Do you dream of making money from your social media presence? While it takes dedicated effort, it might be easier than you think. Partnering with businesses for paid sponsorship is an excellent way to leverage social following to earn money.
One of the best platforms to use for this is Instagram. The platform has two billion active users each month and is still growing. It also integrates several content types, including grid posts, Stories, Reels, and text-based Threads. That opens many opportunities to showcase your content to users who could drive your income.
Learn how to get sponsored on Instagram with our step-by-step guide.
Step one in finding Instagram sponsors isn’t to get a million followers. Followers are essential to the strategy (more on that later), but a sponsorship-worthy account starts with content quality and your brand presence.
Sponsors are willing to pay creators because sponsorship gives them access to a spokesperson who has already developed audience trust. If you have a strong brand presence, it shows potential sponsors that your audience wants to hear your point of view. So start developing that point of view.
Potential points to consider as you create content include:
Define your niche: fashion, parenting, finance, or something else you love. Learn more with our branding guide.
Then, focus on consistently delivering high-quality content. Consistent output is essential on social media, as algorithms and audiences easily forget about accounts that don’t produce the goods regularly. Consistent output earns trust, which will help win over followers and sponsors.
Regarding sponsorships, engagement rate is more powerful than follower count. But followers are essential to engagement calculations, so don’t count them out. You can grow your account with these tips.
Engagement shows that you can convert followers to action, which is what sponsors want. After all, they sponsor creators to attract new customers—people who take action to purchase their products.
Payments for sponsorships are based on both follower count and engagement rate. The higher the engagement rate, the higher the price you can charge sponsors for your branded content. For many brands, high engagement rates matter more than a high follower count.
You can increase engagement rate using targeted strategies, such as interacting with followers, delivering clear calls to action, and more. Get our favorite tips in this blog post about engagement on Instagram and learn how to get more likes.
As you develop your audience and content on Instagram, you’ll want to use hashtags, which increase post visibility and get your content in front of new audiences. Hashtags can also help content end up on the Explore page, allowing users to see content similar to what they already like.
You can choose various valuable hashtags:
If you’re stuck trying to decide which hashtags to use, play around with hashtag generators, which provide ideas based on keywords. You can also examine your analytics to see which hashtags have performed well. Analytics are one of the best ways to get clear, actionable insights specific to your account.
Check out our best tips for landing on the Instagram Explore page (including more information on hashtags).
Now that you’ve established your niche, a great engagement rate, and some strategies for tapping into new audiences, how do you leverage those to get sponsorships? Start by creating a media kit.
A media kit is a collection of information and assets about your account you can share with brands. The kit lets them know you and determine if they want to sponsor you. Your media kit will sell your brand to sponsors. Show off your accomplishments and why you’d be a good investment!
In a media kit, you’ll want to include basic account information, including the industry you typically operate in. But, the most influential part will be your analytics. You might include:
A media kit that shows off your brand and highlights relevant statistics is essential for securing brand sponsorships.
With all your assets in place, you’re ready to pitch to brands. Once you’ve established relationships with sponsors, they may reach out to you. However, taking the initiative yourself, especially early in your work with sponsorships, provides more opportunities.
You know your brand and audience best, so you can reach out to sponsors who are the best fit. Find potential sponsors who align with your niche. For instance, brands that make packaged snacks may be a good fit if you primarily make content about food.
Don’t be afraid to get creative. Sponsorships for food-based content may involve:
Kitchen gadgets
Cleaning products
Easy-to-wash clothing
Anything that fits your brand is relevant to your audience and could be a potential sponsor.
To craft a compelling pitch, use the media kit to showcase your offer. Then, paint a picture of why you’d be an effective spokesperson for the sponsor’s products. You may explain the content you’ll create for them or why you think their products will resonate with your audience.
If you want to expand beyond your own efforts, influence marketing platforms can help connect with brands you may have yet to consider. These platforms cater to brands to manage their marketing campaigns. Brands can look through influencer accounts to determine who might be a good fit for their upcoming content.
On the influencer side, you get your profile shown to businesses you might not have access to otherwise. Influencer platforms can also be an excellent way to get started on the first sponsorships. You can pitch more prominent brands once you’ve built credibility through established campaigns.
Explore programs like Aspire.io, Upfluence, and Influencity to learn more about how influencer marketing platforms work.
Sponsorships are most effective when they benefit all parties, including your audience. You should promote products you actually like to the people who follow you! Followers can tell when content is inauthentic, which will likely turn them away from it in the future.
On the other hand, authentic promotion benefits the relationship. It increases followers’ trust in you, making them more likely to engage with sponsored content in the future.
Legal transparency is also a significant consideration regarding sponsored posts. Did you know that social media sponsorships in the United States are regulated by the FTC? Don’t let that scare you. It just means that as a creator, you have a responsibility to promote safe and legal products—and you must disclose when content is sponsored.
Be honest about where you get sponsored products, and be upfront when a brand has paid you to say something (even when it’s your objective, honest opinion).
Once you’ve posted sponsored content on Instagram, learn from its performance. Check your analytics for detailed information, such as views and engagement rates. Compare it to other sponsored and non-sponsored content to see how it stacks up. This analysis will help you know how to proceed with future sponsorships.
Getting content to perform well on social media is an ongoing process. You must recalibrate now and again for maximum impact, and analytics indicate precisely what you need to know to perform your best. Learn more about this in our guide to analytics.
You should also get direct feedback when possible. Ask for input from the brand who sponsored you. Feedback helps maintain a mutually beneficial, ongoing relationship. And always listen to your audience. Their opinion and engagement matter for all future sponsorships.
Earning money on Instagram isn’t as difficult as it seems, especially if you leverage sponsorships. By following these steps, you can establish your account and learn how to get sponsors on Instagram. A little strategic planning goes a long way.
Get support from Superviral to keep growing your reach and potential. We’ll get you more Instagram followers.