A considerable populace spends a significant part of their day online. Apart from networking, most of them use social media to establish a bond with brands. So much so that we form our opinions about a brand based on their online behavior. Influencer marketing is when a celebrity guides the customers to choose a brand. By associating with an influencer, the brands get a subtle thrust in the consumer mind space. Impressed by these changes, people are now taking the first steps towards learning how to become an Instagram Influencer.
Success, though, comes only to those who strive to do things differently. Read on to know more about becoming an Instagram influencer and the steps to pursue.
Table of Contents
How to become an Instagram influencer?
Choose your niche
Before anything, you will have to first choose a niche that you can advocate. This has to be a topic about which you have knowledge and interest. Instead of copying what others are already doing, pick up a niche or stream that you understand really well.
If you want to become an Instagram influencer, you will have to show that you have the expertise to do so. It also implies that you will have to research and write about this topic. If you are not comfortable with that, you will fail in your efforts.
You could also pick up a combination of topics. This is if you do not want to restrict yourself. For example, if you love DIY crafts, fashion, and beauty, you could write about all these topics. Make sure you add enough insightful content for people to relate to it.
Create an inspiring Bio
If you are still thinking about how can I become an influencer on Instagram, focus on the next step. This will be creating an impressive profile. The first thing any visitor to your account will see is your Bio. Naturally, then whatever you write should be exciting and inspiring at the same time.
There is a restriction on the content you are writing over there. Do not expect people to keep reading if you write stories on your profile page. Instead, use by-lines that mention your expertise. In order to engage the readers, you can share an incident or anecdote which grabs their attention.
Remember, the first rule of getting your followers to join you is to inspire them. If your content is boring and far away from their interests, they will move away from your profile. Also, do not forget to mention your expertise, like “travel blogger,” so you show it in the search results as well.
Use a personal profile photo
The people who land up on your profile want to see you. Use your personal photo in the bio. Avoid the logo of the brand, or any random image picked up from the internet. Instagram as a platform is considered to be slightly personal in nature.
People come to Instagram not to buy anything but get their easy dose of entertainment. They want to know the person who is behind the brand. By showing your authentic self, you are establishing a bond with them. Personalizing your profile picture and bio is, therefore, an integral part of becoming an influencer.
Share stories
Those who want to understand how to become an Instagram influencer assume that adding images is the only job they have to do. However, there is more to it than just the images. These images need to have exciting punchlines that get people to notice them.
Use these images to convey a story so that your readers can relate to it. Ultimately, you have to give your followers a reason to engage and associate with you. However, when you are adding the content, ensure that there is no compromise on genuineness.
You have to touch the emotional cord of your followers. But never do that by adopting fake techniques. For example, if you have any kind of medical problem, do not try to gain sympathy out of it. Instead, show your followers ways in which you are trying to overcome the disability and succeed in life.
It is these efforts that get the highest engagement from customers. Any brand would associate with any influencer only if their posts receive high engagement.
Your Instafeed should look appealing
When you start picking up tactics on how to become an Instagram influencer, this is the first thing you have to pay attention to. Obviously, each of your photos has to be appealing and aesthetic to look at. But your overall feed should look attractive too.
Most Instagram influencers use photo editing tools. This gives their pictures a top-notch look. Basically, you have to ensure that the overall feel of the feed is in uniformity. Also, it should convey a similar essence.
You may even add filters as that adds extra intrigue to the images. Plus, you have to click your pics in high resolution and use plenty of light. Here you have to rack your creative instincts a bit. Place only pictures which match the theme of your feed.
Your followers want to see you regularly
Remember that your followers want to see your picture. If you focus on posting images that are devoid of you, they will not feel engaged with you. People generally follow influencers for their advice, opinions, skills, travel hacks, etc., but eventually, they are interested in you.
Influencers should realize that posts having their photos will have better visibility than others. Try and include yourself in whatever you post and see the difference it stands to make.
Identify your audience
All your efforts to get followers are wasted if you target the wrong audience. Therefore, you must figure out which type of customers would be interested in you. For example, a parenting expert could identify her target as women who have small kids. Or it could be women who are dealing with kids regularly, like in a playschool or creche.
The age group of the target audience, in this case, should be from 25-35 years. However, you don’t need to stick to one topic. You could broaden your horizons and include various headers. Again a parenting expert could talk about beauty after pregnancy, stress, multi-tasking, and encouraging kids.
This is a diverse base of topics and would primarily entice the readers to stay on the page. Wherever you see a potential topic, create content and add photos to make it grasping.
Post content regularly
This is a mistake that many Instagram influencers tend to make when learning how to become an Instagram influencer. Once they create an account, they become irregular with the postings. However, successful influencers make sure they are either posting daily or once in two days.
