Shoppable influencers: using instagram to your advantage
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Instagram is a social networking service built around sharing photos and videos. Most retailers use it as a tool to promote their business and create their online shops. Instagram shopping, which was initially launched last year, direct links from organic posts to product pages and websites. It helps online shops include prices and allow them to tag their products.
Last month, Instagram launched checkout which lets customer purchase products without leaving the application. In line with the release of the new feature, the application wrote in a blog post: “Creators are a cornerstone of the interest community on Instagram and people love getting that spark of inspiration when they learn about a new skin care routine or see their favourite musician in that perfect denim jacket.”
“And, unlike seeing the jacket on a rack, when they see it on someone they look up to – or someone who l
This new program will also allow both creators and brand to receive “shared insights” from Instagram. Because of these new updates, retailers can now fully take advantage of a marketing strategy through influencers.
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole on social media. It is also a hybrid of old and new marketing tools taking the idea of the celebrity endorsement and placing it into a modern day content-driven marketing campaign.
But how can you integrate influencer marketing in Instagram and use it to your advantage? Here are some tips to help you get started:
Define your goal
Executing an influencer marketing campaign without a defined goal is like traveling without destination. You know you want to go somewhere, but you’re not sure exactly where to go. To avoid doing this, you need to define what you want to achieve.
Even before you begin with a plan for your campaign you need to define your goal. What do you expect to get from the campaign? Whether it’s engagement, brand awareness, conversions or maybe to promote a product, your goal will help you determine which influencers to work with. It will help you execute your campaign.
Find the perfect influencer
Influencers, unlike celebrities, can be anywhere. They can be anyone. What makes them influential is their large number of following on social media. To find the perfect one, you need to make sure that the influencers you choose should be relevant to both your brand and goal. You also need to keep in mind that they should have the right followers because that’s target audience you’re after.
Plan your marketing campaign
Now that you find the right influencer for your brand, you need to think about what campaign you need to execute. There are many different ways to run an influencer marketing campaign. You should choose the best type for your brand, based on your specific goals.
Here are three of the most effective influencer marketing campaigns:
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Instagram storefront
Because of the new checkout update, some influencers can post photos on their Instagram and include description and prices of your product. They will also have an option to checkout this item without leaving the app at all. But since this feature is only limited to some influencers, you can ask them to put the link on their bio so that viewers who are interested in buying can go to your website through their profile.
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Promote giveaways
Giveaways can be highly effective component of influencer marketing. It can help you engage your target audience and raise more awareness in your business. Your contest rules can require users tagging their friends on comments or share the giveaway post to enter. Because of this, more people can learn about your brand. It can promote engagement to the influencers’ followers and drive more traffic to your brand.
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Let the influencers create content for you
One of the reasons why users follow influencers is because they are relatable. If you create content that seem robotic and unnatural, followers can detect that this type of post is a marketing campaign. Let them create unique and engaging content that resonates to their audience. Trust influencers to tell your brand’s story in their own voice.
Make it mutually beneficial
Just like any relationship, influencer marketing is two-way street. Don’t let your brand be the only party that benefits from this campaign. You will eventually find that no one wants to partner with you. To make sure this doesn’t happen, compensate your influencer properly.
These are the five popular influencer compensations:
- Cost per engagement – This is when you compensate influencers according to the number of engagements they drive with their content. This is one of the most effective compensation models.
- Cost per click – This is when you compensate influencers with the number of clicks they drive to your landing page. It is as effective as the cost per engagement model.
- Pay per post – This is when you pay influencers a fixed amount for each post they create for you.
- Free products or experiences – You can offer them free products or experiences instead of monetary compensation.
- Cost per acquisition – This is when compensate influencers for the number of actions or acquisitions they drive. The action could be submitting a form or subscribing to your newsletter.
These are just some tips on how you can use Instagram to your advantage through influencer marketing. You need to understand the importance of defining your goal and finding the perfect influencer. If you do this right, you can maximize the potential of using this social media app.
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