Tips on how to Get Sponsored on Instagram and Get Paid Model Partnerships

• On Instagram, it could actually seem to be the hashtags #advert and #sponsored are ubiquitous. 
• Sponsorships with manufacturers are what number of influencers make an earnings on social media.
• Dozens of influencers have defined to Insider their methods for getting sponsored.

On Instagram, greater than 18 million posts have the hashtag #advert. Over 4 million have #sponsored.

Sponsored posts are what number of influencers make a dwelling. Some make six figures or extra from them. 

Take Emma Cortes, who began a trend weblog in 2014, for instance. When she signed her first model partnership as a part-time content material creator in 2016, it was an unpaid model ambassadorship, she instructed Insider.

Quick-forward six years and Cortes is a full-time influencer and earned greater than $300,000 in a yr — with beneath 50,000 Instagram followers. Most of that income got here from brand deals, she instructed Insider.

Read more about how Cortes earned over $300,000 in yearly income

However getting that first model deal may be difficult for influencers. So how have they finished it?

Insider has interviewed dozens of influencers who’ve labored with a wide range of manufacturers – from Nissan to Lululemon to Credit score Karma — about how they safe model offers on Instagram. 

Some creators use third-party influencer-marketing platforms like Fohr or Izea. Others discover strategic methods to get on a model’s radar, reminiscent of pitching advertising businesses or an organization’s staff on LinkedIn. And Instagram itself is getting in on the motion with a brand new creator-brand marketplace the place partnerships may be made by means of DMs.

Extra established influencers typically have expertise managers or brokers who’re pitching, negotiating, and getting these sponsorships for them. As an example, JaLisa Vaughn-Jefferson, a life-style influencer with 275,000 followers on the time, signed $700,000 in brand deals halfway into 2021 with the assistance of her administration agency. (Read more about how she built her influencer business.)

Try: Insider’s interactive database of the top managers and agents representing some of social media’s biggest stars

However even for creators who’re beginning out — with beneath 10,000 followers on Instagram — there are paths to getting sponsored. Many “nano” influencers begin off by working with manufacturers as ambassadors (like Cortes did) and sharing affiliate hyperlinks that reveal they’ve the power to drive clients to a model. 

Some manufacturers, like Dunkin Donuts or jewelry brand Mejuri, are recognized for his or her partnerships with micro influencers.

Learn: 7 top brands that work with micro influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and more

To assist content material creators higher perceive how they will get sponsored on Instagram, here is a compilation of our protection of how influencers get model offers.

Getting the best pitch is a key

Whether or not it is over e mail or Instagram DM, what influencers embody in a pitch could make all of the distinction. 

“I like to make use of the phrase ‘supply’ as an alternative of ‘collab’ to remind micro influencers that you must supply the model one thing that is beneficial,” Julie Tescon, a nano influencer, told Insider. “You possibly can supply something that the model usually would pay for.”

Christian Di Bratto, a expertise supervisor who works with creators, instructed Insider that personalizing pitches is key. Di Bratto had inked $327,000 in brand partnerships in 2022 when Insider interviewed him in November. He shared the pitch he sends to manufacturers to safe offers for his purchasers. (Read his pitch.)

Listed below are 13 examples of how influencers are pitching manufacturers, from the precise pitch they ship to distinctive methods:

• Tori Dunlap, a personal-finance influencer with 613,000 Instagram followers (and 1.7 million TikTok followers). She shared two templates she uses to pitch brands on Instagram.
• Nick Cutsumpas, a plant and life-style influencer with over 60,000 followers. He pitches brands content packages for long-term partnerships.
• Ashley Jones, a micro influencer with 50,000 followers on Instagram. She shared her starting rates for brand deals and how she pitches brands over DMs.
• Emma Cortes, a trend influencer with 44,000 Instagram followers. She shared the email template she uses to turn gifting offers into paying deals.
• Lillian Zhang, a TikTok micro influencer with 21,500 followers. She shared the exact TikTok DM she sent the brand to pitch herself.
• Alexa Curtis, an entrepreneur and micro influencer with 20,000 Instagram followers. She shared 5 tips for writing successful pitches.
• Gigi Kovach, a life-style influencer with 14,000 Instagram followers. She shared the 200-word email pitch she uses to reach out to brands.
• Florence Williams, a magnificence influencer with 13,000 Instagram followers. She sends a 14-page, detailed proposal to brands when pitching paid collaborations.
• Khadijah Lacey-Taylor, a nano influencer with beneath 10,000 followers. Here’s how she pitched brands by showcasing her video content on Instagram.
• Julie Tecson, a nano influencer with about 7,000 Instagram followers. She shared three types of pitches she sends to brands.
• Laur DeMartino, a part-time content material creator and full-time school pupil with about 5,000 followers. She uses LinkedIn to find brand contacts and includes a 9-page media kit when pitching brands.
• Jalyn Baiden, a skincare influencer with 4,000 Instagram followers. She shared how to write a simple DM that can lead to a paid sponsorship deal.
• Amber Broder, a skincare nano influencer and full-time school pupil with about 2,300 followers. She shared how she pitches brands as a content creator emphasizing her engagement rate.

Media kits assist reveal what an influencer can supply a model

“Lots of people would possibly assume, ‘Oh, in case you have a thousand followers, nobody’s going to pay you for that,'” Kayla Compton, a life-style nano influencer, told Insider. “However in case you have a really engaged viewers and you may goal individuals very well and have a superb connection along with your viewers, manufacturers pays for that.”

She — like many different influencers — makes use of a media equipment to assist showcase to manufacturers how even with a couple of thousand followers, she will nonetheless drive engagement. 

Listed below are 13 examples of media kits influencers use to get sponsorships:

• Alexa Collins, a life-style influencer with 1.2 million followers. She shared her 8-page media kit.
• Justine Jakobs, an OnlyFans and grownup content material creator with 460,000 Instagram followers. She shared the 4-page media kit she uses.
• Eric Stoen, a journey creator with about 330,000 Instagram followers. He shared his 1-page media kit.
• Natasha Greene, a meals and life-style influencer with 138,000 Instagram followers. Here’s the 9-page media kit she uses.
• Joel Bervell, a medical college pupil and content material creator with 118,000 Instagram followers. He shared his 2-page media kit.
• Macy Mariano, a trend and life-style Instagram creator with about 100,000 followers. Check out her 9-page media kit.
• Jade Darmawangsa, a tech and enterprise a YouTube creator (382,000 subscribers) with 52,000 Instagram followers. She shared her 4-page media kit.
• Tess Barclay, a Toronto-based creator with about 5,600 Instagram followers. Here’s the latest version of her 1-page media kit.
• Lauren SoYung Lim, an influencer 26,000 Instagram followers (and 130,000 TikTok followers). She shared the 9-page media kit she used to pitch brands.
• Gigi Robinson, a creator with about 16,000 Instagram followers and 134,000 followers on TikTok. She shared the 17-page media kit she used to get brand deals with Amazon and Tinder.
• Jen Lauren, a YouTube nano influencer with 4,000 subscribers. She shared her simple 3-page media kit.
• Jour’dan Haynes, a nano influencer with 5,900 Instagram followers. She shared her 3-page media kit.
• Kayla Compton, a nano influencer with a couple of thousand followers. Here’s the 8-page media kit she uses.