How to Become an Influencer on Instagram

Influencer marketing is a $15 billion industry, and it's only getting bigger. Being an Instagram influencer can be a fulfilling and lucrative job if you have the right tools and strategies. You'll need a lot of patience and consistency, too.

To help you get your foot in the door, here are six steps you can take to become a successful Instagram influencer.

1. Carve Out a Niche

It might be tempting to do what everyone else is doing on Instagram. But if you want to secure your spot as an influencer, you have to find your niche. If you have no idea what that is, ask yourself what you're knowledgeable about and what you love doing. It has to be something you're passionate about because you'll be talking about it constantly on your platform.

Once you've identified your niche, think about what content categories you want to add under it. These are three to five sub-topics that are relevant to your brand identity. If your niche is fashion, some content categories you can consider are streetwear, beauty, self-love, and body positivity. If you're a coffee shop, you can focus on brewing recipes, behind-the-scenes posts, and photos of latte art.

Here are some tips on how to identify your content categories:

• Brainstorm topics that support your niche.
• Look at how your Instagram posts are performing and which themes do the best.
• Listen to what your Instagram audience is saying and assess their needs.

2. Become an Expert in Short-Form Videos

Instagram Reels are currently the most effective content format on Instagram in terms of engagement. They're a great way for influencers to showcase their personality and creativity. Not to mention the Instagram algorithm heavily favors them. However, it can be intimidating to create Reels if you're a beginner.

Here are some tips on how you can publish your first one:

• Decide on the purpose of your Reel, whether it's to be relatable, educational, or inspirational.
• Find inspiration and see what's trendy by looking at what other content creators in your field are doing.
• Just start. Your first Reel isn't going to be perfect, but you can learn from your mistakes and keep practicing.
• Hook your viewers in either with a captivating visual or a thought-provoking text. That way, you prevent viewers from scrolling past your Reel.
• Keep a backlog of Reels to ensure you always have content to post for the following week.

3. Create High-Quality Content

Instagram will always be a visual platform, and you'll need beautiful images to gain traction. If you want to become a full-time influencer, it can be worth investing in photography classes, a quality camera, and gear. You don't have to buy them all at once. You can spread out your investments as you find your footing and gain more followers.

Aside from eye-catching images, you must also provide value through meaningful captions. They add substance to your brand and create opportunities for conversation and connection. It's worth sharpening your writing skills to help you express your thoughts and ideas effectively. To make your captions even more powerful, include keywords, hashtags, and a call to action at the end.

4. Treat Instagram As a Place of Business

Influencers are brands, and Instagram is where they promote themselves. It's a place of business and should be treated like one if you want to succeed in the industry. If you're still using a personal account, it's time to switch to a creator or business profile. It will give you a more professional look, and you'll gain access to valuable performance insights and creator-centric tools. Business accounts can also use third-party platforms to help them organize and schedule their posts.

Don't waste the bio space, either. Your bio serves as the first pitch to brands, so write one that describes who you are and what you do. It can be in bullet form or made up of short sentences.

5. Create Channels of Income

Once you have a niche and have built a solid following, you can make money as an influencer. There are several ways to earn on the platform, including the following:

• Partnering With Brands

  When you're looking for brands to partner with, choose ones that align with your interests and values. You might seem inauthentic if you work with brands that have nothing to do with your regular content. You can start by mentioning products, services, and places that you love for free. You can then reference those posts when you're connecting with brands.

  You can earn through partnerships in various ways. They might pay you to post about their products or offer you their products for free as payment for content. Only accept a deal if you're satisfied with the compensation.

• Applying to Affiliate Programs

  When you join a brand's affiliate program, you get paid to promote their products. You earn a commission whenever a follower purchases the product using your discount code or affiliate link. Again, only promote brands that you resonate with and would use yourself. It's also best practice to inform your followers whenever a link you've shared is an affiliate.

  There are two types of affiliate models. With the pay-per-click model, you earn a small amount every time someone clicks on your affiliate link. On the other hand, the cost-per-acquisition scheme has a higher commission rate, but the brand only pays you if a sale pushes through. It's essential to know the pros and cons of each model.

• Turning on Live Badges

  If you use Instagram Live a lot, consider enabling Live Badges to earn some money on the side. When you go live, followers can express their support by buying a badge that ranges between $0.99 to $4.99. You can enable monetization on the Professional Dashboard.

  Be sure to inform your audience if you've enabled Live Badges so they know there's an option to give. Of course, don't forget to show your appreciation to those who have purchased a badge.

6. Be Consistent

Back in the day, you could be random with your posting and still grow your following. Unfortunately, that's not true anymore. The Instagram algorithm loves consistency, favoring those who post frequently and regularly. The best way to stay consistent is to batch your posts and assign dates to them through a social media calendar.

The Bottom Line

Becoming an influencer is not easy. But with the right strategy, you'll start to see your efforts come to fruition. Going live, posting consistently, and creating high-quality content can all help you reach your goals of becoming a successful Instagram influencer.