Influencer marketing is a combination of old and new marketing tools. It’s built on the foundation of celebrity endorsement which is incorporated into a modern content-driven marketing campaign.
Brands collaborate with Internet-famous people who use their creativity to develop brands awareness among their engaged audiences.
92% of marketers who used influencer marketing in 2017 found it to be effective. Indeed, 72% of Instagram users report making their purchase decisions based on something that they saw while browsing the app. That’s why businesses are ready to pay for such marketing.
There’re 3 ways you can monetize your Instagram account:
Make Sponsored Posts
An influencer status with a bunch of followers https://howsociable.com/buy-instagram-followers makes you a target for brands that want to utilize an Instagram marketing strategy. They can offer you to create a sponsored content that helps spread the word about their products for a certain sum of money.
According to Forbes, IG influencers with three million and more followers can charge up to $100,000 for a post. Content creators with 1000 to 100,000 followers are known as micro-influencers. They can charge from $100 to $400 per post. Some influencers count like that: every 100,000 means taking $1,000.
The price of an advertisement also depends on the brand. For example, if you have a million followers, your earning may range from $5,000 and $15,000 per post.
There’re several types of brand-influencer collaborations, and here are the most common:
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Mentions
Companies understand the influence of an Instagram-famous person on the fans of their content. Often, it’s enough for an influencer to merely mention some brand, and their followers check it out, some even make a purchase.
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Reviews
An influencer is someone who has gained a loyal following and built a reputation of an expert in some niche. Users have some level of trust to her/him. So, a short positive review of the product/service can enhance the brand image and credibility.
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Giveaways
Brands can ask you to promote their contests or giveaways in a post.
If you create quality content, have a lot of subscribers and a high level of engagement rates, then you won’t have to put a lot of effort to attract brands — they will be coming to you.
But if you want to increase your earnings, you can hunt for the brands yourself. These may be companies who produce your favorite products, or some brands you find attractive. You can reach them directly (through Instagram Direct Messages or simply an e-mail) and try to agree on a deal.
To increase the likelihood of being found by brands, list your account on influencer marketplaces or sign up for Instagram influencer marketing agencies. These organizations help brands find the right influencers to advertise their products/services.
Work as an Affiliate
Unlike an influencer who mainly generates awareness, an affiliate aims to increase sales for the partner brand in exchange for a particular sum of money. You’ll act as a brand ambassador.
So, what you are required to do as an affiliate?
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Make posts displaying the products/services
Of course, you’ll post photos to show that you use something you advertise. Often, brands simply ask an influencer to repost a photo or ad on their feed.
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Host product giveaway
Giveaways are beneficial not only for brands but for your account as well. This helps to increase audience engagement and gain new followers in the process.
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Offer Exclusive Promo Codes
For example, your IG account is @LisaSimpson. So, your code is “Lisa20”. You make a post telling your followers about the possibility to buy some product/service with a discount using the unique code “Lisa20”. Every time someone makes a purchase and uses the code, you get a commission for sales.
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Post Stories
Instagram has plans to roll out links for Instagram Stories. Now, you can only feature the products, as you do it in photos.
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Include links
On IG app, the only place to put a hyperlink is in your bio. Links anywhere else are just not clickable. Permanent affiliate link in the bio works well if you promote the same brand or product. If you advertise different products in different posts, you can update the link according to the latest affiliate URL every time you publish a new post.
Create and Sell a Physical or Digital product, or Offer a Paid Service
Influencer-brand collaborations are quite popular these days. Beauty blogger Carli Bybel (@carlibel) who now has 5 million followers on IG designed several clothing collections teaming up with Missguided. But you don’t need such a huge audience to make such a partnership. Fanny Lyckman, a fashion blogger from Sweden with half a million followers (@fannylyckman) also had two collaborations with Missguided clothing brand.
This type of partnership gives consumers personalized value compared to discount-based shopping, which benefits the brand sales. And influencers get a wider platform to explore new opportunities, along with a bigger check, of course.
If you dream about creating your own brand, your influencer status can be a huge bonus for your future startup. It can be a fitness app, an e-book, an audio program or a video course. Even 100,000 followers can help you create a buzz before launching your product.
Fashion blogger Karla Deras (@karla_deras) launched her own clothing brand The Line by K in 2015, when she had about 110,000 followers. Since its drop, the label has been rocked by some of the most stylish girls in the game – Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Bella Hadid.
But to be successful in selling your own products, you need to set up an Instagram business account, like Karla and other influencers who became entrepreneurs.
Here’re the ways to optimize your Business IG account:
- Don’t appear on your brand’s Instagram page. Separate personal and business goals.
- Use audience-specific hashtags that can effectively reach prospective customers.
- Apply filters. Quality nice images boost engagement.
- Post at peak times to engage the community.
- Collaborate with popular Instagrammers who can feature your products.
A business account offers Instagram Insights that provides entrepreneurs such valuable information as the demographic data of the audience, follower fluctuations, community activity times, and profile views and website clicks either for your overall account or specific posts. This analytics will help you develop your business account along with your brand.
Include a link to your website or another place where you sell your products in the bio of your both business and personal accounts. Business accounts with a minimum of 10,000 followers have the option of adding a swipe-up link to an Instagram Story which makes it easy for the followers to visit the website.
Final Advice
If you want to become an influencer on Instagram, think whether you are ready to spend enough time and efforts on that. If you already have some experience, then you know how much time it takes to integrate, photograph, promote, and engage your audience in an organic way.
A survey of 300 influencers showed that they are heavily engaged in social media. 56% spend at least 4 hours per day on social networks, and more than 20% spend up to 7 hours per day online. In spite of this, only 12% of respondents indicated that influencer marketing is their only form of earnings. Others had full-time or part-time jobs. So, if you want to make it your full-time job, make it a priority
Photo by Erik Lucatero on Unsplash