What Is An Instagram Takeover?

If you’ve been hearing the words “Instagram Takeover” lately then you’re not alone. It’s a trending phenomenon that’s being spearheaded by influencers all over the world, and for good reason. Hosting an Instagram takeover is one of the lowest effort, most organic ways to get your product or service out there.

Not sure what we’re talking about? Let’s break it down for you.

What is an “Instagram Takeover”?

An Instagram Takeover is when someone (usually an influencer) temporarily takes over another Instagram account (usually, a brand account) in order to share original content and engage with that account’s audience.

There are several different approaches to an Instagram Takeover that can benefit your brand.

Other types of Instagram Takeovers include:

Employee takeovers
Customer takeovers
Event takeovers

Instagram Takeovers are not only beneficial for the brand but for the influencer too! The brand can bring new valuable content to their followers without having to create it themselves and the influencer can reach an entirely new audience by levering the brand account. Paving the way for future collaboration and cross-promotion.

So how do you get started setting up an Instagram Takeover? Let’s dive in.

How to host an Instagram Takeover

Before you choose an influencer to host your brand’s Instagram takeover, you need to be clear about what it is you want to achieve. Ideally, it should be multiple positive outcomes.

Goals for your Instagram Takeover, for instance, can include:

Increasing brand awareness (this can be measured by the number of new followers your Instagram account gets as a result)

Promoting a product or service (this can be measured by the number of lead form submissions and products sold)

Driving engagement (this can be measured by the number of likes, comments and shares)

Pick your influencer

Now that you know what it is that you want to achieve, it’s time to choose the best influencer to do so.

Candidates to consider include:

Influencers in your industry
Employees at your company
Brand loyal customers

Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, influencers in your industry have the ability to draw their followers to your Instagram account through the endorsement of your brand, product or service, making them best suited for brand awareness and growing your followers.

Employees on the other hand will help to attract interest from their colleagues, friends and family. Basically, those people wanting a behind-the-scenes look at what your employees do at work every day. Making employees a good fit for driving engagement on Instagram.

Brand loyal customers are best suited for posting enthusiastically about your product or service. Making them perfect for promoting your brand and as a result, getting sales.

Get clear on the specifics of your Takeover

Now that you have decided on which type of goal, and by extension, which type of candidate to consider it’s time to get clear on the specifics.

In order to clarify the specifics of the Takeover and how it will run, here are some questions to ask:

Who will be hosting the Instagram takeover and how long will it last?

Who will manage the account, you or the guest hosting?

Will the guest get access to your Instagram account or will they send you content, captions and hashtags to post on their behalf?

How many times a day will content be posted?

Will there be an optimal publishing schedule in mind, and will it specify what times per day the person with access to the account will post?

Which hashtags will be used? And if so, which hashtags?

Will you create a custom hashtag to promote the takeover?

Will there be a maximum number of hashtags to be used in any given caption?

Which types of content will be shared on the Instagram account during the Takeover?

Will the Takeover guest share photos, videos, Instagram stories, or live videos? Or will they post a combination of these?

How will you and the guest promote the Takeover on Instagram? Will you agree to promote your brand on other Instagram accounts leading up to the Takeover?

What ground rules, if any, should be put in place? Is there anything that the guest shouldn’t mention or be careful to record during the Takeover?

Decide on which metrics to track during the Takeover

Depending on your goals for the Instagram Takeover, some of the below metrics will be more important than others. These are the metrics we recommend you track during the Takeover.

The total number of: