Known for being a visually driven social media platform, Instagram has gained widespread popularity in recent years. Recent statistics have put Instagram’s monthly active users at over 800 million. A shockingly large number for a social media platform that has yet to hit its 10 year mark.
Therefore, today’s article would like to dwell deeper into the world of Instagram. More specifically, how Instagram can be used in influencer marketing.
Firstly, to start off, a good understanding of Instagram and its related functions is required before branching into Instagram influencer marketing. Therefore, we hope our 2019 Instagram guide would be helpful in your influencer marketing journey!
Must know Instagram functions | Instagram Influencer marketing
2019 Instagram guide: function #1. Videos
source: sproutsocial.com
While Instagram might have been popular for its picture sharing function when it first started out, its video upload function has been widely used ever since its introduction.
Instagram video postings allow users to post videos of up to 60 seconds long on the social media platform. This is an especially important point to take note of for Instagram influencer marketing. With the popularity of videos online, Instagram influencer marketing can now be in the form of short videos.
This therefore means that brands no longer need to stick to static photos. Instead, they can and should make use of videos to create more interactive influencer marketing campaigns.
An extra tip for brands would be the ‘album’ function on Instagram that was introduced in early 2017. This function allows users to post up to 10 images/videos in a single post. This means that 10 one minute videos can be posted at once. Therefore, do play around with these functions to maximize your Instagram influencer marketing experience!
2019 Instagram guide: function #2. Instagram live
source: sproutsocial.com
Not to be confused with Instagram videos, lnstagram live (IG live) is a form of life streaming on Instagram.
Its selling point would how immediate this form of video is. As its name suggests, live videos would mean that the moment the video starts recording, Instagram users would get a glimpse of the video.
Instagram sends followers a notification to inform them the account is going live. This allows interested users to jump onboard to comment or like a video (as it is being recorded).
This Instagram function is ideal for Instagram influencer marketing. This is because of the interaction allowed with IG live. Influencers can readily reply to the comments of their followers as they are recording the video. Hence, inciting higher levels of engagement and therefore interest.
An additional tip for Instagram influencer marketing would be to save your live streams after they have ended. You can then share the live stream on your story, allowing users who have missed the stream to watch the video.
2019 Instagram guide: function #3. Instagram story (IG story)
source: HootSuite, Starbucks
Most Instagram users are no stranger to using Ig stories. After all, they are fun and easy to use. IG stories allow users to post photos or videos on Instagram. These images/videos would then be online for viewing for only 24 hours.
Stories slightly differ from regular postings. Users tend to be much more casual on IG stories due its function of temporary postings. Therefore, many Instagram influencer marketing campaigns like to use stories to post the behind the scenes of campaigns, to spark attention from Instagram users.
A tip for Instagram influencer marketing with stories would be to include #hashtags, @mentions and stickers.
The use of #hashtags in IG stories would help expand the reach of an Instagram influencer marketing campaign. This is because users who follow these hashtags would be exposed to these stories. Furthermore, hashtags also make it easier for users to search for the particular story.
Likewise, @mentions can be extremely beneficial to an Instagram influencer marketing campaign. By getting influencers to mention a brand’s account, followers can easily find a brand’s IG account by clicking on the @mention.
Furthermore, Instagram now allows users to repost stories they have been ‘mentioned(@)’ in. Therefore, mentions would allow brands and influencers to repost each other’s stories to expand the reach of an Instagram influencer marketing campaign.
Lastly, as the name suggests, stickers on Instagram have decorative purposes for your IG story. You can either choose static stickers or gifs, which are ‘animated stickers’ to create unique stories. After all, Instagram is all about the aesthetics. Therefore, do use stickers to attract the attention for a successful Instagram influencer marketing campaign.
2019 Instagram guide: function #4. Instagram shopping
source: help.instagram.com
Shopping on Instagram is a relatively new feature. This feature allows brands to share featured products through organic posts and Stories. Users can also find these brand related postings with the products of brands in their explore pages.
These pictures come with product tags, where are clickable. Upon clicking, users would be able to see, an image of the product from your post, its price, a description of the product as well as a link that takes them directly to your website, where they can purchase the product.
This function directly links consumers purchases with the social media platform, Instagram. Therefore, it would be helpful to keep this in mind in an Instagram influencer marketing campaign.
2019 Instagram guide: function #5. Instagram TV
source: socialmedia.umich.eduFor users that grumble about the limit in the video duration Instagram allows, Instagram TV (IGTV) is a great option for longer form content.
Much like your traditional TV programmes, IGTV allows users to post videos that are up to 1 hour long. To add on, Instagram notifies followers once a new video is being uploaded on IGTV.
Therefore, if you are looking at video marketing do consider using this new Instagram feature!
2019 Instagram guide: function #6. @Usernames and #hashtags in your bio
source: mashable.comJust like IG stories, (function #3), Instagram bio now allows you to hyperlink usernames and hashtags in the bio. This is especially useful for brands who have multiple accounts.
2019 Instagram guide: function #7. Turning Existing Posts Into Ads
source: later, the_wildestInstagram has allowed businesses to turn existing post (posts on the brand’s IG feed) into advertisements.
Brands can do so via “Ads manager” on Instagram. For a detailed guide on how to do so, you may click here.
2019 Instagram guide: function #8. Instagram polls
source: sproutsocial.comSince its introduction, Instagram polls have been widely used by many brands to interact with their direct consumers.
Apart from the typical polls that allow users to pick an option out of 2 options given, Instagram has come up with emoji polls.
Emoji polls are polls where users will swipe the emoji on a scale to express their opinions. No longer do brands need to do extensive market research to understand consumer preferences. Instead, the use of Instagram can be helpful in determining the taste and preferences of their direct consumers.
Instagram polls are very important determining what would attract your consumers, which would therefore affect the execution of your marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
To sum it up, there are many Instagram features available for us. However, there is no single function that is the best. Instead, these features can complement each other to produce the best results.
Sources
Sproutsocial, /instagram-features/
Influencermarketinghub, the-beginners-guide-to-influencer-marketing-on-instagram/
https://www.facebook.com/business/instagram/shopping/guide
