Organic Posts on Instagram are limited in reaching a larger audience, and you’d have to consider running ads to increase brand awareness and followers. Another alternative is to use Instagram influencers.
Instagram influencers can help you discover relevant audiences instantly and gain followers. Because influencers have a large following, typically a minimum of 50,000 followers, partnering with them will give you credibility and the chance to attract and connect with potential customers.
You can partner with influencers and get their help on lead generation, promotions, and other conversions. Here are some steps on how to identify influencers on Instagram:
Step 1: Hashtag Search
Open the Instagram app and choose the Explore tab. In the search bar, type a hashtag relevant to your business and industry. When the search results appear, tap the one you entered to view the hashtag search page. Instagram will display the most popular posts and reels related to the hashtags. Here, you can search for the posts with the most followers and likes. Bookmark the posts for further review. You can also search based on the location tags.
Step 2: Tagged Content
The other option is to find influencers from tagged content. You can use influencers tools such as GRIN to run lookalike influencers based on the brands and industry. BuzzSomo searches for influencers and top sharers based on their content analyzer. You can also find tagged content from the tagged content of your competitors.
Step 3: Influencers Research
If you have a lot of traction on your Instagram, you can also use the Instagram listening tool, which will alert you automatically when someone mentions your business, even when they don’t tag you. For example, you can track down posts that mention you in the caption or that spell out your company’s name rather than using your Instagram handle. Listening tools sound like social media monitoring tools, but they are more subtle. Look at Hootsuite, Radarr or Sprout Social.
Step 4: Choosing Influencers
It is a good idea to find out if you and your influencers can represent your brand and create posts that resonate with your followers. After researching and narrowing down your list of influencers, you can start following them and determine if their posts are appropriate for your business. Planning the budget for your influencer’s campaign can narrow the number of influencers. Another budget decision is to factor in Instagram ads; if so, it will increase your budget.
Step 5: Influencers’ Campaign
Depending on the budget, you can choose a variety of influencer campaigns, from posts and reels to stories or a combination. When identifying your campaign goals, consider whether you are running a promotion for conversion and how many sales you’re hoping to achieve. Or are you building brand awareness, and if that’s the goal, how many followers are you planning to increase? Experienced influencers should be able to estimate whether your goal is reasonable given the size of their audience, the amount of content you plan to create, and similar results they’ve achieved in the past.
The influencer can give you access to create the posts from their accounts, referred to as whitelisting. After the posts/reels/stories are created, the influencer must approve them.
Measure Campaign Metrics
Measuring campaign results is relatively straightforward if you use an influencer marketing platform like #paid. #paid tracks key metrics like reach and cost per click and ensures you get a return on investment based on your budget and goals.
If you run influencer campaigns manually, you’ll need to set up a baseline to accurately measure and attribute the results. If the goal is to attribute sales and conversion, you will want to assign custom promo codes or unique landing pages for each promotion. That way, you can attribute results to the right influencer, measure revenue accurately, and identify the creators you’d like to work with on future campaigns.
Pitch to Potential Partners
Once you’ve worked out all the details of your influencer campaign, you can pitch it to influencers and ask them to work with you. You can contact them through DMs and use Instagram’s native branded content tools to add the Paid Partnership label to any sponsored content.
Alternatively, you can use influencer marketing platforms to manage agreements and payments. Tools like #paid let you set up campaigns and specify the type of creator you’d like to work with. The platform matches you with creators and simplifies the pitching, approval, and payment processes.
Conclusion
Partnering with Instagram influencers can be incredibly effective for growing your business. Finding influential Instagram creators requires the right balance of time, budget, and tools. But take the time to build relationships, set realistic goals, and run engaging campaigns.
Interested in working with Tomo360 on Influencer Marketing? Contact us today to learn more about it.