Instagram is likely to be an important social media site for your business in 2023, whether you sell clothes, home decor, sports gear, or something else.
A lot of Instagram users follow at least one business, and most of them use Instagram to decide what to buy. A strong Instagram marketing plan can include paid strategies like a story ad or an Instagram influencer campaign.
What is a shoutout on Instagram?
People do “Insta shoutouts,” or “IG shoutouts” as they’re called informally, when they share the work of another Instagram user on their own account.
Instagram shoutouts usually happen when User A posts or tells a story that includes a photo or mention of User B by using the @ symbol.
In a business shoutout, User A’s post might include a photo or video of a product or service that User B sells.
Influencer marketing often includes a shoutout. This is a growing trend that has more than doubled in the past two years and shows no signs of stopping.
How to Get a Shoutout on Instagram?
There are both paid and free ways to get shoutouts on Instagram. Here are some of the best-known:
(Voluntary) shoutout for free
When people talk about your dropshipping product on their own, you’ve hit the jackpot. When a customer who bought your service or product likes it so much that they talk about it on social media, this is called a “voluntary shoutout.” It’s what everybody wants.
Thanks for the shoutout (S4S)
S4S is probably the most common way on Instagram to get a shout-out. Get a shoutout and give one back in return.
Find Instagram accounts that have about the same number of followers as you do and ask them for a shoutout in exchange. The best choice is always to pay for a shoutout or use S4S.
Paid publicity
For new dropshippers who don’t have a big following yet, paid shoutouts might be the best choice. You can use apps to find the best Instagram accounts to follow and shout out.
Some influencers might be willing to give a shout-out in exchange for a free product, but most will want money. If you ask, you have nothing to lose. It can only be good.
Partner shoutout
The affiliate shoutout is the last model. When you sell clothes or other things, affiliate shoutouts work well.
Affiliate shoutouts on Instagram work by giving customers a UTM-tagged link or discount code that they can use at checkout to track how many sales the influencer is responsible for. The person with the most influence gets a cut of each sale.
How to get a free shoutout on Instagram?
If you’re interested in free dropshipping, S4S is a great way to get a shoutout on Instagram for free.
Look for accounts with about the same number of followers as you do to make sure that what you’re offering is worth what you’re asking for.
An account with 1 million or more followers can’t do a “shoutout for shoutout” for an account with 5,000 followers. They’re not likely to agree to something like that because, well, what would they get out of it?
You can use hashtags that describe the kind of account you want to find to help you find the best Instagram accounts. When it comes to influencer marketing, it’s important to reach out to accounts in your niche that post similar content.
For example, if you want to sell baby toys, you need to find a mother who has a lot of followers who are also new mothers. It makes no sense to advertise baby toys on a page for men’s cosmetics.
What are Paid Instagram Shoutouts?
Most Instagram influencers make their money from paid shoutouts on Instagram. Once an influencer has established themselves as an expert in their field and has a good number of followers, they can start getting paid for shoutouts.
Because of this, it makes sense that there are many websites, directories, and other tools to help find the right influencers. You can even find Instagram pages that are just for shouting out on Instagram.
For example, Instagram quote pages that share quotes from aspiring authors. Also, Instagram accounts with pictures of trips to faraway places and frequent mentions of different travel agencies
How Does a Shoutout on Instagram Work?
Anyone can do an Instagram shoutout, but there are only a few things that will make it work or not.
First of all, most people with a lot of followers do Instagram shoutouts. Instagram shoutouts are a way for the person doing the shoutout to get more attention. This works best if the person doing the shoutout has a big following.
Most people who do Instagram shoutouts have a lot of followers, so they must have a reason for doing it. This is why paid shoutouts have become so popular: people pay for popular Instagram accounts to promote their brands.
Say you have two Instagram accounts and a lot of people follow each one. In this case, these two accounts might mention each other. Even if nobody gets paid, everyone gets seen by a lot of people who might become new followers.
Shoutouts can also be used to get the word out about different things. If you make content, the account that does the shoutout will tell the people who follow them to follow your account. Since they’ve tagged your account, their followers can easily find it and click on it.
On the other hand, maybe you use your Instagram account to sell something. The shoutout will probably have a picture of your product and a link to your store. A shoutout that tries to get new people to buy your products would be an example of this.
Every Instagram shoutout tells people to do something, like follow another account or buy something. When you tell your followers to do something, they should do it.
How Much Instagram Shoutouts Should Cost?
There are many different prices for shoutouts, and the price will depend on several things.
