So you’re a small business using social media–Instagram specifically–, in a sea of people online. Maybe a lot of these people on Instagram have hundreds of thousands of followers and you’d want to use them for your marketing campaign, right?

RIGHT!

Having an influencer marketing campaign is important, but having one that works is even more important. Why? How? We get it, you have a lot of questions and concerns — but don’t worry, we’re here to help.

How To Have An Influencer Marketing Campaign That Works

1. Use the users.

In other words: UGC. This is so crucial to the marketing strategy and there are a couple different ways you could go about doing it. If you’re a brand or a company looking for more traffic on your website or more products being bought, and you’re using Instagram’s platform to make it happen, use the users. Yes, this is where the term “Instagram Influencers” comes from.

Social media users (or, influencers) promote certain brands using pictures, videos, tweets, blog posts, etc, and market the brand by word-of-mouth. They say, “hey followers — I like this product because it does x, y, and z and you should get it too,” or “I love this company! Be a part of us.”

You want to use this influencer word-of-mouth technique. Why? It’s more personable and it makes people care about and be interested in you more. It works. 

If you’re going to use the users, the most important thing to remember is to BE GENUINE. Don’t do UGC just for your benefit so you can get more money or whatever. Be transparent about your brand and what you’re doing, and the “greatness” of your company will fall into place naturally.

2. Open up the conversation.

This is another way you can do UGC.

By opening up the conversation about the brand and inviting users to ask questions within the community, it’s a good way to get traffic and more eyes on who your brand is.

In fact, H does this. For example, we create posts like “Are you on The Hub? Have you met up with other photographers or models or makeup artists on the Hub to create your art? Post your photos and use #METONTHEHUB!” It then creates an outlet for people to have a conversation. And by “conversation” I mean we offer a platform for creators to work together and for us to help out and be a part of it. They take the photos and we share them.

It’s going to take some time for people to become a part of the UGC community of your brand and stand by you and your company, but it’s worth investing time in to the process. It’ll be good in the long run.

3. Do things the Instagram way.

And by that, I mean hashtags — but your own hashtag.

For example, H has our own hashtag that thousands and thousands of photographers, models, stylists and makeup artists use: #METONTHEHUB. If you want influencers to be a part of your company, have something that connects them together. A collective hashtag will allow for so many other users to see the posts and see that there are really people a part of something. It makes people feel a lot more connected to you when they feel as if they’re a part of something (even if it is just a hashtag)!

If you want a marketing campaign that works, look towards the influencers. They know what to do.