18 Tips on How to Become an Instagram Influencer
For many people, being an influencer on Instagram is a dream career. It allows you to pose for stunning photos, receive products for free from brands, and even travel to locations all over the world.
Of course, breaking into the influencer world isn't easy. While anyone can create an Instagram, it can be challenging to find an audience, and it's even more challenging to use that audience to build a profitable career. If you've decided that this is a dream you would like to pursue, you should keep this advice in mind.
1. Pick The Right Niche
Many people think that to become an influencer, they need to create an account with mass appeal. In truth, the best way to find success is to focus on a particular niche. You'll want to create content that will attract a specific audience.
If you create content that appeals to a typically underserved niche, you'll find that brands targeting that audience will be more open to working with you. Have you ever wondered why an Instagram account that only has a few thousand followers is getting significant brand partnerships? This usually happens because the influencer is within the right niche.
How can you choose a niche for your Instagram account? There are a few things you'll want to consider. As an influencer, you'll want to select a niche that is an accurate reflection of your tastes and interest. This will make it easier for you to create content for your account.
You'll also want to spend time on Instagram so that you can see how popular certain niches are. If you feel that there's an audience that isn't getting the kind of content they want, and you believe you can create content that will appeal to that audience, you've found the right niche.
2. Work On Your Photography Skills
Instagram is a visual social media platform. If the pictures you're taking look amateurish, people won't take your account seriously. Many big-name influencers work with professional photographers to create beautiful and memorable photos for their accounts. Of course, if you're starting, this may not be an option for you.
That's why you need to work on your photography skills. While you don't necessarily have to invest in a professional-quality camera, you should strive to take photos that will stand out in someone's feed. It would help if you practiced photography so that you can improve your skills. Work on photo editing so that you can make all of your pictures work perfectly. Strive to take pictures that people will be impressed with.
3. Don't Ignore Descriptions
Even though photos are what people initially notice on Instagram, you should put effort into your descriptions as well. Descriptions aren't just a place for hashtags. They can be a way to showcase your personality to your audience.
Many popular Instagram influencers are known for their thoughtful, interesting descriptions. While your descriptions shouldn't be too long, you should try to say something memorable that will appeal to your audience. Take the time to read the descriptions on some of your favorite Instagram accounts if you want to get a better sense of what you should be doing.
4. Focus On Specific Brands
If you'd like to partner with brands in the future, you should do your best to showcase those brands on your Instagram account. This can be an excellent way to attract an audience that is a fan of that brand, and it can also be an effective way of getting the brand's attention.
You don't have to feature one brand exclusively on your account. It would help if you tried to feature a range of brands. However, it would help if you tried to showcase certain brands repeatedly. If you keep this up, you can expect to work with these brands before long!
5. Respond To Comments
When brands evaluate your Instagram account, they won't just look at the number of followers you have. They will also look at your engagement levels. How many likes do you typically receive? How many comments do you get on the average post?
You can encourage people to respond to your posts by taking the time to reply to every comment you receive. There's nothing wrong with deleting negative comments, but if someone leaves a positive comment or asks you a question, you should do your best to reply.
6. Use Hashtags Wisely
Hashtags are a way to ensure that people can find your content even if they don't follow you on Instagram. You should include hashtags on every post you make, and you should choose those hashtags with care.
Set aside time to identify trending hashtags that are within your niche. Don't just include these hashtags because they're popular; you should create content that will appeal to the people following this hashtag. You can use many tools that will help you identify some of the best-performing hashtags in your niche.
7. Partner With Other Influencers
People often see other influencers as competition. In truth, one of the best ways to find an audience on social media is to work with other people that are popular on Instagram. If you take a closer look at your Instagram feed, you'll notice that it's common for influencers to like and comment on each other's posts and even collaborate.
Don't try to isolate yourself from the other influencers that are in your niche. Try to learn from them. Make sure you're following influencers that appeal to your audience. Leave comments on their posts from time to time. Some of these influencers will eventually follow you make, which will allow you to work together in the future.
8. Strive To Be Consistent
Consistency is key to success on any social media platform, and it's especially important on Instagram. If people stop seeing posts from you on their feed, they'll likely forget about you. Some people may even choose to unfollow your account.
How can you be consistent when you have a limited amount of time to work on Instagram? Try to create a few posts ahead of time. From there, you can use tools that will allow you to schedule your content. Your users will see regular posts from you, and you'll be able to take a break.
9. Work To Form Positive Relationships
Have you ever noticed that some influencers seem to burn out as quickly as they take off? This often happens because an influencer is challenging to work with. If brands have a bad experience with an influencer, likely, they won't want to work with that influencer again in the future.
