Sponsored Instagram posts have also caught the eyes and ears of many small businesses looking to take advantage of the influencer culture that just came about. 

However, sponsoring on Instagram is not just for the businesses or wanna-be influencers, it is, in fact, good for all the parties involved and can be a good marketing tool.

To understand sponsored posts or how Instagram sponsored posts work, one needs to understand the environment and the people involved to get the best of it. 

If you are someone looking to find out how to get a sponsored Instagram post, Instagram paid post, and perhaps just looking to sponsor some posts, you are on the right path.

In this article, we answer everything involving sponsoring posts on Instagram along with ways to get sponsored posts on Instagram. 

Thus, this article is useful regardless of which side of the business spectrum you reside on. With that being said. 

We will structure this piece into two parts, or sections where we explain how do Instagram sponsored posts work from the point of view of a small business or entrepreneur. 

Then, where we discuss how sponsored posts work from the point of view of an influencer. 

What Is A Sponsored Post On Instagram 

Before we move forward, however, it is important to find out what sponsored posts on Instagram are. 

Although it sounds simple, understanding that is not quite as simple as it sounds. Sure, it is obvious that there is money involved.

But how and which sides received and what one should expect is probably not quite as clear. 

So let us just get that straight. 

How Do Instagram Posts Work For Small Business

If you are an entrepreneur and looking to sponsor someone on Instagram, you need to pay attention to just a few things:

First, identify what you expect from the promotion. This is easy if you know what you need. If you are also another influencer or somebody who wants to become an influencer. 

This can get tricky, but it is still possible. So, the best practice is to first identify what you need, then move on forwards. 

However, in this piece, we are placing the focus on the question of how do Instagram sponsored posts work, which means you identifying what you need for your business is not part of it.  

We will have to skip over that part of the question and continue with the main one. 

So, to explain what branded content Instagram is, we will need to assume a situation where you are the business that is looking for sponsoring on Instagram. 

Sponsored Posts On Instagram 

If you are a business and looking to sponsor a post, there are a number of things you need to do after you identify what you need. 

Those include choosing the type of post that matches your desired outcome. For example, if you want to increase brand awareness then sponsoring a post with an influencer who has a high number of followers will be better compared to someone with less.

But what if you want to increase conversions? 

Then, you would have to buy a sponsored post with a higher engagement.  While this is simple to understand when you read about it. 

It is harder to understand it if you have not done your homework and know what you are looking for. 

That is why, we have decided to help you with that as well, and create a list of possible topics or things you may need sponsored posts on Instagram for. 

• Brand awareness 
• Engagement
• Lead generation 
• Traffic 
• Conversions 

These are just some of the most popular business needs. But as we mentioned, your business might need something that is totally different or all of them at the same time. 

So, depending on the needs of your business you should proceed. Additionally, if these were the specific things you may need from an influencer, there were also two ways to go about sponsoring a post. 

Branded posts vs Sponsored posts

Branded posts are the ones when you ask a certain influencer to create a specific post dedicated to promoting your business. 

These posts are usually more expensive but also bring better results and are in fact good to drive traffic and increase awareness. 

Branded posts include not just photo shoots or videos. It can take the shape of anything that the platform allows the users to create and share, things like Stories, videos, Reel, IGTV long-format videos, carousel posts, and everything else. 

You can also advertise your own post from your own page, which would also be considered as a sponsored post on Instagram. 

These are also called somewhat branded posts but not always. They are more on the sponsored site.  It doesn’t make sense when you think about it, but it is what it is.

The idea is that you post a picture or Story that is advertised directly with the platform.

This way of promoting is also very popular among small business owners and entrepreneurs. 

Now that we know about how do Instagram sponsored posts work, from the business point of view, let us talk a little bit about why you should want to sponsor a post or promote on your account. 

The first and the most obvious answer that comes to one’s mind is that to improve the business environment for sure but also for a few other reasons we will discuss next. 

Why To Sponsor Posts On Instagram

We have already quickly mentioned the types of business needs that may arise in regards to sponsoring the posts. 

Although those are true. We will uncover some of the tips that you need to know that will help you get high returns on your investment.

Sponsoring posts on Instagram for the purposes of increasing sales won’t give you the best results. Because if you are a small business, you certainly can’t afford one of the Kardashians. 

So, that will leave you with micro-influencers who are good at driving awareness and engagement but most likely not sales. 

Although the data to prove otherwise exists, the data that proves the buying habits of people have changed and it is more often on social media now doesn’t exist. 

