For many Influencers sounds like a dream job where you are showered with free products and get the invitation to cool events.
All you need is a popular Instagram account with as many followers as possible. Sounds simple and succeeds in the twinkle of an eye? Being an influencer is indeed a job with no restrictions and is very attractive. Behind every successful influencer, there is planning, calculation, and willingness to hang in and learn new things.
What exactly is an influencer?
You should ask yourself this basic question before you decide to become an influencer. In recent years, social media has become more important. InfluencerHai report suggests there are more than 3.4 billion people who actively use social media – which accounts for almost 45% of the world’s population.
It is precisely the people you want to influence with social media accounts they also use social media accounts to get help in their life for decision-making. Therefore influencers have built up a good reputation in terms of their knowledge and expertise on a certain topic. As an influencer, your exchange your content on Instagram and other social media platforms and built a community of followers in expert content and niche.
The content can be diverse topics such as travel, photography, fashion, beauty, fitness or food are just as successful on Instagram as daily lives with their fans. The number of Instagram followers varies from 1000 to hundreds of millions of followers, as in the case of a star such as CarryMinati.
Increase the relevance of your content for media and advertising campaign
Influencer marketing has become an integral part of our lives and evolving increasingly important. Find out the new products or get inspiration from influencers. Perpetually people are looking at various social media platforms such as Instagram or Youtube for opinions. As the number of people constantly increases, the relevance of influencer marketing has gained considerable influence. The report suggests this trend will intensify in the future.
Most large companies have already jumped on the bandwagon and collaborated with Influencer Marketing Agencies for their product advertisements. Every year, the expenses that companies make available for such cooperations increase and there is no end in sight to growth, for this reason, the profession of an Instagrammer seems so attractive to many people, as it is directly associated with a very high monthly income as well as gifts and new products.
However, newcomers don’t know how to start or are often intimidated, thinking it’s “too late” to start as an influencer now. To make it easier for you, we’ve put together a guide with the ultimate steps below. This will give you an overview and allows you to take the first steps toward an influencer career.
We’ve put together everything you need to know about Instagram influencers. You’ll learn how to become an influencer and why influencers are so important these days. Follow our 7-step guide to becoming a successful influencer.
Our ultimate 7 steps guide to help you become an influencer:
- Find your Niche
- Create high-quality content
- Increase your follower numbers and use hashtags correctly
- Interaction
- Consistent posting
- Collaborate with other Influencers
- Get paid
Step 1: Find your Niche
It is recommended that you should choose the right topic to stick to on Instagram, YouTube, or other social media channels. The starting point is your interest because only those who act authentically make a good audience.
Successful influencers occupy a clearly defined niche based. Focus and consistency are crucial, but sometimes that doesn’t lead to success since there is already so many content creator in the particular popular areas of travel and food.
In general, the more target group-specific, the better. With this approach, there are still niches in many categories. Perhaps you don’t like to travel but also know a country or region well? or you’re a big fan of the train? This small-scale breaking down a range of fashion, cosmetics, sports & vacations, foods & drinks, cooking, books, or craft, is a good approach. A precise idea of your target audiences goes hand in hand with choosing a niche so that you can consistently create content.
Step 2 – Create high-quality content
Instagram is the ultimate graphic-driven social media platform, and Instagram users pay attention to the quality of the photos and videos that are shared. But that doesn’t mean you have to equip yourself with the most expensive camera or think professional photographers only have a chance.
Quite the opposite. Only post pictures and videos for your target group that fit in with the content and comply with some basic criteria. The interaction with an entertaining caption that conveys your personality also contributes to the quality of a post.
It is easy to take good pictures with any smartphone nowadays. Only photos with high resolution must be shared, in the square format of 1080px by 1080px. Turn on the grid view in your smartphone to align the camera for 1080px by 1080px. This a simple but effective tip when taking pictures. the main motif should then be placed at the intersection of a vertical and horizontal line.
With the filters offered by Instagram, you can further optimize your images. It is important not to experiment cross-country with filters but to find a look that fits the content and adheres to it. This also contributes to your own brand and style formation.
Step 3: Increase your follower numbers and use hashtags correctly
Meaningful hashtags play an important role, as they help Instagram posts more visible so that your number of followers grows. Instagram users search hashtags that correspond to their interests. Proper hashtag research pays off.
As a rule of thumb, a post should ideally have 5 maximum out of 30 hashtags. Experts and analytics have identified 9 to 11 as an optimal number. For the search for suitable hashtags, Instagram offers a corresponding search bar. So if you are looking for cosmetics and want to post about face creams, you can search for them and get suggestions. Try to use your hashtags to describe your image as accurately as possible.
You can also create your own hashtags in your post. It makes a lot of sense, for example, you promote products from corporate partners. If you used an identical term that expresses your recommendation or you find particularly good, your followers can also use it when they post with the respective product.
Step 4 – Interaction
Building your followers is crucial if you want to become an Instagram influencer. It is at least as important that your audience engages with and interacts with your content. This is crucial for partnerships with companies because they want to see this commitment, which is a high interaction rate. In other words, it’s all about encouraging your followers to like and comment.
This is where little tricks help: Build a call-to-action (CTA) into your captions, for example, ask your followers questions and match the content and thus asking them to comment on the post. Or encourage your followers for suggestions in the comments. So you’ll get to know your followers better, which is an advantage for potential brand partnerships.
Video posts and Instagram Stories both are formats of very popular posts type on Instagram, and a great way to increase engagement. You can also integrate surveys and ask your followers in stories, for example, if they are more interested in one or the other topic. Your audience will appreciate it when you ask them, and you will get valuable hints for your content planning.
Step 5: Consistent posting
Regularity is a decisive success factor in online marketing, and Instagram is no exception. Successful Instagram influencers post regularly and with a plan. A content strategy for consistently posting relevant content is part of a successful Instagram influencers strategy so that more new followers are in and the existing ones have a reason to stick with it. Ideally, whenever your followers log in, you should show up with your content. It is advisable to work with an editorial plan. Appropriate images and texts ensure better quality.
Ideal post frequency at the ideal time there are many opinions and every Instagram influencer will find his own optimal procedure. Basically, one or two posts per day have established themselves as best practice – for many.
The most important thing is to consistently maintain the frequency so that regular interactions with users are kept in place. If the engagement rate decreases, posts are ranked lower by Instagram’s algorithm, i.e., they appear in fewer user feeds.
Step 6: Collaborate with other Influencers
Social media thrive on interaction and networking. As soon as you have built up your own follower community, successful work on Instagram includes collaboration with other influencers who works on a similar topic as you.
Joint projects – either videos or just photos – to benefit from each other’s followership: Users become aware of you and your account, ideally like you, and vice versa to your cooperation partners. Networking within your own niche may open up opportunities you would have missed.
Step 7: Get paid
You want to make money from your work on Instagram. If you have built up a professional account with at least 1,000 active and involved followers. You could wait for companies to become aware of you and contact you. But, you cannot and should not rely on it, but also keep active on Instagram. Prepare yourself well before addressing relevant brands and offering your community as an interesting target group for products or services.
