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Influencer Marketing is a creative marketing approach that is revolutionizing the digital marketing industry. It involves endorsements and product placements from people and organizations with a high level of knowledge or social influence in their field. In 2020, it’s expected that influencer marketing will grow to become a $9.7 billion industry, according to an Influencer Marketing Hub report. One of the biggest pain points for brands is how to find Instagram influencers.
Instagram is commonly used for influencer marketing campaigns, with nearly 90% of all influencer campaign plans using the platform in their marketing mix. Its feature let marketers get their message to desired audiences through organic content. This natural approach improves brand awareness while driving conversions. Additionally, it helps with brand and product positioning by aligning both with popular figures. Despite numerous benefits, the most challenging aspect can be how to find Instagram influencers that fit your needs.
Many companies avoid trying influencer marketing due to lack of knowledge or concern over where to start. Though it can seem like a difficult process at first, influencer marketing campaigns can be extremely valuable to a company’s marketing efforts due to their ability to reach high quality audiences. This blog will go in depth on how to find Instagram influencers, including valuable information on what an influencer really is, what types there are, some successful examples of influencer campaigns, and resources your company can use to find them.
Types of Instagram Influencers
With its increasing popularity, you might’ve heard the term “micro-influencer” or “nano-influencer” being tossed around. But what exactly does this mean?
Influencers, especially those on Instagram, have a variety of following sizes. Although one might assume the largest following is the best, that’s typically not the case. In fact, quality is much more important than quality when it comes to choosing which audiences to run an influencer marketing campaign in front of.
These different types of influencers will help you figure out how to find Instagram influencers that will fit your next campaign perfectly:
1. Celebrities
These partnerships can get a brand in front of an extremely large audience. Most celebrities on Instagram have millions of followers, so these influencers require hefty fees to run your campaign. In addition, they typically remove sponsored content after a while, so your campaign might not stay up for long.
If you have a product that appeals to multiple demographics and the funding to back a campaign of this size, then working with a celebrity influencer might be for you. If not, the don’t worry! We still have many more influencers to talk about that could be the perfect fit.
2. Social Stars
Social Stars are the product of the social media revolution that has hit the world by storm. These sort-of-celebrities in the real world are superstars in the digital scene. They have millions of followers, so, just like with celebrity influencers, their followings are more spread out.
While social stars might not be expensive to run campaigns with as celebrities, they still can charge a similar amount.
3. Macro-Influencers
Macro-influencers are well known in their communities and have a follower count ranging from 500k to 1 million. Their expertise in a specific industry makes them a much better target for focusing on a specific demographic, and their smaller following means they’re a much more economically viable option than celebrities or social stars.
4. Micro-influencers
Micro-influencers are widely considered the “sweet spot” for influencer marketing campaigns. This is due to their followings, which range between 20k and 400k. Just like macro-influencers, they cater to specific industries, but because their followings are smaller, they’re much more engaged with their communities.
5. Nano-influencers
Nano-influencers are the newest to the influencer marketing scene as brands are beginning to realize the smaller they go, the more organically their messages come across. These Instagram influencers have followings under 20k. This means they’re extremely connected to their communities, which are widely made up of their peers. This word-of-mouth approach, if done correctly, can be extremely effective.
Influencers also vary by the type of content they produce. Before starting your search, there are several different types of influencers you should know about.
Ways to Search for Instagram Influencers
There are many different approaches on how to find the instagram influencers for your campaign. Similar to the way you choose they type you want to work with, finding them largely depends on your marketing goals and your budget.
These are some of the ways you’ll be able to find the influencers you want to work with:
1. Manually Through Instagram
This is the cheapest way to discover influencers because it’s absolutely free! However, this can be an extremely painstaking process that can leave you at multiple dead-ends. Not to mention, most influencers are hesitant to work with brands they don’t have good relationships with, so it might take awhile for your company to earn their trust.
The best process is to search hashtags that are relevant to the influencers you’re trying to work with and then locate the most popular posts. For example, if your brand sells baseball equipment, searching #baseball, #baseballglove, #baseballbag, etc. will help you track down accounts that already post content that aligns with your vision of a campaign.
2. Using Automation Tools
This technique is how to find Instagram influencers without dedicating time to manual searches. The same automation tools that can control your follows, unfollows, and likes can also search the platform for relevant content well-within a marketing budget.
FollowLiker is the perfect example of an easy-to-use automation tool that can help you discover the perfect influencer for your next campaign. For example, you can set it to only search for accounts with 5k to 20k followers, giving you the perfect list of nano-influencers to choose from.
3. Influencer Marketing Platforms
Influencer marketing platforms make the searching process even easier than automation tools. Their large databases help brands instantly find lists of influencers that perfectly meet their qualifications. They also have established connections with influencers, making it easier to form relationships with those who align perfectly with your brand.
NeoReach is one of the best influencer marketing platforms out there, offering a massive database that removes the question of how to find Instagram influencers yourself for your next campaign.
4. Influencer Marketing Agencies
This option will most likely bring you the best results, but it will also cost a lot more than the others. If you have the marketing budget, influencer marketing agencies will give you direct access to some of the best influencers on Instagram. Their extensive networks and personal connections make it easy for your brand to work alongside the best influencer for your campaign. They’ll also do a lot of the busy work, making it the task of how to find Instagram Influencers a much easier process.
