How to Become a Successful Instagram Influencer

 

Over the past couple of years, social media especially Instagram has evolved at an enormous speed and earned a major spot.  Global Digital Statshot last year shared the stats that around 3.028 Billion people actively use social media. And apps like We Are Social and Hootsuite makes 40% of this world’s population. As one would expect, masses look up to the influencers in social media to help them with their decision making. Influencers predominantly influence the buying behavior of masses.

What is an influencer?

Back in the days, we only had famous celebrities from sports or entertainment world as Brand Ambassadors who used to influence the masses by endorsing the product or service they signed up for. Today, an influencer is an individual who has the power to influence the purchasing decisions and buying behaviors of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience. An individual who has a good number of following on social media and dominates a particular niche with what they actively engage with.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing also commonly referred to as “influence marketing” is a practice of marketing in which influential people are in the spotlight instead of the target market altogether. It classifies all the individuals who have influence over potential consumers and angles all the marketing activities around these influencers.

Tony Tran, CEO and co-founder of influencer marketing platform, Lumanu, suggests paying around $0.25 to $0.75 per average post engagement (or $250 to $750 per 1,000 engagement) that means that if the influencer usually gets 1,000 engagement for each post, you’ll want to pay him or her about $250 to $750.

Social media Influencers are the people who have constructed a repute for their knowledge and expertise on a specific subject matter. They circulate regular posts regarding that topic on their desired social media channels and produce massive followings of fervent engaged and active people who give due consideration to their visions.

Brands now adore and prefer social media influencers because they have the capability to create trends and allure their followers to buy the products or services they promote. Influencers are also divided into various types:

• Celebrities
• Industry experts and thought leaders
• Bloggers and content creators
• Micro Influencers

There are certain things that should be kept in mind. I have tried to trace out some common yet successful practices from all the popular influencers. There are no rules, however, we can follow what is working, and most importantly what is working for you. Never restrict your experimentation mode, you never know you might find a trend or maybe something works for you only. Here is the list of all the ingredients used for becoming a successful influencer:

1) Stick to a Niche

You can have all but you cannot stand out with everything on your plate. Jack of all trades has slim chances of success, however, being certain about your own niche can take you longer than you planned. As a trend, influencers go for food, lifestyle, fashion, reviews, fitness and all. Some choose two or three and co-relate them which makes sense and looks good to eyes as well. If you are still in the pre-planning phase and haven’t figured your niche. The highest revenue-generating niches are:

1. Health & Fitness.
2. Beauty & Makeup.

iii.    Travel.

1. Business or Business Development.
2. Fashion.

2) Write an Interesting Bio

Instagram bio allows you to write 150 words. This is a hit or miss opportunity. It is quite rare when someone visits your page and you have to make sure that they hit the “follow” button before they go back. The bio should be meaningful and catchy enough that it stays in their mind and your followers find you credible enough that you will share quality content in their newsfeed only.

3) Get an Instagram Business Account

Instagram has 800 million business profiles. Small business, influencers, e-commerce shops, blogs, etc. – they all got an Instagram business account as it gives you some more features with which you can see the audience reach, engagement activities and see how each post is performing.

4) Focus on Your Instagram Aesthetic

Choose a theme. Follow a color scheme or stick to one style. Having a theme will differentiate your profile from the rest of the league. Posting content with consistency is definitely crucial for growing the engagement and building a profile. However, following the theme religiously is also considered to be a prerequisite. Though, the goals should also be achievable and strategic.

If posting regularly is a challenge for you, get an app for that such as Buffer, Planoly, Preview, or Ripl. You will get the option to set a date and times for posting according to your choice through the advanced settings.

5) Write Captions That Reflect Your Brand’s Voice and Personality

Back in the days, we had slogans, jingles, and taglines giving a glimpse of what the brand is. Same goes for building your profile online anywhere on social media. You got to write a nice engaging or good thought in a caption to leave an impression of more than just the picture of something. Words are powerful they connect well and stay in minds with a tone at times, so, do not take the power of words easy.

6) Choose the Right Hashtags

Hashtags once were Twitters things, however, with the passage of time, Hashtags are all over the internet. You go check Facebook; Instagram revolves around hashtags, even LinkedIn asks to follow relevant hashtags for staying updated. Every platform has different word limits. Hence, utilizing the word count in a way that is appropriate to the particular circumstances.

7) Post New Content Often

Posting new content and posting without a break is a key. This key opens a diverse range of doors for the profile. It is equivalent to painting the canvas – you need to keep drawing and painting in order to complete the picture. Posting the content quite often will not only get you the right kind of attention but right followers, the better understanding of theme, genre(s), meaningful insights for the followers, and many more.

8) Interact With Followers

Getting massive following and posting quality content is half of the story. You got to interact with your followers or starting any activity after a while is also not a bad option. Regardless, replying and acknowledging the responsibility of your followers will encourage them to be more active and pay attention to your content a bit more than before.

9) Get In Touch With Brands

Reach out to brands on a personal level or start tagging them in your posts. This is how your posts will get re-posted by popular brands with time earning you recognition in a crowd. On the contrary, by mentioning brands the least you will earn a spot on their radar that can payback in future. Sending Direct Messages to brands who are already engaged with influencers like you, is also not a bad idea. Collaborations and PR are the core essence of the influencer program.

There are other routes too, to reach the same destination. You can join platforms such as Grin, InsightPool, HYPR, InfluencerBay, TRIBE, and TapInfluence. Some of them would have a few prerequisites to have a certain amount of following or such.

10) Go for Organic Following

No matter how much tempting it may look to have a massive following and even more convenient to buy them by avoiding all the hassle. Organic reach requires patience, and by the time, it will pay you back too. But before that, you need to know how buying followers can stop your growth because the followers are not going to engage in the posts. The quickest hack to check if the followers are organic or fake is by checking the engagement on each post and comparing with the following.

Conclusion:

I have shared the most commonly used practices, however, having a stable and reliable connection is more significant than the key ingredients. I have my 3 Instagram pages ranging between 50k-8k, besides my clients. An extra tip, I would like to share is, be flexible enough to change the methodology and tactics but rigid enough to stick to one internet connection. I have had cox internet ever since I started off. I’d recommend the same and doing a market research.

Also, stay updated, you never know when the trends change or Instagram app updates start to affect your strategy or the way you work. Always reply Direct Messages in a timely manner. Acknowledge everything commented, mentioned, tagged that is about your page. Follow hashtags, put your efforts in the right kind of attention, and don’t indulge in something aimless. I hope these quick tips and detailed analysis helps someone getting they were looking for.