The number of a user’s followers can give an idea of how much it will cost. It’s important to keep in mind that each influencer will have their own prices.
- 100 to 500,000 fans: $50 to $1000
- From 500K to 1M followers: $1000 to $10,000
- More than a million followers: More than $10,000
If you want to pay for an Instagram shoutout, try to stick to these numbers. Sometimes Instagram users ask for more than they should, so make sure you know how much shoutouts usually cost.
There are a few things to remember, though. Even if two Instagram accounts have the same number of followers, one may have more engagement than the other.
The engagement rate is a way to figure out how many of an influencer’s followers interact with a post. The engagement rate of an influencer goes up as more of their followers like, comment on, and share their posts.
If an influencer has a high engagement rate, they may ask for more money for a shoutout. They charge more because they think more people will be interested in your content.
Before you agree on a price, make sure you look at how often they respond. You can figure this out by comparing the number of people who follow them to the number of comments and likes on their photos.
Knowing the rate of engagement will help you decide what price is right.
Tips on how to get shoutouts on Instagram
Even though there is no one right way to get a shoutout on Instagram, there are some rules and best practises that can help.
There are also things you should not do. Let’s talk about some good ways to get Instagram shoutouts.
Carefully choose who you work with.
If you don’t carefully consider your options, you can make a lot of mistakes. If you sell gardening tools, it’s probably not a good idea to try to get a shoutout from a high-fashion Instagrammer. Make sure that the profiles, posts, and stories of the people you’re interested in are compatible with yours.
Build a relationship before making a pitch.
Show a stranger how honest you are before you ask them to back you up.
Follow the account of the person or brand you think would make a good candidate. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter, as well as other social media sites. If the person has a blog, sign up for it.
After that, you can sometimes like and comment on their posts. But don’t do too much. There is a thin line between being interested and needy.
Send an email or message that starts a conversation.
When looking for awesome Instagram shoutout partners, you may come across spam comments like “S4S?” Don’t turn into them.
When it’s time to get in touch with your prospects, send them a direct message on Instagram or an email (if they have provided one in their profile info).
Your pitch will have more weight if you talk to different people about it. In your message or email, be clear about what you want and how you want it to work.
Why Instagram shoutouts are good for dropshipping?
When you use Instagram for influencer marketing, you get the following benefits:
- A wider reach and more attention
- Your dropshipping store is getting more fans.
- More trust and loyalty. Better brand recognition.
- People like to see that other people use a product because it makes them feel good.
- More money coming in
- Organic sales in the long term
- More results with less money
What should be in an Instagram shoutout?
Instagram shoutouts are mostly used to boost sales and the number of people who follow you on Instagram. So, you want the shoutout to make your product look as good as it can.
In a typical influencer campaign, the influencer is shown how to use the product, given a list of benefits, shown how to use the product, etc. To get as many people as possible interested in a product or brand, you need to promote it.
The caption should be short, easy to understand, and have a clear call to action (CTA). People don’t read as much as they used to, so make it easy to understand and scan at a glance.
Catch people’s attention with something interesting in the first sentence of a caption, and then move on to the more boring stuff later.
The caption should make people want to buy the product or follow the dropshipping store. Both influencers should put a @ in front of your user account and post a clear call to action, like a follow, a discount code, etc.
Content to Get Ready for a Shoutout on Instagram
You should make it as easy as possible for a top Instagram page to give you a shoutout if you want to be accepted.
In other words, you shouldn’t give them more work to do, like finding a picture or a caption to describe the product on their own.
The best way to deal with these accounts is to give them a template that they can copy, paste, and use as is. Most of the time, these things are needed:
- Images in the right size and format for Instagram posts or stories
- If necessary, a video of the product being unpacked, used, or just seen from different angles
- Include a link to your Instagram account (a user that starts with a @).
- The hashtags you give them should be used.
- A choice of (or more than one) captions already written to go with the images
- Your external shop or product link (this should be in the bio of the influencer for a limited time so that it can be clicked on)
- When you reach out to an Instagram influencer, the above items will make your request easier and make their job much easier.
Imagine how much more time they would have to spend on their own if they had to do everything themselves. So, influencers only need one minute to do everything, which makes it more likely that they will give you a shoutout.
Conclusion
When an Instagram influencer talks about your brand or personal Instagram account, they are giving you a shoutout. Most people will ask an account with a lot of followers to put them in front of their followers. By shouting, you can reach more people, get more people to follow you, and make more money.
Most Instagram shoutouts are based on how many followers the person has. Don’t pay more than the average shoutout price, and think carefully about who you want to promote your brand.
