Instagram Influencer Marketing: All you need to know

Wondering how to get started with influencer marketing? It’s a great way to grow your brand on social media, and it’s becoming more popular every year. 

When done right, it can boost both your brand awareness and sales. But, before jumping in, it’s important to be prepared.

Whether you’re a brand or an influencer, it’s key to understand how influencer marketing works. That way, you can make the most out of partnerships and avoid common mistakes.

Ready to learn? Here’s your ultimate Instagram influencer marketing cheat sheet for 2025!

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Sprout Social defines influencer marketing like this:

“Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers — individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.” 

Influencers work hard to build trust with their followers. 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than a traditional ad or celebrity endorsement. So, when an influencer recommends your brand, people pay attention.

Brands work with influencers by paying them or offering free products. In return, the influencer creates content to share with their audience. As social media grows, influencer marketing is expanding with many agencies and platforms dedicated to it. 

Influencer Marketing In Figures

Before we dive into best practices and examples, let’s take a look at influencer marketing by the numbers to drive home just how important this marketing tactic can be.

Facts And Figures

The stats show that influencer marketing works! Seventy-one per cent of marketers say influencer partnerships are great for business. Marketers spend anywhere from $1,000 to $500,000 on these campaigns, and they see an impressive return—$5.78 for every dollar spent.

Instagram is a top choice for these campaigns, with 68% of brands ranking it as the most important platform. What’s also interesting is that 56% of brands build long-term relationships with influencers, working with the same person on multiple campaigns.

Influencer Marketing In 2025

In 2024, the influencer marketing industry has seen significant growth, with projections indicating it could reach $13.8 billion. Instagram feeds are dominated by influencer posts promoting various brands, highlighting the platform’s continued importance as a marketing tool.

Outlook For Influencer Marketing In The Coming Years

In 2025, Instagram influencer marketing continues to grow, supported by increasing industry worth and a significant percentage of marketers planning to expand their influencer budgets.

How Does Influencer Marketing Work?

Influencer marketing is a pretty straightforward concept.

A brand contacts an influencer (or vice versa) to work together. The brand provides the influencer with either a free product or a cash payment. Then the influencer creates and posts content (on their channels) for the brand.

Of course, there’s a little more to it than that.

But at its most basic level, that’s how influencer marketing works.

Let’s break down more details on how this partnership works.

Influencer Marketing And You (Brands vs. Influencers)

Influencer marketing is important and benefits both parties involved.

But where do you start?

Here, we walk through the best way to get your influencer marketing strategy up and running.

As A Brand

Are you a brand looking to work with influencers?

Here’s what you need to do.

Why You Need Influencer Marketing

We’ve already delved into the numbers that make it clear: Instagram influencer marketing is hugely beneficial for brands, with a high ROI that outpaces the ROI of more traditional marketing methods like SEO or email marketing.

Influencers help your brand forge a feeling of trust and authority with consumers. When an influencer is pioneering your brand message, that message will come across as more authentic.

The simplest place to start is by running a basic Instagram search.

Type “your niche + Instagram influencers” into the Google or Instagram search bar and look through the results; see who your competitors are working with. Or, opt to use a dedicated platform to search an influencer database, seeing information like their account size or how much they charge at a glance. 

Once you’ve found a few potential influencers, it’s time to reach out! Start by sending an email that shows how working with you will benefit them. 

Include some key numbers and data about your brand to grab their attention. Share your campaign strategy and what you expect from them.

Ask how many posts they’d like to contribute and what their rate is. If you don’t land a deal right away, no worries! Keep building the relationship. 

Influencer Collab Best Practices

Here are a few general best practices for working with influencers. 

Be clear and quick in your communication with influencers, so they know exactly what you expect. Treat them like a valued team member. 

Consider giving them a simple list of “do’s and don’ts,” then allow them to be creative with the content. And, always respect their time—give them the space to finish the campaign on their schedule.

