Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. As of the middle of 2018, the platform had one billion active monthly users. Reports show it to be the “second most popular social media platform after Facebook”. The social media site is used by a third of internet users in the USA. Importantly, the platform is believed to be very engaging, with more interactions per post seen than on Facebook or many other platforms.

The popularity of this social media platform has led to many companies considering how they can utilise it for marketing purposes. In particular, many organisations have considered efforts to run Instagram influencer marketing campaigns.

What is the role of the influencer in digital marketing? Writing for Single Grain,  Raghav Haran  mentions how “Influencer marketing is a type of word-of-mouth marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market…. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead pay influencers to get out the word for you.”

In this little guide,  we provide some tips on how Instagram influencer marketing campaigns can best be executed for optimal impact.

Planning Costs

One of the first factors to consider when planning an Instagram influencer campaign is cost, and how much budget you have. Influencer marketing is not always as expensive as other types of campaigns, but in some cases,  it is more expensive than others. One important point to note is that influencers will charge more when they have more followers.

When considering to initiate a Instagram infuencer campaign, to have a general guideline of costs is important. If you are working with an influencer with more than one million followers, you may be looking at spending almost $1.5K per post, while those with less than 2,000 followers typically charge approximately $125 per post. There are also price differences by sector that you are working in. The most expensive influencers to work with are those in the travel field, with entertainment influencers also being among the more pricey, and home and lifestyle influencers in third place, cost wise.

When working with top Instagram influencers, make sure to negotiate the price of your collaboration. Social media stars will typically charge more than you expect.Costs for travel influencer posts are typically around $220, while entertainment posts come in at around $209, and home and lifestyle at $204. Having a good comprehension of these costs is helpful because this enables planning of what you can afford,  and how many influencers you might work with.

How to choose the right influencers?

Once your budget is all planned out, another step in planning your Instagram influencer campaign is working out which influencers to work with. This is not straightforward at all, but it is obviously critical, as it will impact on the exposure you get. The major consideration will be area of influence. The influencer must have some relevance to what you do, and must have a noteworthy ability to engage others. While pinpointing these individuals is not easy, there are some tips that can help.

For example, finding people that have created content with which your product is aligned is helpful. You could search for these using a branded hashtag. For those without a well-established brand, searching for different appropriate hashtags may be a good way of finding the best influencers to work with.

Another step you might want to take to identify the right influencers is to use influencer marketing tools. Some tools that may come in handy for this are BuzzWeb, Influence.co, Ninja Outreach and BuzzSumo. These tools are helpful because you can search for influencers by category or by various keywords. One of the best options of those mentioned is Influence.co, not least because it won’t cost you anything to utilise it. However, it is also good in terms of search filters, which include location, category and number of followers.

Designing your Campaign

You will then need to decide on the type of campaign that you plan to run with your Instagram influencer/s. One good option that is quite engaging is a competition. This can be set up by sending the influencer free samples, and then they run the contest. Another good and straightforward option is having influencers review your products. The reviews created should be honest, however, to ensure trust is driven for your brand. You could consider having influencers as brand representatives as well. You could also run sponsored posts – whereby the influencer actually develops the content for your company. Yet another option is talking about influencers in your own content.

Evaluating the campaign

Finally, with your Instagram influencer campaign underway, it is essential to monitor how it is going and evaluate how successful the campaign was. That way you can learn from your achievements and failures, to improve future campaigns.