In today’s world, the most trustworthy feedback is word-of-mouth feedback. And for such reliable and valuable feedback, we all depend on social media influencers to guide us. Why is that? Because in the current digital world, we all follow the influencers that have the right knowledge, experience, confidence, and taste – that everybody looks up to! And if the influencer is your favorite actor or music artist, the trust factor increases more!
Moreover, marketing today has changed its original form and has become more fluid. The product explores all the customers’ senses via social media marketing and influencer marketing.
Hence, today, more than half the businesses are implementing Influencer Marketing on various social channels, especially Instagram. And if you have also decided to walk the same path, then our how-to guide should be of great use as you explore this new arena.
Who Is an Influencer? And What Is Influencer Marketing?
An influencer – also called a personal blogger or content creator – is widely trusted on social media by their highly engaged followers and someone who shares authentic reviews and information on various topics, products, and services via social media or their blog or website.
When a brand takes the help of an influencer to market its product(s), it becomes influencer marketing. Instagram is the best platform for brands to utilize if you consider influencer marketing success. There’s a very high chance that you see at least one influencer post while scrolling through Instagram in a day.
One might wonder, why is influencer marketing so popular and successful? I think the key factor is trust. Brands are introduced to customers via a known and trusted face and platform through influencers instead of an unknown commercial medium.
When an Instagram influencer recommends a product or service, it is considered a reliable review from a friend. And this way, brands get to target their audiences directly.
Instagram Influencer Marketing
Reports state that Instagram will have 1.2 billion users worldwide by 2023. (As per Statista, 2022). That’s a huge target audience for a brand looking to grow awareness among the people.
There are no second guesses as to which platform will fetch the best results for influencer marketing. Also, if your target audience belongs to the millennial generation, then Instagram is your go-to platform for your influencer marketing strategy.
When it comes to picking the right influencer for your brand, authenticity plays a chief role. If your influencer genuinely believes and supports the genre of your product or service, it’ll be easier to reach the right audience through the influencer. The people you want to make aware of your brand are already following and forming opinions based on the influencer’s reviews and feedback.
Therefore, partnering with these influencers to promote your brand will be a fantastic move for your channel.
How to Pick an Influencer for Your Brand on Instagram?
You need a strategic approach to find the right influencer for your product or service on Instagram. A lot needs to be considered while picking an influencer than just their followers and their association with an influencer marketing agency.
A few pointers to help you find the right influencer are noted below:
- Brand match: If your influencer believes and supports your cause, there is no better match. For instance, if you make vegan products for people, your influencer must be a vegan.
- Engagement level: In the recent past, measuring an influencer’s engagement tops the follower count on Instagram. Having a huge following is not as important as a highly engaged audience. Your brand will reach more people with a genuinely interested audience on Instagram.
- Similar sponsors: If you check the past posts that similar campaigns as yours have sponsored, you’ll know what will work and what won’t.
Leveraging Your Business on Instagram With Influencer Marketing
Thanks to the nano- and micro-influencers on Instagram, your business can take off on the channel with influencer marketing. And that too with a manageable budget.
Who are micro-and nano-influencers, though? Well, anyone on Instagram with a medium-sized following but great engagement is a micro-influencer. You could look at a count of 10,000 to 100,000 followers. And nano-influencers would have even lesser, probably around a few thousand followers.
Not a “Celebrity,” but more relatable and people who we could easily get in touch with – the micro-and nano-influencers will come across as such on Instagram. Thus, if a micro-influencer endorses a product or service on their channels, people will consider it more of an honest recommendation than a marketing gimmick.
What Form of Content Do You Create for Influencer Marketing?
Influencers can create several types of content and then share differently, too. Photos, videos, stories, and so many more approaches can engage followers on Instagram and give them a good preview of the product at hand. Posts on Instagram turn out to be more efficient than stories since they are more permanent, and their performance can be measured better.
With the recent rise in Instagram videos via Reels and IGTV, brands make a good mix of photos and videos for Instagram marketing content. And with the hashtags that go along with the posts, one can easily find the niche market influencers that talk about a particular topic on Instagram. Instagram stories are easier to create and comparatively hassle-free to create. They are temporary and don’t need much of an effort while posting. They can be a combination of photos and videos.
Instagram posts are more time-consuming but have a wider reach among followers. These can also be either a picture or a video but of high quality. Influencers use an Instagram video editor as a tool to accentuate their videos for better engagement.
To Sum Up
The transformation of influencer marketing via Instagram is not going to go away anytime soon. It’s only going to grow hugely.
Influencers, who can be anybody around us, can now make the most of this social media channel to grow their followers and also make good money through this medium. People blog about various topics based on their expertise and interest, and that’s the kind of information that keeps their followers engaged.
Go partner with an influencer that’s right for your business and see how fruitful an initiative it turns out to be on Instagram. Make the most of this marketing opportunity for your brand!
