It’s hard not to feel like everyone on Instagram is an influencer – except for you. Believe it or not, influencers can bring in as little as $300 and as much as $100,000 per post when they partner up with a sponsor.
You may have noticed that Instagram is becoming a more popular place for brands to collaborate with influencers and get them to promote their service or product.
So, what does it take to start cashing in on the content that you post to your feed? Let’s take a look. Even if you don’t have thousands of followers, we can still show you how to snag a sponsor.
Five Ways to Get Sponsored
So, why would a big brand want to pay someone small like you to collaborate with them and promote their product? Let’s break it down. Would you trust a product from someone that has a huge following yet you don’t know at all, or would you trust a product from someone you know really well but only has a few hundred followers?
Of course, you have a personal relationship with someone who is close to you, and there’s a good chance that you trust their opinion on things. So, if you’ve built up a solid relationship with your audience, then they’re more likely to trust the products that you promote. Let’s take a look at how you can use this smaller community you’ve grown to help you get sponsored posts.
1. Remember Your Contact Info
If you’re looking for a brand to get in contact with you, you need to make it easy for them. Making sure that your contact info is up to date is your best bet with this. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to put all of your personal information out there. Being safe online these days is important, too, so make sure to be careful with what information you choose to share.
Adding information to your bio makes it easy for companies to connect with you, and it also shows them that you’re interested in collaborating with them, too.
2. Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience like the back of your hand is one of the best things you can do to get an Instagram sponsor. Brands aren’t always going to reach out you – sometimes, you need to be the one to bridge that gap.
Keep in mind, though, that this is easier said than done. In fact, getting to know your audience is potentially one of the hardest parts of building a brand on Instagram and getting people to work with you. The good news, though, that actually figuring out who your audience is isn’t too hard. All you need to do is figure out the location, gender, and age of the people that are interacting with your content the most. If you use a business profile, simply click on the ‘insights’ tab to see this type of information.
These demographics will be able to help you get your pitch together better to put in front of potential brands. Companies want to know above all else who they’ll be able to reach by working with you.
3. Define Your Brand
Another integral part of getting brands to work with you is being able to define your brand. This is going to help you define what kind of content you’re posting, and it’s also going to help you be more consistent with what you post.
These are the questions you should be asking yourself in regards to your brand and niche:
- What style do you want your posts to be in?
- Are you trying to convey a specific message to your audience?
- Do you want your feed to represent a cohesive theme so that your Instagram can be instantly recognized?
Brands appreciate it when you can develop and create a profile that is original and can be distinguished from all the other content that you can find on the gram.
We all know just how important hashtags are to your engagement strategy. If you’re trying to increase your following so that brands can notice you, you need to make sure you’re choosing relevant, specific hashtags that represent your brand.
When you upload a post that features a brand you’re trying to work with, tag them in it. Once you tag a brand in your post, all of their followers will be able to see your content as well. They might even share your post on their page, which of course is going to help with your exposure.
Also, if you tag a brand in your post, they will see that you’re a big fan. Of course, this is going to grab their attention either way, which is going to give you a better chance of snagging a sponsorship with them.
With this in mind, remember to keep the quality of your content high if you’re going to tag a brand. Just think of it as your portfolio – it needs to be looking great in order to stand out from the crowd and make a brand want to work with you.
5. Go for a Pitch
Even if you’ve grown your Instagram to a point where it’s now got a few thousand followers, this doesn’t necessarily mean that brands are automatically going to start hitting you up for a sponsor. This means that if you’re looking to work with brands, you need to make sure that everything else about your profile indicates that this is what you’re hoping for.
You could go for gold and try pitching to brands. This is a great way to get the ball rolling on a sponsorship. However, before you reach out to that brand you’ve always dreamed of working with, perhaps try reaching out to something a bit smaller first. This way, you can get some experience out of the way first and learn the do’s and do n’t’s of pitching to companies.
Of course, smaller brands aren’t going to have as big of a budget to work with. In saying this, though, teaming up with smaller brands is still a great way to give yourself a leg up until you get the kind of exposure you need to go for the bigger brands.
Final Thoughts
By taking our advice and following these practical tips and tricks for getting sponsored, we’re confident that you’ll get your first collaboration in no time.
Be sure to remember that when you post content that’s been sponsored, you disclose this to your community. Good luck!