Instagram is no doubt an extremely effective social media platform for influencer marketing campaigns. Introduce influencer marketing to your existing Instagram campaigns to boost brand recognition and to bring in a pool of new or potential customers.

Audiences like authentic endorsements from trusted influencers rather than straight forward product promotion. Influencer marketing is therefore a more subtle approach to present your brand to an audience and coming from a trustworthy influencer, it is seen as more genuine compared with traditional advertising.

Here are 10 top tips to help you master influencer marketing on Instagram.

2.Use micro-influencers

Micro-influencers have smaller followings (approx 1,000 to 10,000 followers) than macro-influencers, with high engagement rates. They are normal people who post as a side-line rather than as a main source of income, and as a result, their posts tend to be ‘more real’ and authentic. Their followers can interact with them on a more personal level which builds trust and respect of their opinions. Micro-influencers’ followers consider them to be a trusted source for recommendations as it is coming from someone they know or feel like they know. 

2. Add a clickable link to the Instagram bio

Most traffic generated by Instagram comes from the link in the bio. When working with influencers, suggest that a direct link to your website or product is added to their bio on a temporary basis. This gives extra visibility and generates direct traffic to your site.

3. Get influencers to give a detailed review of your product

Influencers can review your product which is a great way to educate and inform your target audience. The review needs to be honest and thorough to make it credible and authentic.

4.  Promote competitions and giveaways

Influencers love these types of offers because it is a good way for them to engage with their followers. For brands, competitions and giveaways are a great way to raise brand awareness, get new customers and generate traffic. For consumers, even if they don’t win, competitions create emotional connections bringing them closer to a brand.

5. Give an exclusive offer

Giving an influencers’ followers an exclusive offer such as a promo code or URL for a discount, free shipping, or a free gift with a purchase, can be a win-win solution for both the brand and influencer. For the influencer, being able to offer special deals to their followers, encourages emotional connections and generates trust. For the brand, it generates sales and traffic to the website.

It is important to create a unique promo code or URL for each influencer involved in a promotion, so that you can evaluate the performance and effectiveness of each influencer.

6. Promote your brand using hashtags

Create a unique hashtag for your campaign and encourage influencers to promote it in the sponsored posts. They can encourage their followers to share photos and to use the hashtag in their own posts. This further boosts engagement rates as well as helping a brand reach a wider target audience.

7. Use Instagram Stories to tag your products

The Instagram Stories feature has generated significant attention since its launch in 2016 and is popular with brands and influencers alike. The narrative approach helps users easily follow stories as they are transmitted in real-time and evoke emotional purchasing decisions.

Encourage influencers to add shoppable stickers within their Instagram Stories to tag your products with prices and links to drive traffic to your website.

8. Get your brand featured on an influencer's live feed

Live streaming is a great way for influencers to catch their audience’s attention. Users can ask live questions and get instant replies. By getting featured on an influencers’ live Instagram feed, brands get exposed to a live interactive audience which can lead to increased brand awareness and instant product purchases. Forms of live streaming an influencer might use include Q&As, product testing, behind the scenes videos and cooking demonstrations.

9. Build a brand ambassador relationship with the right influencer

You can make a trusted influencer the face of your brand by making them a brand ambassador. Brand ambassadors share their experiences of your products on an ongoing basis. They should be provided with proper guidance about what, where and when to share your products and fully understand your expectations about the mutual collaboration.

10. Invite influencers to your brand events

Encourage influencers to attend your events and then talk about it on Instagram. This can generate good media attention to boost brand awareness and further promote product promotions.

Use these 10 top tips to boost your influencer marketing on Instagram and build brand awareness, loyalty and general exposure.

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