Measuring Influencer Marketing Success

After your campaign is up and going, you’ll want to analyze how it’s going.

There are a few things you can do to measure Instagram influencer success and ROI. First, pay attention to whether you’re getting new (and active) Instagram followers. 

If your influencer marketing KPIs like engagement and referral traffic is going up, that’s also a good sign.

Comments and shares (instead of just likes) indicate that your audience is highly engaged and cares about your content. You can measure website referral traffic you’re getting from influencers when sending referral emails, too: Add UTM parameters to a URL to create a unique link for each influencer.

Pay attention to what people are saying about your brand. This will help you get a feel for any of your brand’s perceptions may be shifting. When done right, influencer marketing can almost serve as a type of PR for your business.

Look at comments on your posts and analyze their tone of voice.

Finally, in the long term, influencer marketing can increase sales, too.

This probably won’t happen right away, but eventually, a solid Instagram influencer marketing strategy will help you build a loyal customer audience.

Best Ways to Measure Influencer Marketing on Instagram (ROI)

Additionally, you may examine cost per acquisition (CPA), sentiment, and brand mentions. Think about the long-term effects on sales and brand loyalty as well. Brands may assess their ROI and enhance their influencer strategy by utilizing this information.

As An Influencer

So, you want to be an influencer?

Take a look at these basic tips and learn how to get started.

Influencer vs. Micro-Influencer

It’s important to understand that there are a few different categories or sizes, of influencers. An influencer is simply defined as a person who is perceived to have a lot of social influence in their field.

A micro-influencer is defined as an influencer that has between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. 

It might seem like a good idea to get as many followers as possible, becoming a large influencer. But while Instagram followers are certainly beneficial, micro-influencers have a lot of benefits, too.

They’re able to niche down, often reaching an audience that’s much more engaged than other influencer audiences. 

The Pros Of Becoming An Influencer Or Micro-Influencer

Today, many people make their living as influencers.

There are millions of influencers in the world. You can find influencers in virtually every industry or niche, from travel to lifestyle to education, and in more specific sub-niches as well.

Making money by talking about things you’re interested in is an attractive idea to many people, and it’s not difficult to see why. 

Being an influencer can be a fun career.

You can earn money, receive free products, exercise your creativity, build a community, and maybe even become famous.

It’s a good job option for people who have an entrepreneurial spirit. 

However, being an influencer is a lot of work.

It might seem like an easy job. But to be successful, you have to put in many hours of work creating and posting content to engage your audience. It also takes a lot of hustle to connect with brands and get partnerships.

Even if you don’t want to be an influencer full-time, an influencer side hustle can be a fun way to pick up some extra cash.

How To Get Started And Get Paid

Get started as an influencer by selecting a niche.

If you aren’t sure what niche might be a good fit for you, think about the things you are passionate and/or knowledgeable about. Chances are, one of them will be a good fit.

Outline what problem you’re going to solve for people and who your target audience is. For example: “I will use my knowledge as a certified personal trainer to help beginners get started with fitness.”

Next, define your brand identity and messaging.

Your brand identity is what you want people to think and feel about your brand.

Your brand messaging is how you communicate who you are.

What are your three most important selling points?

What’s your tone of voice?

What is the most effective way for you to communicate with your ideal customer?

Answering these types of questions will help you narrow down your identity and messaging.

When you’re ready, let brands know that you’re open to collaborations.

You might want to use a third-party influencer marketing platform like Intellifluence, ifluenz, or Tribe. You should also spend time pitching brands directly. Make a list of brands in your industry that your target audience would like.

Then, send an email introducing yourself, asking for what you want, and explaining why working together makes sense.

If you’re wondering how to get paid on Instagram, sometimes brands pay influencers directly for the content they create.

Or you might receive an affiliate link to share. With this kind of link, you earn a commission if anybody clicks on your link and makes a purchase. Instagram is also working on monetization tools that influencers will be able to use.

