Working With Influencers: How to Find Them and Work Together
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Working With Influencers: How to Find Them and Work Together

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The power of influencers in modern-day marketing, cannot be denied. Influencers are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Their opinions can make or break entire businesses especially if the market is millennials.

So we know the importance of influencers, but what differentiates Instagram influencers from influencers on other platforms? Instagram is where followers go to find inspiration. It’s all about aesthetics and visuals. Instagram influencers don’t just market your product. They gain the trust of their following, build relationships with them and then share your product as part of their lifestyle. It’s a level of marketing that builds a personal connection with followers.

It’s clear that Instagram influencers are a necessity for most businesses nowadays but where do you find Instagram influencers? One way is to go through public relations agencies that will work with influencers so you can get expert help on influencer marketing. Before we talk about how to find Instagram influencers, let’s expand on why you need influencers for your brand.

The Importance of Influencers

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Trust and Relatability

An influencer feels like a friend to their followers. They build trust over time and a loyal following will trust any recommendations made. What makes it so special is that influencer marketing doesn’t face the main issue of traditional marketing: trustworthiness. When an influencer recommends a product, it’s like a friend telling you to try something. This can help your brand to create a personal connection with customers.

Affordability

There are both pros and cons here. Compared to traditional marketing methods, Instagrammers are usually more affordable, especially micro-influencers. Of course, celebrity influencers will cost a lot. However, parenting with big influencers will also increase your sales big time. They usually have a cult-like following who will buy any product the influencer recommends. The downside is unlike traditional marketing, there is no set fee for influencer marketing so you’d have to negotiate.

Steps to Find Instagram Influencers

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Know your identity

To find what type of influencer would be good for your brand, you must first know what your brand stands for. You want someone who can represent your brand values and aesthetic. It’s also essential to know your target market and from there you’ll find someone who matches your identity.

Research to find the right influencer for your brand

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Honestly, this is by far the most important step in how to find Instagram influencers. There are many things to look for when picking an influencer. By choosing the right influencers you’ll bring more traffic to your pages and more loyal customers. You need to know what type of influencer would suit your business. For example, if you run a beauty business, a DIY influencer might not be your best bet. Even if they have a huge following, marketing to the wrong audience won’t do justice for your brand.

A good influencer is more than their following. Some huge accounts may have low engagement rates whereas some smaller accounts may have higher engagement rates. Check what kinds of comments they have and how often they respond to those comments. Also, check other influencer marketing campaigns they’ve done. Ensure that nothing on their Instagram account goes against your brand core values or may isolate certain customers.

Master your introduction

First impressions count.  What you don’t want is to come across as a copy-paste type of business.  If you want to partner with a particular influencer, you need to take the time to type out a personal message. It’ll make them want to respond and get involved. Keep in mind that influencers are usually busy and most of them work other jobs too- so try and keep your message short, simple, and polite.

In your initial message via Instagram DMs, you should inform the influencer about your brand, the particular marketing campaign you’re working on, and why you’re interested n working with them. You could also drop your email address so they can contact you. Once you made contact, it’s best to continue via email. It’s important to maintain professionalism throughout. Remember not to send out a mass email, you should always try and add a touch of personalization.

Agree on appropriate payment terms

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Instagram influencers have built up a name for themselves on years of consistent effort. They had to plan effectively, communicate with followers and clients, produce top-notch videos/ pictures/ statuses, edit all their content and share it with their loyal following. So when negotiating pay consider all these processes. Try to avoid offering “exposure”, especially for built-up influencers.

Remember how we discussed having no set rates for influencers. This could work in your favour if you research properly. Rates depend on things like engagement rates, types of projects, and the number of followers. You can use this to your advantage by finding an influencer that fits your budget.

Sometimes, micro-influencers or those with less than 10k followers may accept other forms of payment such as free products, simply because they need to build up their reputation and following. An influencer may sometimes agree to work on a commission or affiliate program. Skipping the flat rate means you get what you pay for. Keep in mind that some really popular influencers won’t budge on their price. Try to find influencers with a similar style and following.

Allow individuality of creative content

As a business, you probably have a set idea of what content you want users to see as part of your marketing campaign. You have your niche and you want to make sure that your brand is represented well on social media. It’s important to be prepared with your own creative ideas but it’s also important to be prepared to throw them out the window! To an Instagram influencer, individuality will strengthen your marketing strategy.

Remember that what makes an influencer marketing campaign differs from a typical business marketing campaign, is the trustworthiness of the audience. If a post is scripted on any social media accounts, it’s easy to tell. This can break the trust of followers. When working with influencers, it’s best to allow them to create their own personalized post. If you’re using more than one influencer, this is vital because it’s super obvious when many influencers post the exact pictures and stories about a product.

