How to Find Suitable Instagram Influencers for Shopify?

What are Instagram Influencers?

Influencer marketing is simply partnering with famous people to sell your products to their fans. It’s a shortcut to convert people from not knowing anything about your business, to an actual customer via the belief in their influencers.

These Instagram influencers might be pop-star singers, content creators with a good amount of followers, etc. There are 3 types of influencers, including:

• Micro-influencers: 1,000 - 10,000 fans (safe choice for beginners)
• Macro influencers: 10,000 – 1M fans (ideal to maintain in a long run)
• Celebrities: over 1M fans (necessary when raising brand awareness)

Growing a following on Instagram can be challenging for businesses, especially beginners. While visually appealing products can help, no one can guarantee it’s gonna be successful just by sharing product-related content. Frankly, you should take a course on how to raise the first 1,000 followers before heading to next steps.

For businesses without an established audience on Instagram, collaborating with influencers can be invaluable. Influencers have already built a loyal following who are genuinely interested in their content, making them effective in driving web traffic and increasing social media followers, ultimately boosting conversion rates.

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How much do Instagram Influencers cost?

This part should be essential as it directly affects the business’s revenue, so pay attention.

The cost of working with Instagram influencers varies depending on factors like their following and the scope of your project. In the past, smaller influencers often accepted free products in exchange for promotion, but now, most charge a fee that both parties can agree to. More famous influencers now charge significant fees for brand posts. Some influencers said that they charge $5,000 to $10,000 per post.

Pricing for influencer marketing depends on factors like their reach and the scope of the partnership. Influencers with over 100,000 followers typically charge around $1,000 per post, while micro-influencers charge about $300 per post. Nano-influencers charge even less.

While cash is the most common form of payment, some influencers accept in-kind exchanges if they genuinely like the product or brand. Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to how much influencer marketing costs, so it’s best to reach out to influencers directly for a quote.

How to find Instagram influencers for Shopify?

Step 1: Identify business goals

Do you have specific goals in mind for partnering with Instagram influencers? It’s important to know what you want before spending money on actual actions.

Do you want to increase brand popularity, generate leads and sales, or grow your Instagram following? Your choice of influencers will depend very much on your goals. For instance, if you want to boost your Instagram followers, consider running contests or quizzes with hashtags and partnering with influencers who can encourage their followers to participate.

On the other hand, if your goal is to drive sales or leads, focus on affiliate marketing and discount codes. Join hands with influencers whose audience is likely to be interested in your product. Once you’ve established your company’s objectives, consider whether the influencer’s personality aligns with your brand.

Choosing an influencer whose values and style match your brand’s can lead to higher returns on investment. For example, an influencer known for their fashion sense would be a great fit for promoting a new line of high heels while music influencers may not bring you much benefits in this case.

Step 2: Look for engagement

When you’re doing Instagram influencer marketing, don’t forget to consider engagement. Based on Hootsuite’s report in January 2024, the average engagement rate among the 12 biggest industries is around 1.6% and mostly is the platform with the highest rate compared to Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, different types of influencers have varying levels of engagement. Take your time to compare and choose wisely.

Step 3: Investigate the influencer’s reputation

Since influencer marketing is so popular, it has become a great opportunity for fraud. Most pretend to be micro-influencers which are easy and quick to build fake accounts. But every penny should be worthy. You need to check carefully who you’re working with.

One way to know if your partner is a legit one is by going through the comments in their posts. Spam comments like nice pic, great, looking good are signs to recognize a fake influencer using bots to boost the number of comments. Also, don’t believe in the follower amount, it can be bought easily.

Step 4: Seek for solid connections

So, how to distinguish fake and real followers? Look at these signs:

• Actual account name: Bot accounts usually look like Amanda1392, Savior329, etc.

• Ask meaningful questions: The real ones would ask specific questions that relate to the post. For example, if that influencer posted about her face using a new eyeliner, irrelevant comments like “good pants”, or “nice dress” are not trustworthy.

• Make personal statements: Sometimes, people may leave a personal statement. It’s a good sign too.

• Tag their friends: Sharing friends is another way to distinguish between bots and humans.

Step 5: Use hashtags that are relevant to your products

It’s best to seek out Instagram users who have previously mentioned products or brands similar to yours, as they could be a good fit for your influencer campaign. Conduct hashtag analysis to accomplish this.

Think of hashtags like SEO keywords. High-density hashtags are comparable to primary keywords in SEO, being the most widely used hashtags on Instagram. It’s not advisable to use them for your posts. Searching for influencers using these hashtags would be a waste of time. For instance, start your search with “floral” and you’ll get over 29,000,000 results.