How To Increase Your Followers

One of the best ways to get more Instagram followers is to make sure your Instagram profile is optimized.

Your username, bio, and profile photo should all help clearly describe who you are and what value you offer.

This is the best place for you to quickly communicate your brand identity to people who are likely making a split-second decision about whether or not to hit that follow button.

Using hashtags is another good way to make your account more visible.

Hashtags help categorize your posts, and when used correctly, they can get you in front of your target audience. Try using a mixture of larger, more general, and smaller, niche hashtags on each of your posts. 

Use a social media scheduling tool to post consistently so you stay top of mind and top of the algorithm.

If you don’t post regularly, your current followers might forget about you or even unfollow you — and you probably won’t get any new followers, either. Stick to a regular posting schedule so that people know what to expect.

The steady stream of high-quality content should entice new people to follow along, too. 

A growth service like Kicksta can also boost your Instagram followers. Kicksta uses sophisticated artificial intelligence technology to help your Instagram account see steady long-term growth. 

Working with over 100K brands and influencers, Kicksta uses your account to safely interact with accounts in your target audience, helping your number of real followers go up.

How To Increase Your Engagement Rate

Engagement is crucial for your Instagram account’s success, but boosting it requires effort. To increase engagement, focus on posting high-quality content consistently. Invest in a good camera for better photos and develop a consistent editing style for a cohesive feed. 

Consider using a reputable Instagram growth service for organic follower growth. Real followers interested in your content enhance engagement. Collaborating with influencers in your industry can also broaden your reach. Partnering with influencers of similar size introduces your content to new audiences.

Tools for Influencers

Make your life easier by using one of these influencer tools:

• Intellifluence — Create a profile on Intellifluence and get offers from brands. 
• Buffer — Social media scheduler Buffer is an easy way to schedule all of your weekly posts at once.
• Canva — If you want to create graphics to go alongside your photos, Canva is a great free option.
• CutStory — Edit your Instagram Story videos with the app CutStory.
• Tribe — Tribe creators can make money promoting products they already know and love.

Instagram Influencer Marketing Strategies for 2025

You already know what tools to use to find Instagram influencers and connect them with your brand.

Use one of these five ideas to get your campaign off the ground

1. Contests or Giveaways: Influencers often host contests or giveaways where participants must follow both the influencer and the brand, and engage with content (like tagging a friend). Prizes typically include products from the brand, driving engagement and brand visibility.
2. Product Reviews: Engage influencers to review products through posts or videos, sharing their authentic verdict. This approach builds trust with audiences and enhances product credibility.
3. Sponsored Posts: Clearly label Instagram posts as paid partnerships to disclose sponsored content. This transparency fosters trust and complies with advertising guidelines.

4. Branded Content Ads: Utilize branded content created by influencers to promote your brand, compensating them accordingly. These posts are marked as paid partnerships, managed through Facebook’s Brands Collab Manager for effective ad setup.
5. Influencer Takeovers: Hand over your Instagram Stories to an influencer for a day. This cross-promotion strategy is highly engaging, entertaining followers while strategically showcasing your brand through an influencer’s unique perspective. Choose influencers capable of delivering both entertainment and informative content to maximize engagement.

Do you think Instagram owns influencer marketing?

To measure the success of influencer marketing on Instagram, track key metrics like likes, comments, follower growth, and website traffic. Also, check conversion rates to see how many visitors turn into customers. 

Sentiment analysis, brand mentions, and cost per acquisition (CPA) are also useful for understanding campaign effectiveness. Finally, evaluate the long-term impact on sales and brand loyalty. 

Instagram Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing on Instagram is still a hot tactic for companies looking to improve their online visibility and successfully interact with certain audiences. 

There’s a lot that goes into Instagram influencer marketing.

But with a little hard work, you can get started with this marketing tactic and begin building your strategy.

Use these tips to succeed on Instagram as a brand or a creator.

Happy posting!