What is Instagram Takeover and How to Do it Safely?

Instagram takeover

Just built a brand on Instagram and looking for an economical way to promote your business over there? Why don’t you try to host an Instagram takeover? This is one of the best ways to go on partnerships on Instagram and be in a win-win situation. 

In this article, I’m going to define Instagram takeovers, the benefits of running such campaigns, the safest way to host a takeover, and also the most popular examples of this marketing strategy. So, let’s just start. 

What is an Instagram Takeover? 

An Instagram takeover is a kind of temporary partnership during which another person takes over your account, creates and curates content on behalf of you. Usually, the host is a brand and guests are: 

  • Product users and customers, 
  • Influencers, 
  • Celebrities, 
  • Team members,
  • Or other brand accounts. 

During this partnership, your guest publishes one or some posts on your Instagram account, and this way, they will be provided with the opportunity to promote their own business on Instagram. So, if you are looking for the best way to get sponsors on Instagram, you must definitely keep this as an option in mind. But how can it help you grow? Let’s figure it out!

Benefits of Running an Instagram Takeover

As a business that hosts an Instagram takeover, you’ll benefit from: 

  • New organic followers, 
  • More creative ideas for your upcoming Instagram feeds and stories, 
  • Brand awareness and trust. 

And as a guest, these takeovers help you: 

So, roughly speaking, these partnerships would be mutually beneficial and may also result in getting viral on Instagram

How to Do an Instagram Takeover?

Now, you know that an Instagram takeover can be a great way to attract more audiences and hit 10K followers in a shorter period of time. But how to run a successful takeover campaign? Well, here are 5 simple steps you must take:

#1 Define Your Goals

No matter what kind of campaign you are going to run on Instagram, you always have to define your goal to know what you should expect to see after the campaign. So, as for the first step, go ahead and define your goal by answering “why do you want to run an Instagram takeover?”. 

When you found an answer to this question, consider the following metrics to set a more specific goal: 

  • Interactions you want to receive; such as likes, comments, views, etc., 
  • Followers growth, 
  • Website traffic, 
  • Sales conversion, 
  • And/or the number of attendees. 

Note that you may not need to consider all these metrics.

To better understand this step, let’s take a look at one of the real Instagram takeover examples: 

Instagram takeover example
Instagram takeover example

As you see in the last lines of the caption, the host invited people to check her app and shop. So, in this case, they have definitely set a goal about the number of app downloads and also the sales conversion rate. Hence, considering the number of likes or comments received will not be an essential factor to care about.

#2 Pick an Instagram Takeover Partner

After setting your goal, choose a guest or a host for the takeover. In this step, you have to pay attention to your partner’s audiences. Are they willing to follow you after the takeover? And will they turn to be your customers? 

Actually, this step is more like finding an Instagram influencer. The only difference is that here, you have more options and you can even work with your customers or colleagues.

#3 Decide on Details and Come Up with New Instagram Takeover Ideas

On Instagram, you have the chance to share your ideas using different features. For instance, you can do your Instagram takeover on feeds, stories, IGTV, live, reels, or even all of them. This totally depends on you and your previous post performances. So, before deciding on where, when, and how long to go for the takeover, analyze your performance in the last 3 months and see which feature would be the best place for your takeover. 

Additionally, there are two types of takeovers: 

  1. Full account takeover, 
  2. And semi-account takeover. 

Actually, in the second type, you don’t have to share your login information with the other person. Instead, you get the posts, captions, and all other essential information from them, and publish the posts on your own. So, semi-account takeovers are assumed to be safer.

After deciding on these details, specify the exact dates of the event and its duration. Then, go ahead and promote the event.

#4 Cross-Promote Your Upcoming Takeover 

Unquestionably, if you want to succeed in your Instagram takeover, you have to promote it and invite people to attend your event. But how can you do it? 

Well, the first thing to do is to share some inviting posts on both partners’ accounts and let people know when and where to expect the takeover to be held. Here’s an example: 

Instagram takeover example
Instagram takeover example

Additionally, link all your social media accounts and try to promote the event on other social channels for better results.

#5 Schedule Your Posts and Run the Campaign

Finally, just go ahead and run your Instagram takeover. Actually, for better results, we suggest you schedule your posts to be shared on all partners’ accounts simultaneously. This way, you’ll save a great deal of time posting on multiple accounts. Moreover, using a professional Instagram management service and a scheduler like AiGrow, you can:

And more. So, sign up for free on this platform to get better results on your takeovers.

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Wrap Up

To sum it up, Instagram takeovers help you achieve your marketing goals in a short period of time. Actually, these events are somehow similar to influencer marketing campaigns; however, they are beneficial for all the event parties and also, more economical choices for your business. Read the article meticulously to know how to run a perfect takeover. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to leave us a comment.