Brands are now investing more than ever into influencer marketing and growing relationships with influencers. The global influencer market is set to grow to $22.3 billion by 2024. This is because consumers are seeking authenticity, and influencer marketing offers that to them.
However, to succeed with influencer marketing, you need to find the right influencers for your brand. You can do so by finding those who have similar values as those of your brand. Additionally, they should be active on the channels where your target audience is present.
Among all social media platforms, influencers prefer Instagram. According to a SocialPubli study, 60.8% of influencers prefer Instagram compared to other social media networks.
Image via SocialPubli
Once you’ve found your influencers, you need to figure out how to partner with them. This post examines how to partner with Instagram influencers. It also provides tips on how to handle these potentially powerful partnerships.
What is an Instagram Influencer Partnership?
The rise in consumer ad-block usage is leaving marketers with no choice but to find other ways to reach consumers. One way they are doing so is through Instagram influencer marketing.
As a marketer, you tell the consumer who you are and what you can do for them. The consumer expects you to say you are the greatest, and that your products are the best.
But when you partner with Instagram influencers, the conversation changes. An influencer has deep connections with their followers. When they tell them about your products, it has a big impact on the minds of their audience.
Partnering with Instagram influencers opens loads of opportunities for your brand. It allows your brand to connect with your target audience indirectly and organically. An influencer marketing campaign can help you grow your social media following and increase brand awareness and engagement.
But why use Instagram? Why not use other social media platforms?
Your influencer strategy can include other social media platforms as well. However, Instagram is often the best platform for influencer partnerships. It’s the most popular one among all, with 65% of consumers using it to follow their favorite influencers.
Image via Rakuten Marketing
Quintly also found that, compared to other social media platforms, Instagram’s engagement rate is higher.
Image via Quintly
If you partner with Instagram influencers, you can expand your reach and increase the engagement on your content.
However, the big question remains, how to partner with Instagram influencers?
How to Partner with Instagram Influencers
A partnership with Instagram influencers helps you increase your reach, engagement, and sales. CivicScience found that 81% of consumers purchase products because influencers have promoted them.
Image via CivicScience
Influencers will have built trust and loyalty among those following them. And 88% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know.
When you partner with Instagram influencers, you expose your brand to an extended audience. Influencers can also increase your search rankings with quality backlinks from their blogs. Additionally, they can help drive traffic to your website through their posts.
Now that you know the benefits of an influencer partnership, let’s take a closer look at how to partner with Instagram influencers.
How to Partner with Instagram Influencers #1: Set Partnership Goals
You need to first define goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) before you can partner with Instagram influencers. Having them will help you measure how well your influencer strategy is working.
Additionally, it helps you channelize your efforts towards that goal. You must also know what you want from the influencer before actually approaching them.
Some of the influencer marketing goals include:
- Attract a new audience
- Increase brand awareness
- Generate sales
- Increase your Instagram following
- Promote a product launch
- Retain current customers
- Generate engagement
- Extend reach
Your Instagram influencer marketing goals should also be SMART, i.e., they should be specific, realistic, timely, attainable, and measurable.
Once you establish your goals, then you can determine what KPIs you will measure. For example, brand awareness metrics may include impressions, engagement, and reach.
Having goals will also help you define your target audience clearly.
How to Partner with Instagram Influencers #2: Find Instagram Influencers
Once you’ve identified your goals, it’s time to get the right influencers for your brand. The influencers you choose should be from your niche and should have values similar to your brand.
Another important thing to consider while looking for an influencer is their content quality. Mediakix found that marketers consider the quality of content important when finding an influencer. They also check for the target audience and engagement rates.
Image via Mediakix
Some of the other things to look for include:
Engagement: A high engagement rate means that the influencer knows what their audience wants and can persuade them to act. Check the comments on their posts. Take note of the number of comments and also their quality. See if they are responding to fan comments as well.
Quality of followers: Are the influencer’s followers similar to your target audience? Can they connect with your brand?
Follower count: The follower count determines your potential reach and engagement rate too. Influencers with fewer followers tend to have higher engagement rates.
Quality of content: Analyzing their content will help you understand whether they write content relevant to your niche. It’ll also help you figure out their content quality. You must also ascertain if they are capable of naturally infusing your brand into their content without being overly promotional.
Budget: Can you afford to pay them? Some influencers will agree to take free products in exchange for a review, but some may want monetary compensation.
You can calculate the price of an influencer based on several factors. These include the number of followers, industry, engagement rate, and audience size. However, it’s important to note that the more followers an influencer has, the more it will cost you.
Image via Klear
Voice: Finding the right voice will depend on your brand. Do you want the influencer to be professional with serious posts or casual and friendly? Do you want one with a good sense of humor? Their voice must align with that of your brand.
Once you find an influencer who fits the bill, find a way to connect with them.
How to Partner with Instagram Influencers #3: Build a Relationship with the Influencers
To effectively partner with Instagram influencers, build a relationship with them first. Research them thoroughly, follow their Instagram account, and find out what they are all about.
This will give you a convincing reason to approach them. You’ll also know how they can make a difference in your campaigns.
The relationship should also benefit the influencer, so you have to prove the value of the partnership. If you can understand their passions and interests, then you are better positioned to approach them.
You should start building the relationship by striking a conversation with them through comments and messages. Share informative content with them to strengthen the relationship even further.
Once you’ve built a solid relationship with them, pitch your idea for a collaboration. Explain how a partnership would benefit your brand and what they would get from the partnership.
How to Partner with Instagram Influencers #4: Decide on a Partnership Structure
Once they agree to your offer, it’s time to seal the deal with the Instagram influencers. Discuss how the collaboration will work so that you can run a smooth campaign.
Factors to Consider When Deciding on a Partnership Structure
Timeframe: How long will the campaign last? What are the deadlines?
Campaign type: Will the influencer write a review, or will they share a sponsored post? Do you want them to promote giveaways and contests, or take over your social media account?
Content Quality: Agree on what you expect from them in terms of content. Do you want pictures, videos, or brand mentions? Or, maybe Instagram Stories features?
Communicate your expectations clearly to avoid problems later. However, give complete creative freedom to the influencers so that they produce content that will resonate with their followers.
Content usage rights: The influencer retains content ownership, but you should request full content usage rights. You can then repurpose this content later after the collaboration.
FTC regulations: Make sure the influencer understands and acts according to the FTC regulations and guidelines.
Payment: Agree on how you and when payments will be handled. Will it happen per post or based on performance? Agree on the payment amount and method before the collaboration begins.
How to Partner with Instagram Influencers #5: Measure the Campaign’s Progress
While partnering with the Instagram influencer, you need to find out if their efforts are paying off. Most marketers measure success using engagement rates, impressions, and brand awareness.
Image via Linqia
The metrics you measure will depend on your campaign goals. Insights you get will help you improve your Instagram influencer marketing strategy and get better results from future campaigns.
You can easily track the progress of your influencer marketing campaign in real-time with iFluenz. Through it, you can monitor various metrics like engagement rate, reach, and the cost per engagement.
Image via iFluenz
Final Thoughts
Partnering with influencers on Instagram can help you grow your brand manifold. However, you must know how to partner with Instagram influencers effectively.
Set your goals, find the right influencers, and build a solid relationship with them before moving forward with the partnership. Decide on a partnership structure and operate with complete transparency. Lastly, measure your KPIs to monitor your campaign progress and optimize it to improve your ROI.
Have you previously partnered with Instagram influencers? Do you have any tips or insights to add? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.