Instead, you should focus on forming positive relationships with everyone that you work with. If a brand sends you an email, you should respond quickly and politely. You should try to form positive relationships with other influencers as well. If you have a lot of people on your side, you're sure to find success.
10. Treat Instagram Like A Job
Many people fail to succeed on Instagram because they don't put enough time into it. If Instagram is just a hobby to you, then it's unlikely you'll be able to build a career as an influencer, even if you have excellent photos.
That's why you should try to look at Instagram as though it is a job you're already getting paid for. You don't have to spend 40 hours a week on Instagram, but you should make a point of checking your email daily, and set aside a few hours every week to create content that you can share.
11. Be Discerning
When you're starting as an influencer, you may be excited whenever a brand contacts you. If a brand offers to pay you money to advertise a product on Instagram, you might be tempted to accept their offer. However, you'll see more success if you try to be discerning about the requests you receive.
As an influencer, your audience trusts you to provide accurate feedback about products. If you say great things about a product, and that product doesn't live up to the hype, many of your followers may stop trusting you. Don't promote something just because you're getting paid. Instead, try to work with brands that you support.
This can be frustrating at times, especially if you're still working to build a following. You may not be getting offers from the brands you want to work with just yet. However, if you're careful about the brands that you promote, you'll get better results in the long run.
12. Focus On The Grid
You should work to create content that will stand out when someone is scrolling through their Instagram feed. However, you should also think about how your content will look if someone visits your page. People often refer to your Instagram page as "the grid."
If brands are thinking about working with you, they will likely click directly on your page. Because of this, you'll want to make sure that you create images that will complement each other. If your Instagram grid looks cohesive, the brands that visit your feed will likely be very impressed.
13. Consider Creating Presets
If you want more consistency on your Instagram account, you may want to look into making your own presets. Presets are essential filters that you can apply directly to the photos you share on Instagram. Presets can give your grid a more consistent look, and they also give you a valuable product that you can potentially sell.
If you have great-looking photos on your Instagram account, your fans are going to want to create the same amazing look on their own Instagram accounts. You can sell your presets for a small fee, which can be a wonderful way to monetize your account.
14. Create Multiple Revenue Streams
Even when you start finding success on Instagram, you likely won't be making enough to support yourself. This is why you'll want to work to build multiple streams of revenue. Brand partnerships shouldn't be the only way you make money. Try to create as many revenue streams as possible.
Many influencers earn money via affiliate marketing. This allows you to earn a small commission when people purchase products after following one of your links. While you can't include a link directly in your posts, you can put a link in your bio. Tell your followers where to find your link, and wait for the money to start coming in.
15. Don't Ignore Instagram Stories
While you should regularly add new posts to your Instagram account, you should also make sure you utilize Instagram Stories. Since the Stories functionality was added to Instagram, it has become one of the most popular features on the platform.
Stories are a quick and easy way to create new content for your audience. Stories can also help you deepen the connection you have with your followers. When your followers can hear you speak in your stories, they'll feel like they know you a little bit better.
16. Build Your Website
You'll want to make it as easy as possible for brands and other collaborators to get in touch with you. It would help if you also worked to control what people find when they search for you online. That's why you should build your website. You can include your real name or your Instagram handle in the URL.
Even if you don't know much about web design, you should build a website. Domain names are inexpensive, and you can buy pre-made templates that will allow you to create a professional-looking site without using any code. Create a simple site that includes some of your best images and your contact information.
17. Go Live
Once you have a big enough audience on Instagram, you should start going live with your fans from time to time. This isn't something that you need to do frequently. In fact, you'll get better results if you only go live every once in a while.
Going live will allow you to interact directly with your audience, which is an effective way to improve engagement. While you're live, you can answer questions, joke with your fans, and do things that you wouldn't usually be able to do. If you successfully go live on Instagram, you'll also be able to catch the attention of even more brands.
18. Don't Court Controversy
Controversy can be a great way to get publicity. However, if you're trying to become an influencer, this is a type of publicity that you'll want to avoid. Most brands don't want to be associated with controversy, and if you're a controversial figure, these brands will actively avoid you.
This doesn't mean you have to sanitize all of your posts - audiences like influencers willing to show their personality. However, it would help if you were thoughtful about everything you say publicly. Think about the potential impact of your statements before you say something on Instagram. If you have concerns about something you want to say, you may want to ask other people for advice.
If you want to become an influencer on Instagram, you have a long and challenging road ahead. With that said, if you're willing to put in the effort, this is an attainable goal. Follow this advice so that you can get more out of the platform that you have on Instagram.