However, if you delve into longer, more specific hashtags, the number of posts is smaller. For example, #floralshop has more than 73,000 posts, while #floralstore has only around 3,000. So, the more specific you search for, the closer you get to the best match.

Step 6: Explore relevant keywords

When searching for hashtags, begin with keywords that reflect your brand or audience. For instance, if you sell travel gear, start with #travel, and Instagram will suggest popular and relevant hashtags. Then, use narrowẻ hashtags like #traveladdict, #traveldiary, or #travelcaptures to find influencers in specific niches. This approach might lead you to top travel influencers on Instagram.

Step 7: Search for #sponsored or #ad hashtags

Instagram allows influencer accounts to include #sponsored or #ad hashtags in their posts to distinguish promotional content. So, it’s a good idea to use these for finding influencers that work with sponsership.

Step 8: Join influencer platforms

The last step in “How to Find Instagram Influencers for Shopify?” is joining influencers’ communities and platforms. These are the places where they gather, some look for cooperation, others share information related to this business, and of course, seek influencers. Some platforms even help connect businesses with suitable influencers.

It sounds easier, right? However, there are a few things you need to remember when choosing a platform. Ask yourself these questions:

• Does this platform have influencers for what you’re selling? How good are their influencers?
• What kind of tools does the platform offer for creating, sharing, and tracking content?
• Do they provide any tools for real-time analytics and reports?
• What did previous users say about this platform?

Here are a few platforms for Instagram influencers that are worth checking:

1. Meltwater

Meltwater is a free platform designed specifically for influencer marketing. It serves as an influencer database, categorizing influencers into 60,000 subject categories and analyzing their profiles and audience characteristics, which makes searching quick and efficient. With Meltwater, users can filter influencer lists by social media platform, audience size, expertise, location, and mentioned keywords. This approach also enables users to assess potential campaign outcomes and determine which strategies are most effective.

Highlight features:

• AI-Powered Search: Use advanced filters for topic, text, or image searches to find the ideal match

• Real-Time Report: Identify influencers with the best performances using advanced analytics and AI-driven recommendations

• In-App Contracts & Payments: Create custom agreements and manage all payment transactions

• E-commerce Integrations: Offer products, generate codes, and track links to boost sales

• Branded Recruitment Pages: Expand your network by using inbound creator discovery of your site and social accounts

• Mass Email Outreach: Simplify outreach efforts by sending numerous personalized emails at the same time

• Team Workspaces: Coordinate influencer marketing initiatives across multiple businesses, markets, and products in a single location

Famous names that worked with Meltwater: Microsoft, Western Union, Havas Red, Pernod Ricard, Asana, etc.

Pricing: Contact for details

2. Influence.co

Influence.co allows you to discover influencers along with their profiles showcasing the number of brands they’ve partnered with. Additionally, this platform provides insights into the cost of collaborating with these influencers. It’s an excellent tool for researching and compiling a list of potential partners for your campaign.

Highlight features:

• Top-tier influencer discovery
• Enable influencers to find you
• Connect with the right creators & manage your campaign seamlessly
• Analyze results & shape your strategy
• Establish brand ambassador plans with Creator Communities

Famous names that worked with Influence.co: Dyson, Forever 21, Casper, etc.

Pricing:

3. NinjaOutreach

NinjaOutreach helps you discover Instagram influencers through its extensive database. Simply specify your niche and location, and the platform will display a list of relevant influencers, complete with their social media profiles and contact information. Additionally, NinjaOutreach provides insights into each influencer’s engagement level and suggests effective collaboration strategies.

Highlight features:

• Save Instagram leads in your email list
• Monitor your Influencer network with built-in CRM
• Track which approaches have the best performance

Pricing:

How to contact Instagram influencers for work?

Craft an appealing proposal

Put yourself in the influencer’s shoes and tailor your offer to their audience. Think about what would excite them and why they’d want to collaborate with your brand. Offer enticing collaboration options that they won’t be able to resist.

Keep in mind that a short and simple pitch is much more effective than a lengthy and boring one. Avoid overwhelming them with a long email. Instead, express your interest clearly and personalize the message as much as possible. While direct messages on Instagram are an option, it’s recommended to send a professional email for a more formal approach.

Create an email sequence

Send a series of emails to influencers, as they often have many messages to sift through and may take 3-5 days to respond. Set up an email sequence to follow up until you receive a reply. While crafting personalized emails is key, be patient as it may take up to three emails before receiving a response.

Final words

And that’s how to find the best matches to promote your business on Instagram. Go slow but steady. Don’t rush it if you don’t want to run into fake influencers. Take time to investigate the right choice to spend money.