The average person spends nearly two hours a day on social media. For some, that number may be shocking but for some of us, that's statistic is an under-representation.
The online world is changing, and if you and your business aren't staying on top of the social trends, then you'll be quickly forgotten. Fortunately, we have a solution: Instagram influencer marketing.
With 800 million active users on Instagram, you can find customers that fall into just about every demographic, geographic location, and niche you can think of.
If you're curious about how an Instagram influencer can transform the growth of your business, then this is the article for you.
The Basics of Instagram Influencer Marketing
Before we get in too deep, we'll start at the beginning and define some terms. By the end of this post, you will know exactly what an Instagram Influencer is. We will also look into the benefits of using them to grow your business, and why it's one of the best marketing campaigns to increase sales.
Let's get started.
What is an Influencer?
Someone who is an influencer in an industry has high credibility and a large audience. Instagram influencers are well regarded in their specific niche and have a large following with high engagement.
Before social media, celebrities used to be the most popular influencers. Nowadays, normal people, like you and I (not celebrities) have dominated specific niches and gained the authority and trust of their audiences.
Their power as influencers affect the buying decisions of others due to the social media relationship they have with their following.
What is an Instagram Influencer Marketing?
Most customers these days are ignoring banner ads and paid search results. Instead, they are looking to people they trust for suggestions.
This is where Instagram influencers come in. The key to growth is less advertising, more influencing.
Instagram Influencer marketing is when a business uses an influencer to promote their product or service to the influencer's following.
When it comes to Influencer marketing in general, there are two types: earned and paid. Let's go through the differences.
Paid Influencer Marketing
Paid influencer marketing is where a company pays an influencer to review, sponsor, or promote their product or service to their following.
This type of marketing is very successful depending on the reach of the influencer's reach. Some of the popular influencers have millions of followers allowing them to instantly pull millions of eyes to your business.
Earned Influencer Marketing
Earned influencer marketing is when a company builds up a relationship with the social media influencer who then promotes or talks about the business. Often businesses may send out a product or service to the influencer for an honest review which he/she will share with their following.
Why Does My Business Need an Instagram Influencer?
If your business has a large demographic, has a social media presence, and has influencers in your target market, then you are in an ideal place to benefit from an Instagram Influencer.
The Instagram influencer industry is taking off; in 2018 experts expect companies to spend $1.6 billion on Instagram influencer marketing alone.
Considering making the jump? Let's find out why 75% of marketers have a budget set aside specifically for industry influencers.
Customers Trust Influencers
Customers don't want to know you're selling to them and they rarely want to buy something because a stranger tells them to. The secret to influencer marketing is customer trust.
People much rather take recommendations from people they respect, people they can relate to. They trust influencers.
Most social media users follow a handful of influencers whom they regularly keep up with--sometimes even a few time a day. Businesses need influencers because it's something a company cannot do on their own.
Influencers and businesses that use influencers report a large spike in sales after an influencer promotion goes live on social media.
Most Buying Decisions Occur Online
Currently, 79% of the United States shops online. That's roughly everyone but your grandmas and your baby cousins. That number is increasing as the older generations die off (sorry grandma), and the technical generations mature.
With more and more shopping occurring online, it only makes sense that you market and sell online. Linking your site to the influencer's post make it very easy for a customer to buy--fewer steps, the better.
Customers are Ignoring Banner Ads
With 85% of internet users ignoring paid ads these days, the creation of creative, influential marketing campaigns is becoming a priority. They call Gen X and Gen Z the adblocker generations for a reason. If you're using traditional marketing methods, you might be wasting your time and money.
Instagram Influencer Marketing campaigns pass ad-blocks and are immediately digested by thousands of your ideal customers. With a rising number of devices blocking ads, your ads will be seen by the people you targeted for.
Stop wasting your ad campaign budget on posts that get ignored and blocked by your ideal customers. Instead, make a more strategic and savvy decision; invest it with social media influencers in your niche.
Social Media is Growing
Social Media is quickly growing across all age groups, demographics, and levels of income. With even your great Aunt on facebook these days, you can now reach more people than ever. It seems every day some discovers a new media platform.
As social media continues to upwards trend, we have started to see more and more companies tailoring their marketing and advertising campaigns to the online world--since that's where everyone is these days.
In 2018, experts expect Instagram to reach 21.7 million sponsored posts. If you aren't taking advantage of Instagram influencers, your competitors surely are.
What are the Benefits of Instagram Influencer Marketing?
If you are still on the fence, check out some of the reasons why, more than ever, businesses are turning to influencers to promote and sell their products.
