The very foundation of influencer marketing is to create genuine and credible content on social media channels such as Instagram where trust already exists – that is, with an influencer.
If you’re not careful in your selection of which influencers you collaborate with, you may end up in a position where trust in the brand decreases at the same rate as trust in the influencer decreases. As a result, it’s in the mutual interest that every collaboration you establish with an influencer is genuine and credible.
But the key question remains: how exactly do you find the right influencers to start collaborations with? Below we share 5 ways to find Instagram influencers in your niche.
Look at Your Followers
It’s interesting to see how many companies have managed to find the best influencers for their brand just by looking at their followers. Take a closer look at your Instagram followers base and see if you can find users who tend to regularly like your posts, comment on your stories, or tag you in the pictures.
Even if you don’t find anything through your followers, you can use related hashtags and find influencers who are interested in products or services that your company offers. Try to use trendy hashtags or, if you don’t like them, create your hashtags or use a generator to help you find the right ones by inserting keywords.
Look At Who Else Is Engaging With Your Content
If you’re running a business in this day and age, we expect you to have an Instagram account for your brand. We already know that Instagram mainly focuses on visual content rather than blog posts so before you start posting content, analyze what kind of content creates the most engagement. To help you do this, try using an Instagram profile analyzer which can also benefit you by pinpointing hashtags and other tactics that work.
If an influencer gets involved with your brand, it means that the influencer likes the content you deliver, as well as your products and services. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the influencer is right for you but it can help you form an approximate picture of what type of influencer you would like to work with.
Conduct a Search on Google
Search engines are becoming increasingly smarter these days and point out to their users how they can find Instagram influencers. You can simply conduct a search of the top Instagram influencers in a particular area or specify the niche and browse through the search results. There are plenty of websites that collect influencers or databases that provide lists.
Google is an excellent starting point to find potential influencer collaborations. So, feel free to explore every possible option you might find as you never know where opportunities arise.
When you search for influencers, set up your goals first, create a spreadsheet and start adding the influencers’ profiles with all the vital information for your social media campaign. Filter the winners but keep those that did not make it this time for future campaigns that will be more suited for them.
See if There’s a Common Trend Linked to Your Brand or Niche
Say you are running an online store for beauty products, for example. Then you probably need a beauty influencer who is active in this field. This partnership will not only be credible for both your and the influencer’s audience, but the content will also be very relevant. The higher the relevancy, the better the campaign’s results.
A common error is that you, as a brand, choose to “invest heavily” and focus on the influencer’s number of followers, often ignoring their relevance. However, the truth is that the influencer’s target audience and trust in your niche are thousands of times more important than the influencer’s number of followers. The right target group always wins.
Look at Your Competitors
An excellent way to find Instagram influencers in your niche is by looking at what your competitors are up to. You don’t have to focus on the most popular company in the niche as they might be offering influencers higher compensation.
Look at companies in the same niche that are of similar size and profile. Look at posts where your competitors are tagged in as they’ll show you if there are popular influencers who are advertising the products or services the competitors are offering.
Final Thoughts
Although it’s tricky to find Instagram influencers for a niche marketing campaign, there are ways to go about this and establish a mutually beneficial relationship. Look at who’s engaging with your content, and who follows you, and keep track of what your competition is doing.
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