How to Become an Instagram Influencer in 2024: [15 Expert Tips]

Becoming a successful Instagram influencer is easier than ever. Instagram continues to lead the influencer charge, with top brands allocating more of their marketing budgets on social media. For those learning how to become an Instagram influencer, here are some important facts.

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Instagram’s advertising revenue is expected to grow by six billion dollars over the next year, reaching almost 40 billion dollars in 2023. The platform’s consistent success is expected to continue as consumers are attracted to the variety of visual content on Instagram.

Instagram Reels has garnered a lot of attention in the wake of TikTok’s success. Including Reels, the average Instagram user is predicted to spend 30 minutes a day on the platform. That’s seven-and-a-half full days per year looking at Instagram content! Multiply that by over 2 billion users worldwide and you have a considerable amount of time to compete for.

Tips for Prepping Your Account

Whether you are ready to take your Instagram influence to the next level, or maybe you’re already making waves on IG but want to gain more momentum, we have some top tips and tricks that can help!

Tip # 1 Choose Your Ideal Audience

Identifying your target audience is one of the first things you should do when breaking into the world of Instagram influencers. You should have an idea of what type of content you want to create, now you just need to decide who it is for.

Consider their demographics, preferred social media platform, and what type of media they are most likely to engage with. Also, try to imagine your ideal superfan and what they love about your page.

From there you can work on catering your content to your ideal target audience to maximize your growth and engagement.

Tip # 2 Make a Creator or Business Profile

When it comes to social media platforms for top influence, Instagram is killing it. There are over 2 billion monthly Instagram users, and half of those users utilize Instagram Stories daily.

In 2021, more than 90% of users also followed at least one Instagram business account. One option is to break up your social networks with a creator account and a personal account. This way you can keep your business profile laser-focused on brand deals and future collaborations while sharing personal stories on a sister account.

Using a similar Instagram username and profile picture will allow your fans to easily find both accounts, though you can focus your marketing plans on your creator account. Many influencers link between accounts in their bios which you will see in the next tip!

Tip # 3 Have a Compelling Bio

It can be tempting to fill your Instagram bio with as much information as possible, but most mega influencers keep it short and sweet while promoting their brands and other social accounts.

Especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where the audience is rapidly consuming content, a short bio is more likely to get interacted with than a block of text that many users will just scroll past.

Tip # 4 Have a Profile Picture That Represents You

This is a pretty easy one but also very important. Your profile picture is one of the first things users will see when interacting with your content. It becomes part of your brand as an influencer, so don’t overlook it.

Most successful influencers’ profile pictures represent themselves since their personality is a large part of their success. Retaining a consistent profile picture for long periods of time will help brand recognition, so be strategic in your selection.

Tip # 5 Define Your Feed Aesthetic

You also want to keep your posts (and profile pictures) within a general aesthetic theme. This means having your Instagram account look and feel consistent throughout – including an attractive Instagram bio.

Influencers in the travel niche do this best, like travel influencer @danielkordan…

It is easy to see how all of these posts have a consistent look and feel. This helps your followers immediately recognize your content in their Instagram feed.

This has helped him reach mega-influencer status with 1.2 million followers. His success is also due to a lot of engagement, which is critical for landing more followers, as well as more paid promotions.

Tip # 6 Find Your Niche

Your niche is an essential aspect of your brand and crucial for increasing your number of followers and landing business deals. Since engagement is one of the most crucial Instagram analytics, having a very defined niche can increase your engagement rates and new followers significantly.

Here’s a great fashion and beauty niche example from @dailykongfidence.

Christine Kong has really stuck to her niche, and the result has taken her from a micro-influencer to a macro influencer with more than 110,000 followers.

Staying true to your niche is also beneficial when trying to land paid promotions. This is because companies want to be sure that their message will get maximum engagement and be well-received among an influencer’s followers. The best practice for any content creator is to find a niche and stick with it!

Tip # 7 Listen to your audience

The consumer mindset is shifting away from traditional marketing as trust in businesses falls. The way consumers consume media has also shifted as more people cut the cord with cable and switch from radio to Spotify.

Shoppers no longer want recommendations or sales pitches from businesses. They want peer-to-peer insight on products to buy, where to travel, and what to eat. This creates opportunities for influencers.

