What Is an Influencer?

In a nutshell

An influencer is a creator whose posts lead many people to become interested or take action. The term covers not only celebrities with millions of followers, but also creators with a few thousand followers who are trusted in a local area or a hobby.

How to approach hiring one

If you choose only by follower count, your message may reach people who will never be your customers. Look at three things: whether the creator's followers resemble your customers, whether their regular posts get plenty of replies and conversation, and whether the product you want introduced fits naturally with what they post. For a local restaurant, a creator who posts about eating around the neighborhood may bring in more visits than someone famous nationwide.

Decide what counts as success before you ask. Whether you want more impressions or more visits and sign-ups changes both who you choose and how you measure. How to set goals is explained in How to set goals and KPIs.

Japan's stealth marketing rules

Since October 1, 2023, advertisements that do not look like advertisements ("stealth marketing") have been regulated in Japan as misleading representations under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. According to Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency, the regulated party is the business that ordered the advertisement (Regulation of stealth marketing under the Premiums and Representations Act, as of October 2026).

For the business placing the request, it is important to agree up front, when you make the request, that labels such as "Ad" or "PR" will be included. The thinking behind the Act is also covered in The basics of social media campaigns and Japan's premiums law.

In SNS TOWN

SNS TOWN has no feature for finding or hiring influencers. If you register a creator you are curious about as a reference account, SNS TOWN reads their recent posts and summarizes their tendencies, which you can use as research before you make a request.