What that simply means is that we just recommend using any kind of sponsorships on Instagram with one purpose only and that is to increase engagement or brand awareness.

In fact, any social media is greatly suited for boosting your popularity and promoting your page, reaching more people from your specific area or outside, and in short to increase brand awareness.

Thus, sponsored posts on Instagram should focus on such things.

How Do Instagram Posts Work For Influencer

We have discussed how do Instagram posts work if you are a business. Now, let us turn to you as an influencer. 

Being an influencer means you not only get quite an attention for being on the platform but get money for diverting that attention to certain pages, sites, businesses. 

This is a win-win for both the business and the influencer. Yet how to get a sponsored Instagram post if you are just beginning?

To get Instagram-paid posts, an influencer needs to have at least 1000 followers and a stable rate of engagement. 

As an influencer depending on how much you want to make, if at all, you need to be always on the lookout for opportunities. 

Because the way Instagram sponsored posts work is that sometimes they message you or you reach out to them. 

Either way, these are some of the things you want to do to make sure you get sponsored Instagram posts. 

DM bussinesses

When you gain a certain number of followers, you should not wait for the sponsored Instagram posts to appear at your doorstep and ask you to share them.

Sometimes, you should be the one reaching out to them. However, this should also be done with a few things in mind. 

You can’t just contact the Coca-Cola company,  because you drink their product, and want to advertise them.

The companies or the businesses you reach out to must be somewhat of a company that has a higher chance of accepting your request. 

Also, it is a good idea to talk to companies that align with your values and your interests. If you are in a certain niche, then choosing a business in that niche is suggested. 

Let them know publicly 

If you don’t feel like directly reaching out to them, it is also a good idea to just let them know you are interested publicly by tagging them or mentioning them.

However, this also should not be blatant and make you seem like you are asking. Simply by mentioning them, you already show interest. 

Mentioning them should also be with a few words of positivity and appreciation. Then again, be careful when picking a company. 

You can show your appreciation to a company that won’t listen. For example, Pepsi or Cola, are way too big companies that aren’t looking for everyone who wants to advertise. 

But you get the logic. It is that you need to let people know you could be interested in sponsorship. 

Share your contacts 

One of the best ways to get sponsors on Instagram is to actually be easily available. Because when you start gaining popularity, you will also be getting a lot of emails asking you to post a branded deal.

This cannot, however, happen if you don’t have your contacts displayed on your screen.   however, if they really want to contact you they will find a way. There is always the possibility of DMing you. 

But the email address or a website for formal inquiries should be present in the bio.

These are again just some of the basics of how Instagram paid posts work and how you may get sponsored on Instagram. 

To Wrap Up 

Sponsoring on Instagram or getting sponsored on the platform doesn’t work in mysterious ways. It is simply one party asking the other to post certain content for a certain reward. 

Sponsored Instagram posts to look and act the same way as other posts from a follower’s standpoint. But it is different between the sponsor and the poster. 

Those differences have been explained here, and we hope it is all clear for you at this stage. 

If you are interested in reading about social media how-tos, check out our Instagram category on our blog to learn more. 

Most social media influencers use these rules and some basic marketing knowledge to their advantage, and now we even have a lot of research and surveys to show us what works and what doesn’t. It’s a combination of quality and leveraging the right tools on the app, and we’re going to talk about it in this article, so keep reading. 

#1 Smile in Your Photos 

A lot of research has proven that photos with smiles in them do better online than photos where you’re just looking straight up in the camera, and photos without your face in them at all do even worse. According to research, photos with faces in them do 40% better on Instagram than those without, and if you have trouble smiling in photos, you can even add a smile to a photo with the help of an app.

However, you can also practice smiling in your photos in front of a mirror, or by taking a lot of selfies with different smiles. This will give you an idea of how much you should smile while posing for photos when the time comes, and it won’t be as awkward. 

#2 Use Hashtags 

Hashtags are a great way to get your content to people who aren’t your followers but are still interested in the topic you’re posting about. With the help of the right hashtag, your posts can show up on the feed of countless people who didn’t previously know about your work, and you might even gain some new followers. 

In this case, it’s important to know what hashtags you’re using and to use the right ones – using too many under your posts or stuffing unrelated hashtags in the caption or the comments will only harm your page and visibility. 

#3 Tag Other Users 

If you tag other users in your posts, your posts will show up on their profile too. This means that tagging the right people who have relevant audiences will be able to see your posts, in addition to this being a chance for you to show that you value a fellow creator and their work. 

