Instagram offers a much more targeted and engaged audience for influencer marketing than other social media platforms.
An engaged audience + trust in the influencer + more views of their posts = more sales for your brand.
And unlike a lot of other platforms, the audience of Instagram doesn’t seem to mind responding to and seeing sponsored content.
Meanwhile, on YouTube, some users get a lot of backlash for promoting products over and over again.
So, who should be using Instagram influencer marketing?
If your brand is looking to target a younger audience, increase revenue, and take a few risks, influencer marketing is for YOU!
There are potential influencers on Instagram for every kind of business.
And if you want to start influencer marketing on Instagram for your brand, here’s the beginner’s guide!
1. Set goals
Ask yourself what you want to get out of this kind of marketing?
- Increased sales?
- New kind of audience?
- Promote a new product?
Answering this question will help drive your campaign to what’s most important.
This is crucial because influencer marketing is focused and well planned.
For example, if you want to promote a new product, you need to send out that product to your influencers, give them time to test it out, and set your brand’s focus on that new product.
2. Look for ideal influencers
Influencer marketing is nothing without an influencer.
Depending on your brand’s budget for marketing, you should find influencers that you can afford and that reach your target audience.
When considering an influencer, here are some things you should look at.
Niche
What is the influencer’s page focused on?
If their niche aligns with what your brand sells, they could be a potential match for your brand. If their niche has nothing to do with your brand, move onto the next influencer.
The key to influencer marketing on Instagram is authenticity.
If a product doesn’t align with the influencer’s niche, the audience won’t respond positively.
Voice
How do you want your influencer to promote your brand? Professionally or casually?
If your brand is very professional, you shouldn’t be looking for an influencer who uses their sense of humor in every post.
Reach
Do you want an influencer with millions of followers to get your brand’s name out there?
Or do you want an influencer with thousands of followers to drive more engagement?
3. Understand the cost
Like any kind of marketing, influencer marketing will cost your brand.
The amount of cost, though, is dependent on what kind of influencer you choose.
Influencers with more followers like Kylie Jenner can charge up to $1 million for ONE Instagram post.
Here’s an approximate guide to the cost of influencers:
Less than 2,000 followers: ~ $124 per post.
75,000-100,000 followers: ~ $258 per post.
Over 1 million followers: ~ $1,400 per post.
4. Refine your pitch
After you’ve found some influencers that you think align with your brand’s values within your budget, it’s time to figure out how to appeal to them.
Asking them to become the face of your brand and offering them compensation won’t always work.
Influencers value work that is aligned to their own. So, pitch your brand in a way that is relevant to them and how they work.
Be respectful in how you speak to them as you would any other employee and give them some creative freedom with your brand.
An influencer’s job is to promote brands for a living, so giving them your trust will mean a lot and make it easier for them to promote your brand.
5. Connect with an influencer
There are multiple ways to get in contact with a potential influencer.
You can direct message them through Instagram or send an email.
Additionally, some influencers will even put their email directly in the bio of their Instagram page.
Do NOT send them a generic message that you could send to every influencer.
They will most likely write it off as spam or just ignore it altogether. Let them know that you have knowledge of their previous posts and style.
Start with an introduction message, offer your products or services, and leave the ball in their court. Here’s an example:
Hi Nicole!
This is Carly from LadyBossBlogger. I see that your Instagram content aligns closely with our mission of promoting female entrepreneurs and bloggers. My favorite part of your content is XYZ and that aligns with our values of XYZ.
With that being said, we would love to work with you as an influencer. If that’s something you would be interested in, let me know and we can have a short meeting at your convenience! Thank you for your time.
6. Decide how to collaborate
Although influencer marketing gives your influencer quite a bit of creative freedom in promoting your brand, your marketing team still needs to decide what type of content they would like from your influencer.
Here are some examples of influencer marketing strategies that seem to get an audience involved with the sponsored products.
Sponsored posts
You pay influencers for the post to talk about why your product is great and how they use it.
An example of sponsored posts is the FabFitFun boxes that a lot of celebrities endorse.
With sponsored posts, the hashtag #ad or #sponsored should always be included in the caption.
Giveaways
Audiences LOVE giveaways!
This can be a chance for your brand to get some products out there for people to start talking about.
This will also create brand awareness, as giveaways usually require an audience to follow the brand to be entered.
Reviews
You send out your product to influencers and give them the freedom to review it.
This can be difficult for brands because they’re unaware of what the influencer will say about a product.
Chances are they won’t be bad reviews because they’re getting paid to review your brand.
They may be honest about how a product “isn’t great for sensitive skin” or is “a little expensive,” but this creates trust between the audience and influencer.
It also ensures their audience is aware of the benefits and can make an informed decision before buying the product.
If you create a plan and do your research, influencer marketing will skyrocket your brand’s sales and expand your audience.
Additional articles you might be interested in:
- What Is Influencer Marketing And How Can Marketers Use It Effectively?
- How To Engage Your Target Audience
- How To Position Yourself As A Trustworthy Expert Online
- 14 Ways To Increase Video Views On Your Instagram Stories
- How To Successfully Achieve Your Sales Goals
- How To Pick The Right Influencers To Market Your Products
- 10 Ways To Successfully Promote Your E-Commerce Brand
- How To Find The Best Online Influencers
- How To Contact Potential Sponsors And Get Brand Deals
- 25 Things You Should Look For In A Social Media Influencer
- How To Pitch A Collaboration With Brands
- How To Start A Business On A Shoestring Budget
Carly Hancock is a blogging and social media intern at LadyBossBlogger. She is looking forward to a future in writing or social media. She enjoys learning new things about beauty products and fashion, and Instagram is her favorite social network!
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