“To be interesting, be interested,” wrote Dale Carnegie in his 1936 self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Though published 75 years before Instagram, the urge to gain popularity and admiration remains strong in the social media era.
Read on to learn step-by-step how to become an Instagram influencer, plus how to monetize your following.
What is an Instagram influencer?
An Instagram influencer is someone with an engaged social media following on Instagram that they can sway into purchasing things or taking other actions (like signing up for a newsletter).
There are five types of influencers:
- Nano: 1,000 to 10,000 followers
- Micro: 10,000 to 100,000 followers
- Mid-tier: 100,000 to 500,000 followers
- Macro: 500,000 to 1 million followers
- Mega: more than 1 million followers
How to become an Instagram influencer
- Find your niche
- Set goals
- Write a compelling bio
- Post consistently
- Understand your audience
- Establish an aesthetic
- Adapt to the algorithm
- Create high-quality content
- Engage with your audience
- Make a media kit
- Be patient
Becoming an Instagram influencer likely won’t happen overnight. But there are a few steps you can follow to set yourself up for success and start building your Instagram influence:
1. Find your niche
As a content creator, you can post content about food, fashion, knitting, or any other topic that interests you. To stand out, carve out a specific angle within your niche. For example, recreate childhood recipes from memory, assemble work outfits inspired by movie characters, or knit large-scale projects.
Whether you produce video content, photos, or a combination of the two, the key is to find a unique niche that can sustain an audience’s interest.
2. Set goals
Instagram fame won’t look the same for everyone, so establishing clear goals will help you stay on track. You might aim for a certain number of followers, or worry less about your follower count and focus on achieving a certain level of engagement with your personal brand.
For example, if your goal is to secure brand deals with mid-sized makeup companies, it will shape how you approach your content. You might only create makeup looks using these companies’ products or make videos tailored to a small but highly engaged audience who are likely to purchase products.
3. Write a compelling bio
The perfect Instagram bio showcases your personality and tells a potential follower who you are and why they should follow you. Write an Instagram bio that’s concise, accurate, and unique. Consider including emojis, a call to action, and a link to your website or other useful resource.
Instagram influencer Chloe Wen’s bio includes emojis, info about her life and what her followers can expect from her content, plus links to where to find her outfits.
4. Post consistently
It’s difficult to build an audience if you don’t post regularly. In a study of 19 million images, carousels, videos, and Reels, the social media management platform Later found that nano accounts post about two times a week. Meanwhile micro accounts post three times a week and mid-tier accounts post five times a week.
While this is a useful benchmark, the most important way to determine how often to post is to consider what cadence you can maintain with your time and resources. To save time, use social media scheduling toolsto schedule Instagram posts in bulk.
🌟Resources:
- How To Create a Social Media Calendar: Plan Content Easily
- Uncover the Best Time To Post on Instagram in 2024
- 6 Popular and Free Social Media Management Tools
5. Understand your audience
To become an Instagram influencer, develop a deep understanding of your target audience. Knowing their likes and dislikes can help you create content that resonates and encourages them to interact with your account.
One way to learn about your audience is to study your Instagram analytics—like audience demographics, geographic location, and which of your posts make the most impact—so you can get a clear idea of what they want from your account. This information will shape the kinds of content you create and inform what relevant hashtags you use to attract new followers.
6. Establish an aesthetic
Just like good branding makes a company recognizable, establishing a consistent aesthetic will help new followers quickly identify your content when it appears on their Instagram feed. Your brand’s visual identity should be present in each of your posts, reflected in your profile picture, and consistent across all the social platforms you use.
Influencer Brittany Bathgate has a minimalist aesthetic that is consistent across the fashion, interiors and lifestyle content she posts.
7. Adapt to the algorithm
Instagram’s algorithm can change, so a successful influencer needs to know how to adapt. Read social media blogs about new features and check engagement rates on your short-form video content. Be sure to study how fellow influencers are changing their content strategy to get a better idea of what’s currently working on Instagram.
