What You Can Learn From The Biggest Instagram Influencers To Improve Your Account
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the age where visual photography has grown leaps and bounds to become the most engaging form of connection for storytellers, brands, and influencers alike, there is a lot to learn from the way influencers use Instagram as a marketing tool.
Instagram influencers are the users on Instagram who have built a big enough audience to make an impact and persuade others with their authentic content and influence. In this article, we will look at five of the best Instagram influencers and try to find out just what made them so successful.
Top five Instagram influencers: HudaBeauty
29.1M followers
It comes as no surprise that one of the most followed Instagram influencers is, in fact, a beauty blogger. The beauty niche is extremely popular today, and Instagram just happens to be the perfect medium for makeup and beauty artists. That’s one of the main reasons why Huda Kattan (HudaBeauty) made such an explosive entrance on the platform.
One of the reasons why HudaBeauty is such a big hit on Instagram is because she runs a fully optimized Instagram account. What does that mean? Apart from creating enticing content, HudaBeauty relies on:
- How-tos
- DIYs
- Reviews
- Tutorials
- Beauty tips
You can take notice of how she casually mixes professional content with a bit of humor to make her feed more interesting. Still, she finds time to also promote her own beauty.
Top five Instagram influencers: Zach King
21M followers
Zach King is a film-maker, so it’s obvious that Instagram’s visual nature is a fit for him. Although he also has an impressive following on YouTube, with 3.8 million subscribers, he has achieved a far greater success on Instagram.
If you’re a fan of Zach’s work, then you’re familiar with his quirky, creative, and fun short videos. His content style is just what Instagram users want – fun and short videos that won’t take much of their time. One of the reasons why Zach’s posts always do so well on Instagram are:
- Unique and original content
- Great use of passive calls to action
- Proper use of hashtags
- Solid merchandise campaigns
As you browse through Zach’s feed, it becomes crystal clear that he is in love with filmmaking and creating various cinema effects. His mastery of the video content is undeniable and, combined with his quirky charisma, it comes as no surprise that he has accumulated over 21 million Instagram followers.
This is Zach's most liked video with over 3.4 million likes. Along with his excellent acting and filmmaking skills, Zach also knows how to place a killer incentive. Watch the video yourself and learn how a true professional makes use of a proper call-to-action.
Top five Instagram influencers: Michelle Lewin
13.2M followers
Michelle Lewin is a South-Florida based fitness celebrity. She is a former Venezuelan model, but she has found success in the fitness industry, mostly by motivating her large following with her astounding fitness discipline and training. She grows her Instagram account rapidly, attracting roughly 20,000 followers on a daily basis.
As a true fitness star, Michelle does her best to use her Instagram influencer status and make an impact and encourage her fans to follow her fitness-life footsteps. Of course, that’s not all that Michelle does well. She follows the latest Instagram trends by creating diverse and optimized content through:
- Collaborations
- Tutorial videos
- Merchandise promotion
- Training regimes
- Running a smooth and optimized Instagram account
Naturally, Michelle knows that the best way to add more credibility to your actions is to show the results first-hand. That is why her most liked Instagram post is a picture of Michelle posing.
This post has “Fitness Goals” written all over it, don’t you agree?
Top five Instagram influencers: Superwoman
8.1M followers
Lilly Singh, also known as “Superwoman” is a Canadian entertainer who uses her quirky sense of humor to keep her audience entertained. Even though she has a bigger following on YouTube where she posts her comedy skits, she also uses Instagram as her primary medium to share vlogs and post content about her personal life.
Lilly Singh wins over the hearts of her followers by being honest and 100% genuine. She does a lot of great passive marketing, where she casually slips in a CTA in the captions of her posts while trying to tell a good story along the way. People follow and love her because she tries her best to motivate her followers and entertain them at the same time. That’s probably why she got so many likes on this.
One of the best things you can learn from the way Lilly Singh runs her Instagram profile is:
- Honesty attracts more engagements
- Fun, diverse, and unique content is always popular
- Don’t be afraid to show your real side
Lilly Singh’s Instagram following may not be as big as HudaBeauty’s, but Lily has a much better follower engagement ratio. Let’s do the math:
- Lilly Singh’s most liked Instagram post has over 859,000 likes. That means that roughly one out of ten of her followers liked her post.
- HudaBeauty’s most liked Instagram post has over 640,000 likes. Taking into account that she has over 29.1 million followers, that would mean that approximately one out of 50 people in her following base liked her post.
What does this tell you? It tells you that engagement has a very, very important role on Instagram. I bet many of you would rather have a smaller but more engaged fanbase, rather than a bigger and uninterested one. That is why you must make a genuine effort to always keep your fans engaged.
Top five Instagram influencers: Louis Cole
1.4M followers
FunForLouis is another talented influencer who uses the art of photography to make an impact on Instagram. Louis Cole is a British travel vlogger that enjoys traveling the world and sharing the journey with his followers.
FunForLouis posts a daily vlog documenting his travels and personal life. Apart from uploading dazzling content, Cole uses every trick in the digital marketing book to run an optimized Instagram account. Like every good Instagram influencer, FunForLouis uses:
- Contests
- Collaborations
- Instagram Stories
- Giveaways
- Q&A’s
The way that FunForLouis uses Instagram Stories is particularly commendable. Louis Cole’s most liked Instagram post is a collaboration with his girlfriend, which speaks volumes regarding the value of quality collaborations on social media.
Learn from the best Instagram influencers and manage your account like a pro
If you’re still with me this far, then I have no doubt that you already know what I’m about to say. What you can learn from this article is:
- Always be yourself: There are more than enough pretentious wannabe Instagram influencers out there. Those who make it as influencers do it by showing their true self. If you do something that you’re passionate about, rather than doing for the money, people are going to pick up on the positive vibe.
- Smooth marketing: Mixing business and pleasure is the best way to go. Always have a ready-made marketing plan you can rely on, but don’t forget to sprinkle a bit of your own authenticity in your posts. In other words, don’t make it all about marketing or else your followers will soon lose interest in your content.
- Find your niche: It’s pointless to try to make it as a vlogger when your true talents lay at photography. You might want to sit down and do a Pros & Cons list to find your place in the competitive jungle that is Instagram. Make sure to pick a niche that you can be good at.
- Quality over quantity: We mentioned that engagement is monumental when it comes to becoming a credible Instagram influencer. If you have thousands of followers, but only a hundred likes, neutral followers will think that your content is not worthy of liking. Social proof is what the game of Instagram influencers is all about.
Instagram followers don’t follow anyone just for the sake of following. They want to be entertained, dazzled and swept off their feet with genuine content or else. The “else,” in this situation, refers to the unfollow option…
Date: November 21, 2018 / Categories: Case Studies, Engagement, / Author: Rich Drees
