Instagram influencers value to brands is highly dependent upon the engagement of their followers to that brand campaign.
According to the State of Influencer Marketing 2019 report by HypeAuditor, the average Instagram engagement rate for influencers with over a million followers is only 1.97%. So when you post the algorithm shows that post to a small percentage of your followers so that less than 20,000 followers actually engage with that post. If you’re relying on your post to earn a living, which most influencers are, that should be a major concern.
Nano-influencers are the most popular tier of influencers and have the highest engagement rate of 5.60%! With a well-defined niche and real influence in their community, they are a great option to work despite lower follower counts. Even 5.6%, which is almost 3x the rate of engagement of then mega influencers, is still a poor rate of engagement.
Understanding these figures from a business perspective means that influencers really need to get control of their engagement levels. Higher engagement means higher returns on effort, more happy followers, as presumably if they follow you they want to engage with you. You also provide a better ROI for the brands you promote, especially your own brand, and, ultimately, more money in your bank account.
This is WIN CUBED! Not just a WIN, WIN, WIN scenario but WIN compounded. Think about it!
As an influencer, you will be able to offer a better proposition to the brands you endorse as you will be able to offer access content to your followers across Omni channels that you control, and not be solely reliant on the Instagram algorithm. Using omnichannel marketing means that you will be able to charge more for your influence, and obtain higher ROI’s for your clients and yourself. You will also be a more attractive business proposition for the brands that you influence. Think about it from their point of view.
An effective budget is part and parcel of every marketing campaign. While every company’s budget differs, it is important they justify any marketing spend by looking at the return of investment (Marketing ROI). In other words, what brands really want is to get more bang for their buck. The good news is that Influencer marketing content delivers 11X higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing. As consumers rely more on influencers as a source of information, working with influencers is one of the best ways to generate high conversion rates for any brand. Influencers that can offer omnichannel marketing will, therefore, be in much higher demand.
With the new rules introduced by Instagram in June 2021 and new software released in August 2021 omnichannel marketing is now possible for all Instagram influencers. By automating DM’s, comments, and private replies using conversational sequences influencers are now able to turn followers into email and SMS subscribers, with no additional effort and minimal cost. As a bonus, advertising is not required. Possible, even beneficial, but not necessary.
In my next post, I will discuss how easy it is for influencers to automate responses to requests from brands for rate cards.
I hope that if you’re an Instagram influencer, or know any influencers, that this post has been helpful and given you some food for thought on Instagram Influencers Value to Brands.
Read more on Instagram DM Automation.
