The app provides an ideal setting for “brand ambassadorship,” in which highly visible individuals may earn the trust of their followers by promoting genuine items and services. Estimates put the value of the influencer sector between $5 and $10 billion by 2023, making it apparent that this is a marketing trend that won’t be going away anytime soon.
A Quick Overview of Instagram Influencer Marketing
Successful Instagram users are referred to as “influencers” because their fans look up to them and value their judgement. Their followers may be drawn to them because of the way they live, the things they do for a living, the clothes they wear, or the stories they tell.
Because there is such a large and varied pool of influencers, practically every company may find an appropriate influencer to sell to their sector and demographic on Instagram.
The advent of Instagram influencers paved the way for the ‘sponsored post’ phenomena, which provides a legitimate channel for brands to sell their products to their target demographic.
In the beginning, brands may have only sent influencers free samples of their products in exchange for positive reviews. Yet as the industry exploded, influencers realised they could charge marketers for grid space on their profiles as well as receive free goods.
The Value of Instagram Influencer Marketing
By using influential people, businesses may connect with their intended consumers in a way that seems more organic and trustworthy than traditional advertising.
Companies are shifting their focus from direct consumer sales to partnerships with influential opinion leaders. Instagram stars enjoy a dedicated fan base because they are “influencers” who share intimate details about their life with their audience. In turn, this makes us feel like we know them on a personal level, which means that when a trusted influencer recommends a product, we take their word for it just as seriously as if they were a friend.
Just how expensive are Instagram “influencers”?
Hopper HQ’s annual Instagram Rich List highlighted the staggering sums that the most popular influencers and celebrities can make with a single post, providing an indication of the scale of the Instagram influencer marketing industry.
Kylie Jenner took first place, charging more than $1 million for an Instagram post promoting a product. The 21-year-power, old’s along with that of her family, cannot be understated, since she erased $1.3 billion off Snapchat’s market value with a single tweet earlier this year.
What Characteristics Constitute An Instagram Influencer?
Becoming an Instagram influencer does not need meeting any particular criterion. To be a worthwhile marketing asset for businesses, a user has to develop a sizable and actively involved fan base.
A successful influencer is also selective about the businesses they choose to work with, focusing on those they think their audience is most likely to interact with and tailoring their relationship decisions accordingly.
This is because influencers create their own material for a business, rather than merely sharing a photo they are sent by the brand, and therefore the relationship is more accurately described as a partnership or collaboration.
A smart influencer will not want to publish anything that seems out of place to their audience or feed because doing so might be detrimental to their hard work of building an engaged following. Hence, while planning your influencer marketing strategy, double-check that your brand’s persona meshes well with that of the influencer you intend to contact.
Working with Instagram Influencers
If you’ve concluded that engaging in Instagram influencer marketing is the way to take your company forward, the first step is to determine how much money you’re willing to spend. The cost of an entire campaign may quickly add up when you factor in the fees that influencers charge for each post and each Story.
When your marketing budget is limited, you’ll have to turn to so-called “micro influencers” to get the word out about your product. These influencers have between one thousand and ten thousand followers, yet their content consistently generates a lot of interest from their audience.
Micro-influencers may have a significant impact on a niche demographic for much less money, making them a wonderful choice for startups and other small enterprises. If you have a greater budget, you may be able to afford to connect with more prominent influencers. But, rather than focusing on vanity metrics like the size of their following, give attention to the level of engagement they generate instead.
Instagram’s Influencer Marketing
There has been some criticism levelled against influencer marketing in recent years. Customers have felt duped when they discover the person they follow on social media is being paid to promote specific brands.
As a result, there has been a major push for openness among opinion leaders. Including #ad or #spon in the description of a sponsored post has become the norm in order to differentiate between paid advertisements and “authentic” suggestions. Instagram also developed the “Paid partnership” label, which may be placed above a post to let viewers know that the creator of the content is being compensated by a company.
Influencers feel a sense of devotion to let their followers know they’ve received money from a post, despite the fact that this may dilute the authenticity that has made Instagram influencer marketing so effective.
At a panel discussion at one of our events last year titled “The Power of Influencer Marketing in 2018,” Harry Hugo, Co-Founder of The Goat Agency, pointed out that the CMA laws only apply to influencer marketing and not to other forms of advertising or promotional sponsorship.
For instance, he mentioned how Neymar’s multi-million dollar sponsorship arrangement with Nike allowed him to wear Nike footwear on the field. It’s absurd to think that we’d see a commercial for these boots on television.
