Content Creation: Working with Brands
Creating content scratches the creativity itch, of course, but what about that entrepreneurial itch? We all would like to make money on social media SO here’s everything I’ve learned after over two years of creating content on Instagram.
First and foremost I want you to reflect on ads and collaborations you’ve seen other influencers do. Do you like seeing them? Do they seem forced or authentic? Do you buy products that other people promote? Why or why not? Yes, working with brands seems exciting and fun but take into consideration that this type of content can come off as inauthentic. With that being said, lets start with the offer you will start to receive almost immediately from brands.
Gifted / Product for Post Collaborations - these kind of collabs usually consist of the brand sending you their products in exchange for you posting about the products on your page. Again, this can seem super exciting that someone wants to send you FREE STUFF! I would advise you to not participate in these types of collabs UNLESS you love the products already and you can limit the terms to only posting about them on your stories. I find that an entire feed post on a product can seem forced and takes a lot more effort that you should be compensated for. You will likely be flooded with emails (refer to my previous blog post about adding the email link to your Instagram profile) from random companies trying to get you to post about their products in exchange for their products (essentially unpaid) SO if it is a company you love and want to work with, here is an example of how I usually respond to turn it into a paid opportunity:
“Hi _____,
Thank you so much for reaching out! I would love to work with Brand XYZ. I am not currently participating in product for post collaborations - do you happen to have a budget for this project? If not, I would love to keep in contact for any future projects.”
70% of the time they DO have a budget and we can go from there. If they don’t have a budget but you still want to work with them, I would recommend offering to post their products on your stories instead of a dedicated feed post as I mentioned above. I recently did this exact thing and posted on my stories in exchange for product and it ended up turning into a 3 month paid collaboration deal.
Along with gifted collab offers, you will also be offered commission based collabs. I treat a commission deal as if it was a gifted deal - there is absolutely no guarantee you will make any sales off of the one post they are asking for. In fact - you more than likely won’t! Think of commissions as an added bonus and not a form of payment.
Now onto the part everyone is curious about - rates. Your rates will obviously depend on many factors including your follower count, engagement rate, time / effort to create the content, the brand’s budget, and rights to the content (i.e. will the brand be sharing the content on their socials as well). Don’t be stingy with your rates either - you may be surprised at what brands are willing to pay micro-influencers! If your rates are out of the brand’s budget, they will let you know and you can decide what you want to do from there.
For reference, here are some rates I have charged at various follower counts (take this with a grain of salt, everyone’s rates vary):
$200 for feed post, 2-3 stores, and a blog post about the studio - 3,700 followers
$250 for an feed post and link in bio - 4,500 followers
$500 for 1 feed post a month for 3 months - 8,200
Media Kits - when discussing collabs with brands, they will often ask for your media kit. Media kits are usually a one page PDF that includes a little bit about yourself and your niche, your stats (follower count, engagement rate, percent of women followers, if relevant, or any other stat that helps you stand out), rates, and show off your aesthetic and style. I use Canva (free version) for my media kit. You can search their site for media kit templates that you can easily customize. I always tweak the media kit slightly before sending to a brand and update my rates and content packages based on what I know they are looking for. I also have a customized invoice template in Canva that I can update and send to the brands if necessary. Shoot me a message on IG and I would be more than happy to send you my media kit for reference.
Reaching out to brands - this tip might be controversial / counterintuitive. - don’t waste your time reaching out to brands you want to work with trying to pitch them on why you would be a good ambassador for them. In my experience this has taken a ton of time and for no return at all. Actually, TWO brands I spent a lot of time trying to reach out to ended up reaching out about 2 years later for collaborations. I know for sure they never saw my initial attempts so this just shows you that if your page and content aligns with a brand, they will eventually notice you organically. Easy ways to show your interest are tagging brands in your stories / posts and engaging with the brands’ content.
Something I mentioned above that is important to circle back to is content rights. It may seem unimportant but trust me, it’s a big deal. Content rights essentially spell out whether the brand can use YOUR content on their socials / websites / ads / anything. If contracts are involved, make sure to take note of the wording regarding content rights and you should be charging a premium if they want to use your content. That being said, if a brand I’m working with (and I’ve had a good experience with) asks me if they can repost something of mine, I will usually say yes as an act of goodwill.
Other ways to monetize: At the end of 2021 Instagram rolled out a new program called “Reels Bonuses” which allow you to monetize off of reels views. This has been a GAME CHANGER for me. The amazing part about this program is you get paid a higher rate on your first “views” so there is potential to earn a really good amount even as a small account. If you have a creator account, you should receive a notification letting you know hat you are eligible for the program and prompt you to get set up. It is slowly rolling out to all creators so if you haven’t received the notification, just be patient. Another way to monetize is by posting commissionable links using RewardStyle. This is best utilized by posting to your stories and saving to a highlight so people can access it later.
I use google sheets to keep track of all of my income and expenses and for tax purposes I report the net income as hobby income. I plan on creating an LLC but I just haven’t gotten around to doing that yet.
Last but not least, always be professional with brands! If they want to review the content before posting, send it well before the deadline. Ask them what their goals for the collab are. Do your research by looking at their social media and tagged posts to see what other influencers have posted for their sponsored posts. Try to get as much engagement on your sponsored posts as you can. Thank them for their time and help when the collab has been completed. All of these small things can go a long way!
xo Eliza
