How to Get Sponsored On Instagram (With Tips and Tricks!)
Follow these simple (yes, they are simple!) tips to help you get that sponsorship you’ve always dreamed of. 💭
Posted 3 months ago
Written by
Mackenzie TaylorPosted 3 months ago
So you’ve got yourself a small following on Instagram, have an engaged audience, and you’re here wondering: “How can I get sponsored and start making money from this community I have steadily built?”
Well, friend, you’ve come to the right place. When it comes to getting sponsored on Instagram, there are a few things that brands consider when researching Instagram sponsorship. Not only is it about your audience, but your overall aesthetic, what your niche is online, and how engaged your followers actually are with your content that’ll help you stand out. Follow these simple (yes, they are simple!) tips to help you get that sponsorship you’ve always dreamed of. 💭
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Photo from: @itssophiemilner
Strong Brand Identity
But how strong is your brand really? When it comes to who you are and who you target online, is it clear? Knowing exactly who you are online is going to be a key part of your strategy and being able to show a brand why they should work with you! If you’re floundering online trying to figure out your angle, maaaaaybe hold off on trying to get sponsored on Instagram just yet.
Scroll through your Instagram account and identify the posts of influencers you follow. Do you immediately know who they are and what kind of content they produce by only *glancing* at their posts? That’s the sign of a good creator. Being able to instantly recognize what their niche is making their audience more likely to trust them and their opinion (and we love trustworthy people!).
Think of all the people you follow. What if they decided to completely change up their content one day without warning and instead of the fun fashion content you were used to, you suddenly were served fishing content? You’d immediately pause, go to the account thinking “WHAT IS THIS?!” and unfollow them.
So the moral of the story? Always make sure to keep your brand defined, and people will follow and engage with your content because of it.
Know your audience
This might sound obvious, but you have to know your audience when it comes to convincing a brand to work with you! Who are they? Why are they engaging with your content? What’s their age? Where are they from? Getting the basic demographics of your followers is vital when pitching partnerships or showing a brand why you are the best person to work with.
If your niche audience is 13-24-year-old gamers who follow your Twitch content, you probably aren’t going to approach a health and fitness brand asking them to collab.
Being able to say, “With my audience, you’ll be reaching 13-24-year-old gamers across the UK, who engage between 8-11 pm and love video content over post content”* will help you way more than going, “I don’t know. I guess my audience is gamers?”
*ICYMI: If you have a Flick account, we break down these specific stats for you which will help you create an even better, and more detailed pitch to the brand!
Have an engaged audience
So now that you know who your audience is, you have to make sure they are loyal and engaged! When you have an audience that comments, DMs, and tags you in content, a brand is more willing to trust you with their product which equals getting sponsored on Instagram.
“But how do I get a loyal audience?” By engaging with them! Ask questions in your captions or IG story. Do Instagram Lives. Respond to their comments and any DMs you receive (unless they are mean and then don’t engage!).
When an audience sees that you are trying to connect with them as much as they are connecting with your content, they will keep returning for more and more (and more and more …).
Post consistently
When we say consistency is key, we mean consistency is key! Yes, having an engaged audience is important but how can you keep them engaged without posting regularly? Pssst: You can’t. When you’re not actively posting content, your followers either forget about you or unfollow you. Spoiler alert: That’s not something potential brand sponsors want to see.
Our recommendation? Post daily. This will help increase your chances of catching the attention—and engagement—of people who follow you (Instagram loves that new content!) and show brands you want to work with that you’re consistent with your posts, making them want to work with you!
Want to know the best times to post your content? You can find all the detailed analytics of best times to post, days to post, and who’s engaging with your content over on Flick.
Use hashtags
Nothing will help your content be discovered more than using hashtags.
We’re all about the hashtags here at Flick (check out our blog on all things hashtags and how to use them effectively). Finding the perfect hashtags to use for your posts can help you get a 12.6% increase in engagement over those who don’t use any at all.
However, hashtags must be used correctly. Good thing we’ve got a tool that’ll tell you exactly which hashtags will work the best for your account. When you use generic hashtags or overly saturated hashtags (we’re talking 1.2 million posts), you’re likely to get lost in the sea of photos. When you create a hashtag strategy and implement our Smart Filters tool, you’ll be able to get the most out of your hashtag performance, reach more people, gain more followers, and start attracting the attention of sponsors!
Photo from: @bethanybathgate
Tag brands
Now that you’ve got your niche and an engaged following, start tagging the brands you want to work with! Make them see you in your beautiful glory. By tagging the brands in your photos, they will get a notification and see your post. The more you actively try to engage the brand, the more they will recognize your account. When you want to get sponsored on Instagram, a brand must see your content consistently.