Businesses have also recognized these trends and embraced influencer marketing. Partnering with influencers to promote products has shown a high return on investment and helped fuel the creator economy boom with the help of COVID-19. Nearly 90 percent of marketers have found influencer marketing comparable to or better than more traditional channels.

Tip # 8 Consistency Is Key

On any social media platform, posting content consistently can make a huge difference. You want your audience to see your content in their Instagram feed every day. The best time to post depends on your follower demographics which you can explore and experiment with using analytics tools such as Instagram Insights. You can then schedule posts ahead of time to hit those optimal windows.

For example, if you are a foodie influencer, you probably aren’t cooking or eating out every night. But if you are photographing any share-worthy meals when you do, you’ll have content for future social media posts. You can even sit down to schedule a week’s worth of posts at once!

Vegan-inspired food Instagram influencer @itslivb does a pretty good job of keeping her posts consistent.

All of those posts are a day or two apart. But you can see that even the most expert influencers can come up short with a niche post — hence the dog post!

If a day comes when posting a niche-centric image is not in the cards, feel free to grab your pet and take a selfie. Infusing your content with some personality is a fun and effective way to stand out as a social media influencer. Just make sure your content is engaging and follows your optimal posting schedule!

Tip # 9 Create Quality Content

This is a very important element for up-and-coming influencers on any social media platform. If you post content that is lackluster, your follower count will be as well. Better content will improve not only your shareability but also engagement which is a key metric for Instagram influence. Like anything else, it takes time and practice to master the skill of producing high-quality Instagram posts.

Here’s a great example of a high-quality post from @livelikeitsthewknd.

These incredible photos look like something out of National Geographic! An Instagram post like this will get some serious shares and comments, which will help you show up in more Instagram feeds. A good content strategy is a key to gaining thousands of followers and future brand collaboration.

Roughly 90% of Instagram users watch videos weekly. While it may seem daunting to start posting Instagram Stories or making Reels, they can be a great way to supplement your regular content and grow your audience.

Instagram Stories has become a staple for the platform, with the majority of users watching Stories every day. Since the Instagram algorithm for delivering Stories differs from regular posts, this can be a great way to gain new followers.

Instagram Stories appear in a slideshow fashion and can include pictures or videos. This content is available for 24 hours, so if you can keep posting content consistently, it can help you stay in front of your audience.

Instagram Stories has also proven effective for brand collaboration and is a popular focus for business profiles. 58% of users surveyed said that Instagram Stories improved their brand awareness which is crucial for influencer marketing campaigns.

Tip # 11 Diversify with Instagram Reels

Another great way to improve your Instagram influence is with Reels. These TikTok-inspired short videos are known for high engagement and can help you attract new Instagram followers.

Reels are a great way to introduce new content pillars to your marketing strategy, helping you target new brand deals. Reels also utilize a different Instagram algorithm for getting in front of users and are more likely to be featured on the Explore page.

Reels, where you feature yourself, are also a great way to build a personal connection with your audience since they can see you and hear your voice. In addition to your other content pillars, personality and likeability are vital for successful influencers.

Tip # 12 Treat Your Instagram Account Like It’s a Business

One of the easiest things to lose sight of as a budding influencer is that you are running a business. It may not seem like it when you’re having fun creating and posting content on social media, but if your goal is to make money as an influencer, you need to be professional.

Knowing when to let your personality shine and when to put on your business face is essential. After all, you need to partner with other businesses to earn sponsorship opportunities, so you need to be careful to maintain a professional presence.

Many internet personalities and influencers have found themselves in hot water when losing sight of their professionalism. This can jeopardize your relationship with sponsors and even threaten future opportunities. Brands may be reluctant to partner with an influencer who has posted controversial content in the past.

Tip # 13 Take Advantage of Analytics Tools

As mentioned earlier, analytics tools such as Instagram Insights can be very powerful when planning your future content. In addition to optimal posting times, performance metrics can help you determine what types of posts your fans interact with the most.

With the help of Instagram Insights, you can track which content types, posting times, and hashtags give you the best results (along with many other stats and metrics).

For example, you might discover that your Reels and video content perform much better than static images. That doesn’t mean you necessarily need to stop posting photos, but it may encourage you to shift your focus to more video content.

