If you’re on your way to becoming an influencer and you’re not familiar with the world of brand collaborations, then you’re in for a treat.
A brand collaboration is when a brand pays a content creator to create content using their product. It could be a product review or a simple video or image of an influencer using their product.
Even if you‘re a micro-influencer with a small audience, you can still get brand collaborations. We made this guide to help content creators just like you find collaborations that are aligned with your content.
The 4 Best Ways To Find Brands To Work With if You’re a Content Creator or Micro-Influencer
Here are a few ways to find brand collabs if you’re a content creator...
1. Identify Relevant Platforms
First of all, some wonderful news for content creators all over the world is that there are platforms that are designed specifically for helping content creators and brands partner up!
We’re one of those platforms. Here at Insense, we help content creators find, manage and reap the rewards (including getting paid) of brand collaborations. All from within our site and app.
There are plenty of other platforms for finding brand collaborations too. A quick Google search will help you find some.
Do your research and decide which one seems best for your needs, and keep our platform in mind! Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about our platform or about brand collabs in general.
2. Check Other Content Creator’s Feeds
Another awesome way to find brands that offer collaborations to content creators is to see which brands other creators are working with.
The easiest way to do that is to take a look at their social media feeds. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are particularly ripe with brand collaborations.
Whether you’re a blogger, YouTuber or Instagram model, you’ll probably be able to find similar profiles that have gotten brand collaborations. Remember, micro-influencers get collabs too!
3. Identify Brands You Like
While using a platform like Insense will open up a world of brands to collaborate with, you should also consider which brands you really like.
If there’s a particular brand you want to work with, see which influencers are already working with them. Hopefully, there’ll be influencers relevant to your niche, but even if there aren’t, you can reach out to the brand to show them your work and see if they’re interested in working together.
We’ll share some tips on reaching out to brands in the next section.
4. Identify Brands That Already Engage With You
Even if you’re a content creator with a small following, there may be brands that are already engaging with your content. Check your list of followers, your likes, your comments and your DM’s to see if there are any brands that have tried to establish contact with you.
Tips for Working With Brands: How To Reach Out
You don’t need to be an expert writer or negotiator to reach out to brands, but there are some general tips that are good to know.
Before Contacting a Brand
Before you reach out to a brand in hopes of scoring a collaboration, make sure you meet these requirements.
You’re a Content Creator With High-Quality Content
Plain and simple, brands don’t want to work with run-of-the-mill content creators. You need to make sure that your content is original and unique. The goal is to show the brand your unique offering to them.
You Already Have a Following (Even a Small One)
You don’t need to be a huge influencer to get brand collaborations, but you do need a following, even if it’s small.
If you have a community of at least 1,000 followers that engage with your content, you should be good to go!
Pitching to Brands
Pitching is the big moment where you reach out to a brand you want to collaborate with. Here’s what you need to know to have a good pitch.
How To Reach Out
It’s best to reach out to brands directly via direct message on a social media platform, their contact form on their site or an appropriate email address that you find on their site.
What To Include in Your Pitch
Here’s what info you should include in your outreach:
- Who you are.
- Who your audience is.
- What you create content about.
- What you like about their brand and why you want to work with them.
- Your media kit which contains links to your social channels, your number of followers and for bloggers, stats about your site’s traffic, conversions, etc.
Your pitch needs to be descriptive, but try to keep it concise and easily readable. You’re not sending them a novel, you’re sending them a quick introduction to who you are. Pro tip: using bullet points is a great way to make your pitch look concise, yet detailed.
What Is an Influencer Media Kit and Why Do You Need One?
In the last section, we mentioned that you should include a media kit when you pitch to brands. We really want to emphasize the importance of this. Here’s why… a media kit is like your business card, resume and artist portfolio all in one.
A solid media kit really helps show brands who you are, what your content is like and what kind of impact you’ve made.
When creating your media kit, it’s important to keep the information and the design in mind. You’ll want a kit that looks good and has all of the information that a brand needs.
We’ll get to the design aspect later, but first, here’s some information that you’ll want to include in your media kit.
How To Create Your Media Kit: 4 Things To Include
Including these four things in your media kit is standard practice for content creators. Here they are...
1. Your Bio
Your media kit should definitely include a short bio that sums up who you are as a content creator. Mention your name, what kind of content you produce, a headshot and your contact information.
For the latter, include your social media URLs and your email. You can also include your phone number if you’d like.