While you should stay up to date on the Instagram algorithm, be mindful that you don’t need to react to every change. For example, if the platform is prioritizing video content on Stories, but you create educational infographics for your feed, this change might not align with your brand. At the end of the day, the most important thing you can do is create high-quality content that builds an engaged community.
8. Create high-quality content
Producing high-quality content means creating visually appealing, novel, insightful, and valuable content for your audience. Investing in cameras, microphones, and other equipment can help you create content that looks and sounds professional. To create more thoughtful content, consider what your audience will find useful, relatable, or entertaining.
For example, if your account documents how you sew clothes from vintage patterns, you can talk about the struggles you faced as a beginner or how you adjusted smaller patterns to fit you.
🌟Resources:
- 20 Inspiring Instagram Post Ideas for New and Unique Content
- 15 Best Free Video Editing Software for 2024
9. Engage with your audience
Aspiring influencers should remember that they’re a part of the community they hope to build. To be part of the community, regularly interact with followers who comment on posts and send direct messages when possible. Doing so can increase visibility and also encourage people to continue commenting because they know they might get a response.
10. Make a media kit
Once you can demonstrate your impact, create an influencer media kit to send to prospective collaborators and brand partners. This document sums up demographic information about your audience, engagement analytics, and the kind of content that works best on your Instagram account. You can share your kit with brands via networking platforms like Shopify Collabs.
11. Be patient
Building an online presence takes time and effort, so if your follower count doesn’t immediately multiply, don’t fret. As you embark on your influencer journey, analyze analytics, and interact with followers, you will learn more about what garners more engagement and how you can pivot to fuel growth.
Ways to monetize your Instagram following
Other platforms like TikTok and YouTube will pay content creators directly for video content that generates many views. Instagram doesn’t, but there are still several ways to make money on the app:
Brand partnerships
One great way to make money on Instagram is to find brands that will sponsor your posts. In short, brands pay you to access your following. For instance, if you establish yourself as a trusted off-roading Instagram influencer, you can partner with an outdoor equipment brand to launch a series of Instagram Stories about a camping rack for 4x4 vehicles.
You can work with the company to decide how to best market their products or services to your audience.
Affiliate marketing
With affiliate marketing, you can recommend products on your Instagram and earn a commission whenever your recommendations lead to a sale. When you sign up for an affiliate marketing program, you receive an affiliate link (a specific link that credits you with an action, like a click or purchase) that you can share with your Instagram followers. While there are multiple pathways to influencer marketing, this is one of the most reliable.
Having a dedicated audience that trusts your opinions can make this a lucrative endeavor.
Merchandise
Influencers are social media personalities with one of the most highly coveted assets: an audience. A successful Instagram influencer can launch a relevant product line or branded merchandise and sell it directly to their audience. For example, if you’re an influencer who has built a following by testing curly hair products, you might launch your own curly hair brand that showcases your understanding of your audience’s needs and pain points.
🌟Resources:
- Branding Merchandise: How to Create Fun Branded Merch
- 11 Best Print on Demand Companies and Sites (2024)
- How To Start an Online Store in 2024 (Step-by-Step Guide)
How to become an Instagram influencer FAQ
How can I start as an Instagram influencer?
There’s not one single way to become Instagram famous, but to start building an audience, identify a niche, understand your target audience, publish relevant content your audience likes, and establish a consistent content creation strategy.
How many followers do you need to be an Instagram influencer?
There are different types of Instagram influencers: nano (1,000 to 10,000 followers), micro (10,000 to 100,000 followers), mid-tier (100,000 to 500,000 followers), macro (500,000 to one million followers), and mega (more than one million followers). But by definition, an Instagram influencer is someone who builds a loyal community that they can sway to take specific actions.
How do Instagram influencers make money?
Instagram influencers make money in a few different ways: brand partnerships (companies pay you for sponsored posts about their brand), affiliate marketing (earn commission on referrals that lead to sales), and selling your own products online.
