If you have a social following of 20K+ and share content relevant to brands, you probably get a fair amount of invitations for brand partnerships. Depending on your content and audience, you may get solicitations with a following smaller than this. Of course, some opportunities are better than others. Most creators, or influencers, respond to requests that are a good fit with their audience and current content, are from brands they already use/like, offer competitive compensation and provide adequate lead time to create the content.
Over the last 4 years I’ve been negotiating partnerships with creators on behalf of brands. It is very clear to me that there are strategies that can be employed to attract partnerships creators want. There are no guarantees, but here I am sharing some tips to help creators stand out to brands and may bring in more followers and stronger engagement in the process.
1. Choose the brands you recommend carefully, both sponsored and organic.
When you feature a brand in your posts, paid or not, be specific as to why you like the brand. Brands and agencies who look at your feed may recommend you (or not) based on your stated preferences. If you post for every brand that sends you a free sample, a brand you love may not approach you because you’ve expressed your support for a competitive product or they find your content inauthentic. Alternatively, If you feature a brand you are passionate about in an organic social post (i.e., one that is not sponsored), don’t be afraid to tag the brand. This brand will be more likely to approach you for sponsored content in the future.
If you do not have a preferred brand in a given category, but happen to depict one brand in your post, make it clear that you do not have a preference (i.e., “use 1 cup Greek yogurt, such as Chobani, Dannon or something similar that has no added sugar”). This helps keep your brand partnership options open and builds trust and authenticity with your audience.
Finally, I don’t believe it is ever a good idea to slam a brand or make a negative joke about one. With the technology available today a brand can find a negative post from years prior, long after you even remember you posted it!
2. Have a point of difference and unique voice.
It is up to you know your brand and audience and the unique value you provide. A distinctive approach to your content gets you noticed! Resist the temptation to water down your content by doing the same thing as everyone else. Authenticity is critical to good, strong results.
3. Consistent, quality social posts.
Brands look for recent and regular content in your feed to make sure you have an active, engaged following. If you do not have strong engagement, one possible reason is that you are not posting regularly enough. The quality of the posts matter to brands as well, particularly the production quality of your images and videos.
4. Limit your sponsored posts.
Brands look at the balance of sponsored vs. organic content in your social feed and blog. If too much of your content is sponsored, brands believe your audience may be less trusting of your recommendations. It can feel disingenuous, particularly when sponsored posts are not written in your own voice. There is no hard and fast rule here because it really depends on well your sponsored content fits within your organic content.
5. Be discoverable and responsive.
You may be surprised how hard it can be for brands to find an email address to contact a creator. Often those who respond first are recommended by the agency or selected by the marketing team. And once a brand has had a good experience with a creator, they sometimes go back to those who’ve been reliable partners. Specifically:
- Provide contact information. Make it easy for brands and agencies to get in touch with you by making your email address easy to find on your social channels and website.
- Reply to messages! Even if you are not interested, respond to DMs and emails to let brands know what kind of programs you prefer. There may be other opportunities down the road that are a better fit.
- Manage the contracting process. I’ve seen a fair number of partnerships fall apart at the contracting stage. There are a variety of reasons for this, but in my experience it is most often related to the fee or content usage rights. If you really like the brand, be flexible and make the partnership work. Once you’ve established a working relationship you’ll have an opportunity to discuss changing some of the terms in future programs.
6. Engage with other creators in your community.
Be supportive of other creators in your space by following, liking and commenting on their posts. It’s not just good karma. The search functionality in influencer software platforms is set up to identify “lookalike” accounts that are similar to one another. Brands also often look at those who comment frequently on the posts of their contracted influencers. Additionally, if an influencer in your network has a conflict and cannot participate in a given program, they may recommend you to the brand.
7. Use keywords.
It is well known that using keywords can help you appear in search engines. But they can also help you come up in searches on influencer software platforms. Take the time to identify and use keywords that best define you and your unique interests. Make sure you use these words and hashtags in your bio, in particular, but also social posts and blog articles.
8. Avoid negative or controversial topics.
Making negative comments about other brands can create more enemies than friends. I have seen influencers rejected from consideration for a campaign because of negative comments they made years prior. If you feel you must, keep your commentary fact-based, focusing on features you do not like and avoid negative generalizations. Brands regularly update/improve product features. If you keep it professional, they may be open to working with you with a new product addressing your concerns.
It is important for brands to remain neutral on political and social issues and be inclusive. To this end, they only consider influencers who do not post personal or political views that could be off-putting or perceived as offensive.
9. Be open to paid amplification.
If a brand you are partnering with is a good fit and the content you create is on strategy for your followers, putting some paid amplification behind the post is a great way to get visibility beyond current followers and to improve engagement. You can do this yourself or have the brand execute it for you. In the case of the latter, make sure you know which advertising objectives are being used and the audience the brand is targeting.
To sum up, staying true to your audience in your brand partnerships will pay off. Making your social channels and blog discoverable and attractive to brands in your space should help you get more partnership solicitations. And, the more invites that come your way the more choiceful you can be on your partnerships.