Information technology'due south no surprise yous want to get a paid Instagram influencer -- heck, the boilerplate price for a sponsored Instagram post is $300, and if yous become more than successful, similar yogi Rachel Brathen, you could be making $25,000 per post.

Just the idea of getting your posts sponsored might seem laughable to you. Y'all're not posting pictures skydiving in Australia -- you're posting pictures of your brunch. Nonetheless, you could exist more marketable than you think. Download Now: Free Instagram for Business Kit + Templates

Instagram has go an insanely pop channel for brands to promote their products. In fact, Influencer Central found consumers consider Instagram to be the 6th almost effective at influencing their purchasing decisions.

Instagram's popularity might make yous feel the platform is already too crowded for yous to stand out. Only here'south the thing -- brands are quickly realizing the power of normal people to promote their products. Micro-influencers, or people with a small number of followers compared to the big players, see the virtually engagement out of their audience.

Retrieve of information technology this way: I'm going to trust my best friend'due south advice over Kim Kardashian's when I'm purchasing a product. I trust my all-time friend, we share similar interests, and I know she's genuine with her advice (no law-breaking, Kim … ).

It'southward the same concept for micro-influencers -- with the right strategy, your audience will begin to see you every bit i of their existent friends. The more they trust your advice when seeking out purchasing decisions, the more likely you are to get sponsored.

Here, we're going to show you everything you need to do to get sponsored on Instagram, even if you currently take naught followers. Go along reading to get started or click the links below to jump to a specific section of this article.

  • How to Get Sponsored on Instagram
  • What'south a Sponsored Instagram Post?
  • Using #ad and #spon Hashtags

1. Define your brand.

Yous'll see the best engagement if you lot're able to define your niche. Practise you want to mail service food and wellness related content, or focus on fashion? Whatsoever the case, information technology's of import to establish your brand.

Besides the type of content yous post, branding has a lot to do with your overall aesthetic. How do you want to manner your posts? What's your messaging? To further solidify your brand, you might desire to consider creating a cohesive feed theme (utilize these feeds for inspiration).

Specificity is key. A proficient influencer's posts are distinguishable and unique -- when a user is flipping through her feed, she'll be able to pause and recognize every fourth dimension she sees a post from that influencer. As she continues to meet similar content, she'll grow to trust that brand as an expert in the field. If the influencer of a sudden and randomly changed form, the user might not empathize or trust the content anymore.

Additionally, you might want to connect your Instagram make with an online presence. Creating a website with similar aesthetic and messaging is a proficient manner to do this -- the more you unify your social media accounts, the easier it will exist for brands to distinguish how you tin can help them.

two. Know your audition.

Knowing your audience is critical for convincing a brand to piece of work with yous. It's mutually beneficial for you lot, also -- if you lot empathize your audition, y'all're able to correctly identify which brands volition run across the most success from using you as their sponsor.

Kickoff past gathering the basics -- what is the gender, age, and geographical location of your core demographic? Which of your posts do they like the all-time? What times of mean solar day do they respond best to content, and what can y'all infer from this?

The demographic information you gather volition help you pitch partnerships with brands. Brands want to know who they can reach if they work with you. Explaining "You'll exist reaching thirty-something, working women, primarily from New York, who oftentimes use Instagram starting time thing in the morning and prefer fettle content" is certainly more than powerful than proverb, "You'll exist reaching women."

3. Post consistently.

CoSchedule gathered research from 14 studies to identity how oftentimes you should post on social media sites. For Instagram, they plant you should postal service a minimum of one time a twenty-four hours, simply can mail upwards of iii times a day.

CoSchedule also found 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and two:00 AM, are the best times to post.

To grow your following, it'south critical y'all postal service at least once a day. Instagram's algorithm favors new and fresh content, and you lot don't desire your audience to unfollow you or forget about y'all from lack of consistency.

