How to Use Influence Marketing on Instagram
In social media marketing, targeting influencers is one of the most time-tested and effective strategies that can cause a fast and substantial impact for your brand.
For example, let’s say that you sell kitchen cabinets online. Within this vertical, Social Media User A has carved out a strong niche for him/herself by covering news within this vertical, offering up criticism on certain companies, and highlighting specific companies or products. Social Media User A has 500,000 Twitter followers. Thus, it stands to reason that if you can sway Social Media User A to highlight your company’s new kitchen cabinet, you’re exposing your product to 500,000 new users.
for social media marketers of all types. Kim Kardashian is an example of a particularly powerful celebrity influencer, with even her most trivial posts averaging a few hundred thousand likes (and thus making a great platform to promote products such as her mobile video game, which has earned her tens of millions in revenue).
It is estimated that there are over 40,000 influencers on Instagram—covering every vertical imaginable, from food to fashion—that can shape the opinion of their collective followers numbering in their millions. So how can a social media marketer attract the attention and favor of a particular influencer in their vertical? Please keep in mind the following strategies can also work on other social networks.
One easy and time-tested method on other platform is promoting a partnership. So if you’re kitchen cabinet company is looking to inform their followers about the quality of the products they carry, find a lifestyle blogger in that vertical with a history of product reviews and strike up a partnership, perhaps offering to send them products to review. Another way to entice a blogger to promote your product on Instagram is to do an Instagram takeover—in which guests take over posting for your account—in which they promote a particular product for a day or two.
Once you’ve partnered with a number of influencers, you can start getting more ambitious in your plans. One particular shortcut to generating content ideas is to celebrate milestones. Google itself does this through their Google Doodles, in which they’ll celebrate the birthday of a notable individual. As such, you could celebrate the anniversary of your company’s start by holding an Instagram contest in which users that interact with your account in a prescribed manner are rewarded with prizes.
Finally, another great way to gather together the right influencers and your customer base is to unite for a cause. For example, November is often celebrated online as Movember, a month in which men grow moustaches to raise awareness and funds for men’s health. Thus, you can partner with male influencers in your vertical to grow moustaches and post the daily updates online. Not only will you be helping a good cause, but you will also be capturing a number of new followers who are eager to lend their efforts to your cause.
In conclusion, by identifying influencers on your verticals on Instagram and other social networks, you can substantially amplify the reach of your message and expand the scope of your brand’s influence on social media.
