Instagram Influencer Marketing’s growth

Instagram established itself as a go-to channel for influencer marketing in 2017, according to new data.

The analytics and social media marketing platform reported that the number of influencer posts on Instagram nearly doubled to a little more than 1.5 million posts worldwide between 2016 and 2017.

Data also revealed that sponsored Instagram posts are raking in the “likes,” generating about 1 billion globally in 2017 alone. That averages out to about 682 per post.

As any social media marketing strategist understands, successful influencer posts are not about reaching a mass audience, but about targeting the right consumers based on an influencer’s followers. In other words, it’s about good segmentation.

The business of being an Instagram influencer skews young. The vast majority of Instagram influencers—nearly three-quarters—fell into the 18- to 34-year-old age range. And those ages 18 to 24 accounted for 42% of them.

In addition, Instagram influencers were overwhelmingly female, with women accounting for about 84% of the group.

That might explain why the two top industries that partnered with influencers on Instagram were the fashion and accessory sector, followed by the beauty and cosmetics industry. In fact, a quarter of all sponsored posts on Instagram were for fashion and accessory brands.

Meanwhile, eMarketer estimates the number of Instagram users in the US will reach 96.3 million this year. By 2021, that figure will swell to 118.1 million.

Instagram Marketing – Building Your Audience

There are two different ways to approach marketing on Instagram.

The first option for marketing on Instagram is building a large following of your own, and the second is through Instagram Influencer Marketing.

Building a Following on Your Own – Tools for Building Your Instagram Audience

There are a few ways to do build a following organically on Instagram. For example, using a tool like Webstagram or IconoSquare, you could uncover the top hashtags for your particular niche. Then, use them selectively in your posts so that you can reach the right people who are interested in your niche.

Another tactic for marketing on Instagram is making sure that you’re posting on the right days and at the optimal times. Using Iconosquare, you can uncover the exact times during which you get the most engagement and figure out what are the most ideal times to post. It’s a great tool for getting started with marketing on Instagram.

But there is another strategy that seems to have been working increasingly in the past years.

Building a following through through Instagram Influencer Marketing

Through Instagram influencer marketing, you can get Instagram influencers in your niche with a large following to share one of your posts — this way, you can potentially get tens of thousands of targeted people to view your post overnight. This is why Instagram influencer marketing excels– you’ll have thousands of potential customers viewing your products, and they’ll be likely to convert as they trust the influencer enough already to follow them. Imagine what this can do for your ecommerce store’s growth!

Boxed Water used Instagram influencer marketing to market their philanthropic initiative — The ReTree Project. They asked Influencers to post a photo with the hashtag #ReTree, and for every post with that hashtag, Boxed Water would plant two trees.

Just one month after launch, they generated more than 2,600 posts with the #ReTree hashtag

Given the proven successes of Instagram Influencers for branding and marketing purposes, and the fact that the number of users is constantly growing, 2018 seems like the right year to give it a try. Contact influencers and get started!