10 Tips on how to become an Instagram influencer

Being an influencer is no longer a fad. Instead ever more people are taking off with their social media presences as they look to becoming influencers and earning money with Instagram. But success isn’t guaranteed. Follow our top 10 tips and tricks to improve your chances.

To become a successful Instagram influencer, you need to consider your target audience. Who will see your content? Who would be interested in reading your posts? Before you consider becoming an influencer you should try and answer these questions. Once you’ve got a better idea of your target audience, you’re ready to continue. Follow the hashtags that are most relevant to your target group and get inspired by other posts. At this stage, it’s worth paying attention to your own hashtags.

To assess potential target groups, it is important to have an overview of Instagram’s demographic structure. More than half of Instagram users are under 35, meaning that the social network’s users are primarily young adults. If you create content that is mainly aimed at older people, you might want to reconsider your choice of platform. Topics that are primarily of interest to teenagers and young adults are perfectly suited to Instagram.

Although the age distribution differs greatly on Instagram, the gender distribution is relatively balanced. Although with a share of just over 51%, slightly more men use the social network. The difference, however, is so small that you don’t have to take it into account for your content creation.

Speaking of hashtags, they’re vital if you want your posts to be found by Instagram’s algorithm. Add hashtags to your posts to make it easier for users to find it. But beware that less is more. Instagram recommends three to five hashtags per post. In some instances, it’s a good idea to stick to a standard hashtag for potential followers to find you faster. Changing up your hashtags also has advantages. The wider the spectrum of hashtags used, the broader the potential audience you can reach.

It is important that you adapt your hashtags to fit in with current trends. For this to be effective, it helps if you use Instagram yourself and can look at which hashtags well-known influencers with a large reach are currently using. Being aware of other internet trends like various challenges can also be worthwhile. National or international days for strange or funny things are also popular as hashtags, and it’s easy to find out which dates they fall on with just a quick internet search. An idea could be to present your followers with a smoothie recipe for International Fruit Day on the first of July.

If you are not sure which hashtags match your post, you can use hashtag generators like the one from Sistrix to obtain popular and suitable Instagram hashtags.

If you prefer clean posts, you can add your hashtags as a comment underneath your posts and hide them. This way, followers only see a hashtag once they click “Show all comments”.

Compelling captions are a must on Instagram. Adapt yours to suit the app. It’s worth remembering that only the first three lines of your caption will be shown in an Instagram feed, so choose them wisely. Instagram recommends a maximum character length of 125 characters. A good caption references the initial post and makes readers curious to check out your other posts.

Don’t shy away from asking your followers to leave a comment or tag their friends. This boosts engagement and brings your followers closer together.

To become a well-known Instagram influencer, you must get Instagram followers. How connected you are to your community of followers is fundamental for this to happen. You can deepen your connection to your followers through different means, but Stories are particularly well-suited. Use them to share day-to-day happenings or to raise awareness of issues that move you and are relevant to your audience. It’s a good idea to add captions to video Stories because even with the sound turned off your viewers will be left with an impression of what your Story is all about.

Met another influencer in a special location? Be sure to mention them in your posts. Use “@” to mention other social network users in your posts. You can also tag locations in your posts. The advantage of location-tagging is that posts are easier to find via the tagged location for a while. Tagging people and locations could boost the number of users who follow your channel. And, as you already know, followers are essential to becoming a successful Instagram influencer.

Instagram is now so much more than a platform to share photos on. Stories capture short videos or photo moments. How engaging posts are matters all the more for Instagram influencers, but authenticity is still key and shouldn’t be sacrificed over entertainment. Instagram Reels is another useful format. The short video clips essentially copy those by competitor TikTok. When creating Instagram Reels, you can choose from a range of different design options.

Be sure to alternate the different content formats. That way, there's something for everyone and you won't run the risk of losing followers who only follow your profile for Reels, for example.

When using an official Instagram business account, you get to monitor the times most of your followers are online via the “Insights” tab. Be sure to adjust your posting frequency according to these insights. Interactions tend to increase when more people notice your posts. It may be worth experimenting with different times until you find the perfect window.

Unless you’re already an established influencer, your Instagram bio is an important feature to make a good first impressions. Use a bio to tell potential followers what you and your channel are all about. Add keywords for users to find your channel more easily. It’s a good idea to avoid sounding too formal. Emojis or fun facts are a great way to lighten the mood and draw in visitors.

To become an Instagram influencer, you should be comfortable with establishing your persona as a brand. Personal branding is not just about complex self-marketing. Recall and recognition are important pillars to becoming a successful influencer. The best case scenario is to have your brand building practices embedded throughout your channel.

For example, follow a clear design thread. You could use images of a similar tone and shade or focus on clear styles. The goal is for your followers to immediately recognize your posts as uniquely you. You can also design a profile that looks appealing in its entirety. But this shouldn’t be your main intent, because Instagram is all about the feed. However, a stylish, well-designed profile leaves a great impression.

Once your followers start to mention you in their Stories, you can begin to repost their content in your Stories. Not only is it content you don’t need to put much effort into, but your audience will feel more engaged when you reference their efforts. Just be sure to check in with individual followers before mentioning them in your Stories.