Your Step-By-Step Guide on How to Be an Instagram Influencer

When you think about how to be an Instagram Influencer, what comes to mind first?

The massive number of followers swooning over your every post?

The sponsorships?

The impact you could possibly have on the world?

Becoming an Instagram influencer isn’t as easy as gaining a couple of thousand followers on Instagram. In order to have a massive reach on Instagram and become a powerful Instagram influencer, you need to have fellow Instagrammers regularly consuming your content.

If you’re looking to change the way your Instagram account impacts people, I’m going to share with you all about how to start working towards becoming an Instagram influencer.

Who is an Instagram Influencer?

An Instagram influencer is a content creator on Instagram, that typically has built a community of people in a specific niche.

Instagram influencers have visually dynamic content, as that helps to drive performance and increase engagements.

The most popular niches and topics that you can typically find social media influencers are beauty, travel, fashion, food, fitness, photography, and lifestyle.

Guide: How to Be an Instagram Influencer

If you’re not exactly sure what the steps are to become an Instagram influencer, I’ve created a checklist for you below:

1. Pick a Niche You’re Passionate About

When you’re first starting your journey of becoming an Instagram influencer, you need to select a niche or topic that you’re very passionate about.

Not only should your chosen niche be something that you’re personally connected to, but it should also be a niche that you have a basic knowledge about, and the desire to further expand your knowledge in.

Your niche can even be a combination of topics that connect with each other, as long as they’re not completely random.

Some examples of niche combinations can include beauty and fashion, food and travel, or fitness and healthy eating.

Don’t fall into the trap of picking a ‘hot topic’ niche that’s currently trending. Build a following based on what interests you, as it’ll be a lot easier to come up with new ideas, expand on complex topics, and connect with people who share your passion!

2. Create a Unique Bio

To become an Instagram influencer, you want to make sure that your account stands out in every way possible.

When Instagram users click over to your profile, your bio should leave a lasting impression on your followers.

Make sure to take time to think about what you want your bio to say- you’ll want to make sure that your bio properly introduces your account and tells your story in a unique way!

3. Discover the Best Hashtags in Your Niche

As you’re working towards becoming an influencer on Instagram, it’s incredibly important that you learn about the best (and worst) hashtags to use in your niche.

Hashtags make the content that you’re posting searchable, which will help to expose your content to a brand-new audience searching through that hashtag.

4. Post Your Content Consistently

Creating quality content is only half the battle. Making sure that you’re consistent with posting your content is the most important aspect of becoming an Instagram influencer.

You can follow all of our other tips, but if you’re not feeding your audience content consistently, your account isn’t going to grow.

Making sure that you’re posting to your Instagram at least three times a week will keep your account fresh and exciting to your followers (both new and old).

If you’re looking to step up your Instagram game, try posting your content at a specific time. With a business Instagram account, you’ll be able to look at your personal analytics to get a better understanding of the best time to post your content to get more engagement!

5. Open Up a Business Account

While you don’t have to have a business account to become an Instagram influencer, it’s a helpful tool to use to help you gain a better understanding of who makes up your audience and what their Instagram use looks like.

An Instagram business account will show you:

• Profile visits
• Website clicks
• Email clicks
• How many accounts you’ve reached (within a specific time frame)
• The number of impressions your account has had (within a specific time frame)
• How many posts you’ve published within a week
• The impressions each of your Instagram posts have had
• How many followers you have
• Your overall growth
• How many people have followed you
• How many people have unfollowed you
• Top locations of the people interacting with your account
• Age range of the people interacting with your account
• The gender of the people interacting with your account
• The days your followers are most active
• The hours your followers are the most active

Not only will getting a business Instagram account help you to get a better understanding of what the best times are for you to post, but your follower demographics will also come in handy when looking to collaborate with a brand.

6. Interact With Your Followers

So, you’ve followed all of the above steps and you’re ready to start seeing growth- great!

But, don’t forget about your followers in the process of becoming an Instagram influencer.

Posting on a daily basis is great, but interacting with the people who trust your opinions, who are following your influence, and who are buying your products matter.

By interacting with the people who are liking and commenting on your posts, you’ll be building a stronger brand for yourself.

The whole point for using social media is to engage with people, so don’t forget to engage with the people that are supporting your journey to becoming an Instagram influencer.

Make sure that you’re liking and replying to the comments that are left on your photos. If you’re looking for other ways to increase likes and comments on your posts, here are a few ideas you could try:

• Host a giveaway or contest
• Include a CTA (call to action) in your caption
• Use polls in your Instagram stories
• Follow accounts in your niche and engage with their content

You can find new accounts to interact with by using the ‘Explore’ tab on. You can also discover new accounts by following hashtags!

7. Don’t Buy Followers

While it may be tempting, don’t fall into the trap of buying followers. Buying followers may increase the number of people following you, it won’t increase your organic traffic.

In terms of brand collaborations and paid sponsorships, brands care more about the organic traffic and engagement that your account is receiving. It’s going to take some time to grow your Instagram organically, but in terms of financial success through your Instagram, organic growth is the best way to go.

8. Value The Power Of Instagram Stories

There are more than 200 million Instagrammers that are currently using Instagram stories every day, which makes this Instagram tool a great resource to implement on your journey to not only grow your visibility but to gain followers too!

The amazing thing with Instagram stories is that you’ll be able to reach people who aren’t following you, as new people can discover you through Instagram stories.

Plus, if you have more than 10k followers on Instagram, you can use an outbound link with a ‘swipe up’ option on your Instagram stories! Perfect for promoting a blog link, YouTube video, or product you’re promoting.

You can even tag people or brands in your stories! Tag a brand in your photo that features a product that you’re using from their company and you could even get your content re-posted on their stories or account, increasing your brand’s visibility!

9. Use Your Captions

Uploading a captivating picture to your Instagram account is a great step to getting more engagement, but telling a story to go along with your photos can help your followers connect with your followers on an emotional level.

This will help to give your followers a reason to trust you, to follow you, and to engage with you. Remember to always keep in mind that the more engagement you have on your posts, the more likely brands will be to work with you!

10. Don’t Forget to Tag Brands 

One of the biggest perks of being an Instagram influencer is getting free products, PR packages, and/or paid sponsorships from brands, right?

The good news is that you don’t have to wait until you have hundreds of thousands of followers to be able to start working with brands!

If you have at least 1,000 followers on Instagram and your engagement is pretty high, you should start contacting brands to work with you!

While your following may be smaller, you’re what’s known as a micro-influencer. Big brands aren’t going to be keen to working with you right off the bat, but you can build up your experience working with brands by reaching out to smaller companies.

The easiest way to get in contact with a brand is by tagging them in the photos that you’re uploading to your IG!

As we talked about earlier, sometimes brands will even re-post your picture on their account, which will help to increase your visibility.

If you’ve found a brand that you’re interested in working with, you can send a brand a DM (direct message) on IG, especially if you’ve noticed that they’ve worked with other Instagram influencers that fall in the same niche as you.

Before you reach out to the company, make sure that you take time working on a professional pitch that discusses why you’re reaching out to them and what you can offer to their brand.

Let’s Talk About It

There are many benefits that come with being an Instagram influencer. Some of us enjoy the potential impact that we have on our communities, while others will enjoy the financial freedom that being an Instagram influencer allows us.

Keep in mind that becoming an Instagram influencer isn’t going to happen overnight or within a week. If you’re patient and consistently work towards becoming an Instagram influencer, you’re going to see results over time.

Most importantly, your dream of becoming an Instagram influencer is entirely possible!

Have any tips on how to become an Instagram influencer? Let us know in the comment section down below!

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