By increasing your content posting frequency, you can boost your engagement rates. In case you want to follow a particular schedule for posting, you must stick to it diligently. There are tools online that help guide you in setting your content schedule.
All you have to do is to create your content. Post that, set the dates when you want them to be published. Apart from that, you also have to check that your content is high on quality and there is no fluff. By adding stuff like videos and infographics, you instantly grab your customers’ attention and make sure that they notice you. Avoid any grammatical mistakes in your content, as that certainly puts off your followers.
Plan your content calendar in advance
Always plan the content and its sharing schedule, so you do not miss the deadlines. You might have to work a little harder initially. However, once you get the required lead-in content posting, there is no looking back.
Once you have posted certain content, make sure you have enough backups. You can use scheduling software and enter your titles and posting date accordingly. The followers you target wait anxiously for your posts. A delay or haphazard content posting is enough to divert their attention towards someone else.
Use appropriate hashtags
The most effective tip you can get when learning how to become an Instagram Influencer is to understand the use of hashtags. Instagram permits the use of up to 30 hashtags in your posts. Now you would wonder why hashtags are so crucial.
Hashtags help the other readers to locate your post from the others. Keep in mind that high search volume hashtags may not be the correct choice for you. That is because your other competitors would be using them too, and your content may not stand out amongst them.
Instead, you must use hashtags with medium search volumes. This will increase your chances of appearing in the top searches.
You could use all the 30 hashtags requirements if necessary. Research and find hashtags that are unique and entirely untapped so far. For example, if you are into travel blogging, you could add the hashtag “adventure” or “surf” to get your post on top.
Do not ignore the captions
At any point, your captions attract the readers. If you do not use captivating captions, there is not much you can gain. Captions help start conversations, form meaningful relationships, and provide value to the readers.
Using a microblogging caption is an interesting way to take this further. As an example, if you are a fashion blogger, your caption could include tips to restyle a piece. Your first life itself should be catchy enough to grab the attention.
Break your captions into small paragraphs, so it is easy for your readers to go through them. You may use emojis to add fun, but this should not damage the credibility of your brand.
Get yourself a business account
If you are rather serious about becoming an Instagram influencer, you should get yourself a business account instead of the regular one. The most crucial benefit you get out of a business account is the analytics of all your posts that you receive.
Not only do you get to see the follower statistics, you can even see which post is getting better engagement than the rest. Plus, you can identify which time gets you the maximum traction. It is best to post your future content as per these insights.
The demographics of your followers are helpful when you pitch to brands for collaborating. Apart from that, through a business account, you get the option to run ads. If you feel any of your posts deserve more engagement, you can run ads and increase their visibility.
However, here again, you must first understand the basics of all features offered by a business account. This is crucial for you to grab the maximum advantage of the account and utilize its features suitably.
Use Instagram stories
At present, Instagram stories are too much in demand. A lot of influencers are using this feature to expose their account and get high visibility in return. The most surprising part here is that even those who are not your followers can discover you through the “stories” feature.
You can add hashtags and location details to Instagram stories so people can look out for you. Also, if your account already has 10,000 + followers, you may even add an outbound link using the “swipe up” feature offered in stories.
If you further want to enhance visibility, you can offer a shoutout to other accounts. By doing that, you can build relationships with other accounts. These account holders would most likely want to return the favor. So if you are pretty serious about learning how to become an Instagram influencer, you must grasp how to explore the stories feature.
Meaningful engagement
Social media is raging because it guides brands into engaging with their customers. This means that engaging with your customers is sure to get you the attention you deserve. If you receive a reply on your photos, ensure that you respond. If it is another influencer, you could like and comment on their posts.
Use the following tactics to gain engagement:
- Always include an attractive CTA or call to action in the caption
- Use insights to find time when you get maximum engagement and post accordingly
- Organize contests and giveaways
- Use polls feature present in the Instagram stories section
- Follow other similar accounts and try and engage with them
- Use popular hashtags to get attention, or you could even create some hashtags of your own
- Go to the “Explore” option and find out the content that you could engage with
Returning your engagement
You have noticed followers trying to reach out to you, which is a good sign. However, if you do not respond, chances are you might fail in your effort. After sharing a post-stay around and answer any comments that they post.
Your followers love a responsive influencer, and the sooner you realize that, the better it is. You can also reply back to other people’s posts or comment on a follower’s updates. This portrays you as a down-to-earth person, and you get the love back in the form of likes.
Authenticity in any relationship is essential here. Instagram algorithm notices if your posts are real or fake and offer you a preference on the basis of that.
