For any company or business, launching a new product in the market is a very exciting time. Finally, the months of R&D, hard work, and preparation will be put to the test. While the superiority of a product or service in terms of quality and spec is important for its success, how the product is marketed is equally relevant. In the purview of influencer marketing, influencer seeding is becoming a preferred marketing strategy to popularize a new product or service that is launched in the market. 

Seeding is a new-age advertising strategy where brands provide free products or services to influencers with the expectation that they will promote or review them in return. 

The end goal of this endeavour is to leverage the influencer reach to generate buzz, increase brand visibility, drive consumer interest, engagement, and boost sales. If done properly, influencer seeding has huge potential, especially if you are considering Instagram promotion. The first step is to get on with influencer search and find influencers in your niche. 

Influencer search is very important, it is the core of the campaign and will help you successfully launch a product in the market. 

Taking the discussion further, here are some key elements of influencer seedings that brands must adhere to while working with Instagram influencers or developing an Instagram promotion plan-

Get to Know the Influencer

Influencer seeding capitalizes on the reputation, trust, and authenticity that the influencers build over time with his/her followers. Therefore, look into the past work of the influencer to find if the content on the platform aligns with the product or service that is pipelined to be launched. 

Most Instagram influencers have a personal connection with their audience, who view them as experts or peers. When influencers endorse a product through seeding, it feels more genuine and trustworthy in comparison to traditional advertising methods. To summarize, find influencers in your niche that are known for genuine and top-notch content which is relatable and authentic. 

‍Build Relationship

Reach out to the influencers you've identified and establish a relationship with them. Follow them on social media, engage with their content, and genuinely show interest in their work. These steps should be taken before you reach out to an Instagram influencer for a collaboration. It will also set the base for a mutually beneficial professional relationship. 

Develop a Compelling Campaign 

Create a unique and engaging campaign concept that aligns with your product and resonates with the influencers' audience. For Instagram promotion content along with relevant hashtags in the form of photos, reels, and stories will work. Make sure to share key messages and any specific instructions or guidelines you want the content creator to know in advance. Always remember that for influencer seeding, you are primarily relying on the online persona of the creator to promote the product. The content should not appear to be overtly patronizing and should appear genuine. Collaborate with the influencers in the campaign development process to ensure their creative input and authenticity are maintained.

‍Provide the Experience 

For genuine Instagram promotion and influencer seeding, the content creator needs to experience the product/service which is new or yet to be launched in the market. If you are a product company, you can send out samples of the product or prototype which the influencers can use and experience themselves. In case you own a service-based business, you can offer them free service. If you have spent a good amount of time finding an influencer in your niche, the product and service on offer will likely be useful to them. This will allow the creation of genuine experience-based content. 

When offering the experience to the influencer, ensure that the packaging and presentation reflect the quality and values of your brand. Include clear instructions on how you want them to showcase or use the product in their content. 

Work with Nano or Micro-Influencers

Influencer seeding works very well with nano and micro-influencers. Nano and micro-influencers have a follower count of 1000-10000 and 10000-50000 respectively. Their follower count may seem a little, but in reality, Instagram influencers of this tier have a huge potential and can help brands promote their product or service.

Small brands mostly prefer to work with nano and micro-influencers to promote a new product. Larger businesses also tap into nano and micro-influencers for influencer seeding as it fully utilizes the power of social influencers and the ability of smaller influencers to shape consumer perception and behavior. 

Go all Out at Once

If you have engaged several influencers for a given seeding campaign, it is best to strategize in a way that all the influencers go all out at once. Make them post their content, using relevant hashtags on the same day and time. This will create a marketing buzz and Instagram promotion will prove to be successful. 

The combination of trust, authenticity, targeted reach, social proof, brand awareness, creative content, cost-effectiveness, and measurable results has contributed to the popularity of influencer seeding as an effective marketing strategy for many brands.

‍galleri5 is a trusted influencer marketing campaign that has helped several brands launch new products and services in an effective influencer seeding strategy. We provide the right guidance to businesses and have the technological know-how to support influencer marketing campaigns of any size.