If you’re an influencer it might be the logical next step in your creator journey to get started with brand collaborations. While it used to be only celebrities and massive influencers on Instagram with millions of followers who would collaborate with brands to promote products, nowadays many smaller content creators and influencers are able to work with their favorite brands as well.
If you’re interested in learning how to do it, we have an in-depth guide to help you get started and find brands that collaborate even with small influencers.
How to collab with brands
Before you start reaching out to brands, there are a few standards to keep yourself to:
- Be consistent: When you post on Instagram or any other platform, make sure you’re consistent with your posting frequency and your branding. Brands want to work with influencers and creators who they can trust. Being consistent is a great first step in showing that you’re trustworthy.
- Create high-quality content: Brands are looking for influencers who can produce high-quality, engaging content. So, before you reach out to the brands, make sure that the content you post is the best it can be to maximize your chances. Also, always have your target audience in mind, showing the brands that you know who you are talking to when creating content.
- Have a media kit: Media kit is a short document that introduces you as an influencer, outlines your follower numbers and engagement rates, and tells the brand everything they need to know about you. Creating a media kit is one of the first things you want to do when you become an influencer. So that when a brand wants to work with you, you can give them all of the important information in one place.
- Connect with brands over social media: Before you approach brands to work with you, connect with them over social media first. You can do that by tagging them in the post where you talk about their products. Also, comment and engage with their posts and stories. Small things like that might help you get noticed before you even make direct contact with the brand.
- Be transparent: Users and brands love influencers who are transparent about their collaborations. So, if you work with a brand or another creator, always make sure to disclose it. Features like the Instagram Collab feature makes it easy to do, so no excuses!
How to reach out to brands as an influencer
When you find brands that are a good fit for you and you’re ready to reach out to them, you have two ways to go about it:
- Over social media: You can DM your chosen brands on social media and introduce yourself that way.
- Through a cold email: You can send a cold email to the brands, introducing yourself.
Either way works, the success depends on the brand. Some brands have exclusively written in their social media profiles that their DMs are closed. If that’s the case, pay attention and avoid sending a DM that might not be seen by anyone.
Looking for the email might be intimidating, but it’s usually super easy. Many brands have contact pages where they list different ways to contact their brand. You can find an email to advertising/marketing opportunities most of the time. That is where you will want to send an email pitching yourself.
Brand collaboration email template
When crafting a cold email to a brand you want to work with, you want to answer these key questions:
- Who are you, and what do you do?
- Who is your audience?
- How did you find the brand, and why do you like it?
- How would working together mutually benefit you and the brand?
The people you are reaching out to might not be familiar with you yet, so you have to leave a good first impression. You also want to explain how working together would mutually benefit the brand and you. Remember tp keep the email short and to the point. This will show the brand that you are professional and respect their time which will help you build long-lasting relationships.
To help you get started with your cold email, here is a quick email example:
Hey, {name}!
I’ve been using {brand’s name} products for years now. My favorite is {product name}, and I always make sure to stock up when I’m low!
I’m {your name}, an online course creator and travel influencer. I have a dedicated and engaged audience of {your stats} on Instagram and TikTok. My audience is mostly (80%) women aged 18-24, and they love to travel and care for their skin while on the go.
I’ve been recommending some of my favorite products on TikTok, and my audience seems to love it! Because of this reason, I thought it would be great to work together on some sponsored content with your products.
If you’d be interested in chatting or knowing more about my brand, let me know. I can send you a media kit with all the relevant information.
Kind regards,
{your name}
Brands looking for influencers
Because influencer marketing is one of the most effective digital advertising and marketing strategies, thousands of brands are always looking for new content creators to promote their brands. So if you want to find brands to collaborate with, look no further! We have a few great recommendations to help you get started:
Dollschino
Dollschino is a fashion brand that has two programs for influencers and content creators:
- Ambassador: These creators are those with 5,000 to 10,000 or more followers, and who are Verified on social media.
- Influencer: If you have 5,000 to 10,000 followers but are not verified, that makes you an influencer, not an ambassador.
As an Ambassador, you get complimentary items, a 20% discount on all orders, and other perks. As an Influencer, you’ll receive a 15% discount on all orders and an occasional gift from their PR team.
The Better Skin Co.
The Better Skin Co. is a beauty and skincare brand. They have an influencer program that anyone can apply for by filling out a form on their website. However, there are a few requirements to be eligible. To take part you must:
- Have at least 5,000 followers
- Have at least 200 likes on the last ten posts on your feed
They don’t outline the perks and benefits of joining their influencer program on their website. However, if you don’t meet the eligibility requirements, you can still apply to their affiliate program and earn a 15% commission anytime someone uses your link to buy their products.
Celsius
If you’re in the fitness and health industry, then you might want to apply for the Celsius ambassador program. They’re mostly looking for Instagram influencers and accept college students.
The Honest Company
The Honest Company was founded by actress Jessica Alba, and it’s a clean product brand that has home and beauty products. Their ambassador program is amazing because it pays $15 per hour! You can also earn free products from their brand and participate in their events.
