Have you heard about the amazing ROI driven by influencer marketing? Are you considering dipping your toes into the world of Instagram marketing? We don’t blame you!
In a recent article¹, influencer marketing was ranked the #1 channel for ROI. With over 50% of users² reporting they were more interested in a brand after seeing an ad on Instagram, it’s totally understandable that you’d want to dive into Instagram marketing.
But even though Instagram has great potential as a marketing platform, getting your collaborations right can be like navigating a minefield.
This article can help with that.
We’ll be taking an in-depth look at 6 things every marketer should know before embarking on their first Instagram collaboration. These questions will guide you in the right direction, so that you can get the most out of your collaborations!
Table of Contents
1. Are the influencers aligned with the goal of your Instagram collaboration?
Before you get started with any Instagram collaboration, it’s essential that you have a clear idea of what your goals are.
Goals for influencer marketing campaigns will vary from brand to brand. Whatever goal you choose will have a huge impact on the types of influencers you work with. Instagram collaborations can help you to achieve many different goals, such as:
- Brand awareness
- Consideration
- Conversions
- Content creation
Once you’ve decided what your goal for the campaign is, it’s important to ensure that the influencers you work with are able to help you achieve it.
For example, let’s say your goal is to create content that can be shared on Instagram and used in ads. You should consider working with micro- or even nano- influencers instead of macro-influencers.
Although nano- and micro-influencers have a smaller following, most of them are able to produce high-quality content for a much cheaper price. Remember, your goal is content creation, so you don’t need influencers with a wide reach. You need quality content at a cost-effective price.
Working with a nano- and micro-influencers would also mean you could afford to collaborate over a longer period of time to get a constant flow of content to engage your audience.
Alternatively, if your goals for the campaign were awareness and conversions, macro-influencers with a higher following and influence might be a more suitable choice.
2. Are the influencers relevant to your brand?
When it comes to Instagram collaborations, you don’t just want to work with any influencer. Relevance is key.
Instagram is home to a wide array of influencers that cater to every niche. To succeed in your Instagram collaboration, you want to find influencers that are highly relevant and authoritative in your niche.
Why? Well, there are two core reasons.
Firstly, you want your Instagram collaborations to be authentic and genuine. One of the main benefits of influencer marketing is that ads can look seamless when done right.
For example, if your brand sells outdoor equipment, and you work with hiking influencers, then your products will blend in with the influencers’ content. Their followers will understand why they’re posting about your brand, so the collaborations will look sincere and believable.
But if you worked with irrelevant influencers, such as fashion influencers, then their followers might think that they’re trying too hard to push products that they have no interest in. This will be viewed as disingenuous by their followers.
Secondly, you can appeal to your target audience. Influencers who are relevant to your niche likely have a following that’s actually interested in what you have to offer.
Influencers are seen as experts in their niche. So when they promote relevant products to their audience, their recommendations are trusted.
3. Are the influencers authentic and credible?
Building on the last point, you want to vet your influencers for authenticity and credibility before you work with them.
That means you’re not only checking that the influencers are relevant to your brand. You’re also checking whether they’ve posted authentically about other brands too.
To do this, it’s important to look at their Instagram profiles to see what type of content they’ve created so far, and what other collaborations they’ve taken part in. If you see they’ve worked with relevant brands, that’s a really good sign.
But if you see tons of sponsored posts that look out of place, that’s a red flag. It shows that the influencers are saying “yes” to collaborations with brands they shouldn’t be working with. It also shows they’re not really concerned with what their followers might actually be interested in.
While it’s understandable that influencers would want to make as much money as possible, working with any brand has a negative effect on audience engagement and credibility.
If their audience is used to seeing ads that are completely irrelevant to them, they likely have little trust in the influencers. So when your sponsored content appears on their feed, they’ll simply scroll past it.
4. Do the influencers have the right target audience for your Instagram collaboration?
Another important factor to consider when planning Instagram collaborations is your target audience. If you want your collaborations to be successful, it’s important to ensure that the influencers you work with have a following that matches your target audience.
For example, if you have a product that’s only available in the UK, there’s no point working with influencers whose core audience is located in Italy – no matter how relevant their content is.
So when you’re reaching out to influencers, ask for their influencer media kits. They typically include information about their audience demographics and content performance. You can use them to double check that the influencers’ following aligns with your target audience.
You can also join influencer marketing platforms like inzpire.me, which has all the insights and first-party data you need to choose the right influencers to work with.
5. Do the influencers create high-quality content?
One of the benefits of working with influencers is their content. Influencers are great storytellers and content creators. That’s how they’ve built up their following in the first place!
So when you collaborate with influencers, this is something you should take advantage of.
As you look for influencers, you want to find ones that can capture your products or services in a creative and eye-catching way. That means looking for influencers who publish content that’s clear, optimized for Instagram, and high-quality.
Doing this will not only help increase the success of your campaign. It’ll also ensure your collaborations don’t reflect badly on your brand image.
When working with influencers, they become an extended arm of your brand, so it’s important that the quality of their content aligns with that of your brand. You should be happy to be associated with the type of content the influencers create.
Additionally, high-quality content is much easier to repurpose. If this is one of your goals for the campaign, it’s an extremely important consideration to make.
6. Do the influencers engage with their followers?
Your Instagram collaboration is much more likely to succeed if the influencers you work with have good relationships with their followers. One of the ways to check this is by taking a look at how they engage with their following. Do they:
- Respond to comments?
- Publish stories with Q&As and polls?
- Ask their followers for advice and suggestions?
If the influencers do all of the above, it indicates they’ve built strong relationships with their followers. This means they’re likely to interact with the content the influencers share.
There’s also one additional benefit. Because the influencers actively engage with their followers, they’re more likely to answer comments and questions about your products or services. Doing this provides added value to your collaborations.
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Succeeding with your Instagram collaboration is all about having a clear goal and finding the right influencers. Get this right, and you’ll see results in no time!
1: Backlinko
2: Hootsuite
