To the casual observer, Instagram influencers seem to have a very lucky and privileged life, when in fact successful influencers are business savvy, marketing strategists who keep up to date on the latest tech and apps to best promote their feed. After all, they are running a business. Yes, they are making money.

instagram influencer how to social media marketing

Instagram by Peter Tarka

In fact, top Instagram influencers can make good money. The Financial Times recently gave some statistics on an influencers earnings. An influencer with an audience of 100,000 can charge brands $2,700 per post. Influencers with four to 20 million followers can make between $6,000 and $17,500 for every sponsored post. Celebrities are in a different realm. According to reports, Kylie Jenner is paid around $1.2 million for a single post on Instagram. Money like that leaves no doubt that we will see Kylie Jenner as an 80-year old, posting to Instagram from her light electric wheelchair. If you don’t plan on creating an Instagram feed that would generate that amount of followers, there is still money to be made when you have 1-10,000 followers. In that tier, influencers can earn $88.00 for a sponsored post.

Companies that once shunned influencers are now setting aside significant budgets to work with influencers. Trends in influencer marketing predict the industry as a whole to be worth $5-10 billion in 2020. Those numbers indicate that influencer marketing is successful and profitable. As different levels, or tiers, of influencer emerge, marketing strategists can best determine where to spend their money. About 80% of marketers find influencer marketing effective.

If you want to step your foot into the world of influencers, be aware that the competition is stiff, and that if you find success it won’t be by chance. Utilizing apps that specialize in influencers will be your best friend. But where to start? The amount of apps and services is overwhelming. Here is a quick rundown of some of the type of apps you will need as you begin, and some of the most popular ones in their categories.

Scheduling Posts

One of the top priorities for influencers is getting their feed posted at the right time of day with consistency. Sounds easy, right? It’s actually more complicated than it seems. The key to being a top influencer is active engagement and posting. People assume you are available at all hours of the day. Having a scheduling app post for you is a must have.

Popular options:

  • Sked Social
  • Later
  • Bettr
  • SproutSocial
  • Combin

Hashtags

While hashtags can be overused and not applicable for all types of social media, they are very helpful on Instagram. Hashtags will help you quickly link to other users using the same hashtag, as well as helping you find a specific market you might want to engage with. This can help drive likes and clicks to your Instagram feed.

Popular options:

  • All-Hashtag
  • Hashtag Inspector
  • Instatag

Instagram Stories

Yes, there are even apps specific for Instagram stories. Instagram stories is where your followers really get to know you, where they see you, hear your voice and feel like they connect with you. But it’s also one more thing to manage on Instagram. Using an app to ease the process will save you time and energy. Keep in mind Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours.

Popular options:

  • InShot
  • StoryArt
  • Canva
  • Unfold
  • Adobe Spark

Influencer Marketing Platform

With all the influencers out there, it is hard to narrow down one with your similar demographic. That is where an influencer marketing platform comes in useful. Basically this platform helps you connect with other influencers who are your same demographic, or target audience for a service or product. Your search will result in a list of influencers that would most likely be a good fit. You can submit a proposal to those influencers through the platform, which they can accept, and hopefully a mutually beneficial relationship is formed.

Popular options:

  • Upfluence
  • Traackr
  • Buzzoole
  • NeoReach
  • Izea

Photo Editing

The importance of your image on Instagram should be obvious. It needs to stop people mindlessly scrolling through their feed and grab their attention. It is the first thing they see, and it needs to be engaging enough for them to read the caption and have a response. Your image is what will get you engagement. Being comfortable with a few of the photo-editing apps will make your life a lot easier.

Popular options:

  • Adobe Photoshop Express
  • Canva
  • Snapseed
  • Facetune
  • Pixlr

Analytics

So all of this is well and good, but how do you know what is working and what isn’t? Enter Instagram analytics. Analytics show your impressions, activities taken by users, engagement; basically everything you need to know. Instagram has a built in analytics program, which is a great place to start. Plus, it’s free! There are other apps that will give you more in depth information as well.

Popular options:

  • Instagram Insights
  • Hootsuite Analytics
  • Phlanx Engagement Calculator
  • Iconosquare
  • Union Metrics

If you have a desire to be an influencer, do some research, start small and be sincere. With the amount of influencers out there, people don’t like to deal with the accounts that seem fake or inauthentic. While using bots might sound like a good idea to get started, you should avoid it. First of all, Instagram has rules against bots, and they enforce them. It isn’t unheard of for accounts to be completely shut down over bot usage. While bots can give you a lot of likes, it doesn’t improve your engagement. You are just interacting with people that aren’t really there, creating an insincere feel to your feed and creating a lack of genuine followers.

instagram tips to grow your audience

Instagram Poster Official #2 | Create Don't Hate by Leo Natsume

Look through some of the apps mentioned and find the ones that will work best for you. Become familiar with them and how they work. Hopefully this will give you the confidence to take the dip into the world of Instagram influencers.

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