The tagged account can be anyone from a friend to a famous celebrity or influencer who would care about your content. 

#4 Add Location to Your Photos 

Getting your post noticed means you need to make it visible in as many places in the app as possible, which means tagging the location in your photos. This will help put you on the map, and if people are looking up the location you tagged in your photo, they’ll be able to see your photo among the others taken in the same area.

Tagging your own location in case you have a small business or premises that you operate out of has the added benefit of making it easy for people to find you, which is a great way you can benefit from tagging your location in the photos. 

#5 Don’t Post Too Often 

If you post photos too often, you’ll end up doing more harm than good. Posting too often will only result in your own posts competing against each other for likes – and your photos might end up getting fewer likes than they would have if you posted just one at a time. 

This is why it’s important to have a schedule and stick to it, but not to make it too repetitive. 

Want to add Instagram followers to your account? Here we have a few more tips on how to get more followers on Instagram.

Along with the fan page basics like Fan page ideas or how to make fan video edits for Instagram, you will get clear-cut instructions on how to start a fan page. And of course, a list of the most popular Instagram fan pages as of 2021 will also be provided. 

If you are intrigued, continue reading!

Think Outside The Box – Instagram Fan Page Ideas 

No matter if you are totally new to the Instagram fan page concept, or have some experience running a fan page out of love for a favorite pop star, Hollywood actress, or actor. In order for you to make a successful Instagram fan page, you should prove creativity, passion, and effort.

Instagram fan page ideas are where your journey for a nation’s best fan page begins. The two less obvious ways to generate ideas for a fan page are surprisingly a cookie-cutter approach of analyzing other fan pages or targeting the relevant hashtag(s).

Depending on where you are in your fan journey, there are two likely scenarios. 

The first, if you are obsessed with a physical object like a celebrity’s fashion, bodybuilding, makeup, or good looks. Then, unless you are a professional artist, Pinterest, Imgur, or other websites with lots of crowd-sourced celebrity photos are your websites of choice.

The second, if you are an admirer of a non-physical object, like a character trait or a domain of expertise for example. Fan page ideas may come from anywhere. Some of the possible sources for your content inspiration are other fan pages on Instagram(not necessarily on the same subject), Twitter, 9Gag, TikTok, YouTube, for design inspiration – Canva, DesignBold, Crello, etc.

  Bonus Tip: Before you even search for Instagram fan page ideas, you should decide on what is the single most important thing about your fan page. Is it a person and his/her lifestyle, expert advice and guidance, or a movement (political, social, etc.)? The core of your page will not determine how successful it will be, but it will help you easily find more fan page ideas for Instagram. If you are interested in growing an online business, an Instagram fan page is also great for social media advertising.

Learn From Example – Top 5 Instagram Fan Pages

The fastest way to learn how to start a fan page is, of course, by getting inspired by other fan pages.

Here is FeedPixel’s selection of the top 5 Instagram fan pages in sports, most played computer games, and music. As you can see below, nearly all of them have hundreds of fans and a decent (or average) engagement rate. 

Most Popular Minecraft Fan Page 

With over 1600 posts @minecraftbestofbuilds is two planks short of hitting half a million Instagram followers. Its Instagram engagement rate is pretty much the standard one for accounts with under 1M followers and amounts to 2%. Over 10k likes and about 30 comments are what this Instagram fan page gets on average. 

Its two runner-ups @minecraftbuildinggod (355k followers) and @minecraftdailyblock (342k followers) also have bearable engagement rates, at 3.4% and 2% respectively.

Most Popular Sports Fan Page

Not surprisingly, the LeBron James fan page comes second to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Instagram fan page. There are hundreds of fan pages for these renowned sports stars, yet some managed to amass millions while others could barely scratch a few hundred.

In fact, @cristiano.ronaldo7_  has 1.3 million followers and a 1.3% engagement rate, while Lebron. King. James has 1.1 million followers and just 0.8% engagement on Instagram. By all accounts, Christiano seems to have beaten James. This again accentuates the importance of a fan page’s central topic.

Speaking of sports, Nike’s fan page called @strictly.nike with 30k Instagram followers also does pretty well compared to other sportswear brands. 

Top Instagram Fan Page In Fashion and Hair & Beauty

You may not expect, Cardi B fan page to rock in multiple categories. Her fan page @cardibbb_official has over 400k followers but a surprisingly low 0.8% engagement rate.

