Looking to expand your online reach? A cost-effective solution is to harness the power of influencer marketing, which puts the influencers on your social media channels to work for you.

One search engine optimization tactic that requires minimal effort on your part is to host an Instagram takeover. This strategy involves having a brand advocate temporarily take over your Instagram channel to take a look at your company from a different perspective. Ideally, the brand advocate should be an influencer in your industry, but other effective takeovers happen from employees or business partners. If implemented well, an Instagram takeover will drive a wealth of organic traffic to your business.

Here are several simple steps to help your first Instagram takeover go off without a hitch:

1. Determine your goal
What do you want to accomplish with your Instagram takeover? Examples of goals could include increasing brand awareness, promoting a new product, or driving more engagement within the Instagram community. For your Instagram takeover to be successful, you need to know your goal before you choose your host.

2. Choose the right Instagrammer to host the takeover.
It’s critical that you choose an Instagrammer that best aligns with your goal to have the most success with the takeover. For example, if you want to strengthen your search engine optimization strategy and increase brand awareness, choose an influencer in your industry that will expose your brand to a wider audience.

3. Nail down the specifics of how the takeover will go.
An Instagram takeover essentially hands your social media account over to your guest for a temporary period of time, so you’ll want to set some parameters up front. When meeting with your host, determine the timeframe for the takeover, when the host should publish content, which hashtags should be used, and the types of content that should be shared.

4. Determine the metrics that you’ll use to measure the success of the takeover.
Use your pre-determined goal will help you best determine which metrics to use to track the success of your Instagram takeover. Some of the most common metrics to use include tracking the number of new followers, number of likes, comments, and mentions, number of direct messages, and number of live video views.

To help promote the success of your upcoming Instagram takeover, be sure to promote your event on your other social media channels. Promoting the event one to two days in advance will help to ensure the best results.

If you want to bring some diversity to your search engine optimization strategy, give an Instagram takeover a try. This marketing tactic is authentic and real and will expose you to a wider community of followers.