Tip # 14 Utilize Instagram Captions and Hashtags

Using the right hashtags and compelling captions can significantly improve your SEO and searchability. You want to be strategic about how you use these to avoid looking spammy or attracting fake followers that won’t benefit your engagement.

Hashtags will group your posts with similar content and help Instagram users find you when browsing or searching. Similarly, captions help the Instagram algorithm identify your content to make it more searchable.

Getting in the habit of using hashtags and captions can increase your visibility and engagement. It only takes a few extra minutes per post and is well worth the effort.

Tip # 15 Focus on Meaningful Engagement

When you reach a level of Instagram influence, you will begin to see a lot more comments on each post. Sure, this may be slightly overwhelming, and there will be fake followers, but it’s a good sign that you’re becoming popular!

What you do with those comments is vital to your continued success. You must keep your target audience engaged to keep them checking in. This means answering those comments.

Here’s a great example from @healthymoodsf.

You’ll see that she is not simply sending an emoji as a comment response. She is really engaging with her followers. Even if it is a short and sweet couple of words, it is vital to reply whenever realistically possible.

This is how she has been able to take her following to the next level, with more than 150,000 followers. Engagement is essential, so be sure to keep this as part of your 2023 Instagram influence plan.

Growing & Maintaining Your Influence

Once you start attracting attention and landing sponsorship deals, don’t forget about your regular content. While brand posts are a great way to monetize your Instagram following, you don’t want to lose sight of your content strategy and audience.

Continue to post quality content on a regular basis, while sprinkling in marketing posts that you think are relevant to your fans. If your page suddenly turns into a flood of commercials and sales pitches, you might start losing hard-fought followers.

Be sure to stay the course and focus on your continued growth so you can land even bigger and more lucrative sponsorships, with the help of these great tips! Check out more ways to become Insta Famous.

Frequently Asked Questions

For those who want to know how to become an Instagram influencer and make money, here are some answers to popular questions you may have:

The amount an influencer earns varies wildly depending on their popularity, authority, and marketability. As a rule of thumb, you can estimate that influencers make about $10 per 1,000 followers for targeted posts.

With those numbers in mind, micro-influencers with less than 10,000 followers can generally earn up to $100 per targeted post. Influencers with up to 100,000 followers can earn several hundred dollars for a targeted post.

For large-scale influencers, the sky is the limit. Some estimates have celebrities earning tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even a million dollars for a single sponsored post!

You can upgrade your earnings as an Instagram influencer with Scalefluence!

Becoming a full-time Instagram influencer is far from easy. It requires a considerable investment of time as well as a fair amount of luck.

By following the tips in the article, such as being consistent and targeting a marketable niche, you can start building a following that will hopefully give you enough leverage to monetize.

There are an estimated 37 million influencers on Instagram, though only about 5% ever break a six-figure follower count.

While the number varies depending on your niche, you generally need several thousand followers to really earn money as an influencer.

For niche topics, you might be able to earn a sponsored post opportunity at only 2,000 followers. More likely, you will need to have around 10,000 followers to be considered.

Micro-influencers are generally considered those with 1,000 to 10,000 followers. The average influencer range fills the 10,000 to 100,000 follower range. Beyond that are macro-influencers with up to 1,000,000 followers. Anything beyond that is considered mega influencers.

Partner With Scalefluence For Next Level Instagram Influence

It takes a large investment of time and energy to post high-quality Instagram content every day, and you deserve to get paid for your efforts. Partnering with Scalefluence is a good move for influencers at every level. Scalefluence can guide you on your journey with more top tips, industry support, and even sponsorship opportunities!

Scalefluence gets you paid for your creative talent. We have a network of brands and agencies primed for your influencer success.

A few of our top influencer features include:

Algorithmic pricing, ensures you get top dollar for any paid promotion from one of our network brands or agencies.
Creative control, keep your creative talent a top priority because we know how important your personal brand is to you.
Easy payment model, helping you get paid for your work faster and in a simpler way.
Collaboration, and opportunities with our network of influencers in your niche.

These benefits and more make partnering with us a smart move in 2023. If you want to know how to become an Instagram influencer and get paid top dollar, sign up to Scalefluence today!

15 Tips on How to Become an Instagram Influencer