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Instagram Influencer marketing has taken off within the past couple of years. No longer is widespread marketing going to raise your company’s sales, social media, and especially influencer, marketing is a great way to target your specific audience for less and still send out the same message. These are some of the best Instagram influencer marketing strategies, and some real-world examples, to get you started.
1. Use Influencers who are part of the Target Audience
Every good marketing strategy should have a target audience to be based around, and most will also have Instagram Influencers or other celebrities who are also members of that target. One of the best Instagram influencer marketing strategies targets those influencers who will use the product and may even help assist in the creation of it as well. Providing an influencer with the opportunity to help create the product or giving them free products/opportunities can help create more of a connection between the brand and the influencer. This strategy ties the influencer into the company and can help to make their posts feel more real to consumers, rather than just a post the influencer makes to get money.
In 2018, Becca Cosmetics used this strategy by pairing up with Chrissy Teigen (@chrissyteigen) to create the Becca x Chrissy beauty line which included:
- A Glow Face Palette
- A Cravings Collection
- A Glow Body Oil
- And an Endless Summer Bronze and Glow
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Chrissy Teigen, a professional model and TV star, announced their new makeup line and palette on Instagram in 2018 through a video. Teigen worked with the brand throughout the process to pick colors and formulas that she thought would best fit her fans and BECCA’s target audiences. By being a part of the creation, she could feel proud of the product and truly want to promote the product on her page. She was also part of Becca’s target audience, so by collaborating the company knew she would also use the products on her own.
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2. Promote through Micro-Influencers
Another one of the best Instagram influencer marketing strategies is working with micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are those who aren’t as famous on a larger scale, but who have a smaller, dedicated audience with high engagement and more trust. Working with multiple micro-influencers allows a brand to further pick and choose who sees their marketing, and make sure that it reaches the best audience to sell the product. Fine-tuning the audience has now become one of the best Instagram influencer marketing strategies that are used today.
Want to optimize your campaign reach? Read our full blog on the power of micro-influencers here.
Google used this strategy to help promote their Google Pixelbook in 2017 using micro-influencers The Sorry Girls (@thesorrygirls) on Instagram. They created a giveaway on their page where users could complete certain tasks to be entered to win a Pixelbook. The Sorry Girls are a group of two girls who specialize in DIY projects and giving their fans ways to create things for themselves and be independent.
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Their giveaway post specifically talked about how the Pixelbook is light and versatile, which makes it the perfect fit for their DIY fans, and their marketing worked as the post had a high engagement rate of 59.4%. At the time their account had less than 100,000 followers so they had a much more focused audience, but their following has since grown to over 250k in a little over 3 years. This strategy proves that working with micro-influencers is great for companies of all sizes, not just ones with smaller budgets.
3. Create Unique Promo Codes or Hashtags for Influencers
Promo codes are a great thing for everyone, not just buyers. When combined with the best Instagram influencer marketing, promo codes create a way to track the ROI of each influencer. By assigning a different code per influencer, you can tell how many purchases are linked back to specific posts, which allows you to choose which influencer is the most cost-efficient for future marketing. Having multiple influencers post about your product also creates a high-frequency environment where people will see your brand more often on Instagram and remember it.
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HelloFresh, a pre-prepared meal kid company, partnered with actress and busy mom Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) earlier this year to promote their weekly meal kits. In the past, HelloFresh has partnered with many other Instagram influencers, including Jessica Alba, to help promote their product, each with a personalized promo code to get 12 free meals. With Kaling, the company created an IGTV video series where she puts together a meal using their ingredients and instructions. The company also created several hashtags, including #MealsWithMindy, to help promote the series and encourage people to create their own meals along with her. Because she had her own promo code, MINDY12, the company knew her posts were generating sales and continued to have her promote their product.
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4. Hold Contests and Giveaways
Contest and giveaways are another one of the best Instagram influencer marketing strategies which can be a great way to spread awareness for your company or collection, no matter the size. Stipulations attached to the entry of these different contests often help to drive up engagement on Instagram as most of them require you to do tasks like:
- Like the post
- Save the post
- Tag a friend in the comments of the post
- Follow the account
- Or share to your story
Contests are often used to see what customers can create with a company’s products, with the incentive of a reward of some type. Social media listening is a great way to look at what consumers want from a contest and what trends are currently in so that the company’s content stays current and gets engagement.
Not sure how to start social media listening? Check out our full guide to monitoring and learning from your channels here.
Adidas used this strategy to hold a fashion show using their products on Instagram. They collaborated with influencers such as Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) and Iga Wysocka (@igawysocka) to promote their fashion show and the contest. They challenged fans to use the hashtag #MyNeoShoot to share their Adidas Neo outfits, and 6 winners then got the chance to model for Adidas in their campaign. This contest was designed to have high engagement and get fans to share their own content, and Adidas found that in the end there were great benefits. Between January of 2015 and January of 2016 (when this contest was happening), they increased their sales by 24.2% and their largest competitor’s sales (Nike) decreased by 9.1%. They also saw 12,000 entries in their contest; 71,000 Instagram mentions; and 41,000 new followers on the Adidas (@adidas) Instagram.
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5. Create “Insider Secrets”
One last best Instagram influencer marketing strategy is this “Insider Secret” strategy. It involves making the consumers feel like they just got one-of-a-kind information or tips on the brand or product. You want to make them feel as if they are the only ones that know these tips so that they also feel they are getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
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By singling out the consumer and making them feel special, it helps them feel as if they have a relationship with the brand and are then more likely to choose them again. Specifically for a smaller company, using influencers to spread this secret is another great way to help create trust and connections between the brand and consumers.
Sun Peaks Resort used this Instagram influencer marketing strategy in 2017 to help spread awareness of its ski resort and try and separate itself from other local competitors. The brand employed Canadian adventure photographer Callum Snape (@calsnape), whose main audience is adventure seekers in the Pacific-Northwest, to help share stunning imagery and stories that highlighted the “secret” differences between Sun Peaks and their competition, Whistler Mountain. This high-frequency strategy, with 200,000+ article views linked from Snape’s posts, gave their adventure-seeking target more of an incentive to visit Sun Peaks: an opportunity to adventure further without having to wait in lines.
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