Increased Growth and Visibility
If a potential customer doesn't bite the first time they see your product promoted, don't think it ends there. If a few people are boasting about a specific product, it's going to drive curiosity from users even if they weren't originally interested. Does SugarBear Hair Vitamins come to mind?
This company dominated the influencer marketing game even getting celebrities to push their product. With so many influencers and celebrities posting about, it's almost impossible to ignore. The result? It has Instagram users searching for it by name.
High Return on Investment (ROI)
Instagram influencer marketing has 11x higher the ROI than traditional marketing methods. With a statistic like that, it makes you wonder why you ever messed around with banner ads or billboards.
Instagram influencer marketing has such a great return because of the specific niche targeting. You are no longer marketing in the dark but instead strategically targeting a customer who is the ideal age, has your specific interest, and is in need of your product or service.
If you can find an Instagram influencer that has an engaging audience in your niche, strongly consider reaching out to him or her to promote your product. Of course, it will won't be free, but with such a high return, it's a worthy investment.
If you already have a marketing budget, restrategize how you are spending it. In the next section, we'll talk about how flexible Instagram influencer marketing is.
It's Customizable
A great thing about Instagram influencer marketing is that it is completely customizable based on your budget, demographic, niche, and target reach.
This type of marketing doesn't have to be a short burst, one-time promotion event. You can tailor everything about the campaign to your budget, ideal customer, and business' needs. This includes the demographic region, number of followers, type of media post, and post frequency.
Extended Reach: Access to Gen Y and Z
If you're losing the attention of the generation Y and X audiences then stepping up your social media influencer game might be the perfect next step for your business.
As a business, it's not just important to think of the right now, but the future as well. The online world is growing fast, and as the year's progress and teenagers become young adults, they start to gain buying power.
These teens are your new customers, and their minds are on one thing only: the web. Gen z, currently ages 2-19 are spending over nine hours a day consuming media---and you can they spend a lot of those hours on the Gram.
Gen x or millennials, currently ages 20-35 spend 5.4 hours a day consuming peer-generated content, your blogs, social media posts, etc.
If your product or service has a mass appeal and your niche is online, but you don't see the sales, then maybe it's time to rethink your marketing scheme. If your ideal target market includes gen y and z, experts strongly consider utilizing an Instagram influencer.
It's Authentic
In a recent survey of social media users, 40% of users stated that they bought an online product after seeing a social media influencer promote it. A lot of influencers promote brands, services, and products they truly like and use. This gives their review or promotion a down to earth, authentic feel to it which customers love.
No one likes a gimmicky sales pitch. In a world of oversaturated online retail with everyone competing for our cash, customers just want to know what products are truly worth it from someone who is like them.
A report from Bright Local shows that 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Influencers are a blend of both of those things.
Stop trying to convince your customer that you know what's best for them. Instead, leverage an influencer whom they already trust, and start influencing your customers.
It Provides Demographic and Niche Targeting
The beauty of Instagram is that there are communities of every niche and demographics available. From travel and fashion to entrepreneurs and scientists, you can find a community out there--and where there's a community, there's an influencer commanding attention and authority.
Unlike celebrities, when they promote a product, they may be reaching a lot of people, but the ratio of interested clients to/uninterested clients is lower. With an influencer, you can target your specific niche or demographic to increase the chances of hitting your ideal customers.
Influencers are also a lot cheaper than celebrities, so you aren't paying for uninterested attention. It's better to market to a smaller group of people who fit your ideal demographic than a large population of people who may or may not want what you have to offer.
It's Measurable
Need another reason why businesses use Instagram influencer marketing? It's measurable. A perk of digital marketing is that everything is trackable allowing you to find out a lot of information about your target market.
With an Instagram influencer marketing campaign you can find information like how many people viewed the post, who shared the post, who like it, commented on it, as well as who clicked on your site after looking at the post. With a plethora of tools at your fingertips, you can tweak your marketing campaign to perform better than ever.
Now that you are well equipped with reasons why an Instagram influencer is right for your business, you might have just one question left to ask...
What Do I Do Now?
If you're thinking how do I find an Instagram influencer, then you've come to the right place. Fashion Meets Travel is the solution to all your Instagram influencer marketing needs.
At Fashion Meets Travel, we focus on bringing your product or service to the eyes of hundreds of thousands of potential customers through unique content. With an Instagram following of over 250,000 people and 2.8 million comments, we provide both the reach and engagement that your brand seeks.
You can find out more about Fashion Meets Travel here.