Being an Instagram influencer seems like one of the best jobs you can get these days. You’ll make money doing something you’ve spent hours and hours in every day – posting and scrolling on Instagram. However, becoming a real Instagram influencer is not as easy as you think.
Let’s break down what an Instagram influencer is and what they do, and how you can become an influencer.
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What is an Instagram influencer?
Contrary to popular belief, being an Instagram influencer is different than simply sharing content on Instagram. Influencers are social media users who influence the decisions that others – their followers – make. An Instagram influencer is someone who has established a reputation for a certain topic or “niche” on the platform. You could also say that an influencer is considered an expert in their niche or at least knowledgeable about it.
As an Instagram influencer, you have the power to change public opinion. If you have a small 1-2 thousand followers, your influence on their opinion may seem insignificant. However, you have more of a personal connection with your followers than random advertisers, and your opinion on something will be more valuable and authoritative in their eyes.
Do you get paid as an Instagram influencer?
Instagram is considered as the best influencer marketing platform by all the big brands. Established social media influencers also note that Instagram gives them the best engagement rates of all platforms. So how much money can you make as an Instagram influencer?
The exact amount cannot be calculated, as you are the one placing the fees. Instagram influencers charge anything from $70 to $3000 per post. Don’t forget that you also have Instagram Stories, Reels and IGTV – you can also turn them all into a source of income.
How to become an Instagram influencer
So you’ve decided to become an Instagram influencer. Now you have to think about incorporating your content on Instagram so that it has an impact on your community of followers and drives their behavior. While each influencer’s path is different and unique to their brand, you can get started by following our simple instructions.
Choose your Niche
Whether you already have a personal brand or not, the first thing you need to do is choose your Instagram niche. A niche would be something you are passionate about or knowledgeable about (or both). Is there anything you are good at? It can be anything from professional skiing to growing organic vegetables in your backyard.
Your niche can also be a combination of many things. For example, if you’re an English teacher and a father of two, you can focus your posts around your knowledge in both areas, then choose and combine your content. .
Create an attractive Instagram profile
The first thing new users who find you on Instagram will see is how your profile looks. If you already have an account on Instagram, make sure to clean it up. Sometimes delete your old account and creating a new one from scratch might be even easier.
The things you want to focus on here are your bio and your feed. Your bio needs to be engaging but it also has to tell your story. Think about how to use those limited symbols, as well as emojis, to showcase your expertise in your chosen field.
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When you start posting photos and videos, you need to take into account not only how they look individually, but also how they appear in your feed. Choose a specific style or a color scheme that works well here.
Consistency is key
The next step is to set a posting schedule and stick to it. You may want to start posting daily or even several times a day right away, but in reality, it’s better to gauge how much time and effort you’re willing to put into it first. The Instagram algorithm values consistency. It’s better to set realistic goals and start slow than to start too big and burn out quickly.
Use all Instagram tools
Remember that if you want to be an Instagram influencer, you can’t just post photos. If you want to win the trust of your followers, you need to share your story and expertise with them, and you can do that through captioning your posts.
On top of that, you can and should use all the tools Instagram offers to content producers: Instagram Stories, Reels, IGTV. They all allow you to post different types of content on the same Instagram account so your followers stay engaged and come back for more.
There are a few other things you can do to bring more variety to the content you post on Instagram. These include running contests and giveaways, using polls in Stories, using relevant hashtags popular in your niche, including calls to action in subtitles.
Get a pro account to track your analytics and post your ads
You should switch your Instagram account from personal to professional as soon as you get serious about being an Instagram influencer. A professional Instagram account allows you to do two important things: access your Instagram analytics and run ads.
Using Instagram analytics, you can better understand your audience by studying the demographics of your followers and the dates and times people visit your profile. Ads you can use to share promoted posts with users who don’t know about your account. Both features are very important to drive better engagement on Instagram.
Contact relevant brands and Instagram influencers
This is possibly one of the most important and final steps to becoming an Instagram influencer. Once you’ve grown enough followers and engagement rates on Instagram, you can start monetizing your account.
One way to do that is to find brands that are relevant to your niche and tag them in your posts to bring them to your account. It will be better if you are featured on their Instagram account, as this gives you more opportunities. You can also contact brands directly via DM and offer to collaborate.
Contacting other influencers in your niche is another good strategy. In addition to exposure to new users, you can also get interesting collaborative deals from there.
Should You Focus All Your Energy On Instagram As An Influencer?
It seems like people simply spend more time on Instagram than on other social media networks, and that’s something you should keep in mind as an influencer going forward. However, you can reach a larger audience if you use multiple platforms simultaneously, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
You can even link your Instagram account to Facebook to automatically repost. That way, you won’t have to spend time posting the same content on separate networks.
