Instagram Influencer Marketing isn't just for the Big Dogs

A great way to market a business is through Instagram influencers. These influencers are a part of every market imaginable and often an effective way for new businesses to reach their target market. These influencers are people that your target customers trust and follow. You could advertise that you have an amazing product but that may not be enough until an influencer shows your potential customers. 

Influencer marketing is not simple for everyone because of the levels. You need to understand what your marketing campaign goal is in order to be successful. It can be a little intimidating; there are large companies with large budgets doing amazing campaigns then there are small business owners like yourself. How can your small business compete with these big companies? The answer is that you cant but you have to get in where you fit in.

Let's be real, influencer marketing can be intimidating for a small business owner. It can feel like a lot of moving parts. You may not be ready to hire an agency or just unsure where to start. Do not fret, here are a few basics on how to get started and truly define your influencer marketing goals.

1.Define your campaign goal so that you are not blind

You first need to understand what the goals of your campaign are. If you are just aimlessly sending influencers products you don't know which data holds value. Is your goal to grow your email list before launch? Do you want to increase sales on a new and unique product before you introduce it to the market?

If your goal is to introduce a new product, do a giveaway for a free product then include a special discount code for the influencer promoting the product. In that campaign, you will be able to increase your brand awareness and monitor how many new customers used the discount code that you provided for the influencer campaign.

2. Find one macro influencer then latch on to the micro-influencers that follow them

I've learned that micro and macro-influencers are categorized based on the industry that they cater to. A great example is the natural hair community. It is more of a niche market in which they are using products that cater to specific hair needs. An influencer with five thousand followers can very easily be a macro influencer in a niche market such as the natural hair community. In other industries such as makeup, a person below twenty thousand followers is categorized as a micro. A beauty company wouldn't be limited to who could market their lash line to in the beauty market.

You can go on Instagram to browse through hashtags that are a part of your industry and make a list of 15–20 macro-influencers. You can then go back to your list and look at their engagement. You want to see how they interact with their followers and if their followers are engaging with the content that they are posting. Those 20 emoji responses in the comment section do not count, they may be a part of a booster groups that fake engagement to shoot through the algorithm.

Once you have your list of macro-influencers, send them a formal email that asks what their rates would be for a paid collab. You don't want to offer a price first, you want to see what their rates are. You need to keep in mind that though you have picked macro-influencers all with a similar engagement they all will have different prices. There will be some that know you are a small business and are willing to work with you then there will be some that just have a rate that may be too large for your budget. You can always negotiate a fair rate but don't feel obligated to pay a price that you can not afford. You would be surprised that quite a view influencers ask for rates that do not match their engagement and thus won't give you a good ROI. Once you have an agreed rate send over your influencer agreement to be signed.

Lastly, have your micro-influencers which are just everyday people. You want to create this list off of the people that are following the macro-influencers that you have selected. You can make it a little more personal by reaching out through their direct messaging on Instagram. Ask them if you can send them your product and if they like it if they can post on Instagram about it. You are contacting them as if they are the everyday consumer and not as an influencer. 

Your list of micro-influencers should be 50 - 100 influencers. The goal should be to have at least 60% of your micro-influencers post with your product that you have sent over. The fun part is that they are following the macro-influencers that you have started campaigns with. They may not post right away but will be encouraged after seeing their favorite influencer post about the same product they were sent for free.

3. Your campaign has taken off now let's look at the results

You want to compare the results of your campaign. Did you meet your goals? Did sales increase? Do you now have more followers on Instagram? Whatever worked your business keep it to reuse and whatever didn't take it away. Look at data and see if it met your needs. 

If you look at your reports and it shows that your influencer campaign brought more orders than what you normally would have got then it is a success. If you don't like the results make some changes to your campaign and try again the following month. 

let's take it all in 

It needs to be understood each Instagram influencer is different and has different needs. The amount of engagement is a reflection on how you set up your campaign and the influencers you choose to promote your product. Your results should always be based on your ROI. I've learned that some influencer's prices are not based on the results they can provide. You ultimately make the rules and can decide if you want to work with them or not. They are working for you and not the other way around.

I've learned that as a small business owner you don't need to go into influencer marketing with I gotta get what can get mentality. The influencer's rates fit your business needs or it doesn't. Do not let influencers make you feel that they are doing you a favor. Your small business matters. You won't be a small business forever you have to start somewhere.