Understanding the True Power of Instagram Influencers

When Instagram marketing is done correctly, it can be extremely powerful. One way that companies often attempt to get ROI from Instagram campaigns is by contracting Instagram influencers to promote their products.

Here is a look at why Instagram influencers are so powerful and why companies have a lot to gain by hiring them to promote their products.

Vast Numbers of Followers 

Instagram influencers typically have extremely high numbers of followers. This is what makes them capable of being “influential” on Instagram. Instagram influencers with large followings can engage millions of people every single time that they make a post. For example, Kylie Jenner has over 107 million followers on Instagram. Paying an Instagram influencer to make a sponsored post is similar to running an ad on a major television network in that it can have a very wide reach.

Pre-established Interest

People who follow an influencer on Instagram often do so because they like the person and they are naturally interested in what the person has to say. Because of this, they can be more likely to care about product recommendations from that person. So, using an Instagram influencer to market your products can be significantly more effective than simply trying to market your products on your company’s Instagram account. When an Instagram influencer makes a product recommendation or a sponsored post, there is a much stronger emotional pull for the followers.

The Ability to Set Trends

Many social media influencers have the ability to set trends. In fact, it is their style and their unique creativity which often helps them become influential in the first place. The Instagram influencer trendsetting phenomenon is so significant that Instagram itself occasionally publishes lists of the top IG trendsetters.

For example, in 2017, Instagram published a list of the top 15 fashion trendsetters on the platform. However, it is not just Instagram who writes about trendsetters. Many major publications do stories about Instagram trendsetters. For example, Esquire.com recently published a story about the top 20 most stylish men on Instagram.

The ability to set trends is invaluable for companies. This is because when a certain product becomes trendy, it can dramatically increase sales. Instagram influencers are perfectly poised to create trends because many of their followers idolize them and will buy products simply to become more like them. This makes Instagram influencers extremely valuable to businesses.

Perceived Expertise

Oftentimes, people will follow a specific person on Instagram because they perceive them as an expert in a specific field or niche. For example, a person may follow a fitness expert because he or she perceives the person to be extremely knowledgeable in fitness. Or, a girl may follow a famous model because she perceives the model to be an expert in fashion and style. In other words, part of the reason why Instagram influencers are so powerful is because they are perceived to be experts in certain fields.

Instagram influencers provide motivation, inspiration, and recommendations. All of these things are tremendously beneficial for their followers. So, if an Instagram influencer who is perceived as an expert makes a specific recommendation, then it sends a message to their following that the product has a much higher degree of credibility.

To understand this concept, imagine if Shaun White made a recommendation to his Instagram  following of 1.2 million about which snowboard to buy. The fact that he is a 3-time Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding would give his recommendation a very high amount of credibility.

Conclusion

According to one study, ROI for influencer marketing campaigns is roughly 16x better than the ROI for a traditional digital marketing campaign. Instagram is one of the largest and most effective social media platforms for influencer marketing. If your company has not begun to use Instagram influencer marketing, then you should strongly consider doing so.

There is a good chance that you could boost your sales by a significant amount if you do start implementing Instagram influencer marketing. You could also lose ground to your competitors if you do not. To conduct a successful Instagram influencer marketing campaign, you will first need to identify the best influencers in your niche. Then, you go from there.

Before you go, you might also be interested in Using Data for Customer Care.