Instagram is a great platform for influencers (whether big or small) to get sponsored by brands.
That’s because more and more companies are collaborating with influencers on Instagram to promote their brand.
In fact, 85% of top brands use Instagram to promote their businesses. Forrester also revealed that top brands on Instagram report a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%. That is 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter.
But getting sponsors on Instagram is not a piece of cake. Your insta profile should be attractive and engaging.
In this guide, we will help you know:
- What is Instagram sponsorship?
- Can you get Instagram sponsorship for small accounts?
- How to get brands to sponsor you?
What is Instagram Sponsorship?
Instagram sponsorship is a form of the social media marketing that involves product or service endorsements from influencers or people who are thought to have knowledge in their specific field.
Simply put, Instagram sponsorship involves influencers getting rewarded or paid by brands for sharing or recommending brands’ products or services with their followers.
So getting sponsored on Instagram can help you become financially free. But you might be wondering – “Is it possible to find Instagram sponsors for my small account?”
Let’s find out!
Can you get Instagram Sponsorship for Small Accounts?
Yes, you can become an influencer and get Instagram sponsorship by big brands even if you have a small following, say less than 1000.
In fact, brands like to partner with nano and micro-influencers with a small number of followers. Why?
Because small influencers create the best levels of engagement.
Research shows that micro-influencers are the ones who create the highest engagement:
According to Mediahub, once a social media influencer reaches a critical mass of followers, audience engagement actually begins to decrease.
It turns out that the deeper the relationship with the following, the more powerful the influencer. This is why smaller, niche influencers can be more effective than the ‘bigger’ influencers who function as mere broadcasters and might achieve scale through mass awareness.
In the study, Mediahub experienced 50% higher engagement using micro-influencers.
Specifically, influencers with 1k fans showed an 85% higher lift than influencers with 100k fans. These campaigns have driven 10x higher efficiencies than influencers with larger followings, making them more cost-effective.
Better engagement means a higher ROI, greater retention, and deeper connections. That’s why brands find sponsoring small Instagram influencers effective.
So now let’s know what you need to do to get sponsored on Instagram by top brands.
How to get brands to sponsor you?
Here is the easy yet complete process that will help you get brands to sponsor you:
1. Identify your niche
One of the key reasons behind the good engagement created by micro-influencers is their defined niche.
Being an expert in a specific niche, you can create a great influence on your followers.
So first, identify the niche you are passionate about and become an expert in it. The niche you are passionate about can be – clothes, food, beauty, fitness, technology, etc.
To identify what you are passionate about, you can ask yourself:
- What do I do when I am free?
- What do I search about?
- What pages do I follow on social media?
- What blogs do I read?
- What videos do I watch on YouTube?
- What are my hobbies?
Being niche-specific can not only help you attract brands to sponsor you but can also help you build an engaging audience that would follow your guidance.
A relevant fact: 96% of fashion brands use Instagram. So if you’re into clothes and fashion, there are high chances of you getting sponsored by clothes brands on Instagram.
2. Know your audience
Knowing your audience is necessary to succeed as an influencer and get brands to collaborate with you.
Identifying your audience’s priorities and preferences is necessary to:
- Come across as an expert
- Create influence on people
- Increase engagement (likes, comments, shares)
- Build a personal brand
3. Improve engagement rate (get noticed)
Instagram is an active platform with 300 million monthly active users who share an average of 70 million photos a day. That’s a lot of engagement!
Your engagement rate has a direct relation with your chances to get noticed by brands that sponsor on Instagram.
How? Increased engagement of your Instagram posts can help you appear on Instagram’s “Explore” page. This page will help brands to find your profile along with many other people who are not your audience.
Tips to increase engagement on Instagram:
- Create viral content (relevant memes)
- Create informational and sharable content (tips, how-tos)
- Use “call to action” in captions.
- Create carousels
- Reply to comments
- Collab with other influencers in your niche
- Use relevant hashtags (hashtags with brand’s name)
4. Use Instagram sponsorship platforms
An Instagram sponsorship or influencer platform makes it easy for both the brands and influencers to find each other and collaborate.
Influencers platforms would expand your reach and popularize your name in the Influencers marketplace. But these platforms often charge people to join them.
Nevertheless, Happine.cc is a free-to-join platform that can help you get sponsored on Instagram by top brands. You will not only get to choose your favorite brand you want to do sponsorship with but you will also get exciting rewards.
Additionally, Happine.cc would also provide affiliate membership to you through which you can earn consistent cash income based on purchases made by your friends or followers.
5. Contact the brand you want to partner with
It takes time to build an influential and engaging Instagram account, and create content like a professional influencer. But it doesn’t mean you can’t approach your favorite brands now! Don’t hesitate to approach your favorite brands.
For example, if you are a loyal customer of a brand and possess good knowledge about their product, it doesn’t matter whether you are a professional or not.
In fact, you would be more trustable and can create a much better influence on people than a professional creator.
Some ways to get in touch with brands to get sponsorship:
- Brand’s website
- Instagram direct message
- Influencer communities
For brands that don’t provide any way of direct communication, you can tag brands in your Instagram posts & stories, use branded hashtags, and comments on their posts to grab brands’ attention.
Bonus tip: Create video reviews.
More than 95 million pictures and videos are uploaded on Instagram daily.
Creating video reviews for brands can be a little overwhelming if you’re a newbie creator. But it can significantly boost your chances of getting featured by a brand itself.
Brands like user-generated content and share it on their Instagram profiles.
If you don’t know how to create a video, Happine.cc can help you with an easy step-by-step process to create attractive video testimonials for brands. Best of all, you will get rewards as well.
Moreover, creating product-related content can also help you drive maximum engagement. Products were the top content types for the top 200 global brands in terms of engagement, at 60% in 2015 beating the lifestyle category by over 20%, according to HootSuite.
Also Read: How to Become an Influencer
Final Words
So now you must have got an idea of how to get sponsored on Instagram and start earning a living as an influencer.
Instagram is a great social platform for both influencers and businesses to grow. That’s why it’s predicted that Instagram will bring in $595 million in mobile ad revenues worldwide this year, and $2.81 billion by 2017.
Furthermore, Pew Research reported that Instagram was the top social network for 32% of teenagers in the US at the end of last year. Facebook has lost a lot of weight and is only for 14%.
So you can definitely get sponsored on Instagram. To increase your chances, I would suggest you focus on being niche-specific and create relevant content. Brands get attracted by the amount of influence and engagement an influencer can create, not the number of followers their Instagram profile possesses.
Indeed, you can gain followers by creating viral content or memes but most likely you won’t be able to create influence on people.
Lastly, you should join Happine.cc influencer community where you can get sponsored by thousands of our verified partners, so request a free demo now.
