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Obtaining Sponsorships on Instagram
First, a little about my page/content: cosplay account and I share Cosplays that I create and model. I have 10.3k followers and engagement rate is 6-11% depending on how the IG algorithm hits my page that week.
It’s not a large account by any means but given how niche of a space I occupy, it’s not an inconsequential amount of followers.
*My question* : how do people get sponsorships? I notice that other accounts with similar sizes and engagement rates (and sometimes even less) get PR boxes, sent PR items, and have had multiple sponsorships (I’ve seen accounts with very similar stats to mine get PR boxes from Warner brothers when Wonder Woman came out and Marvel after Wanda Vision was released!). But I have no idea how this happens!
I know I produce good content. My page grew completely organically, my engagement is solid, I’ve been featured by Entertainment Weekly and I’m currently working with a company on their new campaign for an entire line of product. I say all this not to express that I in any way deserve sponsorships and PR, but to highlight that people who do see my content want to work with me. I feel confident that I have taken care of step 1) consistent and creative production of unique content. But I clearly do not know how to put *myself* out there appropriately! There is something I am not doing well or doing at all. And I want to know what that is!
I hear people say “reach out to companies!” How? Via their customer service email? Their DMs? “Hi love your page/site/product/business! Please send me some free stuff!” Does this work? It sounds terrifying and expectant??
I also hear people say to join influencer marketing agencies but there are SO MANY – which ones do I choose? Which ones are actually legit? I have tried activate for about a month and it’s been crickets. Octoly rejected my account because I didn’t pass the “editorial check.”….
I’m worried this question comes across as entitled and deserving. I am certainly not entitled to PR or sponsorships – these things are privileges. But I would like to better my brand, my content, and, well, my sphere of influence! And I would very much appreciate any practical and general advice!
Thanks in advance!
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6 Replies
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byu/JonODonovan insocialmedia -
Since you are into cosplays, I would try to find brands that fit into that niche. I wouldn’t just reach out to any company and ask for free stuff. Some companies have a page on their website that says “work with us” or something along those lines and you’d fill out an application. Some companies you can DM. I wouldn’t message them saying “hey give me free stuff”. Think of it as a job application. You’re more likely to get a partnership opportunity if you already use the product because then the company knows you actually like the product and not just asking for free things.
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I find that people who sell products on Instagram (especially smaller vendors) tend to be more willing to work with accounts especially for branding and sponsorship
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If/when you’re doing the reaching out, remember it’s a numbers game: the more you send out, the more responses come back. If you send out two super tailored quality personal messages, then you may be spending too much time on the picking of the people to contact and the writing. If you send out 100 messages, the percentage rate of responses is much higher. form a template for your intro message, so you can blast the same thing off to many people a day.
On the other side of equation: set yourself up to be known and available to be contacted for inquiries. First step on this is to use your bio space for info on what you’re offering and how to contact you.
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Sent you a message!
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Social media marketer here!
If you want PR your account is definitely perfectly suited for it. Most people start reaching out to brands for PR around the 5k mark and you can do it as early as 1k with good success rate.
Here is how I would recommend you reach out if you wanted to do it yourself .
1) Go to canva.com type in Media kit and find a template you like
2) Fill in all your account stats and a bit about you and your following and make it reflect your personal brand
3) save that and update it everytime you hit a new milestone on an account
4) Email brands, most the time they have a media/publicity specific email
5) create an email template for yourself but i imagine it will look something like thisHi (Insert brand name)
My name is @(Ur most popular tagname here) and I am an influencer with a X amount following on my primary platform which is Instagram.
My audience has grown quickly and I am now interested in reaching out to brands that I always use to see if they would be interested in connecting with my audience.
*Insert something tailored to the company “I use blah blah blah product every day”, “my audience has asked me for a discount code for you guys in the past”, “a similar profile than mine featured your products recently and I wondered if you got good return on that?” *
Attached is my media kit with everything you would need to know about me, my analytics and content.
I am currently trying to keep my options as open as possible but am super interested to see if you had an idea on how we could work together and how I could support your business further.
Thanks for your time, have an awesome week.
– @(insert your name)
6) send that to as many brands as possible but look out for emails that are the same because sometimes multiple brands use the same account manager
7) see who replies
8) put all your sent emails in a separate folder to rereach out to in 6 months time with updated stats with an email like ” just a heads up that my audience has grown X much since my last email I’m still open to collaboration in some way”
9) DM follow up a week after you send an email on Instagram and say “hey I sent you guys an email I just want to check I sent it to the right place”
It’s also worth noting you are at the audience size where you might want to talk to an agency about just doing this for you but of course you will lose some of your freedoms going that route. But if all the above seems too time consuming I could defo make a recommendation on a few agencies worth talking to ☺️
It’s also worth noting if you see another influencer similar to you receive PR always reach out.
I do free 1-2-1 coaching on things like this for people growing their followings so feel free to DM me on insta even if you just want a second opinion on something @meganstephensofficial
Hope all of that helps ?
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