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If you’ve been seeing more and more business-creator partnerships on Instagram over regular ads, it’s for a good reason. Creators have the power to influence decision-making. According to data by Meta, 58% of consumers have reported making a purchase after seeing a recommendation by a creator.
If you’re a business struggling to connect with your audience or you simply want to get your name out there, content creators are your best bet for improving your business Instagram profile.
Partnerships with content creators are more powerful than your regular marketing content.
In fact, 69% of consumers trust influencers or creators over brands. This is because influencers are able to build a strong relationship with their audience, and some have established themselves as authorities in specific niches.
Unlike brand-created content, which is there with the intent to sell, people look to influencers as a reliable resource. Other reasons to partner with content creators include:
Securing a partnership with a content creator involves more than just choosing the most popular one. Large corporations have even created an entire department that’s in charge of finding the best creators, planning collaborations, and managing client-influencer relationships.
However, If you’re a one-person team and this is your first time planning a partnership with a content creator, you can follow these steps:
While follower count might seem like the best metric to look at when choosing a content creator, there are other more important factors to consider.
First, the content creator should be someone belonging to your target demographic. For example, luxury brands must partner with creators who can afford the products. Otherwise, you will have a confused audience.
Engagement is perhaps the most important metric of an influencer. Millions of followers don’t mean anything if they’re composed of bots and an uninterested audience. Do real people actually appreciate their work? Check out their comments section to get an idea.
It’s also important to consider if the content creator’s personality matches yours. This includes their beliefs and the causes they support. Partnering with an influencer that goes against your brand personality can bring you negative PR.
You can always rely on social media monitoring tools to find creators who have posted about your company. This strategy helps to connect with interested creators who are more likely to collaborate.
Of course, before choosing a content creator, you need to outline your campaign goals. This will help you narrow down your search as you find the best person to help you achieve your specific goals.
Reaching out to your chosen influencer begins even before you send them a message. Make sure to follow them on Instagram and engage with their content a few weeks before sending them a message. This doesn’t just serve as your research stage, but it can also signal them of your existence.
We also advise leaving comments and likes to show them that you’re a fan of their work and that you truly believe in the value that they can bring.
You may assume that the best way to reach an Instagram Influencer is to slide into their DMs, but in most cases, your message will just get buried under all kinds of DMs and reactions from fans. Most professional content creators will have their emails in their bios for collaborations.
Get ideas for influencer outreach templates here.
Your brief should give the influencer an understanding of who your company is, including your brand tone of voice, personality, and what sets you apart from competitors.
It should also include a description of your campaign, your objectives and expectations, and other more specific details such as:
You can also cite examples from the influencer’s previous work with other brands for reference.
Always prepare a contract for both parties to sign to ensure your obligations are met, and all the details are clear before the campaign begins. The document should include the duration of the partnership, the scope of work, and the fees. The best way is to make good use of a talent release form template and fill it out with creators to avoid potential risks.
This ensures that both parties (the brand and the content creator) are protected.
Now that you know four steps to secure creator collaborations, it’s time to find out how to repurpose creators’ content for your business Instagram profile and get your company to the next level.
One of the best things about securing a partnership with a content creator is that you have tons of opportunities with an Instagram business account to repurpose their content. Here are some examples to inspire you.
Your brand page should be a balance of branded content, user-generated content, and influencer-produced content.
While influencer-produced content is always more engaging, it’s still important to balance it out with original content to strengthen brand identity and recognition. Otherwise, you run the risk of looking like a fan page of your chosen influencers.
Skincare and makeup brand Sunnies Face integrates influencer content into their grid, which would otherwise look like a magazine catalog. Balancing their feed out with influencer content makes their grid seem more authentic and approachable.
If part of your collaboration includes Instagram Stories content, it’s a good idea to add an Instagram Story Highlight since a regular story will expire after 24 hours.
Highlights allow people who missed out on your posts to view them beyond the 24-hour mark.
Since Instagram Story Highlights are placed just below your bio, it’s one of the first things profile visitors can see. Instagram Story Highlight covers labeled with the name of a creator can help capture the attention of your audience and encourage them to stay on your profile longer.
Great Jones added a Molly Baz Instagram Story Highlight so its followers and Molly fans can look back at the content whenever they want.
Image via Great Jones
Since creators manage to build a loyal community of followers, their words add more weight. When done right, creators’ endorsements can become a form of customer testimonial and it can help boost your credibility and earn you the trust of a valuable audience.
If you want to repurpose creators’ content for a business Instagram profile as a customer testimonial, you can either make a screenshot of product review or ask your partner for customer feedback and create an eye-catching image with the quote and creator’s photo.
Here’s another example by Sunnie’s Face:
A simple post of a creator using your products or availing of your services is as good as a recommendation. Use these posts as a subtle way to highlight creator reviews on your Instagram profile.
Since people trust influencers, these posts result in more likes. What is more, you can also use this content on your website.
Check out how lifestyle and outerwear brand Outdoor Voices does it. Outdoor Voices added a section on their website where visitors can see creator content and user-generated content posted on Instagram.
Image via Outdoor Voices
Instagram users are ready to shop, and using creator content on your Instagram storefront is an excellent way to lure them in. Plus, adding a human element to your storefront is a better way to connect with your audience compared to just using plain product shots.
Photos with faces on Instagram perform 38% better than those without. It’s safe to assume that it will perform even better with the face of a recognizable creator.
Here’s this strategy in action:
Image via Urban Outfitters
To stand out from the crowd, you can also rely on AI image generators and make a mix of creators’ content with stunning AI-made visuals to grab the attention of potential buyers and affect purchase decisions.
The popularity of social media advertising is on its rise. With paid ad campaigns, brands get a chance to get in front of their target audiences fast.
And when you feature creators’ content in ad campaigns, you increase brand loyalty and trust. Thus, on top of reposting creator content on your feed, use the best-performing posts in paid ads or boosts. This allows you to maximize your content and reach an audience beyond your followers.
Using the content for ads also allows you to beat the algorithm and ensure the post is seen by your ideal audience. Rely on campaign tracking to make sure to review the organic data of each post to find the most engaging content. If the post did well organically, it will most probably do well as an ad.
Case in point:
When Garnier Arabia decided to boost brand awareness for its new hair care product, the company added creators’ content to its ad campaign and it resulted in 2.4x awareness boost, a 2x ad recall, and a 1.3 point higher lift in purchase intent. Check out this ad campaign:
Image via Instagram Business
Everyone knows partnering with the right content creator can help put your brand on the map. But more than the fame and recognition that comes with a successful influencer/creator marketing campaign, the content you can get out of it is priceless.
As long as your contract allows it, you can repurpose the content in unlimited ways, from reposting them on your feed, turning them into reviews, and even creating an entirely new ad campaign.
Our team keeps a finger on the pulse, so you’re always working with the latest information.
