Instagram has proven its popularity among the social media apps and it shows no signs of slowing down. Reports show that as of May 2020, this app had been downloaded over 1.8 billion times. The platform remains at the top of the list while about 67 of brands say they will increase their influencer marketing budgets in the next 12 months, particularly on Instagram. This information goes to show that when it comes to influencer marketing on social media, Instagram content should absolutely be considered in your strategy.
Instagram is the preferred social platform for consumer brands. Why? Because besides having the largest user base it’s focused around a combination of image and video content. Unlike social platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook which started as text-focused and recently adopted other content types, Instagram’s focus started with well curated in-feed image posts. Instagram has now evolved to incorporate various types of video content as well making it perfect for consumer brands who want to capture attention and highlight their products.
Most online buyers make purchase decisions based on reviews and mentions given by their favorite influencers. This also makes Instagram perfect for consumer brands who want to advertise through influencers. But it takes the right strategy to make these advertisements authentic. This article provides you with some tips to make your consumer brand’s Instagram influencer marketing campaign a success.
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Establish Brand Presence First
When influencers post about a product, interested users in their audience will want to learn more. These users will click on brand mentions in the influencer’s posts to navigate to the brand’s Instagram profile. They might be interested but still want to ensure that they align with your brand before making a purchase.
For this reason you have to have content consistently posted on your brand’s profile to keep followers and new audiences interested. A dormant page will undoubtedly cause potential buyers to lose interest. This means that you must invest some resources into posting content on your brand profile if you want to have success working with influencers.
But what if you’re in need of content? If your brand needs Instagram content, work with a few micro influencers to generate the content for you. Many micro influencers are willing to create content for your brand for a very reasonable rate if they don’t have to post it to their profile. Start there and once you have at least dozen posts up on your profile you’re ready to open your influencer marketing campaign objectives up to include generating impressions and engagements.
What Types of Content Can Influencers Create on Instagram?
What types of Instagram content should you ask your influencers to create and why? The most effective campaigns use a combination of content types. Here are a few Instagram influencer marketing content suggestions for best results.
Instagram In-Feed Posts
In-Feed posts are the foundational piece of content on Instagram and for this reason they are an important part of most influencer campaigns. They are evergreen content that lives on the influencer’s profile and shows up in their audience’s post feed. In-Feed posts are great for storytelling. They can even include a carousel of multiple images which is great for highlighting products in different settings. In-Feed posts can be made shoppable through Instagram so your audience can purchase right from the app.
Some influencers get amazing results with their In-Feed posts while others excel at driving high engagement rates on Stories for example. Always evaluate the influencer’s metrics for the content type that you’re looking for them to create. We recommend taking advantage of as many Instagram content types as possible in your campaign, and In-Feed posts are a great starting point.
Consumers Love Giveaways
If you also want to grow your audience through influencer marketing, try contests and giveaways.
The influencer tags your page on their stories or posts with details on how to enter the giveaway. Among the requirements for entering the contests is to follow your brand’s page and tag a few friends to qualify to win. If the giveaway is attractive enough, you’ll attract new audiences and gain followers that you can nurture through your funnel into customers.
Reels Are the Real Deal
Video content is king in capturing attention. Reels are Instagram’s answer to the popularity of TikTok’s snackable video content. Many Instagram users prefer short-form, entertaining or informative video content.
Reels feature interesting editing tools to help you communicate your brand story. They are perfect for introducing a new product into the market in a fun way.
Reel videos are just 15 seconds long. But if well utilized, they can grab the attention and interest of buyers and cause them to visit your profile looking for more information on your products and brand.
Take Advantage of Instagram Stories
Some users engage more with stories than with In-Feed posts so including Stories is a great compliment and reinforcement of your In-Feed post strategy. The best part about Stories is that influencers can share real-time behind-the-scenes experiences, making stories even more engaging.
Depending on how the agreement with the influencer is set up, they can use Stories to mention your product, do a testimonial, or drop a review. They may even demo your product so their audience can see it in action.
Stories allow the influencers to post as much information about your brand as possible while giving their followers a chance to ask any questions they may have. Influencers can also include a swipe-up feature on Stories that links interested users to your site or shop increasing your traffic and driving conversions.
The influencers may add a sticker to tag the product and its price inside the posts for easier shopping. This also makes it easier to measure metrics based on how many individuals clicked on stickers or other engagement activities.
Instagram is the preferred social platform for consumer brands. Why? Because besides having the largest user base it’s focused around a combination of image and video content. Unlike social platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook which started as text-focused and recently adopted other content types, Instagram’s focus started with well curated in-feed image posts. Instagram has now evolved to incorporate various types of video content as well making it perfect for consumer brands who want to capture attention and highlight their products.
Most online buyers make purchase decisions based on reviews and mentions given by their favorite influencers. This also makes Instagram perfect for consumer brands who want to advertise through influencers. But it takes the right strategy to make these advertisements authentic. This article provides you with some tips to make your consumer brand’s Instagram influencer marketing campaign a success.
Real-Time Engagement With IGTV
Instagram Live is a great content creation method for showcasing products. The influencers can show their followers all the features and benefits in real time which promotes authenticity.
Influencers can also go live to answer consumers’ questions regarding your products or brand. They can take advantage of the live engagement to get reviews from individuals who have used your products before.
Amplify Influencer Content
Just because the influencers have a certain amount of followers does not guarantee that all of their followers will actually get to see your brand’s content during a partnership. That’s why you should amplify the top performing influencer content in your campaigns.
Say you run a campaign with 10 influencers. There will always be one influencer that performs best and one that performs the worst. Take your top 5 performers and amplify their content to a larger audience outside of the influencer’s following. You already know that this content is resonating with their audiences so there’s a great chance that it will also resonate with new audiences outside of their following as well. Use tactics like whitelisting to run paid ads through the influencer’s channel or use dark posts which target specific audiences but don’t show up on the influencer’s feed.
Negotiate With Instagram Influencers on Content, Not on Price
Rather than asking Instagram influencers questions like “What’s your rate?” or “How much for 1 In-Feed Post and 1 Story?” try asking them “What types of content could you provide for my budget of $500?”.
You’ll get better results with the latter approach because influencers love to get creative and put out more content.
Here’s an example – say you have a budget of $500 for one partnership and you know that an influencer you really love is asking for $1,000 for 1 In-Feed Post. Rather than try and negotiate them down in price to your budget, ask “My budget for this partnership is $500, is there a way we could work together at that rate?” You’ll often find the influencer is willing to get creative and offer something appealing within your budget because they are excited to work together. For example they could suggest 3 separate Instagram Stories for $500 which could actually end up getting you more impressions than the In-Feed Post depending on their personal metrics.
If you’re part of a team that’s marketing a consumer brand then you should absolutely consider utilizing influencer marketing on Instagram in your strategy. Instagram is the most frequently used platform for influencer marketing campaigns in the consumer products space because it works. If your brand wants advice or help creating high-impact influencer campaigns on Instagram, contact us for a discovery call and we can talk about your strategy.
