With over 200 million business profiles on the Instagram platform, as a marketer you have a wide variety of influencers to choose from for collaborations. But of course you need to be a bit more savvy - it’s essential to choose influencers who resonate with your brand and come across as authentic. Gone are the days when any Bollywood celebrity could get the job done.
Marketers need to be careful about the influencers they partner with. A recent study shows that Indian instagram influencers have over 16 million fake followers (the third highest number globally after the US and Brazil).
How to choose Instagram influencers
So what is the criteria for choosing Instagram influencers? You definitely don’t want to be caught in a vicious circle where you end up spending marketing dollars on influencers who have little to no ROI on account of their fake followers.
What should you consider when looking for Instagram influencers to work with? Depending on your brand or campaigns, these are some of the factors you should consider.
The weightage given by global marketing/comms professionals based on our report "The Global State of Influencer Marketing in 2019".
- Relevance: How relevant is the influencer with regard to your brand identity and brand message? Does the influencer’s audience consist mainly of Gen Z or Gen Y? Do you sell to Gen Z or Gen Y? These are some of the things to consider when you’re assessing the relevance of the influencer.
- Quality of content: The quality of the content produced by the influencer is a huge factor - maybe even more important than the first. Does the influencer constantly have fresh, engaging content on their channels? Or is it something that is more often than not a quick fix? If it’s a quick fix then it is probably not going to generate the kind of engagement you want.
- Engagement: How many of the followers are actually engaging with the influencer? Great content is always good but influencers with followers that don’t engage with the great content that they produce? That’s not what you’re looking for.
- Size: This one is debatable but still a consideration. How big is your influencer’s following?
Of course earlier, people would advise marketers to go for the biggest influencers they could find, however, not anymore. It’s the age of micro influencers and nano influencers. You want to find the influencers with the most engaged following - the ones who are taken seriously and actually can influence on their followers. Yes, Kim Kardashian looks nice in a certain kind of outfit, but how many followers would purchase the outfit based on its wearability.
- Price: Unless you’re an influencer yourself, chances are that influencer collaborations won't come for free. So maybe you’ve found the perfect influencer based on all of the above criteria but they’re pricey, and if you’re just starting out, proving ROI can be a real pain. So better to go easy on the level of investment.
What are your KPIs?
Before you go ahead and finalize your collaboration with influencers, just remember why you want to work with them. What is the main reason for you to collaborate with Instagram influencers?
Once you’ve figured that out, it’s important to be on the same page about the metrics you will use to measure success.
If your objective is brand awareness, then use engagement related KPIs such as...
- Likes
- Shares
- Comments
- Increase in number of followers for the brand
And more.
If your objective is revenue...
- Use ROI - an easy way to do it is through influencer promo codes
- # of sales
If your objective is customer loyalty...
- Look at the repeat purchases from customers
- Look at traffic from a targeted audience
- Purchases from your newsletter and more
Best Instagram influencers to get you started
To help you get started on your journey with Instagram influencer collaborations, I’ve put together a list of influencers from some common categories so you can take your pick. In most cases I’ve tried to include influencers who also have email addresses in their bio so you can get in touch directly.
So without further ado, let’s jump right in!
Fashion Instagram influencers in India
- Diipa Büller-Khosla @diipakhosla (1.6m followers)
- Santoshi Shetty @santoshishetty (756k followers)
- Komal Pandey @komalpandeyofficial (1.5m followers)
- Kritika Khurana @thatbohogirl (1.4m followers)
- Aashna Shroff @aashnashroff (916k followers)
- Pooja Mundhra @thecozyvibe (577k followers)
- Karron Dhinggra @theformaledit (563k followers)
- Shivani Singh @shivani.singhh (779k followers)
- Malvika Sitlani @malvikasitlani (519k followers)
- Juhi Godambe @juhigodambe (504k followers)
Travel Instagram influencers in India
- Savi and Vid @bruisedpassports (1.2m followers)
- Mohena Kumari Singh @mohenakumari (1.1m followers)
- Scarlett Rose @scarlettmrose (909k followers)
- Aakriti Rana @aakritiranaofficial (818k followers)
- Shivya Nath @shivya (105k followers)
- Nivi Selvaraj @postcardchronicles (15.4k followers)
- Bhumika T @bhumika_t (175k followers)
- Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar @lakshyarajsinghmewar (304k followers)
- Avantika Mohan @avantii2 (253k followers)
- Abhinav Chandel @abhiandnow (175k followers)
Food Instagram influencers in India
- Dilsefoodie @dilsefoodie (954k followers)
- Richa Hingle @veganricha (334k followers)
- Saransh Goila @saranshgoila (559k followers)
- Archana Doshi @archanaskitchen (360k followers)
- Shivesh Bhatia @shivesh17 (682k followers)
- Maunika Gowardhan @cookinacurry (238k followers)
- Hina Bisht @funfoodandfrolic (240k followers)
- Tanish Sharma @beingtanishh (179k followers)
- Deeba Rajpal @passionateaboutbaking (231k followers)
- Uma Raghuraman @masterchefmom (129k followers)
Social media instagram Influencers in India
- Kanan Gill @kanangill (351k followers)
- Kusha Kapila @kushakapila (2.1m followers)
- Kenny Sebastian @kennethseb (1m followers)
- Saloni Chopra @salonichopraofficial (454k followers)
- Suyash Tilak @suyashtlk (340k followers)
- Srishti Dixit @srishtipatch (739k followers)
- Abish Mathew @abishmathew (376k followers)
- Rohan Joshi @mojorojo (470k followers)
- Mithila Palkar @mipalkarofficial (3.3m followers)
Health Instagram influencers in India
- Ranveer Allahbadia @beerbiceps (1.7m followers)
- Namrata Purohit @namratapurohit (372k followers)
- Mrunal Jain @mrunaljainofficial (643k followers)
- Nidhi Mohan Kamal @nidhimohankamal (109k followers)
- Prashant Sawant @prashantsixpack (87.9k followers)
- Junaid Kaliwala @ifbbpro_jkaliwala (285k followers)
- Nivedita Samanta @nivi.fitrabbits (7.6k followers)
- Ayesha Billimoria @fitgirl.india (111k followers)
- Gaurav Taneja @taneja.gaurav (3m followers)
- Mary Kom @mcmary.kom (546k followers)
Photography Instagram influencers in India
- Siddharth Seema Chandekar @sidchandekar (549k followers)
- Amit Khanna @amitkhannaphotography (377k followers)
- Lumière Wedding company @lumiereweddingcompany (176k followers)
- Praveen Bhat @praveenbhat (231k followers)
- Andrew Kneebone @andrewkneebonephotography (79.6 followers)
- Hidyatullah @muhdhidayatullah (63.3k followers)
- Kerala Wedding Photography @keralawedding (90.1k followers)
- Raj Singh Arora @rajsingharora (110k followers)
- Mohammed Aneez @aneezv (90.6k followers)
Conclusion
The influencer game is complicated enough on its own - you’ll find several lists of influencers online like this one. But the most important thing to keep in mind is your main objective - choose your KPIs wisely and measure, measure, measure!
Good luck!
