Why Influencer Sponsorships are Important & How to Get One

In this digital marketing age, using Social Media and Social Media Influencers in a brand’s marketing campaign can prove to be very beneficial. As either a brand or an Influencer, the amount of paid sponsorships, ads, and collaborations seen on YouTube, Facebook, and more importantly, even on Instagram and TikTok have increased exponentially over the years. But how do Influencers get sponsorships? How do they benefit?

Why are Influencer Sponsorships Beneficial?

Influencer Sponsorships are a great marketing strategy. Influencers are niche specific. So, if a brand and your niche are similar, then that would be a “potential” partnership! By sponsoring an Influencer, the brand lessens the chances of their ads being blocked or skipped. Instead sponsoring an Influencer builds trust. How? Influencers have a large following of people that already trust them. People will trust an Influencer more than an unfamiliar brand.

While looking for sponsorship, one idea to remember is that businesses want to save money! If you’re an Influencer with a following of a few thousand people, you can still pitch to a business for sponsorship. Why? Businesses would rather pay a practical price to a newer Influencer. Working with someone having almost half a million followers would mean a higher budget!

By working together, both businesses and Influencers boost their SEO rankings. This is a huge benefit because nothing is more important than having a larger audience to cater to.

What should an Influencer look for in a Sponsorship?

According to Justin Moore, Sponsorship Coach and Founder of Creator Wizard on Effective Influencer Marketing Campaigns for Brands and Creators, content creators need to understand the goals of collaborating with the business. Usually, businesses sponsor an Influencer with the idea of using one of 3 marketing campaigns:

• Conversion Based
• Content-Based
• Brand Awareness

Conversions would involve purchases, or downloads while Content oriented campaigns would involve sharing and reposting content created for the audience, to promote the product or service. Brand awareness is what Influencers work towards as well: more engagement.

As an Influencer, these goals are important to keep in mind in order to help the business create a better strategy through your work online. If you wish to pitch to a company with a different niche, take the chance and go for it! Your chances will be greater, if your niche is supplemental to theirs if not, the same.

Getting sponsorships as an Influencer

Now that we know how beneficial it is not just for an Influencer but for the business as well, let’s talk about how to land a sponsorship with a brand.

You don’t have to have millions of followers to be considered for a sponsorship, according to Karina Gondola and Net Influencer. You can start with Twitch for example, as a newbie with fewer followers.

How to Get a Sponsorship as an Influencer, Step-By-Step:

1. Make your platform presentable and organized:
   • Having a clean platform to present to a potential sponsor is key! You want to look original and yet professional. Many Instagram accounts, for example, follow a certain theme in order to suit their niche. Check out your favorite influencer’s Instagram account. Get a feel for it and be innovative! Your platform should describe what you stand for!
2. Search for potential brands (also keep an eye out for start-ups):
   • This can be difficult, so I’m giving you a heads-up. Looking for potential brands can be overwhelming. Start with Google. Type in your nice and add the words “startup.” You’ll find a listing of brands that you can browse through. If you want to learn more about them, try to find them on LinkedIn. Connect with an employee in your area, for example, you might want to look for someone in marketing for sponsorships.
3. Interact with those brands
   • As I mentioned before, connect on social media with an employee, or message them asking about information. Try to get to know the company and what they stand for. Learn what their brand story is and see if it’s something that resonates with you. Don’t try to sell yourself to whoever will take you. If it’s a brand you don’t like, it will show in your work. Be honest to yourself and your followers.
4. Warm-pitch the brand (form a relationship and inch toward where you can help them in Influencer Marketing)
   • When you connect with the brand, the first thing you write to them should NOT be your pitch. Connect with them genuinely. Once you feel both of you are looking for something in common inch your way into mentioning what value you can provide to their brand. Give them samples of the type of content you can provide.
5. Make the deal!
   • Once your pitch is accepted, (first off, congratulations!) make a deal. Make sure you ask about your content and where it will be used. What are the payments like? How do you get paid? Can you reuse content? Ask as many questions as you can and make sure it’s all in writing.

Remember…

Getting sponsorship might not be simple and as easy as you might think, but don’t give up. The most important thing you can do before pitching an idea is to connect with the brand. The reason brands use Influencer Marketing in part is that it’s about building a relationship with the target audience. So, do the same!

Influencer sponsorships are a very important part of digital marketing, especially social media marketing. It benefits both parties to grow as a brand. Keeping what businesses have as their marketing goal, pitch to businesses related to if not in your niche, and develop a connection. You’ll have sponsorship in no time!

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