However, you'll need to figure out what works best for you and your audience. Perhaps your audience feels bombarded when you mail three times a day, or maybe they prefer it. Maybe your audience engages most with your posts at noon. Information technology volition take some trial and fault, likewise as Instagram metrics tools, to effigy this out.

4. Use hashtags and geotags.

Hashtags brand your content more discoverable, then they're necessary for growing your post-obit. Yous tin use upwards to 30 hashtags per post, simply TrackMaven found nine to be the optimal number for boosting date.

You'll desire to utilize hashtags equally relevant to your content as possible. You'll also demand to check to brand certain the hashtags you utilise aren't broken or banned (take a wait at this list of banned hashtags if y'all're unsure).

Information technology's critical you choose hashtags that aren't too broad. #Healthyliving, for case, has over 20,000,000 posts, while #healthylivingtips merely has 13,000. The less competition, the easier it will be for your content to get discovered.

When you peruse a hashtag'due south page, you tin can too get a deeper sense of what types of content your post will be up against. #Healthylivingtips might typically feature posts with food recipes, while your post is about cycling -- this could defer you from using that hashtag.

Geotags are as important, but for a dissimilar reason. Geotags can assistance people find you if they're interested in a certain location. This helps you gain more followers, and it besides helps you lot appeal to brands that are interested in reaching a certain demographic. For instance, maybe a bazaar sees yous often post fashion tips from the California area, and they're looking to appeal to people in that region -- it's a win, win.

5. Tag brands in your posts.

Okay, at present you're officially ready to begin reaching out to brands. You've defined your brand and audience and have created some quality, authentic posts. Now, you should have a pretty good idea what types of businesses would do good from a partnership with yous.

It'due south important to start small-scale. If you're interested in skincare, don't go directly for Estee Lauder -- instead, try tagging pocket-size skincare start-ups you've seen across Instagram already.

Permit'south accept a await at an example -- @Tzibirita, a travel influencer, posted this paradigm of herself wearing a Paul Hewitt watch. The image is loftier-quality and fits with her brand, and she tags @paul_hewitt in her description. Even if yous're not paid by Paul Hewitt, you lot can still mail service the same type of content and tag their brand in the mail service. Ideally, it will at least put yous on their radar.

Begin with small brands and tag them in your descriptions. Engage with your audience by responding to comments like "Where can I get one?" or "How much?" and the brand will soon see you've proven yourself a suitable sales partner.

6. Include contact information in your bio.

Consider your bio a chance to signal to brands your interest in becoming an influencer. Include an email or website so they can accomplish you, and include a press kit if possible.

For instance, @tzibirita doesn't waste matter her bio space. She includes her email and website, and even adds a title -- "content creator". Brands will take no doubt she's open to doing business with them.

Furthermore, you should use a website or blog every bit your take a chance to expand on your brand and demonstrate your versatility. Consider adding a Press Page to your website, so brands can take a expect at your services. Once yous brainstorm sponsoring brands, y'all can add them to this page so brands can see yous have influencer feel.

7. Pitch paid sponsorships.

At that place's nix incorrect with reaching out to brands and offering your services. With the right pitch, you might be able to land some gigs without waiting for brands to find you lot.

Await for brands that clearly invest time and money into their Instagram presence. You might outset by researching what like influencers in your manufacture already sponsor. Remember, information technology'due south okay to start small-scale. Working with smaller brands will allow you to build a portfolio.

Once you lot've curated a list of brands that might want to partner with yous, send them an email. In your pitch, conspicuously and briefly outline who you are, what you do, and any achievements y'all take in the field that make you an expert. Then, explicate why yous're a good fit for the brand, and include data such equally follower count and average date rate.

Alternatively, you might consider sending a make a DM straight from Instagram. Information technology'south certainly more relevant to the job you lot're vying for, simply it might go lost if a brand get hundreds of DMs a day.

8. Know your worth.

Brand certain you know how much y'all're going to charge when brands reach out to you. The manufacture standard is $10 for 1,000 followers, simply it could also vary depending on how many likes you get per post. Additionally, every bit you lot abound, you'll be able to charge more.