Not only will brands see your posts, but followers of that brand can see the photos they’re tagged in and might stumble upon you and your page. You might even get a cheeky little follow. We love a cheeky follow.
Photo from: @thewhitethistle
Include Contact Information in your bio
While brands can slide into those DMs directly (honestly the only unsolicited DM slide we’re here for), using your bio as a way to show brands that you’re interested in collaborations and being sponsored on Instagram by adding in an email address is hugely important.
Effectively use your bio! Add a title. Add a website. Have a press kit? Add that too! This will make it clear to any brands or sponsors browsing Instagram for new creators that you’d be open to a conversation about working with them.
Pitch to brands
Here’s the thing: No one knows your audience and what they want quite like you do, so start pitching to brands that align with your content and brand!
When going to a brand, explain to them who you are, what you do, what your specific niche is on Instagram, and how that will benefit them as a brand.
We know it can be nerve-racking to cold slide into someone’s DMs but, as the kids say, shoot your shot. When reaching out, be sure that you include your follower count, engagement rate, and other info that’ll help them see the value of doing sponsored content with you.
We spoke with Abi Hugo from The White Thistle, Content Creator and Podcaster who teaches other creators to know their worth, about how to pitch to a brand: “Reach out to the brands you already love and follow as it’s so much easier to negotiate your pitch. Tell a unique story to say why you love them. Something personal that you can connect to. Tell them why you want to collaborate with them and always try to get them on a call as it’s a lot easier to have a conversation and it isn’t as formal.”
Know your metrics
One of the hardest things to do though? Figuring out your worth. Calculating how much you should charge for a post is complicated because you don’t want to undercut yourself but you also don’t want to be unreasonable with your ask. The best way to do that? Find out the exact metrics that will help sell yourself to these brands. Which metrics should you send to show your worth? Go into your Instagram Analytics (you can check them through your Flick account!) and pull your key metrics:
Engagement Rate
Show off how many people engage with your content compared to the number of people that follow you. Most large Instagram accounts have a lower engagement rate, so showing off how engaged your audience is to a brand will be extremely helpful in pitching yourself!
Conversion Rate
Do you see a lot of people clicking the link in your bio? Showing off this key metric to a brand will be hugely beneficial for your pitch. Being able to show that your audience is actively engaged and going to the link you suggest will be a huge draw for any brand you want to work with.
Be sure to think about other things you’re bringing to the table when it comes to pitching yourself: “Look at your unique skills: do you have a high engagement rate? Are you an insane photographer, or videographer, or have unique storytelling skills? Tally all of your skills together and come up with a figure that covers all of those skills before you pitch to a brand,” Abi explains.
Considerations for working with brands:
Are they going to be using your content for paid advertising purposes? Make sure you ask for an additional buyout amount. As you were the one who created the content for their ad, you should get paid more for making the creative for their own ad use.
Charge for the time spent to create the content, as well as posting. We all know how much time and effort it takes to create incredible storytelling content for Instagram and social media. Be sure you charge for the actual time spent to make the content, and not just the time it takes to post.
If you have ever wondered how your favorite online creators make a living by posting to social media or if you want to know how to get sponsored on Instagram and get your first paycheck as an Influencer, here are our top three ways to earn money through Instagram.
1. Sponsored Posts
Brands are willing to pay creators a sum of money to influencers create content and post it on their accounts to promote their products or services.
What Are #Ads?
According to the Advertising Standards Authority, the governing body that regulates social media adverts, any post that contains product or service placement, whether that be in a gift, commission, paid, etc., must be labeled clearly as an “AD.”
Yep, that means even free products are technically an “advert.” Of course, you can clarify your specific relationship with the brand in more detail in the caption to let your followers know if the post includes gifted items or if you are being paid to post the content.
For example, you might write ‘AD – Press Sample’ if an item featured was sent out free of charge as a “gift.” Here is an example:
View this post on Instagram
Another variation you might use is ‘AD – paid partnership’. Paid partnerships are often the most commonly thought about how influencers make money online with their public profiles. A brand or agency will arrange with the content creator a set of deliverables and give a brief about how they wish to see the content carried out. Paid adverts will use a contract between the content creator and the brand to describe the terms of each partnership. They also can use a contract creation tool to streamline and manage these agreements more efficiently.
Please refer to the ASA guidelines for more information on what your social media adverts need to include.
What Does The Sponsorship Fee Cover?
