The world of digital marketing keeps evolving every day. You wake up, and you hear about a new trend, a new tactic, a new platform, a new tool, or an existing platform launching a new feature.
One digital marketing area that not long ago started an ever since kept growing massively is influencer marketing. According to InfluncerMarketingHub, businesses make $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. A platform that witnessed great success in influencer marketing and a huge increase in the influencer market is Instagram.
Instagram now has 1 billion active users, which makes it a powerful marketing channel and especially for influencer marketing. In this article, we will walk you through everything you need to know to get started with Instagram Influencer Marketing for eCommerce.
Table of contents:
Right now, Instagram is considered to be the best platform for influencer marketing. Here are the reasons why it is the best platform for influencer marketing for eCommerce.
As mentioned before, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, and it is the most preferred social media platform by young shoppers. FacebookBuiness, in a recent study found that 80-85% of Instagram users either discover new products and services on Instagram, research products or services on Instagram or engage with Instagram content to decide whether to purchase a product or service.
Influencers' content gets higher organic reach than regular brand profiles. Not only the reach is higher, but users also tend to engage more with influencers, especially with Instagram Live and Instagram Stories.
On Instagram, influencers mostly stick to one or two niches. Fitness, fashion, beauty, technology, etc. They focus all their content on one niche or category. How does this benefit you? It means a focused targeted audience who is already interested in this niche. It means more visibility in related hashtags and on Explore page, and on Instagram feeds for all the people who showed interest in your niche, which the influencer also represents.
Most Instagram influencers are successful in establishing a strong personal connection with their fans. They are also capable of winning followers' trust, and that's eventually what makes them "influencers". This genuine and engaged relationship can help them achieve excellent results when recommending your products or your brand.
Instagram influencer marketing is very effective. According to Statista, Instagram referral traffic skyrocketed and reached 114%. Furthermore, InfluencerMarketingHub reported that 65% of the top-performing Instagram posts feature products. this says a lot about the effectiveness of investing in Instagram influencer marketing.
Before you start looking for an Instagram influencer, there are a few important steps to do first to maximize results from your campaigns:
Take some time to study your marketing needs and which part of the marketing funnel you want to focus on; awareness, consideration, or conversion. Understanding the results you are hoping to achieve will help you plan your influencer marketing campaign better and later help you track how well the campaign went.
Try to have a clear idea of the target audience for this campaign. Try to choose a narrow segment and focus on it. Defining the target audience for the campaign and studying their interests and demographics will boost the results of the campaign and make you choose the right influencer.
Study your budget and how much money you can invest in Instagram Influencer Marketing. Your budget will determine if you will be able to achieve the goals you have in mind or not and will dictate the types of influencers you can collaborate with.
Look within first! Who knows, you might find an influencer who is a fan of your brand and will be a loyal advocate for your products. Check your branded hashtag and your follower list.
Go to relevant hashtags in your niche and explore influencers who work in your industry and speak to a similar audience as yours.
If you can't find any interesting influencers who seem to be a good fit by doing the two steps above, try Google search and explore the marketing tools and influencers lists available online.
In this step, you will evaluate and filter influencers until you find the perfect fit for your campaign.
Make sure you pick an influencer who is in your niche and matches your brand tone and values.
Don't get excited about the number of followers and ask them for some insights about their engagement rate or go through their posts and see for yourself how many of their followers interact with their content and the quality of comments.
Review how many ads they do for all their content. You don't want to hire someone who does too many ads and has little organic and authentic content.
Check how fast they reply and do they seem easy to talk to and good listeners.
Be clear upfront about your budget and the payment model you prefer; free products, commissions of sales, fixed rate, etc.
If you are happy with everything and you are ready to move forward with an influencer, make sure you cover everything of the below points in the agreement:
Set a clear deadline for the influencer and agree with them on the duration of the campaign.
In Instagram influencer marketing, there are multiple options to choose from. A photo post with a caption, a video, an Instagram story, Instagram Live, a reel, or a product honest review. Based on your campaign goals and the marketing funnel, you can agree with the influencer on the format of content you want. This format will also contribute to the cost since videos and reels are normally more expensive than photo posts.
This is very crucial so you can repurpose the influencer content later. You can use it on your website, post it on your social media profiles or push it as a paid ad later. So remember to get the full right to reuse the content.
Agree with them on the payment model or compensation they prefer. Would sending them free products work for them in exchange for an honest product review, or do they want a fixed rate, and if so, how much? You might want to pay them through affiliate commissions based on sales. Or based on engagement; clicks, shares, likes, or views. Either way, make sure you reach a clear agreement on this point.
Track how well the campaign went. Here are some metrics to check:
1- Engagement: measure the engagement rate on the influencer content.
2- Referal links: Check the click rate and visit from the links you built for the influencer
3- Affiliate sales: If you set up a code or unique link that can be used to purchase products, check the conversion rate and sales numbers coming from the influencer.
4- Your social profiles: If your number of followers increased, this means the campaign was successful in raising brand awareness.
Other points to track:
5- Did the influencer meet the deadline?
6- Did they deliver the desired format and follow all requirements?
7- Did the influencer respond to comments and questions about your products or brand?
If the campaign went great, you might want to re-collaborate with the influencer for more successful campaigns together. You can also consider repurposing the content and using it in paid ads. You can now automate Instagram ads using Converted.in. Book a demo!