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Instagram is a great social media platform to promote your brand – especially if you plan on using influencers to get people interested in what you’re doing. Social influencers on the platform can easily drum up authentic engagement through word of mouth, turning their massive amount of followers into your newest loyal customers.
Compared to other forms of social media, Instagram has the highest rate of interaction, with 78% of its influencers using the platform for brand collaborations throughout the world.
It’s pretty clear Instagram is the right choice for influencer marketing campaigns. When done right, it yields the most effective results. However, if you don’t have the right influencers, even Instagram won’t be able to help you obtain the results you’re looking for.
Though finding the Instagram influencers best suited for your niche can be a challenge, having the right match is essential for the successful promotion of your brand.
Don’t forget your business goals
An influencer’s follower count, engagement rate and any other vital metrics can wait. Before you start looking up their numbers, think about the goals you have for your business.
Take a step back and identify the reason why and how you want to use an influencer marketing campaign in the first place.
Why use influencers?
What are your specific objectives for influencer marketing?
Three primary goals you should have in mind are:
- Generating sales or leads
- Increasing brand awareness
- Increasing Instagram Followers
The type of influencer you need will depend on those objectives.
If you want to grow your number of followers, you’ll be required to create quizzes or contests. In this instance, finding an influencer who will participate in the contest and get their followers to do the same is the best route.
However, if you want to increase sales or gather leads, you’ll want to make sure of discount codes and affiliate marketing. In this case, partnering with an influencer whose audience is likely to purchase the product or service you provide is critical.
Are they the right fit for your brand’s personality?
Picking an influencer that doesn’t fit your brand’s aesthetic is a main reason a campaign will generate low ROI, not to mention both parties may lose credibility.
The influencer you choose should align with your brand’s personality, but at the very least the product or service you’re aiming to sell. Starting the campaign with a clear idea of your campaign goals is essential to finding an influencer that authentically reflects your brand.
Take for example an influencer who is known for offering beauty tips. This influencer wouldn’t be the best choice for a campaign promoting low-cost travel gear. Instead, hiring an influencer who travels to cool places on a budget would yield far better results.
Look for genuine engagement
One of the most important metrics of Instagram influencer marketing is engagement and for good reason.
An influencer has an average engagement rate of about 4.4% and that number increases to 8% when Instagram influencers have less than a thousand followers.
As the number of followers increases, the engagement rate decreases. Be careful with this metric, though, because it can be misleading: it doesn’t always mean conversions are occurring. Determining how authentic the engagement is must be done.
Analyze comments
There’s a good chance you will encounter fake influencers.
An easy way to distinguish fake accounts from real ones is to go through the comments on an account’s posts. If you notice vague comments, such as “nice pic” or “cool shoes” or comments that contain emojis, the engagement is probably not real.
Signs of real engagement are comments that are relevant and conversational.
Look for word-of-mouth reactions
Real followers tag their friends, ask questions, voice complaints and make personal statements. These are genuine followers providing word-of-mouth engagement.
Only real engagement can result in the leads and sales you’re looking for. Bots can’t buy products.
Use a platform that influencers use
In just a few clicks you can find the right influencer by using an influencer marketing platform. Some of the most popular are Upfluence, NeoReach, Famebit and Revfluence.
You can find the most appropriate influencers in your niche by setting different parameters such as type of followers, work experience and number of followers.
These platforms also allow you to manage your campaign. You can control campaign features and calculate real-time campaign metrics, some even provide reports you can generate to share with your marketing team.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is quickly catching up with other types, especially on Instagram. But the only way to make the most out of it is to choose the right influencer.
Focus your efforts on perfectly matching your business to the influencer and you will succeed.
What do you think?