This is also a good spot to put your blog or general website if you have one.
2. Your Social Media Stats
If you want your media kit to look good, it’s gonna need to have the numbers. Specifically, your number of followers and subscribers on various social media platforms. We also recommend including your engagement rates, including number of likes.
Obviously, it’s best to be honest about all of these stats. Even if you’re a micro-influencer with a small following, you can still get great brand collaborations! A lot of brands care more about engagement rate than follower count.
3. Your Follower Demographics
It’s important to also include information about your demographic. Who is following you and interacting with your posts? Is it mostly Muslim women in their 20’s, caucasian men in their 30’s, etc.? When thinking about your demographic, it’s good to consider things like age, race, sex/gender, location and religion.
Keep in mind that your demographic might seem simple or complicated. It’s okay either way. One isn’t better than the other!
Maybe your demographic is women in their 20’s, or maybe it’s something more complex like gay Jewish men in their 30’s. Whoever your demographic is, it’s part of what makes you and your following unique!
On the brand‘s side of things, they want to know who your followers are so they can determine if your audience is part of their target audience.
4. Previous Brand Collaborations and Testimonials
This part of your media kit is really like a resume that shows your work history. If you’ve had brand collabs in the past, mention them here.
By the way, the more information on your past collaborations, the better. Brands appreciate details like engagement rate and the number of clicks and conversions.
If you have any testimonials from brands you’ve worked with, include them too! Testimonials are a great way to show credibility and build trust. If you don’t have any testimonials, don’t be afraid to ask for them.
How To Design Your Own Media Kit: 3 Tips for Success
If you’re a content creator, then you’re probably a creative person who will be able to design a cool media kit, and if you keep these tips in mind, you’ll surely have an awesome kit that brands will love!
1. Match Your Usual Aesthetic
First of all, you’ll want your kit to have the same aesthetic as your blog or social media profiles. Use the same fonts, color palette and style of images. Your media kit is like an extension of your website and social profiles so make sure they all look cohesive!
2. Make It User-Friendly
Your media kit should be easy to read. Don’t include huge paragraphs of text, break it down into smaller chunks instead.
It’s okay for your media kit to be multiple pages, but keep it to three pages maximum. You’re not sending brands a novel to read, you’re sending them your professional portfolio in an easy-to-read format.
3. Hire a Professional or Use a Template
If you have the budget for it, we recommend hiring a professional graphic designer to create your media kit. However, if you don’t have money to spend on that, you can use Canva.
If you’re a content creator who doesn’t know what Canva is, then maybe you live under a rock and your target audience are bugs! Joking aside, Canva is an amazing graphic design resource for content creators, and they just so happen to have free media kit templates.
How To Respond to Brands That Reach Out to You
Reaching out to brands can be nerve-racking. The good news is that sometimes brands will reach out to you! It’s a great sign if they do. Here are a couple of tips to help you respond and negotiate in a professional manner.
1. Make Sure What They Want Is Crystal Clear
Often when a brand reaches out to a content creator, they’ll have an idea of what they want the content to be. To make things clear, ask them if they already have an idea or if they just want you to take the reigns and have full creative control.
2. What About Compensation
This is the big moment, the hard conversion, the numbers! You need to ask about how will you be compensated?
Sometimes brands want to do a product exchange, while other times they’ll want to pay you with actual money (It depends on the Product and your profile). Both forms of payment have their pros and cons.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind.
A. Time Commitment
If the brand wants a super elaborate video that’s going to take a lot of time to plan, rehearse and film, then you should be compensated very well, so if it will be a product exchange, make sure it is the equivalent of your work.
Exposure of working with a well-known brand is great; just make sure you work with brands that respect you on a professional level and want to compensate you fairly.
B. Audience Size
If you have 1,000-4,000 followers, you won’t get paid as much as if you had 10,000 followers or 100,000 followers. You get the idea. The bigger your audience, the bigger the payout for brand collabs.
Pro Tip: Ask for Advice
If you have any friends that are creators, you can ask them if they think the brand’s proposal sounds reasonable.
It’s good to get opinions from different people, but ultimately, trust your gut instinct.
Time To Get Started
There you have it! An in-depth guide to brand collaborations. If you’re an influencer or micro-influencer looking to collab with some cool brands, we hope this guide is helpful.
By the way, when you’re looking at platforms to help you find brand collaborations, give ours a try.
