Utilizing influencers on Instagram and other social media sites is the new PR. Instead of pitching the media to pick up your product or services, brands are pitching social media users. By seeing your products or services used by trusted Instagram influencers, consumers are more likely to trust a review compared to a traditional social media advertisement. Here are some tips to help you find success for your organization with Instagram influencers.

Micro Influencers vs. Macro Influencers

Depending on their number of followers, Instagram influencers can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of potential consumers. To first start your search for influencers, it is important to find the right size for your brand’s needs and budget.
Social media channels have two types of influencers: Macro and Micro. Here are a few differences to help you determine which is right for your needs:

Macro Influencers

• Higher reach
• 500,000+ Followers
• Less trusted by consumers
• Typically charge for product placements

How to Find Influencers in Your Industry

There are many tools available to help brands find influencers in their industries. While some of these tools require a fee, they can dramatically cut down research time when searching for influencers. These tools allow brands to search by demographic, following size and even cost to help determine the best influencers for their specific needs. A few influencer tools include:

• Ninja Outreach
• Buzzsumo
• Upfluence
• and more

If you don’t want to pay for these tools, finding influencers can be as simple as searching Google and Instagram for your industry. This method works great for finding Macro influencers, however finding smaller, Micro influencers may require some serious time and effort.

Reaching Out to Influencers

After finding the perfect size influencer for your needs and budget, now’s the time to reach out. Reaching out to Instagram influencers is as simple as sending an email or a direct message. Because large influencers typically have a flood of direct messages each day, it is recommended to reach out by email if possible. Things to state in your message include:

• Your organization
• Your budget (if applicable)
• Number of posts you’re requesting
• Your product or service

Measuring Success

So you’ve gotten an influencer to post about your product, now what? Once a post has been published, it’s time to measure whether your Instagram influencer outreach has been successful. This can be measured in numerous ways, including:

• Increased website traffic
• Increase in new customers
• Increase in post engagement/following
• Increase in sales from your product(s)

These increases (or decreases) should be compared with the overall cost of influencer outreach, including price per post, time spent on research and more. If it’s determined that cost was low with high results, continue reaching out to influencers to help find further results.

If the opposite is true, don’t give up quite yet. You may need to simply research more, find smaller influencers or target a different demographic. Just like anything on social media, trial and error is the key to success.