New Study Finds Instagram Influencers Are Growing Fast In Number; Here Are 6 Tools to Take Your Account to ‘Blue-Check’ Status

By Jordan French Jordan French has been verified by Muck Rack's editorial team
Published on March 6, 2019

A new study published by Klear, an Israel-based influencer marketing tool, has discovered that Instagram influencer marketing is growing at an unprecedented rate of speed. In 2018, the study analyzed all 2,113,307 sponsored feed posts on Instagram that included the #ad hashtag.

The results?

Influencer marketing on Instagram, from 2017 to 2018, increased by an astounding 39 percent. The report goes on to suggest that similar growth should be expected during the 2019 calendar year.

It’s no secret that Influencer marketing has quickly become one of the hottest trends on Instagram. Brands want to connect with highly engaged audiences, and one of the best ways to do that is by partnering with influencers in targeted niches.

While this can prove highly lucrative for the brands, with 72 percent of Instagram users reporting that they have purchased products they’ve seen on Instagram, it can also be financially beneficial for influencers themselves. Studies have found that Instagram influencers charge an average of $1,000 per 100,000 followers — and that’s for a single post.

Needless to say, becoming an Instagram influencer can be an exciting and financially rewarding entrepreneurial venture. But you have to build your audience first — the following tools will help you get there as you build your personal brand:

1) Kicksta

A large, engaged audience is the baseline for true influencer status — but to get audiences to engage with you, you often need to initiate the interactions. Interacting with potential followers in an effort to grow your audience can be time consuming, but Kicksta will take care of the busy work for you.

After showing Kicksta the type of audience you want to attract for your account, the tool then initiates engagement on your behalf by liking photos posted by individual users in your target group. The idea is simple: when individuals see a notification about your page’s “like,” they’ll be more inclined to check out your content.

By focusing on your target demographic, Kicksta increases the odds that these newly discovered individuals will start following your page, fueling organic growth that will help you gain influencer status.

2) Hootsuite

Life is busy, and you undoubtedly have many other responsibilities besides growing your Instagram account. The problem for influencers, however, is that their audiences generally expect to see new content each day.

With Hootsuite, you don’t have to worry about creating content and posting each day. This simple scheduling tool allows you to schedule posts in advance. This way, you could create and schedule the content for a week’s worth of posts in one day so that the rest of your week can be focused on audience engagement.

Hootsuite also offers an advanced analytics suite so you can see which posts are performing best and adapt your content strategy as needed.

3) VSCO

Instagram influencers gain their followings in large part thanks to their ability to provide quality content. Beautiful, engaging photos are often what causes someone to follow an Instagram account in the first place. Of course, not everyone has access to professional-grade cameras and editing software.

VSCO solves this common influencer conundrum by giving users access to preset photo enhancements and easy to use editing tools. The paid version of the app even offers film editing and creative tutorials to help you further enhance the quality of your posts. Best of all, everything can be done from the convenience of your mobile device.

4) Wordswag

Quality Instagram posts aren’t always about the image itself. With Wordswag, you have the ability to quickly add text to your photo with several unique typography options to create an eye-catching image.

With a wide selection of fonts, this easy to use tool allows you to create posts that look like they were crafted by a professional designer. You can type in your own phrases or choose from the app’s database of inspirational and humorous quotes to create the perfect look for your post.

The right text is a great way to make your content even more shareable.

5) Hashtags for Promotion

An Instagram post with hashtags typically gets about 12.6 percent more engagement than posts without any hashtags. As an influencer, increasing your engagement with hashtags is crucial for demonstrating your value to potential brand partners. The right hashtags will also help new followers discover you online so you can continue to grow your audience.

If you need help finding the right hashtags for your post, you can’t go wrong with Hashtags For Promotion. This convenient app allows you to search for hashtags by category, or you can search for a specific hashtag to get a list of related, relevant hashtags.

This makes it easy to find the top relevant hashtags for each post, ensuring that you’ll be able to get your content out to even more people.

6) HYPR

Adding a link on your Instagram bio that mentions that you are willing to do promotional opportunities is a good start for landing brand partnerships. But many micro-influencers slip through the cracks and go unnoticed by potential brand partners.

The good news is that platforms like HYPR aim to facilitate connections between influencers and brands. Best of all, they require very little work on your part. With HYPR, influencers simply submit basic information and links to their social media accounts.

HYPR then creates an influencer profile that also details your audience demographic, making it easier for relevant brands in your niche to discover you.

Building a large, highly engaged Instagram following won’t necessarily happen overnight. But by following the best practices for Instagram engagement and leveraging the power of these tools, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a successful part of this disruptive modern marketing method.

By Jordan French Jordan French has been verified by Muck Rack's editorial team

Journalist verified by Muck Rack verified

Jordan French is the Founder and Executive Editor of Grit Daily Group, encompassing Financial Tech Times, Smartech Daily, Transit Tomorrow, BlockTelegraph, Meditech Today, High Net Worth magazine, Luxury Miami magazine, CEO Official magazine, Luxury LA magazine, and flagship outlet, Grit Daily. The champion of live journalism, Grit Daily's team hails from ABC, CBS, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Forbes, Fox, PopSugar, SF Chronicle, VentureBeat, Verge, Vice, and Vox. An award-winning journalist, he was on the editorial staff at TheStreet.com and a Fast 50 and Inc. 500-ranked entrepreneur with one sale. Formerly an engineer and intellectual-property attorney, his third company, BeeHex, rose to fame for its "3D printed pizza for astronauts" and is now a military contractor. A prolific investor, he's invested in 50+ early stage startups with 10+ exits through 2023.

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