Even so, the average number of likes per post is 3,5k likes, which is quite a number for a celebrity fan page, right? 

The other two runner-ups, @dabaddiecardib and @kardicute amassed 340k and 163k followers respectively, all three totaling nearly 1 million Instagram users following her. Is that a surprise that Cardi B fans rule Instagram fashion, hair, and beauty categories?

What Makes For a Successful Instagram Fanpage

Drilling down the details of a successful Instagram fanpage, let’s analyze the pages mentioned above. 

To start, the number of followers does depend not only on the type of content but how well defined the niche is.

It is clearly visible in placing the Instagram fan pages side-by-side. 

Instead of going broad into computer games, going deep into selecting ones like Minecraft or PUBG. Same with sports, instead of focusing on sports in general it is best to build a fan page around a sports star like Cristiano. 

The next thing to consider is the frequency of uploads. Evidence shows that the most successful Instagram fanpages upload photo and video posts, Stories, Reels, and Carousel posts daily. While not every post receives an equal number of comments and likes, a fan page manages to build up steady growth over time.

But speaking of uploads it is important to keep a page active to facilitate growth. This is clearly seen in Cardi B’s fan pages. The top one, while having the most Instagram followers, has almost stopped growing as no posts have been added since February 2021. 

Below the average Instagram engagement rate further proves the drop in post-activity as no new content has been added to the page. In contrast, the other two with lesser followers count had a much higher engagement rate, at 2% and 1.4% respectively. This is likely because of the active uploads (both pages have uploaded over 25 posts in August alone and have been consistent throughout the year. 

Last, but not least, users seem to appreciate carousel and video posts more than the regular ones. And, creators behind fan pages know it. There are roughly 1-2 carousels or video posts for every 5-7 posts on the Instagram fan page.

How to Make a Fan Page on Instagram Step-by-Step

Now, the most important part – how to create a fanpage on Instagram. Once you already know your niche, the kinds of posts, and decide on the time of posting, it’s high time to set up a fan page. In short, the mythical fan page is that same Instagram Business account with fanship in mind. 

STEP 1: Make sure you have downloaded a suitable profile photo before you sign up for a fanpage account. If you have one Instagram account that you are logged in to, to sign up for a new one you should log out first. If you want to turn an existing Instagram account into an Instagram fan page simply log into it and head over to Account Settings. Then, proceed to step 3 skipping the next step.

STEP 2: Sign up with an email or a phone number, enter your full name and password and hit “Next”. 

STEP 3: Type in the username associated with whoever or whatever your fandom is, and choose a suitable password. 

STEP 4: You will be asked to connect Instagram to Facebook, which you can skip and connect at any time in the future. Simply click “Skip”, and then, when Instagram suggests that X number of your contacts are on Instagram tap “Next”.

STEP 5: Upload a profile photo by tapping “Add photo” and “Choose from Library”. Once done, hit “Next” to go to your Instagram page. 

STEP 6: Right below the followers, following, and post count, you will see an “Edit Profile” icon. Tap to add Instagram bio (up to 150 characters), change a profile icon or account settings.

Congratulations, your first fan page just went live.

Final Tips on Instagram Fan Page 

Now as you know how to generate Instagram fan page ideas and analyzed the most popular of fan pages on Instagram, and created your own, it’s time to start uploading rocking posts.

A good rule of thumb is to have 3-4 posts a week or more. If you are struggling to find more post ideas, the Instagram search for hashtags and profiles will lead you in the right direction. 

Once you have found the edge, keep it consistent across all of your Instagram posts. Do not from one filter to another, switching the colors and fonts. This creates a distorted image of a fan page as if the horde of creators competed against each other. 

Focus on the quality of images or videos you are uploading. The most engaging posts apparently are the best quality ones. Invest time in finding the right resource and layout before starting to post. 

Like any social network, the purpose of Instagram is human interaction. Find other fan pages, follow relevant hashtags, and creators in your niche. Like and save their posts and tag them in captions.  

We suggest you also post Instagram Stories, Boomerang videos, and carousel posts as those are among the types of posts that users interact with most. Read how to create custom collages and color gradients in our Instagram Stories Hacks post. 

Last but not least, if you are paying attention to all the above but nothing is seemingly working, pause and re-evaluate content. That said, the number of followers is not the only criteria for growth. Your overall Instagram engagement matters. An Instagram fan page may not have as many followers but have viewed, liked, and commented more than another one with inactive followers.

Trying to quickly get ahead but failing to improve post engagement, you can buy Instagram likes.