The world of social media is an ever-changing landscape. You can’t just create a profile and expect to grow your follower count organically. That’s why many businesses turn to influencers for help in building an audience on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or other platforms.
In the last few years, it has become more common for brands to partner with influencers, especially on Instagram. Influencers can help you reach a wider audience than just marketing your business on your own. For example, just as a makeup business finds another beauty product influencer, your company may find an Instagram influencer who is already popular with a related audience. This type of partnership will expand their brand.
This article will teach you how to find the right influencer for your business needs, especially on Instagram: whether it’s a one-time campaign or someone who can represent your brand on a regular basis.
How to find Instagram influencers
Be clear about your brand values.
What are your brand values? These are the things your brand cares about most.
These may include environmental sustainability, accessibility, equity and other causes, or simpler things like high-quality dog beds or healthy recipes. Knowing what your brand cares about is important because for example, if environmentalism is important to you, you’ll want to partner with an influencer who also cares about environmentalism. Your Instagram influencer will represent your brand online, so it’s important to share values to avoid confusion.
Determine the type of campaign.
Is it for a one-time event or do you need someone to share their experience using your product once in a while? Or do you want someone to promote, engage and generate leads on Instagram regularly? Identify what you need and find an influencer who appears to have experience in achieving the goals you want to achieve with your own campaign.
Do your research.
It’s important to research potential influencers before deciding who to work with. Explore potentials by checking out their followers, following them, and asking yourself how they can promote your brand in unique ways that will grow both of your audiences. See if they have previous experience working with other businesses like yours or ask questions about why they would want to work with you. Ideally, they will want to work with you for more than just money.
Post a job posting.
If you are looking for influencers to work with on a regular basis, post your job listing on your website or social media. Be sure to provide detailed information about what you need and what they will get in return. This will help them decide if it’s something they want to pursue. Use your private industry knowledge and make an informed decision when choosing someone who can best represent your brand, as this will pay off in the long run by building trust between customers and prospects.
Find out what their goals are.
You want to make sure the influencer’s goals align with your business goals, so this is a good place to start looking for someone who can represent you well. If they’re not working on something similar or not interested in your industry, there’s no point in continuing the discussion and hiring them as an influencer.
Check the audience size.
An Instagram influencer with a large audience (think 100,000+ followers) may be fine for brand awareness campaigns, but may struggle with engagement or conversion-focused campaigns. A smaller influencer (think 10,000-50,000 followers) focused on a niche audience related to your industry may be better suited for these types of campaigns.
Make sure your followers are real.
To find out if an Instagram influencer’s followers are genuine, take a look at their comments and interactions. If they have lots of spammy-looking or automated interactions, it could be a sign that the influencer is buying likes to increase their follower count, which is not good for your brand because those followers won’t care about you.
In case you’re wondering, we tried to buy Instagram followers and it didn’t turn out very well.
Follow hashtags related to your industry.
You can follow more on Instagram than any other account; You can also follow hashtags. When you follow a hashtag, you’ll see all trending posts that also use that hashtag. And you will most likely come across posts from influencers who also use this hashtag.
For example, if you sell ethical fashion, you may want to follow the hashtag #sustainablestyle to see Instagram posts from sustainable fashion bloggers. If someone is appearing in your feed a lot and you like what you see, you should consider partnering with them.
Search Google.
Maybe this seems obvious, but it’s worth mentioning if you haven’t thought about it yet. Search for the top Instagram influencers in your industry on Google. For example, you can search for “top fashion bloggers” or “top fashion Instagram influencers.”
Be sure to check out more of the most popular accounts that probably already have tons of affiliates ranked. But also note the average audience size, post types, and engagement that influencers appear to have in your industry so you can set expectations for your own campaign.
Read their biographies.
One step to finding an Instagram influencer is to read their bio to make sure they’re a good fit for your business. This may sound repetitive at the moment, but make sure they have followers that align with your target market and brand values. An Instagram influencer’s bio would be a great clue for both of these things. They have 150 characters that will tell you everything they are about.
Here are the most important elements of an Instagram bio.
Beware of other brands they are affiliated with.
Does this Instagram phenomenon partner with other brands in your industry? Then they can be a good match. They have experience building brand partnerships and speaking to your audience. However, if they frequently partner with a direct competitor, they may not be eligible. Or if their past partnerships have not performed well. Or if they are associated with a brand that is going through a PR crisis.
contact.
After completing the above steps, all you have to do is reach! A great way to get started is to send your chosen influencer a direct message on Instagram explaining:
- What is your business or brand
- Your campaign idea
- Why do you like their accounts and/or why do you believe they are eligible?
Then, politely ask the influencer what their odds are, what their upcoming show looks like, and if they would like to work with you. Add specific contact information to continue the conversation.
Here’s a guide to Instagram influencer rates, in case you need some benchmarks to get started.
All in all, finding the right Instagram influencer is no easy task. It takes a lot of research and time to navigate social media. But with these guidelines, you can quickly find the right influencer for your brand’s needs and start gaining new followers who already trust you.
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