Growing your business with Instagram Marketing
By Anwar Boutayba
As we all know, the future of business rests in the hands of social media marketing, but social media marketing contains many dimensions. Influencer marketing has slowly become the future of social media marketing.
Most importantly, the spread of influencer marketing means that anyone (with the right amount of followers) can market themselves to companies wanting to drive engagement for their product or service. Of course, influencers with millions of followers are expensive and require much longer brand commitments.
But the question of “What makes an influencer?” still stands. Simply put, an influencer is someone with a larger-than-normal social media following who posts often (mostly everyday). Their regular posting attracts the attention of companies who utilise these influencers to market their products.
This process created an influencer boom, solidifying influencer marketing as a multi-billion dollar industry.
Types of Influencers:
Luckily, the rise of influencer marketing has allowed the industry to evolve, providing space for the creation of micro-influencers. Micro-influencers have 15,000 to 100,000 followers, which means their content is more targeted to smaller audiences (compared to other influencers.)
Of course, micro-influencers still have a large following compared to normal, leisurely Instagram users. This means that sponsored content rates can remain financially out-of-reach for small businesses. The remedy to this problem is the nano-influencer.
Nano-influencers have one to five thousand followers and are most prevalent in non-metropolitan cities like Chapel Hill, for example. Due to their low follower count and high engagement rate, nano-influencers are much more likely to work with small businesses on their marketing efforts.
Additionally, what nano-influencers lack in followers, they compensate for in audience engagement because nano-influencers report greater amounts of follower engagement, especially in regards to sponsored content. Followers of nano-influencers also trust their chosen influencers because sponsored content and given testimonials are much more genuine.
Unlike macro-influencers and micro-influencers who are given scripts by their respective companies, nano-influencers are simply given the chance to try a product and offer a review for their followers. Whether that review is through an Instagram post, a story highlight or via Instagram’s new Reels video-sharing feature, nano-influencers are perfect for small business marketing.
How to Start Using Influencer Marketing:
If you feel an influencer could boost your business’ engagement, contacting one is the next step in forwarding your marketing goals. For each class of influencer, your business should reach in a different way. Macro-influencers, for example, would need to be contacted via their public relations team or a separate entity that maintains their client relations.
For micro-influencers, you could reach out to the influencers directly via their email or their Instagram direct messages. Most micro-influencers though are registered with influencer databases like inBeat and HyprBrands.
Nano-influencers, on the other hand, can be contacted without an intermediary. By directly contacting a nano-influencer through direct messages or email, you can forge a stronger brand relationship as well as negotiate terms that are more applicable to your respective brand.
Of course, nano-influencers are more likely to trust brands that utilize the services of an advertising agency. At the 1893 Brand Studio, we can help your brand find the most effective ways to use influencer marketing to your advantage.