Look for sources of inspiration
Your followers get used to a certain standard of content coming from you. To maintain the quality, you must look for inspiration for content ideas. Places, where you could get inspired are Pinterest, Instagram, magazines, your niche blogs, publications, etc.
Use these ideas and create something new for your followers to feed on. Also, if you notice any fellow influencers posting something unique do not hesitate to like and share. Instagram works on the concept of mutual admiration. What you show to others will be reciprocated. Plus, the followers of the other influencer will notice and join you if they appreciate your handle.
Learn how to master video use
With the entry of Instagram reels, the use of short videos to attract attention is increasing. However, once you master the art of doing so, you will get engagement like no other. In the beginning, the process could be nerve-wracking.
Start with practicing the art of making these videos. Keep them short but exciting to elicit a maximum response. Dedicate a certain amount of time every day to find what other influencers are working on.
Remember that the videos you post should be purposeful. Posting just anything with no relation to your brand identity is not a helpful idea. Instagram is prioritizing reels, so updating them regularly really helps. Prepare them in advance, so you are never short of the content.
Prepare your videos so that they grab the attention from the first shot itself. You could use a visual hook like a scenic location to start with. Then add a text that fulfills the needs of your follower base. Lastly, you can add any movement, like waving to the camera and get the video reel moving.
Reach out to the brands
Getting followers is just the first step in your quest to learn how can I become an Instagram influencer. The second step is reaching out to the brands and try to make money out of your influencer status.
Once the followers count increases to 1000, you could start the brand outreach program. The simplest way you can do this is to tag related brands to your content. Often Brands too add your photos on their profile, thus providing you better visibility.
If required, you could personally direct message the brands for an association. Create a pitch that tells them what you plan to do and why you are reaching out. You have to think a little out of the box while creating this pitch. The brands already have many influencers pursuing them, and you would have to be unique to get noticed.
Choose brands that fit your profile
As you wonder how do you become an Instagram influencer, you may want to pick up brand associations quickly. However, if that brand does not match your profile identity, the relationship is pointless. You may have to refuse a few associations initially just for this reason.
When accepting a brand, just imagine if you as a person would use their product. If the answer you get is a no, steer away. Apart from that, you must consider whether your target audience will relate to the brand.
Do not be afraid to refuse brands just because they are not good fits. This situation is better than having a collaboration which is not fruitful at all. Also, do not keep waiting for the brands to reach out to you. If you see a particular brand that suits your profile, make attempts to reach out.
Use a professional brand pitch to target them and wait for a response. Hopefully, if your Insta page is their brand taste, they will gladly accept a relationship with you.
Restrict the number of sponsorships
It is easy to get carried away and book all the sponsorships that come your way. But you must think from your follower’s perspective. Do you think they will like seeing so many brands in your feed? Or they might get distracted and move on to any other Influencer handle.
Apart from that, even brands refuse to accept collaborations if they see your feed is full already. Any brand would want unlimited exposure. Having to share space with any other brand is not a positive idea for their marketing strategy.
Prepare a media kit
You have by now learned how to become an Instagram Influencer. But, one thing that is essential here is having a media kit ready for brands to check out. In simple words, this will be a portfolio that showcases your work and achievements. Include the following items in your Media kit:
- A bio that specifies interests, personality, name, location, etc.
- A high-quality picture
- Details of followers and engagement statistics
- Your contact information
- Previous associations and testimonials, if possible
- Audience demographics and any other details
Never buy followers
You might get lured into buying Instagram followers to boost your account. If you are learning how to become an Instagram influencer, you must understand the importance of organic followers. This may take time but is much better an option than having paid followers.
These paid ones will not have high engagement. So even if your count is increasing, there is no change in the post engagement. Brands can identify which accounts have fake followers. If that happens, your credibility gets affected as no brand would want to associate further. This may reduce your chances of having any fruitful collaborations in the future.
Learn to ignore the haters
Despite everything, you might find trolls or haters targeting you occasionally. If the criticism is constructive and from genuine people, listen carefully. They might have something sensible to share with you.
However, if the comments are mean and just to elicit your response, learn to ignore them. Anyone who has the time to damage any other person’s reputation is probably not a worthy person to interact with.
Moreover, such people are few and far between. Once you establish yourself, you will get the idea to tackle them yourself. Answer them sensibly and be stern when you think things are going out of hand.
Conclusion
Instagram is growing at a rapid pace. Most influencers realize that winning followers depends on engagement levels. You may have loads of followers, but if they rarely see your content, then your purpose remains unfulfilled. Hopefully, the above tips would guide you on how to become an influencer on Instagram.
Even after achieving a decent following, you must remain driven. This is because gaining brand associations is an ongoing process. Only an active Instagram profile will get you the brands clamoring for your attention.