It’s incredible how easy it is to get sponsored on Instagram these days.
It’s a great way to make a bit of money, your way. Let’s look at how to guarantee that sponsorship on Instagram.
Branding is Everything
Influencers become well-known because people are able to associate them with something specific. The idea is that an Instagram account that is influential focuses on one thing and is really good at this one thing.
There are many different things that this could be. From the style of photo that they post to the theme or captions, the possibilities are endless. There are many influencers that break into different categories, from food and travel to fashion.
Influencers garner trust from their audience because they are believed to be the expert in that field. It works the other way, too – brands love to work with people like this because it makes it easier for that brand to reach their target audience.
If you want to break through, make sure that your brand is on point.
Be Consistent About Posting
Because it’s all about trust with your Instagram followers, you want to do everything you can to gain it. This involves showing them that you’re predictable and consistent.
This starts by making whenever you’re posting the same. Whether it’s eight in the morning or eleven at night, try to stick to the same time every day. Additionally, you want to make sure that your audience is getting a fresh dose of your page when they expect it, so try not to skip too many scheduled postings.
We recommend posting at least once a day to achieve the right amount of consistency with your audience. If you separate each engagement by a few hours, you’ll get the most likes.
A bonus of posting all the time will also give you an excellent chance of being featured on Instagram’s explore page, which is a great way to gain more exposure.
Grow Your Following
It sounds like a good dose of common sense, right? If you want to be an influencer and get sponsored on Instagram, increase the number of people who follow you. The bigger your audience is, the more you’ll be able to charge for paid promotion.
There are many different ways you can do this. Hashtags are a great place to begin – they’re easy to slide into your posts, and they’re your best bet at the right kind of people following you.
Another way to grow your following is by outsourcing your engagement completely. We all know that the more we engage with our existing audience on Instagram, the higher our chances of being noticed.
Companies like Stellation Media are a great way to bring a bit of action to your page, without having to compromise by using a bot or buying Instagram followers.
Remember to Engage
Speaking of engagement, let’s take a look at why it’s so important.
One of the fastest ways to get on the Instagram explore page is to engage with your audience. Instagram likes to see you putting in a little bit of effort with your fans and will reward accordingly.
If they feel like the Instagram community is going to benefit from you being visible, they’ll feature you on their explore page. The more you engage, the more likely it is that Instagram will notice and boost you up the waiting list.
Make it Obvious
We know that it’s never attractive to try and hard sell your stuff – however, there’s a delicate balance between not doing this and letting potential brands know you would pick up a brand deal.
To do so, make sure that you tag brands that you love when posting on your own, without any other sponsorships. Another great way to get them in your radar is to make sure you’ve got a link in your caption to how they can contact you.
If you’ve got a blog or website, it’s also helpful to add a press page, so potential affiliations know what your intentions are.
Don’t be Afraid to Pitch
If you feel like you’re not getting anywhere with the brand deals, you can always reach out to your favorite brands as well.
If you choose to use this tactic, it’s a good idea to start small. If you contact a smaller brand that’s likely to benefit from the partnership mutually, they may be more willing. While they won’t pay as much, they will undoubtedly consider the opportunity to be worthwhile.
It’s also good to find brands that are quite clearly already working with influencers. They’ll be much more likely to listen to your pitch.
Learn to Know Your Worth
When embarking on a pitching journey with Instagram, remember to stick with what you know and know your worth. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of an Instagram brand deal, from editing, scheduling, cross-posting and finally, posting.
This means that a lot of the time people can underestimate their worth. Even if you’ve only got a few thousand follows still, there are plenty of companies out there with similar popularity who could benefit from getting to know you.
At the end of the day, there’s no magic number – you set the price of your work depending on how valuable you think it is.
Be Clear About the Criteria Before You Commit
As with everything that’s online these days, the lines often get blurred when it comes to deals. If you’re not signing a hard copy of a contract, it gets even worse. A company may promise something they can’t deliver or vice versa – it just happens this way a lot and there’s nothing you can do about it.
That’s why it’s good to talk about your expectations before you sign up for anything. How many posts is the company expecting to get from you? Will the brand have editorial control before the post goes live? Will you be using specific hashtags?
These are all things you have to discuss and agree upon before actually doing any work. Otherwise, you could end up getting caught out or ripped off.
Tag Brands
We’re taking it back to basics with the last tip for getting sponsored on Instagram. This is because, at the end of the day, it’s crucial that you remember to have the right brands tagged in your post in order to get the type of sponsorship you’re looking for.
It’s easy, really – when you feature content that’s from brands you like, remember to tag them in it. This way, they’ll be much more likely to see your stuff and who knows, maybe they’ll even consider approaching you about collaboration.
Conclusion
Follow these tips, and you’ll be a successful Instagram influencer in no time. Worst case scenario, you’ll end up getting sponsored by a clothing company and wind up with some new outfits.
Remember, it’s essential when you’re posting to disclose whether you’re being sponsored for something or not. When you aren’t, remember to make this clear. Happy sponsorship!
