According to statistics, it is estimated that around 500 million people use the platform every day. Advertising with influencers remains a popular tool for promoting products and brands. In our article we analyze the pros and cons of advertising integrations with influencers on Instagram. We will explore how to find suitable influencers and create successful collaborations.
Pros and cons of influencer marketing on Instagram
Like any method of promotion, advertising with influencers has advantages and disadvantages. To understand whether it is suitable for your brand, you should first evaluate the pros and cons.
Pros
- Access to the target audience. You can choose influencers with an audience of a certain age, interests or geolocation, which are suitable for your brand. For example, sports equipment companies would cooperate with influencers in the fitness niche, while clothing brands would opt for models.
However, the selection of influencers can take a lot of time. You need to contact everyone individually and agree on the terms of a publication. To speed up the process, many advertisers use the service Instajet.io. It is a platform of native integrations in Stories. There are more than 6,000 influencers in the catalog. In Instajet.io you can set a filter by niche, ad price, geography, characteristics of the audience and others.
The advantage of the platform is that you do not have to sign a contract with each influencer separately. Advertisers and influencers are both protected by a "safe deal". When you create an order, the cost of publishing is fixed in the system and the amount remains on the platform until the collaboration is finished. The influencer receives the payment only after the integration is published according to the brief. Also Instajet.io provides closing documents for the accounting department. For each company it is very important to track the costs of integrations.
- Brand awareness growth. Influencer marketing forms the brand image and serves to make the brand well-known among the target audience. Even if a person does not make a purchase immediately, in the future he or she is more likely to choose a familiar product.
- Audience trust. Loyal followers perceive integrations more as a friend's advice than as direct advertising. This is especially true for micro–influencers (influencers with the number of subscribers from 1,000 to 10,000 people). Advertising in such accounts may be more effective than integration with more popular influencers. In Instajet.io you can choose influencers also by the number of followers. The catalog features both influencers with millions of followers and microinfluencers.
- Easy campaign launch. To collaborate with influencers, you do not need to understand the details of targeting or the settings of advertising cabinets. Select suitable influencers and agree on the terms of publications. Here the service Instajet.io will be useful. It allows you to create wholesale orders. So, you can send a task to several influencers at once. With this service you will launch a campaign in a couple of clicks and save a lot of time.
- Non–standard format. An influencer can create advertising publications in his or her own author's style. A non-standard ad will help you stand out from the competition on Instagram. The audience will better perceive and remember such content.
Cons
- Difficult to predict the effectiveness. It is impossible to calculate the conversion of views of an advertising post into a purchase.
- The high cost of integrations. Campaigns with the "Instagram stars" are expensive, so you need to compare the potential profit from the campaign with the costs in advance.
- Low quality audience. Advertising on Instagram pages with fake subscribers will not bring any sales. Therefore, it is necessary to check the quality of the influencers' audience.
Points to consider
If you plan to advertise with influencers, we recommend taking into account several important points. They will help you to protect your own interests and get the maximum result from the advertising campaign.
Establishing the cooperation
Fix the main terms and conditions in the contract. The presence of an official document is important both for the advertiser and the influencer. Include in the contract: terms and number of publications, payment option, the procedure for text, script and layout approval, liability for non-fulfillment of obligations, and other important conditions for both parties. This contract will help to avoid misunderstandings with influencers.
Influencer's audience
Before placing ads with an influencer, make sure that his or her audience is suitable for you. Here are some tips on how to evaluate an influencer's audience.
- Quality. Pay attention to the number of active followers, real activity on the page and high engagement. You can evaluate the quality of the audience yourself or with the help of special services. Check the number of followers as well as the number of likes and comments under the posts. If the audience is not active in publications, it means that subscribers are fake. Therefore, your ad will not be seen by potential buyers. Specialized social network analytics services will help you check accounts for bots and find out the exact engagement indicators.
- Geography. This factor is important if you sell goods or services offline to local consumers. For example, it is better to place an advertisement for a restaurant with an influencer from your city. If you promote online courses or an online store, the geography of the audience does not matter.
- Page characteristics. Here take into consideration gender, age and preferences of the audience. Evaluate how much your product is in demand among the followers of the influencer. It makes no sense to advertise bicycles on a culinary page, and the youth audience is unlikely to be interested in expensive real estate.
Terms of reference or brief
To ensure that the integration with an influencer meets your expectations, write a detailed brief. The following points must be mentioned in the technical task.
1. The content of the advertising post. Pre-approve the layout, text of the post and/or the script of the video. Specify which call-to-action should be included in the publication: follow the link, buy the product or subscribe to the brand's page.
2. Time and number of publications. It can be difficult to agree on the exact date and time with popular influencers. In this case, specify at least approximate dates.
3. Format. An integration can be done in the format of a mention, recommendation, unpacking or a review.
4. Link. Ask an influencer to send you a link to the published advertising post/Story/video/reels.
Summing up
Advertising with influencers on Instagram gives a possibility to reach the particular audience and increase brand awareness. This promotion strategy is often more effective than regular advertising. Followers trust the influencer more. However, there are some disadvantages as well. For example, the high price of publications with the "Instagram stars" and the difficulty to accurately predict the results of the campaign. In order for your ad with an influencer to work effectively, check the quality of the audience, write a brief and state all terms of cooperation in the contract.
Any questions left?
We are Instajet.io - a service that helps advertisers find their audience through integrations with influencers, handpicked by our team. All you need to do is to register on our website, and start picking influencers that fit your brand - hundreds of them in one place, eager for cooperation!
Follow our Telegram channel. Here you will find many useful materials for your ad campaigns and promo codes for your integrations. Otherwise, you can also contact us via the form on the website or via our email info@instajet.io. Our support team will be happy to help you!