Payment for a paid partnership will usually include:
- the fee for producing the content, e.g. in the context of a food page, this covers recipe creation, food styling, photography, editing, captioning, and posting on the creator’s social media.
- Some larger creators may also include a fee for hiring, such as a photographer or hiring out a shoot location.
- You can also charge for the number of followers that you have, your engagement rate, and the number of conversions (e.g., through clicks and purchases) that you’ve had in relevant campaigns in the past.
View this post on Instagram
If you don’t know how to set your rates, it may be worth initially working with an influencer agency, such as Viral Nation, to see how they set the fees for their influencer campaigns.
Charge More With Reels!
View this post on Instagram
The more content you produce for a brand and the longer the content takes to produce, the more you can charge the brand. For example, you may be able to charge more for delivering a carousel of multiple photos or an Instagram reel compared to a single photo post. Utilize your ability to offer more to the brand to increase your fees.
Read our previous guide on how to create an Instagram Reel.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Another way to earn money through Instagram sponsorships is through affiliate marketing. This may be instead of or on top of your fee for a sponsored post.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
When you make a sale through an affiliate link or unique code, you can get paid a percentage of the value of any sales provided, aka a commission. Therefore, you can make money selling someone else’s products or services. You can include these links when you recommend a product, and if someone makes a purchase, you get paid. The sponsored post below, for example, uses a coupon code to track affiliate sales:
View this post on Instagram
Cons of Affiliate Marketing
The downside to affiliate marketing is that if your social media posts don’t convert into trackable sales, you don’t make any money. This can be a problem when your audience purchases the product in-store or fails to use your link when making an order online.
What Is A Good Affiliate Commission Rate?
The commission you receive from sales through affiliate marketing can be anywhere from just 1% to 50% of the sale. The commission will vary hugely between the retailers you partner with and what products you are recommending. For the most part, a commission is usually around 5-15% of the total sales value.
Why Affiliate Market Is Best When You Have A Small Following
If you are wondering how to get a sponsor on Instagram with a small following, make sure you look into affiliate marketing as you can get started no matter how many followers you have. You may need to apply for specific affiliate programs, but if you do your research, there will be programs you can join with as little as 1,000 followers.
How Much Money Can You Make Through Affiliate Marketing?
We asked Libby of Virtually Vegan, small food blogger if you really can make money through affiliate income as a small creator. It turns out it isn’t a bad paycheck!
“At first, I thought I would be lucky if I made a few quid for a coffee or two a month with affiliate links, so you can imagine how shocked I was when my followers brought in £2,000 worth of sales from just one affiliate link in one month! The sales came through viewers following a link in my Instagram Stories, and as I received 10% commission from each sale, I got paid £200 for the promotion.
Better yet, not only did I get a paycheck for recommending products I love, but my followers also got a significant discount to use on the site. A win-win!”
TOP TIP:
You can also use a service such as Linktr.ee to set up an extension of the Instagram “link in bio” feature to allow you to add multiple affiliate links to your bio. This makes it easier for your followers to find your links after your stories expire, creating more opportunities for you to sell products through Instagram.
How To Earn More Through Affiliate Market
As logic would suggest, the more views you have on your social media posts, the higher the chance you have of converting one of these views into a sale and, therefore, earning a commission.
To learn more about increasing your engagement on Instagram stories, check out these helpful posts:
3. Sell The Rights To Your Photos/Videos
Too many people forget about this last way of making money through social media sponsorships.
If a brand wants to use your content, ensure you ask for additional payment to cover the ‘use of repurposing your content for their adverts. Including this repurposing fee in your invoice is essential for maintaining clarity in your agreements.
How Much To Charge For Usage Rights?
Again, we asked Libby of Virtually Vegan, who has approximately 13,000 followers on Instagram, and here is roughly what she said she got paid for usage rights from two brands. It turns out it is pretty variable!
“Once, an international brand paid £30 to repost my 10-second video using their product on their social media page. I also charged a brand £100 (on top of the fee they had paid me to create the photograph and distribute it on my Instagram) to use my photo on their social media and promote it on Instagram.“
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Followers Do You Need On Instagram To Get Sponsors?
There is no set amount of followers you need to start doing Instagram sponsorships. If you are interested in Instagram sponsorship for small accounts, the minimum number of followers you should aim to have is around 3,000. However, this will ultimately depend on the quality of your content, your audience, your niche etc.
Of course, the larger your following typically means that you will have an easier time getting the attention of brands you love and charging more for your services as an influencer. If you are interested in growing your social media presence, be sure to check out how you can use Flick’s hashtag analytics tool to your advantage.
