How to Land Brand Partnerships with Less Than 10K Followers
Your income often depends on the number of followers you have across your social media platforms. Mega influencers include celebrities like Kylie Jenner while Macro influencers include YouTubers like Jackie Aina. There are also Micro-influencers with social media followings in the 10K to 100,000 range and then there are the nano influencers.
Nano influencers include social media accounts with under 10K followers. Some brands prefer working with nano influencers because, while they may have a smaller reach, the impact and reach that they do possess is more likely to engage and ultimately buy. As a nano influencer, you’re in a unique position to partner with brands and increase your bottom line; here’s how to land brand partnerships with less than 10k followers.
Looking to Land Brand Partnerships? Quality over quantity is always the first step
Before reaching out to any brand, it is important that the content that you do have is up to par. That’s not to say that you must have a perfectly curated and color-coded Instagram account but your content should include clear photos with meaningful captions and hashtags. Your blog posts should include content similar to what the brands you’re reaching out to, offer; it needs to make sense for you, the brand, and your audience.
If your goal is to form partnerships with brands with less than 10K followers, be sure your personal brand is aligned with the products and services you wish to work with. This means that even though you may not be making any money right now, the content and image you portray, need to match the role you aspire toward. If your dream is to be a beauty influencer and you’re consistently putting out food content and very little makeup and hair related content, it’s going to be difficult to convince a brand that you’re serious about being an ambassador for their newest makeup line. Look the part before you get the part to ensure you’re taken seriously as an influencer in the space you wish to work within.
How to build relationships with the brands you love
When looking to work with brands, you’ll need to begin by building a relationship with them and building up your own social media. Follow brands you’re interested in on Twitter and Instagram. Retweet and respond to their content. If you already use their products, be sure to tag them in any online content you create.
Another way to build a relationship with a brand for a potential future partnership is by getting on their PR list. You can often find individuals in their marketing or social media departments through Linkedin as well. Follow them and ask to be added to their mailing lists. You can also get on PR mailing lists through sites like Newswire as well. There are also countless masterminds and Facebook groups online for bloggers and influencers; often just making the right connections can lead you to the appropriate marketing person you want to pitch to for a brand partnership.
As blogging and influencer conferences have gone online in recent months due to the global pandemic, there has never been a better time to ‘be in the room’ with brand decision-makers. Make an effort to attend virtual or, when its safe, in-person conferences and events that will put you in the same spaces as the brands you want to work with.
Types of brand partnerships for influencers with less than 10K followers
Most bloggers are familiar with affiliate marketing; directing traffic from your site via an affiliate link that, if your reader or view purchases from, provides you with a commission. Amazon Associates is the most popular, but there are countless other resources for affiliates like Share-a-Sale and Cactus Media. Apart from affiliate programs, however, you can work directly with the brand to determine a set commission amount based on sales or traffic you drive to the brand.
Similarly, you can work for product only; which in the case of high price-point items, can be a huge benefit. Often lifestyle bloggers will negotiate content creation with brands for items like mattresses or household appliances. It’s up to you to determine how much ‘free product’ you’re willing to accept. Determine what you want to make for the work you do. This recording, filming, editing, and writing, and anything else related to content creation.
One of the best ways to collaborate with brands is through sponsored work. This means you get paid actual cash for the content you create. Building relationships, being timely, and pitching regularly are the best ways to obtain this type of brand partnership. It’s also recommended that you join agencies that partner with brands. A few of these include:
What value can you provide a brand?
Another thing to consider when pitching a brand you want to build a partnership with and especially if you have less than 10K subscribers, is knowing how you can help the brand. Let the brand know how your content is different; how you can create a conversation around their product or service and either introduce your followers to it or encourage them to purchase. Knowing what you can offer is key in landing a partnership with brands.
Bottom line, it will take time, dedication, and hard work if you want to land brand partnerships with less than 10K followers. It can be done. Show up, make connections, and build relationships. Ensure that your content is on par with the persona you aspire to. Most importantly build relationships. This is where time and dedication come in. Just sending a DM and asking to partner with a brand isn’t going to cut it. With hard work and commitment, you’ll be able to get on the radar of the brands you wish to work with. Before you know it, you’ll be signing your first paid collaboration in no time.
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