How to find the best Instagram Influencers for Your Brand

Social media influencers are a great way to grow your brand and create a community of fans.

What’s the best way to find Instagram Influencers for your Business or Clients? How can you turn those initial connections into genuine relationships?

Let’s take a look at how to effectively connect with Instagram influencers, and strategies for forging strong partnerships on social media.

Why partner with Instagram Influencers

Influencers on Instagram are people who use their popularity or expertise to create engaged audiences. They can be found in nearly every niche, including fashion, beauty, food, and fitness.

These celebrities might be people you recognize from TV or music, or they could be public figures who wouldn’t be possible without social media.

Influencers, regardless of how many Instagram followers they have can use their credibility to get their followers to take action every time they post content.

You can add an additional weapon to your social media marketing arsenal by working with Instagram influencers.

Here are some ways they can help your brand.

Promotions that are cost-effective

Are your organic results declining or should you reduce your advertising budget to compensate? In order to meet your marketing goals, you can promote content through influencer partnerships.

Uthentic content

Is your branded content too salesy? Influencers create content that conveys the messages of their sponsors in a more subtle way than branded posts or advertisements.

Instagram influencers are more like friends than self-serving brands, and this is why they are so popular.

This means that their word-of mouth marketing strategy is more trustworthy and less sales-oriented.

Trust-building opportunities

Influencers are trustworthy because they appear authentic, even when they use Instagram’s paid partnership feature.

Influencers are a great way to increase trust and drive results for clients or companies on social media. However, it is important that you carefully choose your partners.

12 Tips to Find Instagram Influencers

Influencers can make a huge difference in your social media strategy. It’s not always easy, however, to work with influencers.

It can be difficult to find the right ones. Celebrity influencers are known for their ability to stand out and make themselves famous. It’s not easy to find the right influencers for your niche. How do you know if an influencer is good at what they do? It can be difficult to determine if you should look for influencers who have large audiences or pay more attention to metrics such as conversions and engagement. It is worth spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on influencer marketing. It’s difficult to determine the value of a partnership if you don’t know what you will get.

These tips will help you to identify the best Instagram influencers and solve your problems.

1. Outline goals clearly

Influencer marketing campaigns should be approached as you would any other social media campaign. To get the best results and create the most value, you must have a clear goal.

Discuss your goals with your team and clients about influencer marketing. Some common goals include:

Growing your audience. Increase your following by partnering with a brand ambassador who can promote your business at every opportunity.Improving brand awareness. Partnering with an influencer to promote your brand is a great way to get more traffic to your website. Sponsoring a blog post about you brand or your product will increase traffic to your site. Increasing your revenue by having influencers promote your subscription link. Ask an influencer for a promo code, or a seasonal offer to increase sales.

Your team will be better able to decide what campaign type you want to run once you have established your goals. Start your search by looking for influencers with experience in your campaign type.

2. Be aware of your budget

Costs for Influencer Marketing vary greatly. Campaigns can range from less than $100 to more than $10,000.

Pricing often depends on:

The influencer’s following. The most expensive influencers are usually nano-influencers, but celebrity celebrities can charge more. The campaign’s scope. One-off campaigns tend to be more affordable than long-term partnerships. A few Instagram posts can often be cheaper than a full package of blog posts and cross posting across social media. It is usually cheaper to work one-on-one than working with an agency team.

Before you start approaching influencers and pitching partnerships, you need to decide how much you are willing to spend. According to BigCommerce, the most popular influencer marketing budget ranges from $1,001 to $10,000 annually. The second-most common annual budget is $100,001 to $500,000. The second most common annual budget is $100,001 to 500,000.

You might be unsure what is reasonable for your brand. Take a look at your goals. How important are new followers, brand awareness and more traffic? To determine how much influencer marketing should cost, you must first consider what your goal is worth.

Are you still unsure about how much influencer marketing money to spend? Start small to get a feel for the market. Once you are familiar with the results of your campaigns, you can increase your budget to support larger campaigns.

3. Consider your audience

Consider your audience when you are looking for brand partners. What influencers are your top customers following? These influencers could be a great fit to your brand.

This strategy can be used to build a list potential partners. Start by identifying your ideal customer.

These characteristics can be used to create a buyer persona for your brand if it doesn’t have one.

