How to Become an Instagram Influencer

There’s never been a better time to be an Instagram influencer. People who claim that Instagram and influencer marketing are dead are kidding themselves. Seriously.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing was a $4.5 billion industry in 2018. It’s targeted to be a $6.5 billion industry in 2019.

Instagram has totally changed my life. I went from being a corporate attorney working 7 days a week, to being a self-employed content creator, having a totally flexible schedule, traveling the world in collaboration with hotels and destinations, and making a living promoting products I love.

If you’re looking to be your own boss and have all of the freedom that comes with it, this post is your roadmap for how to to become an Instagram influencer.

Choose Your Niche

Your niche is the main subject matter you’re going to post about on Instagram. If you look at the most successful Instagram influencers, each has a specific niche that is obvious from a quick look at their account. Examples of niches include “travel” and “women’s street style”.

It’s hard to build an audience and have influence if you’re creating content about everything. Because, it’s hard to be considered an expert – AKA have influence – about every topic under the sun.

If you’re creating high quality content about one topic, you’re more likely to attract people who love what you do. Those are the people who are going to look to YOU for recommendations. And when people are looking to you for recommendations, that’s when brands are going to be scrambling to work with you – and pay you!

Find Your Aesthetic

Instagram is a visual platform. People come to Instagram to see beautiful images and videos. The most successful Instagram influencers have a consistent look to their accounts. They view their Instagram grid – or “feed” – as a collection of images that flow together.

Finding a consistent style for your photos and/or videos is key if you want to be an influencer. First off, it will help attract followers, likes and comments. People on Instagram tend to like cohesive accounts. Second, it will also capture the attention of brands. Brands don’t just care about the number of followers you have, or how many likes your posts get. They also care about the quality of your content.

One way to create a consistent Instagram aesthetic is to find a filter you like in VSCO or a similar app. I take all of my photos with a DSLR camera so, instead, I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos on my laptop. Lightroom gives me a lot of control over the color, saturation and brightness of my photos. You can click here to download my free Tropical Sunsets Lightroom preset (aka filter), if you want to give editing in Lightroom a try.

Add Value

The best Instagram influencers provide value to their audiences every day. Whether they’re showing off the latest fashion trends or the hottest travel destinations, they are always giving their followers useful information and inspiration.

I noticed a huge difference when I started posting specific travel tips in my Instagram captions and stories. More people were saving my posts! More people were replying to my stories! People were DM’ing me to thank me for helping them plan their trips! Think about ways that you can provide value to your followers every day – and watch your engagement climb.

Post Regularly

If you want to be an Instagram influencer, you should post on Instagram regularly. First off, posting often is important just to get your content actually seen by people. Instagram posts have pretty short shelf lives unless they go viral. So, you need to post regularly to get your content seen and to stay on your followers’ minds.

Instagram influencers are also so influential because they are ahead of the game when it comes to trends. People look to them to find out what is current, whether that’s in fashion, travel, or otherwise. Posting regularly means you can stay on top of whatever is trending and show those trends to your followers. That helps you build valuable influence that attracts brands who will pay you to showcase their products or services to your followers.

Build Your Tribe

Social media is meant to be just that – social! If you want to be an Instagram influencer, it’s time to start building your tribe. Most Instagram influencers spend a meaningful amount of time every day on Instagram. They also spend time attending industry events and networking with brands and other influencers.

When you spend more time building relationships on and off Instagram, it will help your following grow. You’ll also develop those oh-so-important relationships with brands and their agencies. Just like with most other jobs, most influencer opportunities aren’t posted to the public. They go to influencers who have taken the time to make relationships with brands and their PR agencies.

There has never been a better time to become an Instagram influencer. There are just more opportunities for influencers to work with brands now than there were just a few years ago.

And, those types of opportunities are no longer reserved for influencers with a million followers. Brands are focusing more and more on working with nano influencers (usually 1,000-5,000 followers) and micro influencers (usually 5,000 to 100,000 followers) because those influencers tend to have more engaged followers.

And if you’re looking to level up with your Instagram content, you can check out my post on posing for photos, how to become an influencer, how influencers make money, and sign up for my free influencer masterclass with I share industry secrets to help you get paid to promote your favorite brands without having a huge following.

Want to Keep in Touch?

• Come say hi on Instagram!
• Or why not join my free Facebook group for female influencers/Instagrammers?
• And sign up for my free influencer masterclass and learn to get paid to promote your favorite brands even if you don’t have a huge following

Love This Post? Pin It!

• 

•