Harnessing Instagram for Sales: A Guide to Influencer Marketing

Social media platforms provide a personal and powerful way to market online. When used correctly, they can generate a steady stream of customers to your website. With 72% of the US population using some form of social media, these platforms are prime locations to find new customers.

Instagram is especially popular and reaches about one billion monthly active users. However, Instagram isn’t just another social media site you can approach casually. Its focus on images and unique design mean you need a well-planned strategy to attract the many potential customers who use Instagram daily.

Here are some top tips to encourage organic brand engagement on your business’s Instagram profile, focusing on using Instagram influencer marketing to drive sales and leads from your social media channels.

The first and most crucial step of a successful Instagram campaign happens before you even create an account. Ask yourself: are your customers on Instagram? Effective social media marketing starts with finding where your audience spends their time. With options like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, it’s essential to identify your audience and research their preferred platforms.

Instagram users tend to be younger, with the 18-29 age group being the most active, while those over 65 are the least active. Urban populations and women also use Instagram more frequently than rural inhabitants and men. Evaluate whether your target market uses Instagram in large enough numbers to justify your marketing efforts. If they do, proceed with your campaign.

Instagram also values companies that align with ethical standards. Generation Z, in particular, values the ethical behavior of businesses they support. Highlight the ethical aspects of your company. For instance, if you follow fair trade practices or engage in direct trade, make these elements known in your marketing.

Influencer marketing is effective for driving traffic to ecommerce and SaaS platforms today because consumers are good at ignoring traditional ads. Instead, they value engagement with people they trust and relate to. Influencers help bridge this gap. With 80% of marketers finding influencer marketing effective, there’s great potential, especially with smaller influencers.

Use a marketplace to find the right influencers and manage your relationships with them. For example, Popular Pays is a platform that can help streamline your influencer and content creation strategies, especially since it recently teamed up with content creation app developer Lightricks.

One successful example of influencer marketing is La Croix spring water, which finds Instagram influencers to participate in their campaigns using branded hashtags. This gives the brand authenticity and social proof, which can be used on your product page. Influencers are adept at engaging your target audience.

For instance, Stitch Fix used an Instagram link to a Q&A with a fashion blogger and influencer discussing dressing for her size. The influencer then shared the image and the blog post link on her profile, boosting awareness for Stitch Fix and generating more engagement.

Interviews are great for influencer outreach since influencers often welcome these opportunities. Tools like Text Optimizer can help generate interesting discussion ideas for your influencer campaigns.

Since influencers have highly engaged audiences, aim to get your message integrated into their conversations. Influencer marketing requires effort, and spreading your budget across a range of influencers can be more effective than trying to reach a broader network. This approach provides more exposure, leads, and is cost-efficient.

Hawaii’s Department of Tourism effectively used this technique in their Instagram campaign, #LetHawaiiHappen, by partnering with Hawaii natives and travel bloggers to promote events and generate interest in visiting Hawaii. The campaign resulted in over 100K posts in one year, significantly increasing tourism interest.

Combining influencer marketing with affiliate marketing is also effective since influencers appreciate being compensated for their referrals.