Full disclosure- I have a full-time job and I am really enjoying it! I don’t think social media will ever be my full-time role, but alas, never say never 🙂 I say this because truthfully, I could do a better job of reaching out to brands, although, I don’t necessarily enjoy doing it. However, I have had some great responses with the brands I’ve reached out to, and I’m here to help you get those responses too!
The post today is really around optimizing your following, in order to grow your account and to create relationships with brands where you can get repeat opportunities to work with them- and make some side cash too!
1. Start Local
To begin, how many followers do you have? Once you break the 2000 mark, you are in a good position to start reaching out to small businesses. My recommendation to you ( and what has worked well for me) is to keep it local. Local businesses are fantastic to work with. Not only is it great to give back to your community, but small businesses are so grateful for the work you do with them. In this case, specifically, I’d recommend products for promotion. Product for promotion is unpaid review work, that allows both you and the small business a way to get more visibility in your niche space. Beware, this is ALOT of work. Editing and creating content for $0 is a serious time commitment. Just know what you are getting into.
How do you find small businesses you ask? I started with Google- the best place to start! Google searching Best Canadian Hair Care Companies, or Toronto Skin Care, really helped me to identify which companies were local. Further, using hashtags in Instagram also was a great idea. #TorontoSmallBusiness #Torontohair. Try this with your city or state. When reaching out to these companies, explain that you are trying to support small businesses while supporting your community, and that free product for a review is mutually beneficial as they will receive free marketing from someone in their niche market. I haven’t had a single small business turn this down yet.
Ok, so now you’re at the 5k-20k mark- Hello Micro-Influencer!
As you know, I’m a goal-getter (if you don’t know, now you know :)). With that being said, I set goals. You should try this with your brand approach. What is your goal (number of companies) you want to reach out to a week? If you truly want to make yourself known for reviews, I’d say to reach out to 5-15 brands a week. Some will say no, but depending on who you ask, many will say yes. It is important to keep in mind the value of your worth. Chloe from @Frizzandfrillss says:
“think of it this way, we’re small businesses too. We should get paid for the work and marketing we provide to the desired niche, just like a radio station, tv station, or magazine would.”
As a micro-influencer, you have some of the most engaged followers, you are definitely in a position to ask for paid projects. Sites like Social Blue Book are great to help you out with how much you can ask for.
2. Be a Flirt!
Warm intros are easier than cold calls! I always think of this whenever I approach a brand. Usually if I see a company that I want to work with, I start courting them a few weeks before I reach out. Engagement is key! Like their content, comment on it, tag people in it, repost it, DM them, and for goodness sake, make sure you are following them!!
This makes it so much easier when you finally do reach out because their social media manager will know who you are. Bonus points if youre already using their product and you have paid for it. You can create posts showing how you have used a certain line and convey in stories or captions how excited you are to try their newly released products. Tag them in your content. Trust me, it goes a long way.
3. What’s In It For Them
I’m in sales, and well, NO ONE WANTS TO BE SOLD TO! You have to put an emphasis on what you can do for the company- not how great you are.
Your best pitches are when you focus on the numbers. For example:
Dear XXX,
I’ve been following your page for ___ and your branding/product/engagement is fantastic (try to be more descriptive about what you love about it). I was told that you are the most appropriate person to reach out to regarding collaborations/partnerships. The reason I am reaching out is because I thought you may be interested in a mutually beneficial partnership.
I am a ___ influencer with ____ followers on Intstagram/Youtube/Facebook. 98% of my followers are women between the ages of 25-44. Seeing as this is your key demographic, I believe that we can create something great/special together. On average, my partnerships result in 3000 new followers for the brand I am working with, X number of sales, and X number of traffic driven to your site.
I have included my media kit for your review. Please let me know if this is something you are interested in.
This is pretty generic, but a great start for starting to reach out to brands. Make it your own!
4. Find Your Tribe
There is power in numbers! One of the best things I’ve done for my instagram page is team up with people in my niche. It makes you SO MUCH STRONGER when pitching brands. Not only do you all have a greater reach together, but also you can approach more brands at one time. I’ve done this a couple of times for giveaways with a great group of ladies and each time we do it, not only do our accounts grow, but the brand accounts that we work with are growing at an exponential rate.
If you have a combined following of a couple of hundred thousand followers, you can pitch big brands and ask for a paid partnership, something you may not have had the power to do alone. Not only does this help your account, but I’ve met some inspiring and caring ladies in the proces!
My word of advice here is that you are better together. When I first started, I didnt understand the unspoken rules of engagement within social media. For example, when someone posts great content, and you share that great content (giving them the credit) they usually share that you shared their content! It’s a win-win! Free content for you, driving traffic to someone else, and they reciprocate by driving traffic back to you. I watch so many new comers to the curly hair space that might take content, not give credit, and not get much of a responce. It’s backwards and its not helping you. Sharing is caring!
5. Be Professional
I understand that you might be a mom, a working professional, or just have a ton of stuff on the go. It’s important to abide by timelines when working with a brand. I like to set expectations from the get-go. Generally I’ll ask a brand when their go-live date is, and let them know if I can abide by that up front, or if I will be available to work with them 2 months from now because I have other commitments. Be gracious when working with them, if you can, give more than what they asked for. The easier you are to work with, the more likely you will be invited back to work with them again! Let’s be honest, repeat business is much easier on your brand than changing up your products/techniques every other week. It adds authenticity and continuity to your page, and you don’t have to go looking for new brands to work with as often. The relationships you build with companies really pays off. I’ve been able to ask brands I’ve worked with in the past to support giveaways long after I’ve worked with them.
Pitching brands isnt for everyone, but you can learn how to promote yourself so that you get paid for content you are already creating. I hope these tips help as you grow your social media presence. Do you have something that isn’t included here but has been working wonders for you? Let me know in the comments!
Lisa
xx