How to Use Instagram Influencer Marketing to Grow Your Business

Want To Know More About Instagram Influencer Marketing?

Businesses are making $5.78 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing…

 

…which explains why 79% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing.

So how can you tap into this and use Instagram influencer marketing to grow your business and maximize your returns?

Or maybe you’re reading this and like, “Wait a minute back up, what even is influencer marketing to begin with?”

Don’t worry, either way, we’re answering both of these questions about Instagram influencer marketing in this post.

And giving you some pro tips to keep in mind along the way so that you can maximize your investment from Instagram. 

Defining What Influencer Marketing Is

“Influencer marketing involves a brand collaborating with an online influencer to market one of its products or services.” 

And an influencer is someone who has a large audience on social media; the size of their follower base dictates what kind of influencer they are.

• Nano-influencers have 1K to 10K followers
• Micro-influencers have 10K to 50K followers
• Mid-tier influencers have 50K to 500K followers
• Macro-influencers have 500K to 1 million followers
• And mega-influencers (often celebrities)  have more than a million followers

So the idea is that you find an influencer within your industry.

This is so that they can promote your product or service to their qualified follower base in exchange for you paying them a flat fee…

…or for them getting a commission on every sale they send your way. 

This puts your brand in front of a ton of eyeballs who are likely to be interested in what you sell but may not have heard of you before.

Now before we move on, we do want to mention if you’ve never heard of influencer marketing until this post…

…or if you just want more context on how to go about creating influencer brand partnerships…

…we strongly suggest you read this post next on how to create an influencer marketing strategy. 

It will give you a more general overview of this marketing method overall, as well as give more context to this post that you’re reading now.

Because in this post, we want to keep pushing with Instagram-specific influencer marketing.

Why Instagram Influencer Marketing Is So Effective

Instagram has over 1.386 billion monthly active users.

And among them, 72% of users report making purchase decisions based on something they saw on Instagram.

So when compared to Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, and even Facebook, Instagram has the most influence on consumer shopping habits.

So essentially, what all of that means is that Instagram users are already in a buying mindset.

And, they are used to making purchases as a result of what they see on Instagram. 

That’s major on its own, but then you couple that with the influence that influencers have on their followers, and it’s like a one-two punch on consumers. 

There’s a stat out there that says, “Friends influence 79% of consumers’ purchasing decisions on social media.”

And the whole idea behind influencers is that they feel like friends. 

They share the ins and outs of their everyday lives with thousands or sometimes millions of people every day. 

And for the followers watching their daily Instagram Reels and Stories, etc. they feel like they really know them even though they’ve never met in real life.

And as a result of this relationship, there’s a level of trust between the influencer and the follower that brands do not often achieve as easily on their own. 

But what happens is this influencer, who a follower trusts and likes to watch every day, comes along and says something like:

Hey guys, I started using this shampoo a month ago and I love it! It’s made my hair so soft, and it’s sulfate free. 

If you’re interested in trying it out, they gave me a discount code for you guys to use! So tap the link now to shop with 10% off!

And the followers watching feel more like it’s a friend who has recommended this product to them…

…and less like an influencer being paid to promote it.

Even though influencers are required to disclose if something has been sponsored…

…or if they’re delivering an ad, followers just trust that the influencer would not be promoting the product if they didn’t actually believe in it. 

In other words, even though most followers know it’s an advertisement, they still accept it almost like organic content.

And, they take the influencer at their word because that’s how much they trust and like them.

And with Instagram in particular, influencers have so many tools to let followers into their daily lives.

Like we mentioned earlier – Stories, Reels, live streaming, longer-form videos, Direct Messaging and directly replying to comments with Reels, and so on.

And the more involved or interactive followers feel with influencers, the more influenced they’re likely to be. 

So all of that is what leads to Instagram influencer marketing being as powerful as it is. 

What Type Of Businesses Can Utilize Instagram Influencer Marketing

54.1% of brands working with influencers run eCommerce stores.

And as a result, we think there’s often a misconception that influencer marketing only makes sense for eCommerce stores. 

But the flip side of that statistic is that 49.3% of brands working with influencers are not eCommerce store owners. That’s still almost half!

So even if you’re B2B or a service-based business, you can still benefit from Instagram influencer marketing.

You need to find the right influencer for your market and learn how to leverage that partnership efficiently. 

This is something we talk more about in our influencer marketing strategy post.

So again, if you need help learning how to find influencers or how to go about partnering with them, read that post next.

Seriously. 

Now before we wrap up with the pros, cons, and risks of Instagram influencer marketing…

…first, we want to remind you to check out our new social media ads training course. That is if you want to take your social advertising to the next level.

Pros Of Instagram Influencer Marketing

1. There are influencers out there for every budget. 

So whether you’re a one-man show running your business right now…

…or whether you’ve been on the up and are looking for new sources of revenue for your business…

…either way, you can find an influencer within your market that fits your needs. 

2. You can get insane reach and brand awareness for cheaper than you would with Facebook ads.

The average cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) from influencer marketing on Instagram is $5-10.

Whereas the average CPM on Facebook across all industries is $11.54.

So in addition to being able to work with influencers cheaply if necessary…

…the results often come at a lower cost per result than when you directly pay for ad spend on platforms like Facebook. 

3. You can directly track how many sales come from the influencer you’re working with.

You can do so with tools like UTM links, discount codes, Bitly, or Google Analytics. 

Again, this is something we show you how to utilize in our influencer marketing strategy post.

4. You get to collaborate with a creative person to create some awesome content for your business. 

Unless you have a full-on marketing team working for you.

It can be hard to find the time to get in a creative headspace or stay on top of the latest content trends.

Instagram influencers utilize their expert knowledge of the platform…

…and of their followers to create content that’s on-brand for you yet still optimal for Instagram. 

This can be super helpful particularly if you’re a one-man show who doesn’t know so much about Instagram yet or doesn’t have the time to handle it.

Our only piece of advice here is that you let it be a collaboration as opposed to you force-feeding the influencer exactly what to say and do. 

One article said:

“…when working with influencers, brands have to let go and allow influencers control of the narrative to preserve the authenticity of what is being communicated.”

…and we completely agree.

Cons Of Instagram Influencer Marketing

1. Instagram influencer marketing is not always scalable. 

It takes a fair amount of time to research and find new influencers to work with, DMing them back and forth to get their rates, approve content, etc. 

This isn’t something you’ll be able to eventually put on autopilot because it does take human attention.

2. The rates vary.

We know earlier we listed that as a pro because it means you can find influencers for every budget. 

But it also means you might find the perfect influencer that you want to work with that meets all your criteria…

…but you can’t work with them because they have expensive rates that are outside of your budget.

And this will be a huge factor when choosing influencers especially if you have a limited social media budget.

And expensive rates are usually justified, not just because of follower count, but because of engagement rates.

So you may have to dig around to find an influencer to work with who meets your criteria and is within budget. 

3. The campaign could still flop.

That is even if you do everything right and you find a relevant, affordable influencer within your industry with good engagement rates,

It’s not a perfect science, but then again that goes with anything in marketing. 

So you just have to be willing to test out different influencers and campaigns until you find the right recipe that works for your brand.

Ultimately, Instagram influencer marketing can be a great way to extend your reach, brand awareness, and in some cases, direct sales. 

It just takes time, effort and a little know-how to get started. But that wraps up everything we had for you in today’s post!

Head over to our Instagram marketing services page today if you’re interested in working with an expert for your IG marketing.

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