How to Work With Influencers to Promote Your Brand

Working with influencers, bloggers, and creative folk with a solid social media following can be a great way to promote your brand. If you find someone with a good following – whether it’s a micro influencer with 1,000 followers or an influencer with 100,000 followers – whose values and account lines up with yours and the kind of audience you attract, reaching out could work in your favor and theirs! But what makes a good influencer partnership? What are some of the do’s and don’ts of reaching out? What are they looking for in a collab? We asked a few influencers and bloggers for a little advice on how to work with influencers to promote your brand. Take a look at what they had to say!

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Jess Keys

“I would say depending on the size of the blogger it can vary but personally, I am much more likely to agree to promote a gifted product without payment if they don’t ask for specific deliverables. I rarely ever take on a traded product in exchange for, say, one Instagram post or one blog post feature, just because the value of that item is so, so much less in value than what I would typically charge. For example, if I charge $700 for an Instagram post and someone offers me a free journal worth $15 and asks for an Instagram post in exchange, I’m going to say no, because frankly, that’s kind of an insulting offer. But if they offer to send it no strings attached and say if I do happen to like it, any shoutouts would be super appreciated – no pressure though – that makes me WANT to help them and then I would happily do a series of Instagram stories (and my stories drive a lot of traffic and conversions). Then it’s really easy to develop an ongoing relationship with that brand.”

Jess Keys | “The Golden Girl” blog

 

Jena Gambaccini

The first piece of advice I’d give is to spell the person’s name correctly that you’re addressing. I know that brands/businesses reach out to a lot of influencers for the same project, but it’s important to individualize each email (and of course, spell the influencer’s name correctly/address it to the right person). Many influencers, including myself, only take on paid partnerships as it’s our full-time job. I do get small businesses reaching out for partnerships and not everyone has a marketing budget for influencers. And that’s okay. If the fit really makes sense (for myself and the brand) and it’s not a paid opportunity but something I feel strongly about and want to share with my followers, I will move forward with promoting the brand. So for brands and artists wanting to work with influencers, do your research. Really find the ones that best fit with your brand/aesthetic, and don’t just choose the ones who have the most amount of followers.”

Jena Gambaccini | “Chi City Fashion” blog

Leyla, “Second City Mom”

“Building relationships is very important to me. Not only in real life but also on social media. That being said, when someone reaches out to me about a possible collaboration, it’s nice to hear that they know a little bit about me already. I like to hear about them, what they do, and what type of message they want their products/services to convey. If we have a good rapport, then the partnership seems more fun and genuine. It’s like promoting something for your friend. I want to make sure what is asked to be promoted aligns with what I normally share on social media and that provides me with some creativity.

Do’s and don’ts

Do’s: Make sure your product aligns with the influencer’s social media presence. Offer some type of incentive that is fair and reasonable for both sides, and be upfront with that in the beginning. Build a relationship.

Don’ts: Don’t ask for tight deadlines or reach out with a quick turnaround. It doesn’t provide the influencer time to think of or plan for creative ways to help promote your product.”

Leyla | “Second City Mom” blog

Have you worked with influencers before? Are you an influencer with some advice? Share it all in the comments!

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Illustrations by Katie Lukes.

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