If you are a brand that you want to promote new items, maybe you have thought about product placement on the Internet, and more specifically on Instagram… Indeed, influencer marketing is a strategy that has taken a deep breath in recent years.

It consists in highlighting a brand or some of its items through an influencer, i.e. a person with a strong reputation on social networks. Indeed, 94% of Internet users say that having a positive opinion about a product would encourage them to consume… This explains the success of influencer marketing!

In 2021, this market alone will be worth 13.8 billion dollars, 20 times more than in 2015. It could even reach $15 billion by 2022! As you can see, many companies are now using it.

Product placement on Instagram
Social media is an increasingly popular advertising medium. It must be said that they offer a very wide range of possibilities in terms of communication. Influencers promote all kinds of items, whether through videos, photos or stories. With Instagram and influencer marketing, products are displayed in a natural way, so that the “Best Friend Effect” can be used to convince potential buyers.

What is a product placement?
Product placement is an advertising technique that used to be mainly used in movies and consisted in promoting articles, brands or services in an indirect way through media content. The idea was to associate a brand with an artist, an actor, a scene or a director, in order to reach a targeted audience and community.

Today, product placement has largely evolved. It is a very common practice on the networks, which allows influencers and brands to reach an active and connected clientele. More and more companies use it for the simple reason that this promotion is based on the power of recommendation. This is one of the most effective marketing techniques!

Now, unlike product placement in movies or television, the placement via influencers on Instagram is even more assumed. It is now more advanced and also shows much better performance.

What are the benefits of product placement?
If influencer marketing is so popular, it’s because it has many advantages. It must be said that with more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a particularly promising social network! It allows to reach a very large target, which makes it one of the preferred communication channels for marketers.

First of all, when items are featured on Instagram, they fit into a natural story and everyday world. These ads have a less “marketable” appearance. It’s a more subtle mode of advertising, which gets a much better impact with customers. What’s more, the audience is generally much more receptive to this type of message.

Another advantage: thanks to influencers, products are always presented in a positive context for the brand. The qualities of the item are immediately highlighted.

Finally, another benefit for the brand: influencer marketing remains relatively affordable. Thus, no need to be a multinational company to invest in product placement on Instagram. All brands can have access to it as long as they do it right…

How to make a product placement with an influencer?
So precisely: how do you go about setting up your product promotion on Instagram? Here are some of my valuable tips to take advantage of an influencer’s audience…

Update your website and social networks
First of all, if you want to promote your products on Instagram, your brand will necessarily have to have its profile on the platform… So start by updating your pages and working on your image on the networks. Influencers are sensitive to this and will be much more likely to advertise to you if your Instagram page is attractive.

Choose the right product that will please
As with any other marketing campaign, choosing the right product is key! Don’t just go with your personal choices. Influencer marketing relies on prior market research.

Start by studying the trends and make sure you highlight the product that will attract the most people to your website. Similarly, before convincing the Internet users, you will also have to seduce the influencer… The latter will have to be convinced of the usefulness of your article in order to promote it.

Establish your budget for the placement campaign
Now let’s move on to compensation. Depending on the size of their community, not all influencers ask for the same financial compensation. Also, the form of compensation can be diverse. Some are satisfied with a few free products or participation in an event. Others ask for financial compensation.

In general, keep in mind that if the proposed compensation is not adapted, the influencer might not take you seriously and might not respect your partnership conditions.

To set her compensation, consider:

His notoriety on Instagram: this parameter integrates his number of followers, but also the number of views for each of his publications and the engagement rate of his audience ;
The theme of the product sold: the average prices of an influencer campaign vary greatly depending on the product category. For example, beauty products are very competitive and influencers in this sector generally ask for double the remuneration compared to those in the gaming market;
The complexity of the brief: Depending on the specificities requested by the advertiser within the framework of the influencer partnership, the compensation is not the same. The more numerous the requirements, the higher the rate;
The targeted geographical area: Do you want to target one country? Several countries? A specific city? Determine the geographical area you wish to reach to determine the “size” of your campaign.
Contact the desired influencer
Now it’s time to get in touch with the influencer of your choice. There are four main categories:

The mega-influencers who have more than 1 million followers. Their costs are very high and they are in high demand;
Macro-influencers who have between 100,000 and 1 million followers;
Micro-influencers with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Their costs are more affordable.
Nano influencers with less than 10,000 followers. Their costs are low, or even free, and their availability is high.
Note however that it is better not to insist on betting on the biggest influencers. It is often better to go for an account with a smaller community, but with a more receptive audience. These accounts have more affordable rates and sometimes excellent returns on investment.

To learn more, check out this comprehensive article on influencer pricing.

Once you’ve found your ideal influencer, start following them on platforms. It’s best not to make contact directly… Building an influencer partnership is a time-consuming process.

As long as possible, react to as many of their posts as possible by liking or commenting on them. This will allow the influencer to spot you. Only time will allow you to establish a real relationship with him to propose, at the right time, a partnership. You will then have a much better chance of getting a favorable response from him. If the feeling passes between you, the influencer will be all the more delighted to put forward your products. The advertising results will be even better!

To make a proposal, avoid the private messaging of networks. Your message could get lost in the crowd. Moreover, it is an unprofessional method. Prefer e-mail. Remember to personalize your message. Show them that you are writing to them personally and not to anyone else. Prove that you know him and that you are not approaching him randomly.

Then make him an interesting proposal, likely to correspond to his expectations. Also, make sure you offer them a product that might interest their community. Don’t ask an influencer who is passionate about cars to promote your latest foundation… It doesn’t make sense!

Establish a legal framework for the collaboration
As with any collaboration, it’s best that your partnership is framed by a contract. Once the agreement is reached, think about establishing a legal framework for your exchange. What’s more, this can only reinforce your professionalism with the influencer.

In 2017, the ARPP thus published the fourth version of its Recommendation on Digital Advertising Communication. This text aims not only to protect the brand and the influencer, but also the consumers. Thus, all sponsored posts must clearly specify their commercial nature, without ambiguity. The advertising nature of the publications must be clearly identifiable.