Unsigned influencers fall into three distinct categories of market position

Evidence

However, this is not to say that all uncontracted Influencers were at the bottom of the barrel, as several highly successful Influencers were able to sustain their businesses and act as independent agents for themselves. Later, several Influencers established their own agencies to broker contracts for themselves and for the newer Influencers who they were grooming within their company, often with the help of employed staff. As such, unsigned Influencers generally belong to one of three categories: … The second category is made up of Influencers whose daytime jobs do not allow them to be under other contractual agreements. These are usually women in civil service jobs who are unable to receive monetary payment for their advertising services, and so attend exclusive events and receive products for free, in exchange for producing reviews on social media. … The third category consists of new and upcoming Influencers, or those who have not yet garnered a sustainable following despite being in the industry for some time. These Influencers do not yet command the attention of a sizable following on the web and are not as sought after as other Influencers. They will have to market themselves and rely on personal networks to be noticed by Influencer managers. In general, most Influencers, especially in the lifestyle genre, aim to be signed to an Influencer management, as it is a mark of prestige; as well, the Influencer management oversees their career trajectories, brings them more publicity via corporate-wide campaigns, and increases their pool of available work. — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 224

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides a working typology of unsigned influencer categories useful for the reader’s foundational survey of influencer types.