When you think about influencers, Instagram is probably the first thing that comes to mind.
And that’s because the features and popularity of the platform gave personalities the ability to share their lives and build a closer connection with their audience.
This connection makes consumers trust the opinion of the influencer when it comes to product recommendations.
The same way people trust when a friend or family member recommends a product.
Actually, 63% of consumers trust what influencers have to say about products a lot more than what brands say about themselves.
But without the right influencers, your campaign will not feel genuine and people will not trust the recommendation, leading to a negative ROI.
In this guide, you will learn the best tips to find the right Instagram influencers for your brand.
Why you need Instagram influencers
With over 1 billion monthly active users, it’s no surprise that Instagram is one of the best platforms to reach your brand’s target market.
Influencers are people who have already built a relationship with a specific audience that could potentially overlap with your target demographics.
So finding the right influencers is crucial for your strategy since they are the link between you and your ideal customer.
In addition, 60% of users say they learn about new products on Instagram.
This means that Instagram influencers are very effective at bringing new products to the attention of people.
The influence of these creators is so powerful that they can turn a brand into an overnight success.
With regular collaborations with Instagram influencers, you can consistently reach new audiences.
But first, you need to find the right Instagram influencers with an audience that overlaps your target.
How to find influencers
There are many ways you can find influencers perfect for your brand and niche.
And once you do, you should build this relationship for a long-term partnership instead of a short-term campaign.
Why?
Because if you have a single campaign and it’s successful, why wouldn’t you want to keep this partnership going?
Let’s take a look at the most effective methods to finding Instagram influencers.
Define your goals
The first thing you need to do, before searching and reaching out to people, is know what you want to achieve.
Doing this will help you identify the right influencer for your campaign as well as the ideal collaboration.
Some goals you should consider are:
- Increase sales
- Drive awareness to a product launch
- Get content for paid ad campaigns
- Increase referrals
- Increase downloads
Identify the right influencer profile
Once you know what you want to achieve, it will be easier to know the right influencer for your brand.
These are the things you need to consider for your Instagram influencers:
Size
Influencers come in many sizes. Specifically these:
- Nano influencers: 1,000 – 10,000 followers
- Micro influencers: 10,000 – 50,000 followers
- Mid-tier influencers: 50,000 – 500,000 followers
- Macro influencers: 500,000 – 1 million followers
- Mega influencers: 1 million – 5 million followers
- Celebrity influencers: Over 5 million followers
The bigger the influencer the more expensive it will be.
It is worth noting that more followers aren’t necessarily the best option.
88% of marketers prefer working with influencers with 100,000 followers or less. While 35% prefer people with 10,000 followers or less.
Smaller Instagram influencers have less reach but convert better because they have a stronger connection with their audience.
On the other hand, bigger influencers have massive reach but the campaign might not give you a positive ROI considering the cost of the collaboration.
Content engagement
Probably the most important thing to check is the engagement rates of your influencers.
If a candidate has a lot of followers but not many people are liking, sharing, and commenting on the posts, it either means that people are not very interested or that there are fake followers.
In both cases, your campaign will perform badly.
Influencer fraud can be avoided if you look at the engagement and ask the influencer to share their content analytics with you.
Audience
Influencers are the link between your brand and your target audience.
So you need to do an analysis on the creators and content that your target audience is interested in.
This might be obvious, but every influencer’s audience is unique.
Just because two influencers are in the same niche it doesn’t mean that your promotion will be effective.
So look at your market and make sure that the influencer’s audience is a good fit.
Look into your customers
The best influencer campaigns are the ones that feel authentic to the audience.
Meaning that people feel that the person genuinely likes the products and isn’t only being paid to promote them.
This aspect is more important than many people think. The authenticity of your collaboration could be the deciding factor for success.
90% of consumers say that authenticity is key when deciding which brands they like and support.
With that in mind, the best influencers for your brand are already your customers.
To find influencer customers, look at your Instagram followers first.
Then browse through the profiles until you find people that fit your criteria.
This could take a while, so you should also email your customers saying that you’re looking for creators to collaborate.
Searching hashtags
Most Instagram creators use hashtags to reach more people.
As a brand, you can follow the hashtags that interest you and look for the top influencers.
Typically, influencer content will be the most trending, so if you use the right hashtags you should be able to see the top influencers posting at that particular time.
For example, if your niche is fitness, look for related hashtags like #fitness, #fitnessmotivation, #nutrition, etc.
Then browse through the content and see if anyone fits your criteria.
Look for related influencers
When you follow an account, Instagram recommends similar profiles.
These suggestions are based on what people follow.
You can use this feature once you start following influencers.
Browse as many profiles as you can, looking at the bios and content.
This is a great way of finding similar influencers to the ones you already found.
Use Google
The fact that you are reading this article means you probably made a Google search about finding influencers on Instagram.
Through Google, you can also find the top influencers at the moment for most niches.
All you need to do is search “top [your niche/industry] influencers”.
In most cases, you will find the most popular influencers.
However, this method will leave out many influencers that could be ideal for your brand.
So make sure you use these lists as an initial research point and not for making a decision.
Post a job listing
Another method you can try is posting a job listing on job boards like Indeed.
Many influencers are actively looking for collaboration opportunities on job boards, so it’s a great place to start.
Approach this method as if you were hiring for any other position.
Describe exactly what you are looking for, the requirements, and the compensation.
Ideally, you will find people that care about your brand already and are customers.
If that’s not the case, the collaboration can still be possible if everything feels authentic.
Final thoughts
Consumers care about influencers and that’s why you should care too.
But remember that the most successful campaigns feel authentic.
And the best way to achieve this is by partnering with influencers that already love your products over an extended period of time.
Long-term campaigns feel like a genuine partnership, instead of a paid campaign to promote something.
Follow these tips and you will find your ideal Instagram influencers.
This post was originally published here.
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