How to Find The Right Instagram Marketing Agency

When you’re looking to find the right Instagram marketing agency, there’s a lot to consider. Whether you’re looking for a team to oversee your organic social, assist with influencer marketing, or manage your paid efforts, you need an agency who are experts at all things Instagram marketing.

It’s relatively easy to find someone who labels themselves as an Instagram marketing agency and who says they’ll manage your organic and paid Instagram efforts. What’s harder to find is an agency with a proven track record who can successfully manage, scale, and deliver tangible results that impact your bottom line.

Our tips on how to find the right Facebook marketing agency still apply here, but Instagram is in some ways a whole different beast, even though they’re both owned by Facebook. Being an official Facebook Marketing Partner is still beneficial as an Instagram marketing agency, as your agency will get access to new Instagram advertising features and beta programs.

Read on for four crucial questions you should ask to find the right Instagram marketing agency.

Are They Experts in Social Commerce?

“Social commerce” is certainly a buzzword phrase these days — you’ve probably heard it muttered in a few Zoom meetings as something your brand needs to explore.

At its simplest, social commerce is when transactions take place from start to finish within a social media platform. So, when you click on a product a brand has tagged on an Instagram photo, you can buy that product right there within the app, without ever being taken to the brand’s website. It certainly reduces friction to purchase, and it can be a huge revenue driver for brands who have been frustrated with social content not directly translating to sales.

Social commerce has changed the game for many brands who want to monetize their social media, and you need an agency partner that is an expert in this emerging field.

Do They Have A Creative Studio?

You’ve likely invested in product photography for your website and product pages, but have you invested in creative specifically designed for your organic and paid social media efforts? Repurposing your existing creative for Instagram marketing might be an okay band aid solution for those on a shoestring budget, but it’s not the best long-term strategy.

Ideally, you should invest in content specifically created for social media, whether organic or paid. Static images, GIFs, and video content should be developed and then tested using various ad types including Instagram photo ads, video ads, stories ads, and more, with the purpose of moving customers through the journey. 

Inquire if your potential Instagram marketing agency has an in-house creative studio for content creation. If they do, ask to see samples of their creative that was made specifically for advertising, and how that creative impacted key metrics including CTR and ROAS.

Do They Have Dedicated Organic and Paid Teams?

If you’re trying to find the right Instagram marketing agency, you first need to assess whether your potential partner has the experience to manage your organic social, paid social, or both! While you might assume Instagram can just be taken over by one team, it really is essential to understand whether an agency has the expertise in both areas due to their differing nature.

What’s Their Organic Scope?

It’s important to make sure you’re on the same page with your Instagram marketing agency, and that they have experience in each of the areas you desire. When it comes to organic on Instagram, there are a few areas to consider:

• Community management
• Long-term strategy
• Social commerce
• Influencer marketing (more on that later)

Each of these areas of organic social require unique strategies and a team of experts to manage each facet. Having a team who simply responds to comments and replies to DMs is different than having a team who also constructs a social strategy designed for growth and engagement.

What’s Their Advertising Scope?

You might think that any Instagram marketing agency will be able to handle your advertising efforts on the platform, but that’s not always the case. You need an expert paid strategist, not just someone who can run a few ads. Your Instagram advertising strategy should fit into your larger business goals, and serve to help meet those goals!

On a more detailed level, you should clarify what your agency deems “advertising” — in-feed posts? stories? boosted posts? A combination of all three will likely serve your business well, so verify with your potential Instagram marketing agency that they have experience in all of these areas.

Do They Manage Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing has grown tremendously in the last 5 years, so much so that many Instagram marketing agencies now include influencer marketing in their scope of work.

Influencer marketing requires more work than you might think. You need to create a list of potential influencers that align with your target audience at a variety of follower counts (micro and macro), reach out and negotiate compensation, provide creative and copy direction, ensure follow-through, monitor engagement, and consolidate results. Some Instagram marketing agencies rely heavily on technology to do this hard work for them, but there are drawbacks to that approach.

If you're looking to branch into influencer marketing, working with an Instagram marketing agency partner could be the right move for your brand.

The right Instagram marketing agency is closer than you might think — reach out to the organic & paid social team at Blue Wheel today!