This makes them a popular choice for Millennial and Gen Z users to follow, as they prefer content that doesn’t necessarily feel manufactured but includes experiences, struggles, and personal journeys that they can connect with and relate to.
Other topics that appeal to this young demographic include body positivity, self-love, and general awareness surrounding mental health, which is most commonly found on a lifestyle influencer’s Instagram feed as compared to other influencer categories.
That’s not to say that lifestyle bloggers strictly appeal to young crowds. Depending on the niche or field they choose to focus on with their content, they can attract audiences from a diverse range of ages and backgrounds, and may even gain a majority of a lesser-represented demographic such as much older users if their content is most relatable to them.
Are lifestyle influencers micro or macro influencers?
Like many categories of influencers, lifestyle influencers can fit a range of sizes depending on their notoriety. This ranges from nano-influencers all the way up to mega-influencers if they hit the big time. Most commonly, we use micro and macro as the terms to denote their levels of influence, so we’ll outline that a bit more here.
Micro-influencers tend to have a relatively smaller following in the grand scheme of things, usually between 1,000 and 100,000 followers, and focus on a specific niche or community. One of the benefits of micro-influencers is that their audiences tend to be more highly engaged, making them effective at building brand loyalty and establishing an active audience for driving conversions.
Macro-influencers, on the other hand, have a larger following, typically over 100,000 followers, and they have a wider reach across multiple communities and demographics that can span numerous interest groups rather than a particular niche. Macro influencers are often more well-known and may have a broader appeal, but they may also have less engagement and authenticity than micro-influencers.
When it comes to lifestyle influencers, the majority tend to fall somewhere between these two categories of influencer size, with followings ranging from 10,000 to 500,000 people. This is true for many of the aforementioned niches such as beauty, travel, fitness, food, and more, as many of these creators can be on the smaller side or explode in popularity and relevance.
List of prominent lifestyle influencers
There are simply too many lifestyle influencers making waves on social media to list off everyone that might be relevant today (especially considering how quickly that changes!) but we’ve compiled a list of some of the top Instagram accounts as a solid reference point to get you started:
@LaurenConrad - Lauren is a well-known American television personality, fashion designer, and author. She gained fame through her appearances on the reality TV shows "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" and "The Hills." She also shares updates on her personal life, fashion, beauty, and home décor with her 6M followers on Instagram.
@Yoga_Girl - One of the biggest creators in the yoga and wellness space, Rachel Brathen, or Yoga Girl, is a yoga teacher on with over 2M followers on Instagram. She gained a significant following by sharing her yoga practice, inspirational quotes, and insights into her life and family.
@ChrisBurkard - Chris is a travel influencer and photographer with nearly 4 million followers on Instagram. He is known for capturing and sharing landscape and adventure photography, as well as general travel tips and recommendations.
@LaurenSinger - Lauren is an influencer with a big focus on sustainability and is also an entrepreneur with over 340,000 followers on Instagram. She is known for her zero-waste lifestyle and advocacy for environmentalism.
@MannyMua733 - Manny Gutierrez, aka Manny MUA, is a makeup artist and beauty influencer with more than 4M followers on Instagram. His main content focuses on sharing colorful and creative makeup looks.
@Negin_Mirsalehi - Negin is a fashion and lifestyle influencer with over 7 million followers on Instagram. She's known for her romantic, girly content focused on the modern woman, as well as posts around travel and daily life.
@JayAlvarrez - Jay is a travel and lifestyle influencer who shares his exotic travels and adventurous lifestyle with more than 8 million followers on Instagram. He is also a model and posts content involving water activities and surfing.
@Pamela_rf - Pamela Reif is a German fitness influencer with more than 9 million followers on Instagram. She primarily promotes workout videos and general fitness, whilst dabbling in beauty, food, and self-love topics.
@Mollyyeh - Molly is a food author and cooking influencer with over 850,000 followers. Her content focuses primarily on recipes, and she also shares insights into her low-key life living on a farm.
@ZachKing - Zach is a filmmaker and content creator with over 25M followers on Instagram. His primary claim to fame is sharing magic tricks and humorous skits with his audience.
How to find lifestyle influencers that fit your niche
Finding the right lifestyle blogger can be tricky, but there are a few ways to help make your search more effective.
Social media search: One of the easiest ways to find lifestyle influencers is to search for them on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Brands can use relevant hashtags and keywords to identify influencers who are relevant to their industry or niche.
Influencer marketing platforms: There are several influencer marketing platforms that connect brands with influencers. These platforms allow brands to search for influencers based on their interests, location, audience demographics, and other criteria. Some popular influencer marketing platforms include HypeAuditor, AspireIQ, and Upfluence.
Agency partnerships: Brands can also partner with influencer marketing agencies that specialize in identifying and working with influencers. These agencies have experience in negotiating partnerships, creating campaigns, and measuring results, which can be valuable for brands that are new to influencer marketing or need a little extra help securing the creators they need.
Conclusion
The term ‘lifestyle influencer’ is a fairly broad one, but that’s only because it’s evident that these creators cannot be put into a specific box. These lifestyle bloggers thrive on sharing their daily lives online as well as offering insightful, respected opinions on the niches they may also be a part of, and they tend to be very popular with online audiences thanks to their relatability and open, understandable personalities. There is a huge range of lifestyle influencers out there across an abundance of categories, and the list is ever-changing, but we hope this article has given you a better understanding of the relevance of these creators on Instagram, as well as some notable examples to keep in mind.
