1. CCC = Creative Campaign Concept

Instagram marketing is about more than bog-standard content. Don’t just rely on mindless product placements. Create an actual campaign that has an overarching theme, message or tone to tell your brand story.

2. Influencers Who Make Sense

We are strong believers in the powerful relationships and content that can be created when brands use influencers outside of their specific product categories. A fashion brand should expand from using only fashion bloggers, an automotive brand from only car vloggers. There are so many creative ways to tell a brand story and portray the lifestyle of a brand using influencers across various verticals. However, that being said, for a campaign to be a success the brand should select influencers who fundamentally make sense for the brand and not just because of their high following or cool content.

3. Engagement over Followers

It is easy for a brand to select an influencer only based on their follower count. What brands should really be focusing on is how many of their followers actually engage with the content. Engagement is the basis for a campaign’s success as it is a direct positive (hopefully not negative) response to the content. Billion Dollar Boy is highlighting engagement rates over follower count almost exclusively now.

4. Audience Insights

It is important for businesses to gain insight into the audiences of the influencers. Using influencers for Instagram marketing is such a successful marketing tool because it allows companies to reach highly targeted audiences. The beauty of working with an agency is that we have the tools to find audience demographics for you. Do not assume that wherever the influencer is from is where his main audience is based. Instagram is still the fastest growing social site globally because it is led by visuals instead of text. Also, many female influencers, especially the ones often in bikinis, have largely male audiences.

5. Beautiful Content

At its core, Instagram is still about beautiful content. Many users do not even read the caption before they decide whether they “like” the image or not. That gut reaction and response to the content is what will first engage the viewer to delve further into the post and read and understand what it is about. That instantaneous response to strong imagery is what fundamentally will result in a successful campaign.