Instagram as an influencing platform has really found its feet lately. With more than 75 million daily active users worldwide, and now having reached 2 million in Australia, it is little wonder that brands are discovering how to successfully use the platform’s power players to communicate with audiences. Here is some work FORWARD recently did with @rachael_finch on Vitasoy’s new Coconut Milk Launch.
Successful brand communication on Instagram assumes a certain level of trust is established between the influencer and their fans. Engagement is key when selecting an influencer to connect with. You want to tap into an active audience who see your chosen influencer as a trusted and relevant authority in the health, beauty, fashion or general lifestyle categories that relate to your brand.
Increasingly, followers don’t seem to mind their Instagram feeds containing sponsored content, as long as the post is visually appealing and the products relevant to them.
Keeping the above in mind, 3 Australian’s you should be following to experience Instagram influencing in action are; Kayla Itsines, Miann Scanlan and Mimie Elashiry. All three manage to maintain integrity and a consistent aesthetic style when posting both national and international branded content.
Interestingly, they are also proof that Instagram is no longer just a supportive tool of blogging, but can in fact be used to build an online following that can raise an individual’s profile in the mainstream media, inspire the creation of a blog, or launch an international modeling career.
Kayla Itsines is a fitness dynamo who has built a monolithic Instagram following, as a way to inspire others and share her 12 week nutrition and exercise Bikini Body Guide. Featuring somewhat less artistic photography than Scanlan and Elashiry, Itsines includes a lot of user-generated content on her account unlike other personal Instagrammers, as well as self and brand promoting images. Unsurprisingly, active wear brand Nike and trendy Norwegian water company Voss are frequently featured. Other brand related content includes fake tan and health food products.
@kayla_itsines
1.4 million+ followers
Miann Scanlan is an ex-fashion PR consultant, who after a personal hardship returned to live beachside in her home state of Queensland. A clear lover of the colour blue, sponsored posts for fashion and wellbeing brands are organically weaved throughout her posts on spiritual health and the latest bohemian apparel and jewellery trends.
In Issue 14 of Renegade Collective magazine, Scanlan discusses using Instagram as a brand platform, “Create some positive intentions before starting out, think about why you are using the platform and what you want to get out of it.”
Scanlan, who launched her blog in early 2014, was the winning blogger in a competition to style the latest Cleo x Billabong collection. The opportunity to take part in the creative process of two powerhouse brands is a clear demonstration of the power that digital influencers currently hold.
@miannscanlan
60,000+ followers
Mimi Elashiry, an 18 year old model from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was once turned away from modelling agencies, but is now working for fashion and lifestyle brands all over the world as a result of her prolific social media presence. Elashiry’s feed is a combination of professional model shots, cheeky selfies and sneak peaks of fashion trips with other ‘cool’ kids, from Byron Bay to Paris. The brand mentions aren’t exactly subtle but still tie in with her aesthetic and tone of voice, with a range of jewellery, fashion, health food, and even music festivals name-dropped, tagged and positively reviewed.
@mimielashiry
443,000+ followers
