What You Should Look for in an Instagram Influencer

by | Jun 24, 2019 | Business Feature

Influencer marketing is a technique that has taken off, and for good reason—70 percent of Millennials trust the opinions of peers over that of celebrities, among many other reasons. Although influencer marketing is done on many different channels, Instagram ranks most impactful, making it one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use. There are plenty of other ways you can build your brand without social media; however, if you want to see a positive impact, then you need to be using Instagram and taking advantage of influencer marketing.

As powerful as influencer marketing can be, you need to make sure that you partner with the right influencer(s) in order to make the most of your time, money, and efforts. Finding influencers to work with will not likely be your biggest problem, though—you’ll likely have plenty of influencers who would be happy to work with you. The key will be to find the right influencers. So, if you plan to get in on the power of influencer marketing through Instagram, then below are some of the key things you should look for when choosing an influencer to partner with.

Someone with a Following Made Up of Your Target Audience

There are influencers out there for virtually every niche, and there are generally more than just one or two. This means that you’ll have plenty of options, but it also means that you’ll need to take a deeper look at each influencer before making the decision on who to partner with. Although an influencer may be in your niche, the majority of their followers may not be part of your target audience, so partnering with that influencer wouldn’t be as useful to you as it otherwise could be. Therefore, it’s important to take a good look at potential influencers’ followings before making a final partnership decision.

Someone Who Has the Right Number of Followers

When it comes to influencers’ followers, it may seem like the more they have, the better; however, even in the case of social media followers, bigger isn’t always better, and quality trumps quantity. You’ve heard of micro and macro influencers? Well, nano influencers are on the rise now too. This means that anyone with as little as 1,000 followers to as many as 100 million or more.

So, when considering an influencer, you don’t want to write them off just because they don’t have millions of followers, but you will want to make sure that they have the right number of followers for you and your business to help you accomplish your goals with influencer marketing.

Someone Who is Authentic

Authenticity is so important on social media. It’s easy to get caught up in the ease of putting your best foot forward and spinning everything to sound exactly how you want, but people are generally able to tell when something isn’t real, is a persona, or is being forced which means it’s important for you to partner with an influencer who is totally authentic. Authentic influencers are more trustworthy and likable, and when you partner with someone who is authentic and sincere, you’ll likely see a better reception of your sponsored ads and product endorsements.

Someone Who Has Authentic Engagement

Not only is it important to partner with an influencer who is authentic themselves, but someone who has authentic engagement as well. There are too many services that will allow you to purchase followers—but those followers aren’t always real which means that the influencer may not be getting as much engagement as they should be, and if they do, it’s not real and will not help you achieve your influencer marketing goals. That means it’s important to partner with an influencer who has real likes, gets real comments, and is engaging with their following the way an influencer should be.

Someone Who Fits with Your Brand

You’ve worked hard to build your brand and to send out the messaging you feel fits well with it, so it’s important that you continue maintaining your brand by partnering with an influencer who also fits within your overall persona. If you maintain a very clean cut, professional image, then partnering with a foul-mouthed jokester is not going to be a good idea, just as the opposite is true. It’s important to consider what message influencers send and whether or not that fits within your brand when deciding who to partner with.

Someone Who Knows Their Hashtags

Whether they have spent years studying hashtags or use tools like hashtagsforlikes that do the heavy lifting for them, it’s important to find an influencer who knows how to use them to get better engagement and results. Hashtags may not seem like that big of a deal, but a good influencer knows how important it is to use the right number and the right hashtags in order to get a post the results a company is looking for.

Someone Who is Consistent

When it comes to social media, whether you’re an influencer or running a business, consistency is key. Posting consistently, posting content with consistent messaging and quality, etc. is extremely important. When an influencer is consistent, they have reliability and build up trust with their following, which can lead to better engagement. It also builds up trust and reliability with the businesses they work with, so when it comes time to choose an influencer, finding one who is consistent will be key.

In Conclusion

Influencer marketing can be quite powerful, but not all influencers are created equal, and not all will be a good fit for your business. When choosing an influencer to partner with, you’ll want to consider things like the number of followers they have, how consistent they are, the type of message and vibe they put out, etc.; however, when you find the right influencer you’ll be able to start seeing just how powerful influencer marketing on Instagram can be.

What is the main thing you’re looking for in an Instagram influencer?

Share This