Basic demographics include age, gender, relationship status, and location, regardless of whether you are serving a specific area or a whole country. Professional field, title and trainingPersonal interest and behaviorsPain points and challenges, and goals

Next, take your buyer persona to social media and identify a few people who match this profile. Take a look at the people they follow and note the influencers that they enjoy.

These questions will help you decide if you are a good match.

Is their following large enough to reach your goals? Are they large enough to help you reach your goals? Are they similar to your brand? Does their content align with brand values?

You don’t have time to research all the influencers that your audience follows. Ask your followers. Make a post on social media asking for recommendations about your favorite influencers.

4. Find relevant media outlets

People who are great at marketing brands also excel at promoting their own brand. In media outlets that are relevant to your industry, you’re likely to see rising stars as well as established figures.

You can browse the site or join to find them.

NewslettersBlogsFacebook groupsLinkedIn groupsPodcastsClubhouse roomsConferencesNetworking events

Keep an eye on these influencers and add them to your list. To determine if they are a good match, you can use the questions listed above.

Do you want to simplify your research? You can simplify your research by simply searching “top influencers in [your niche]” and reviewing the top results. If you are part of a large industry, the top results may include lists of the most influential people. These lists can be used to create a list to contact potential partners.

5. Social media CRM allows you to track followers engaged.

You don’t need to search far in order to find the most influential people for your brand. You may already have a network of influencers who are knowledgeable if you’ve been using Instagram for a while.

Start by tracking your interactions with the most engaged followers to find influencers.

Agorapulse makes it easy to track engagement and followers with a social media platform. Agorapulse adds all users who message your brand or comment on your posts to a customer relationship management tool (CRM).

Go to the Fans & Followers tab to find them. The people who have engaged with your brand the most recently are listed at the top of this list. You can view the number of times each user has commented on your content, or messaged you brand. Click on any user to view their engagement history.

Click on the Top tab to see the top people who are most engaged with your brand. Agorapulse automatically ranks users based on engagement. This results in a list with the top followers for your brand.

Want to gain a better understanding of the content and audience of a user? Click on the username to view their Instagram profile. If you find followers with influencer potential, add them to your Favorites List in Agorapulse.

Agorapulse gives social media users an Ambassador or Engaged label when they engage with your brand. You can add custom tags to identify people as superfans or potential influencers, current and future partners, or any other category.

Are you interested in adding more details about the top brand fans? To keep your team on the same page, add internal notes to your social CRM.

6. A brand monitoring tool is a good idea

Are you creating buzz about your brand? If your brand is generating a lot of buzz, customers and fans will likely be talking about it on social media. This means that you may find influencers in your mentions.

You can track and find them in Agorapulse by clicking the Listening tab. You can view only mentions and Story mentions by using the dropdown menu. Every mention of your brand appears automatically in your Fans & Following tab. You can also add labels or notes to help you keep track.

Are Instagram users talking about your brand often without mentioning your @? Agorapulse has brand monitoring tools that will allow you to track the hashtags of your campaign or branded posts.

These hashtags can be added to your social listening search. Then, check the Listening tab for any indirect mentions. To review creators and content, you can filter the results using any hashtag that you are following.

7. Use hashtags to discover popular content creators

Hashtags make it easy to find high-performing content on Instagram and popular accounts. You can also find influencers through them.

How do you follow Instagram hashtags best? Find the best hashtags for your industry first:

Enter hashtag ideas directly in the Instagram search bar. Then scroll through the list to see the most popular ones, either with your followers or across Instagram.Alternatively, you can use a paid app like Hashtagify. This hashtag search tool will show you how popular a hashtag is. It also shows you if it’s losing popularity.

You can make your Instagram feed more interesting by following hashtags.

This is not the best option. This will result in you missing a lot content that uses relevant hashtags. Influencers with the greatest potential may not be noticed.

Instead, you can use Agorapulse to perform social listening. Add relevant hashtags to your social listening tab.

Monitor your social listening feed for engaging content and creators. Click to view any Instagram content. You can comment, like, or follow the creator.

To make it easier to find the content, you can bookmark or label it. You can review all the items that you have saved by filtering your social listening feed with labels or bookmarks.

8. Use the right search tools to identify key figures

Do you have questions about which hashtags to use or how to narrow your choices? You can use an influencer search tool for the best content creators within your niche.