See more articles on how to use Flick to utilize hashtags to grow your audience and command a higher rate for your Instagram sponsorships.
Should You Use Social Media Sponsorship Agency Apps?
We have discussed how to add your contact information in your bio and how to pitch yourself and your services as a content creator to brands, but what about using apps that connect influencers with brands?
What Is An Agency App?
Pros Of Using Agency Apps
Agency apps usually allow you to speed up the process of working with a brand by providing a clear brief and sorting out your payments. Depending on the app, they also accept creators with accounts with as few as 3,000 followers, so there is more opportunity to work with well-known brands as smaller creators.
Cons Of Using Agency Apps
As the agency app works with the creators and the brands, they don’t always have your back. You may also find you have less control over your fee. Another frustrating thing about agency apps is that you have little correspondence with the brand itself. Meaning it’s harder to ask questions or seek any help if you need to ask about the product or answer any of your questions about the brand.
How much does it cost to become a sponsored influencer on Instagram?
There’s no direct cost to becoming a sponsored influencer on Instagram. The key is to build a substantial and engaged following. Once you have a strong audience, brands will approach you for partnerships.
However, there are indirect costs involved:
- Time and effort: Building a following takes time, dedication, and consistent content creation.
- Potential investments: You might invest in photography, video equipment, or paid promotion to accelerate growth.
The actual payment for sponsored posts varies widely based on factors like:
- Follower count: The more followers, generally the higher the rate.
- Engagement rate: High engagement often commands higher rates.
- Niche: Influencers in specific niches (like luxury fashion or fitness) might command premium rates.
- Location: Influencers in major markets might have higher rates.
Generally, rates range from:
- Nano-influencers (500-10,000 followers): $10-$100 per post
- Micro-influencers (10,000-50,000 followers): $100-$500 per post
- Mid-tier influencers (50,000-100,000 followers): $500-$5,000 per post
- Macro-influencers (100,000-500,000 followers): $5,000-$10,000 per post
- Mega-influencers (500,000+ followers): $10,000+ per post
These are just estimates, and actual rates can vary significantly.
What are the legal requirements for sponsored posts on Instagram?
Instagram and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have specific guidelines for sponsored content. Key requirements include:
- Clear disclosure: You must clearly indicate that a post is sponsored, paid for, or a partnership. This can be done using hashtags like #ad, #sponsored, or #partnership, or by using Instagram’s built-in “Paid partnership with” tag.
- Honesty and transparency: You must honestly represent your relationship with the brand and not mislead your audience.
- Compliance with FTC guidelines: The FTC has specific rules about endorsements and testimonials, including the requirement to disclose material connections with brands.
Failure to comply with these regulations can result in penalties from Instagram or the FTC.
How to track the success of sponsored Instagram campaigns?
Tracking the success of your sponsored campaigns is crucial for evaluating performance and optimizing future collaborations. Key metrics to consider include:
- Engagement rate: Measure likes, comments, shares, and saves on your sponsored posts.
- Reach and impressions: Track how many people saw your post.
- Click-through rate (CTR): If you’re promoting a link, measure how many people clicked on it.
- Conversions: If the goal is sales, track how many purchases were made through your sponsored post.
- Follower growth: Monitor if the campaign led to an increase in followers.
Instagram Insights provides basic analytics, but you can also use third-party tools for more in-depth tracking.
How to find brands to partner with for sponsored Instagram posts?
There are several ways to find potential brand partners:
- Direct outreach: Research brands that align with your niche and audience, and reach out directly with a media kit highlighting your reach and engagement.
- Influencer marketing platforms: These platforms connect brands with influencers.
- Brand collaborations: Attend industry events or conferences to network with brands.
- Hashtags: Use relevant hashtags to discover brands and potential opportunities.
- Engage with brands: Interact with brands you admire on social media to build relationships.
Stop Asking How To Get Brands To Sponsor You!
Now that you know the steps, it’s time to start creating that content and showing brands that you’re ready to begin being sponsored on Instagram!
As interesting as it is to read hundreds of articles about how to get sponsorship on Instagram, the best way to learn about the process of making money as an influencer is just to go out there and experiment for yourself. If you are wondering whether you are ready to start doing sponsored content, you need to jump into the deep end and try it out.
Now that you know the steps, it’s time to start creating that content and showing brands that you’re ready to start being sponsored on Instagram!
Join an influencer marketplace such as Ainfluencer which basically connects you with brands and pokes you with 100s of deals every day.
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