Brands that work with micro-influencers
Even if you’re a small influencer, you can find brands that will want to work with you! And the sooner you start building relationships with brands, the easier it will be for you to grow your brand and social media accounts. So, here are a few brands that are known to work with micro-influencers:
Glossier
Glossier is one of the most well-known makeup brands, and they love working with micro-influencers. They’re known for their user-generated content strategy. They use the content made by actual customers to build a strong community around their brand. The best way to reach out to Glossier and get noticed is by tagging them on your Instagram posts and talking about their products.
Daniel Wellington
Daniel Wellington is a luxury watch brand that’s known for working with micro-influencers. They often give free watches to smaller creators in exchange for a sponsored post. You can apply to their ambassador program easily online. There are quite a few perks of being a Daniel Wellington Icon. They include commission, free products, gift cards, and access to new product launches to name just a few.
Audible
Audible is Amazon’s audiobook library that hosts millions of books and podcasts. They are also known to work with all kinds of creators – from micro to nano influencers. So, if you love listening to audiobooks or podcasts, this might be the perfect brand to collaborate with. You can apply to become Amazon’s Influencer to get the opportunity to work with Audible.
Sephora
Makeup giant Sephora also utilizes the power of small content creators. They have a program called the Sephora Squad, made up of beauty lovers. To be accepted applicants have to gain recommendations or testimonials from followers explaining why they should be accepted. The applications to the Sephora Squad are not open all year round, so keep an eye out for when it opens next!
Influencer platforms
If you want to find a bigger selection of brands to work with on brand deals, you might want to consider joining an influencer network that acts like a middleman between a brand and an influencer. This can make working with brands more seamless for the creator. A few great influencer program recommendations for you are listed below.
SKEEPERS
SKEEPERS is a platform that helps influencers connect with brands. They accept influencers who have Instagram and TikTok accounts. If you want to get sponsored on YouTube, they also accept influencers with YouTube channels.
Some of the brands that work with this network are MAC, Sephora, BECCA Cosmetics, Dior, and many more. And their roster of brands includes those in beauty, fashion, travel, fitness, and lifestyle niches. So there are plenty of opportunities to choose from.
If you’re an Instagram influencer, the requirements to join are:
- 1,000+ followers
- At least a 2% engagement rate
- A public account
- Relevant content
- Consistent posts
If you’re a content creator on YouTube, the requirements to join are:
- 1,000+ subscribers
- Your last five videos must have an average of 2,000+ views
- You must have an active channel and be consistent
- Your channel must have relevant content
If you’re a TikTok creator, the requirements to join are:
- An active and public account
- You must post relevant content
- You must be consistent
Upfluence
Upfluence is another platform that allows brands to find influencers for collaborative partnerships. You can sign up for the platform as a creator for free. Once you’re in, you connect your social media platforms to Upfluence so that brands can see what niche you’re in, your metrics, and your engagement.
Sway Group
Sway Group is an influencer agency that works with micro-influencers and big influencers to help them connect with brands. This network is particularly good for Instagram influencers, so if you want to make money with your Instagram account, this might be a great way to do so.
When you join the network, you’ll get weekly newsletters delivered to your email inbox with all influencer brand partnerships available so you can immediately apply.
#paid
This is an authentic influencer collaboration network that connects influencers with brands. Once you join as the creator, you’ll get access to a marketplace where brands post what they’re looking for in a content creator. You can apply to opportunities that fit your brand and start collaborating with the brand almost immediately.
Some of the brands that work with this influencer network are Uber Eats, H&M, Canon, Volvo, and many more. So, as you can see, they have a wide range of brands to choose from for influencers in various niches.
Brand Collaborations FAQ
Now, let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions content creators have about brand collaborations.
What are influencer collaborations?
An influencer collaboration is when a brand and an influencer or content creator work together to create content for social media or other online platforms, like blogs. Brand collaborations are sometimes paid opportunities when an influencer or a brand agrees on a fee for the project. Or, a brand might offer the influencer or content creator a free product in exchange for their work.
Who connects influencers with brands?
Some influencers take matters into their own hands and find brands they want to work with themselves. Bigger influencers with management teams might have their managers reach out to brands on their own behalf and manage their sponsorships for them.
Each brand usually also has a marketing and PR team of people who are responsible for finding and reaching out to influencers and content creators who would be fitting to work with the said brand.
Also, there are influencer networks that act as the middleman between an influencer and a brand. An influencer can create an account on those platforms and start looking for brands. Usually, they need to have a certain amount of following and engagement to join those networks, and they get approved before they can reach out to brands.
How do paid brand collaborations work?
Paid brand collaborations between brands and content creators or influencers are pretty straightforward. A brand and an influencer negotiate the project rate and what type of content the creator will create. The type of content can vary greatly, from a single Instagram post to a story, and sometimes, it might even be multiple-platform cross-promote content.
Then, the creator makes that content for their collaboration and sends it to the brand for approval. The brand reviews and approves it and then the influencer posts the content on their platforms. Once the collaboration is done, the influencer gets paid according to the agreed terms.
Sometimes, the influencer might agree to work with the brand for a certain amount of time rather than a one-off project. In this case, they would create multiple pieces of content and post them throughout the period of time they agreed to work with the brand.
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