These are some of the most sought-after options:

BuzzSumo: Search for Instagram influencers by their bios, content, and domains. Track keywords to find relevant web-based content. You can also monitor trends to keep up to date with what’s happening in your industry. GRIN: Streamline your influencer searches and partner programs for your ecommerce brand. To promote your brand authentically, find influencers who are similar to your existing superfans and ambassadors. TapInfluence: Find the best partners for your brand by industry, location, audience demographics, and more. Upfluence: Analyze the audiences of influencers that match your brand’s criteria and estimate their reach. To improve your campaign’s results, ensure that influencers are the right fit for your brand.

These tools can be used to manage your influencer marketing campaigns. This allows you to pitch influencers and make payments. You can also measure the results using a dedicated platform.

9. Learn about micro- and nano-influencers

It is easy to conclude that accounts with large followings are more suitable for influencer partnerships.

If your brand is well-known, a celebrity or mega-influencer could be the best option.

A well-established presence in the global market or a household nameBroad target markets that would appeal to celebrities’ large followingsSignificant goal such as growing your audience by millions

These factors may not apply to your brand. Smaller accounts will likely be better matches. If they are engaging and have a niche, don’t dismiss micro-influencers or Instagram accounts under 10,000 followers.

Because they have smaller followings, Instagram micro-influencers are often able to make more personal connections with their followers. Their followers often perceive them as more genuine and authentic, as a result.

This means that micro-influencers are more likely to listen to their advice. Campaigns featuring micro-influencers are more likely to produce better results. These campaigns are often cheaper than those featuring celebrities.

Consider working with a partner that has a larger following to help you find a more engaged partner. These Instagram stars have a following of less than 1,000, which makes them ideal for smaller brands.

10. Take a look at the competition

Are they attracting a lot of new Instagram followers each day? Are they getting the engagement you want for your brand’s account?

It is a great idea to keep an eye on what brands are doing on Instagram. You can find inspiration for your own brand by keeping an eye on other brands in your space.

Pay close attention to accounts that comment on posts from your competitors. Check out the Instagram accounts that tag your competitors in user generated content (UGC).

People who are familiar with your competitors’ products and services might also like yours. You can start to build a relationship with your competitors by following them and engaging with them.

Be careful not to try to take away influencers already working with your competitor. Their followers might not be as open to brands in the same space and their content could seem fake. This could mean that your campaign does not produce the results you desire, which can lead to a low return-on-investment (ROI).

11. Examine influencer metrics

After you have found influencers that you like, it is important to take the time to look at their metrics. You can determine if an influencer is a good fit for you and if their metrics will help you achieve the results you desire.

The following are some of the most important metrics for influencers to monitor:

Size of the audience. How many Instagram followers does this person have? Are they able to reach the target audience? Engagement rate. Is their Instagram engagement rate on average, or significantly higher or lower than the norm? Is their location a good match for your service area? Are they experts in the niche you offer? Do they share your brand values? What about their followers? Do they share your brand’s values and are they interested in what you have to offer them? Audience demographics. The ratio of sponsored posts. What is their ratio of sponsored posts to organic content? Are they familiar with sponsored content? Is it getting old?

12. Establish a mutually beneficial relationship

It’s possible to have one-sided relationships with influencer marketers. They work best when they are mutual. This is especially true when you’re working with micro-influencers or nano-influencers. These creators are known for their highly engaged followers. They keep the conversation going and communicate with their followers constantly. They expect the same from brands that they partner with.

Forging a partnership that benefits both your brand and your partner is as easy as communicating with them regularly and engaging in conversation about their content.

Follow your influencers on Instagram. Even if the content isn’t directly relevant to your brand, engage with them. You can show support by liking, commenting, or mentioning them in your Stories. To get ideas for your next campaign and to share your ideas, find out what influencers are working on.

Your partnership will last longer if you are both invested. This will lead to better results for all parties.

You’ll be able to build a strong partnership with the right Instagram influencers and enhance your social media campaigns.

Conclusion

You can take your social media marketing strategy up a notch by using the right tools to locate influencers, such as platforms like Agorapulse and hashtag search tools.

Get in control of your social media now! Get a free trial of Agorapulse, which will help you plan, track, measure, and measure your social media efforts.