Just a few short decades ago, Instagram was an unimaginable platform. Since its explosive launch in 2010, we’ve seen the rise of the elusive Instagram influencer. Now, there are a lot of Instagram influencers, and you could be one of them.
How many influencers are we talking about? In 2022, we’re looking at an estimated 37 million Instagram influencers worldwide. Whoa, right?
The question is, how did they get there? How many followers does it take to become an Instagram influencer? Where should you start and how can you keep this process from becoming totally overwhelming?
Read on for our guide on how to become an influencer on Instagram and what level of engagement it takes to achieve Insta famous status.
How Many Followers Do Influencers Need?
So, here’s the deal. Most marketers are going to assess your influencer status based, first and foremost, on your follower count. The good news is that there are tiers to Instagram influencing, which means that you may start getting promotional deals well before you gain hundreds of thousands of followers.
What is the breakdown of Instagram influencer status based on follower count?
First, you’ve got your micro-influencers. These Instagram influencers have between 1,000 and 40,000 followers. They typically get promotional deals with small or local businesses.
Next up, you’ve got macro-influencers. This encompasses a huge range of influencers with between 40,000 and 1 million followers.
Finally, we’ve got mega-influencers. Truth be told, few people will achieve this status, and most of them are celebrities in their own right. A mega-influencer has over 1 million followers and may rack up more than $1 million per promotional post.
How Do Instagram Likes and Comments Help Influencers?
Your follower count, alone, won’t land you big promotional deals. Smaller companies may not delve too deep into your success as an Instagram influencer, but mid-sized and large companies probably will. What they’re looking for is a reasonable engagement rate.
What is an engagement rate and how is it different from your follower count? Engagement is important because it shows how many people are, well, influenced by your content. To measure engagement rate, you’re going to need to take a look at things like the likes and comments on all of your posts.
In fact, there’s a simple formula to get a rough calculation of your engagement rate. All you need to do is add up the likes and comments on a post and divide it by the number of followers you have.
What is considered a decent engagement rate? Believe it or not, most influencers hit about a 2-4% engagement rate. That may sound low, but when we’re talking about 4% of a million followers, we’re talking about 40,000 engaged Instagram users.
How Can You Increase Engagement on Your Instagram?
Whether you’re on your way to micro-influencer status or you’ve already achieved macro-influencer status, you may be wondering how to get more growth on Instagram. We’ve got some handy tricks up our sleeve that will get your followers to start engaging with your content.
Engage With Other Instagram Users
Don’t wait for Instagram users to come to you. Start engaging with them, first.
No, that doesn’t mean that you need to head to all of your followers’ pages and like or comment on their posts. Instead, start interacting with your mutuals. Not only will they take notice and potentially return the favor, but interacting with another influencer’s content is a great way to increase your visibility.
Encourage Interaction in Your Posts
This tip is key: you need to generate content that actively encourages interaction. How can you do this? There are a few ways.
One method is to host giveaways in exchange for likes, reposts, or comments. The engagement will come flooding in when you incentivize it.
Another method is to create compelling captions that end with a series of questions. For example, if you made a post about putting together an outfit, you might ask your followers who their favorite designers are, what brands they want you to review, or what they think of your final look.
When you go the route of asking questions, be sure to answer at least some of your followers who do engage. This is a great way to show your personality and your appreciation for everyone who does engage with you. Those who admire you from a distance may see your responses and feel encouraged to start engaging more in hopes of getting a response.
Get More Likes to Beat the Algorithm
Instagram is one of those tricky platforms that operate on an algorithm. It’s hard to say exactly how all of the different algorithms work, but one thing is clear. When your account is doing well, Instagram is more likely to show it off on the Discover page and on your followers’ timelines.
We know what you’re thinking: how can we tell you to get more likes in a post about how to get more likes? Here’s the secret: you can get automatic likes on Instagram from authentic users.
Sometimes, taking that extra step in the early phase of Insta fame can help you to reach your long-term goals.
Become an Instagram Influencer in 2022
Being an Instagram influencer isn’t as hard as it may seem. At any rate, over 30 million people have managed to do it so far! If you’re ready to be the next big Instagram influencer, use our guide to track your progress and increase your engagement.
Looking for Instagram content inspiration? Take a look around to find out about what’s trending, what locations are hot for travel, and what weird stories are catching our attention right now.