A good way to go about this is to have your own idea of what you want to achieve with your marketing strategy, You could send them information about your product and company and the actual product for them to try out. Allow the influencer to share their ideas for content before posting so you can evaluate. Usually, they’ll share a story about the product and what it did for them or how it helped them. The influence is in the personalization and this will catch the attention of the audience.

Evaluate and provide feedback

It’s common to skip this step or not give much attention to it. After working with influencers when the campaign is over, it’s easier to just wrap it up quickly. However, evaluating and providing feedback is an essential step.

The first thing you want to do is exchange any data you’ve collected. This is an essential aspect of influencer marketing. The data you’ve collected such as sales, website traffic, follower count, and other results will help influencers grow their follower’s list and improve their platform. They’ll be able to see the impact their social media platform had on your business.

The influencer will also share relevant data with you. This includes data that may be difficult to get your hands on such as story interactions, shares on the post, post saves, and comments. It’ll help you evaluate the campaign and decide what worked and what didn’t. You’ll have the tools to improve your brand and get better results from future marketing campaigns.

Alternate Methods to Find Instagram Influencers

Now you know the steps to take to find and partner with the right Instagram influencer for your brand. There are other ways of finding and making contact with influencers. Let’s look at some alternate, out of the box and maybe slightly crazy ways to find Instagram influencers:

Use Hashtags

Instagram is the birthplace of hashtags for describing things. Use it to your advantage. Let’s say you run a makeup business. Use the search function and type “Hashtag makeup” (#makeup), you’ll see a bunch of posts with influencers creating content about your product industry. Now, this next part might seem a bit stalker-like but it works. Check out those influencers and see which one fits into your niche or suits your brand.  You could also check out “#sponsored” or “#ad” to find Instagram influencers.

Google It

It may seem obvious but not many forget the amazing tool-Google. If you do a quick google search, you can find many articles that show the best influencers in different sectors. Let’s say you run a small home baking business, you could search something like ” Top foodies on Instagram” or “Foodie micro-influencers on Instagram”. This is a quick way to find influencers.

Utilize an Influencer Platform

If you want everything in one place, try using an Influencer platform such as Upfluence. Using influencer platforms you’ll be able to find Instagram influencers from all fields. It’s a great way to find Instagram influencers that suit your brand, fit your budget and match your target audience. Some platforms even allow you to make payments through the platform. Be mindful that most of these platforms will cost you.

Look at Your Competitors

There are many advantages to checking out your competition. You could look at how their influencer marketing is handled and take a look at the profiles of some of their influencers. You’ll be able to find similar influencers or use the same influencers if you think they would work well for your brand too. Just remember to try and make your marketing stand out from the rest.

Identify potential influencers on your social media CRM.

If you’ve put effort into your own Instagram account then you won’t have to look too far to find influencers that fit your niche. You can start by checking who are your most engaged fans. Those who comment, ask questions, and support your product fully.  A simple way to do this is to use a social media CRM.

You can categorize all your followers with high engagement rates-those who are always commenting and messaging. These users will go into a ‘Top Followers’ category so you can find them easily. To take it a step further, you could even create a separate label for “influencers” including information such as their engagement rate, followers, likes comments, and any other information about their page.

Tips for Prosperous Instagram Influencer Relationships

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Working with influencers can seem daunting but as you continue, you’ll realize the potential of influencer marketing on reaching your target audience. There are some things you need to be mindful of.

Clearly Define Goals

Always make the goals of your marketing campaign clear to help the influencer get a better picture of what you’re trying to achieve. As a team, discuss what kinds of content could get you closer to achieving your goals. Additionally, you should discuss how you’ll measure the outcome of the influencer marketing campaign. You could check if it reached your target audience, the number of new followers, or increase influencer campaign-related sales.

Create a Mutual Partnership

Like any relationship, a partnership with an Instagram influencer is two-sided. The influencer may gain more followers, have an increase in likes, comments, and the overall engagement rate of their community. With consistent communication and efficient goal-setting, you will see a boost in your social network and social media platforms. Your marketing platform will reach audiences outside of what traditional marketing can grasp.

Final Thoughts

We hope that our tips and steps have shown you how to find Instagram influencers using many techniques and outlets. When you search for influencers, make sure that you don’t overlook micro-influencers who can help you target local users and are usually better for your budget. Working with influencers on Instagram is essential for increasing your social media presence and there’s no better time to get started than now.

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