With the growing number of internet users, when most people seek out new products and buy them online, companies of all sizes and niches have to digitize their businesses in order to communicate with the target audience and acquire customers.

Looking for the best marketing channel, more and more companies lay a bet on Instagram as it’s one of the largest social media networks with the most engaged user base of 2 billion monthly active users.

However, the community of businesses on Instagram has reached 25 million which means the difficulty to cut through the noise and reach out to the customers.

Today, one of the best options to promote products is to run social media ads. But if you want to stand out from the crowd and increase brand trust, it’s high time to promote your brand with Instagram influencers who are ready to spread the word about your company.

Why Should You Promote Your Brand with Instagram Influencers?

The idea of working with Instagram influencers who have gained trust from common people isn’t new for businesses. The rise of Instagram influencer marketing is on the rise. But if you still doubt whether you should promote your brand with Instagram influencers, here are three proven reasons to collaborate with opinion leaders in-app.

• Instagram prioritizes content from friends, family, and influencers. Users upload over 95 million posts daily and the Instagram algorithm puts interesting and useful content from friends, family, and opinion leaders first. Thus, it’s no wonder that brands’ content gets lost on the platform unless you turn to Instagram trendsetters for brand endorsements.

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• People trust influencers as much as their real-world friends: The era of paid ads is long gone. Today, people choose to follow opinion leaders on social media and 70% claim that they trust influencers’ recommendations as much as their real-world friends.

• Instagram is the most effective social media channel for influencer marketing. As a photo-sharing platform with a focus on visual content, Instagram has quickly become the favorite platform for influencers. When it comes to Instagram influencer marketing campaigns, 89% of brands also see great potential in Instagram.

With the importance of Instagram influencer marketing campaigns, we’re happy to tell you more about 7 best ways to promote your brand with Instagram influencers for further success.

1. Ask Influencers to Do a Product Review

No matter what your product is, whether you sell clothes, services, or houses, chances are the modern market offers a wide array of alternative options. With the product overchoice, 93% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase. This means your potential customers crave product reviews.

Since Instagram influencers have loyal followings on their profiles and most of them create viral Instagram visuals, it’s a good idea to ask them to do a product review. When people use your product and share their real customer experiences with the audience, not only does it increase brand trust, but it also grabs the attention of followers who are about to become paying customers.

First, team up with the relevant influencer whose following includes your target audience, send your products, and ask these opinion leaders to do a product review in their own style. It’s the best way to create authentic reviews and spark interest in your products without being too salesy. Check out this strategy in action:

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2. Share Exclusive Promo Codes

During the discovery phase, when people do research to find products, they pay close attention to options that help them save money. That’s why promo codes are extremely popular among online shoppers.

Working with influencers, you can create unique promo codes for them and therefore give them an opportunity to be useful for the audience and grow their following. After all, no matter how popular a chosen influencer has, every opinion leader aims at getting more followers on Instagram. Moreover, it allows you to track influencer marketing performance with ease.

Case in point:

In partnership with Colvin and Olistic, Marta Iglesias has exclusive promo codes that include her name for her audience. Since these discounts can be useful for her followers, she uses her bio section to share these promo codes with her visitors and followers. Win-win for all parties.

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3. Let Influencers Collect Customer Feedback

Wouldn’t it be great if your collaboration with influencers could bring more results? Let influencers understand their audience’s preferences better and collect customer feedback. Moreover, people love brands that are interested in them.

When you run influencer marketing campaigns and do not bother about customers and their opinions, you make one of Instagram influencer marketing mistakes that can result in reputational damage.

The easiest way to collect customer feedback is to ask simple questions about a featured product in the caption, just like in the example below:

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When you use this strategy, get ready for providing customer service as people are more likely to contact your customer support representatives and ask their questions about your product after hearing from other customers.

If you provide customer service on Instagram, that’s great. But if you don’t have time or budget to manage customer inquiries on the platform, consider implementing and include a phone number on your profile to make it easier for customers to get in touch with your company without waiting for the reply.

4. Invite Influencers to Refer More Friends

People trust other people and seek out their recommendations, so word-of-mouth marketing works well these days. If you have a refer a friend program for your clients and you consider working with Instagram influencers, you can invite them to refer more friends on their social media profile for mutual benefit.

Referral programs allow both parties to get benefits like discounts or bonuses, so people are more likely to give your business a try when trusted people share their referral codes. When it comes to Instagram influencer marketing campaigns, ask partners to share their codes to acquire more clients for your business. For example, they can tell followers about these programs in captions:

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5. Get Your Products Endorsed during Livestream

To grab the attention of followers and increase engagement, many influencers go live when their audience craves communication. Since a live stream is limited in its time, it encourages people to join streaming in order not to miss out on something important which means viewers are more engaged.

For brands, it’s a great way to market your products and get them products. When influencers recommend your products in a natural way, it creates social proof, increases brand trust, and encourages more people to consider your products as an option.

With the introduction of Instagram live shopping, creators and brands get an opportunity to tell more about featured items and help interested viewers make a purchase. It offers a great opportunity for influencers to promote your product during livestream and increase sales for your brand.

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6. Do Clothing Transitions in Instagram Reels

Being dynamic by its nature, videos engage users more than other types of content. The popularity of short yet engaging social media videos is on the rise. Since people love watching Instagram reels, brands should find new ways to promote their products with this content type.

Do you sell clothes? That’s great! Doing clothing transitions with the help of Instagram creators is one of Instagram content ideas that work.

Here’s how ASOS teams up with influencers to create clothing transitions in Reels and repost these videos to their profile:

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7. Boost Branded Content

Instagram is constantly rolling out new features and updates to help brands and creators make the most out of their social media presence. When the platform realized the popularity of Instagram influencer marketing campaigns, Instagram allowed companies to boost branded content to reach a wider audience of potential customers.

Once you’ve found a great Instagram influencer who is just the right fit for your brand and you partner with him or her, boost branded content to drive even better results. When people see their favorite influencers in paid ads, they are more loyal to your company which means more trust and sales. Pretty good, huh?

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In a Word

Customers crave authenticity more than ever, so working with Instagram influencers is one of the best ways to promote your brand without running paid ad campaigns. With the variety of influencers who come in all sizes and niches, choosing a perfect opinion leader for your brand is no longer a problem. To make the most out of your Instagram influencer marketing campaign, choose one of the above-mentioned ways to promote your brand with Instagram influencers and find out what works best for you.

Author’s bio

Val Razo is a freelance SMM consultant who helps small and medium businesses promote their products on social media networks. She’s been working in the digital marketing niche for the past six years and now Val also shares her tips and tricks on social media marketing.