While y'all'll want to have a minimum set, you tin negotiate to encourage brands to pay more. Perhaps for $300, you lot'll throw in five Instagram Story posts, and a link in your bio to their website for 24 hours. You tin use other Instagram features to sweeten the deal.

Once you have your pricing construction nailed downwardly, you'll demand to know how to sponsor a mail on behalf of the brand y'all're working with. Now, go on in mind there are two unlike kinds of "sponsored" posts: those for which brands pay Instagram, and those for which brands pay some other user.

Confused? Here'due south what I mean:

What'south a Sponsored Instagram Post?

A sponsored post on Instagram is paid for past the poster to reach a wider audience. There are two master types of sponsorships: In one, a brand creates a mail and pays Instagram for access to a custom audition. In the other, a brand sponsors another Instagram user -- oftentimes called an "Influencer" -- who creates a post that features the brand in some manner.

Hither's more item on each type of sponsored post:

Promoted Posts & Ads

Just like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, Instagram comes with a native advertising management platform. Advertisers tin can utilize this tool to customize a target audience -- using attributes like age, sex, location, and interests -- and invest a specific amount of money to getting their post in front of Instagrammers who identify with this audition.

The thing to call up here is that the advertiser is making and publishing the mail. They're paying Instagram for the audition they want access to, but the postal service is theirs to create.

Paid Sponsorships

Paid sponsorships take place betwixt a brand and another Instagram user. Typically, this user has a personal make and attracts an audience of his or her own. This user is often chosen an "influencer."

This person can then utilise the steps explained before in this commodity to observe and piece of work with brands that appeal to a similar audition. When they observe a brand who wants to sponsor them, they can charge this client a certain amount to create a mail that features their product or service. Call back of it like social media product placement; just like a business might pay a TV show to have their brand of soda on the countertop in the series finale, they can too pay a person on Instagram to hold that same soda in a picture on their Instagram feed.

Clearly there are more than creative sponsorship ideas you can come up with -- I decided to go with a cliché ...

Influencers are like to Instagram'due south advert manager in the sense that they both depict an audience that brands might non otherwise have access to. Withal, the differences in this type of sponsorship are that the brand is paying the influencer -- rather than Instagram -- for access to their audience, and the influencer -- rather than the advertiser -- is the ane creating and publishing the postal service.

There are numerous influencers for each manufacture. Here's a big list of today'south known influencers and the types of audiences they attract.

Using #advertisement and #spon Hashtags

In the past couple years, brands take come nether burn down for hiring influencers only non making it clear to the audience that these influencers were getting paid.

Department store Lord & Taylor, for instance, settled charges with the FTC in 2016 subsequently paying 50 influencers to clothing a clothes in their posts without hashtagging #sponsorship or #advert.

Influencers are supposed to hashtag #advertising or #sponsored in posts they're being paid for, but these tags make some brands uncomfortable considering it makes the mail appear inauthentic.

In 2017, Instagram released a paid partnership feature to combat this result -- if you tag a brand in a post and the brand confirms the relationship, the ad will be marked at the top with a "paid partnership" label. This too helps the make gather data regarding how well the campaign is performing.

Information technology'southward disquisitional your followers know if you're getting paid to promote a product. Ethics aside, it could destroy your account's credibility if you're caught, and lose everything you've worked hard to build -- namely, an authentic, trusting customs.

If y'all truly don't desire to post #ad or #spon, there are some ways around it -- for instance, Airbnb created the hashtag #Airbnb_partner, to betoken a paid partnership without using the word "advertizing".

When in doubt, attach to Instagram'southward policies. You can read Instagram's branded content policies in full here.

Ultimately, getting sponsored on Instagram isn't easy -- it takes time, attempt, and perseverance. Merely if yous piece of work hard to differentiate yourself in the industry, and connect on a personal level with your followers, it can be extraordinarily rewarding.

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Originally published Nov 12, 2020 5:02:00 PM, updated Oct 07 2021