We are fresh off the heels of this year's #sparksummit, and we learned a LOT about the industry! Our industry panel revealed some insider secrets of how they find influencers, what they look for in an Instagram feed, and what happens once they want to work with you.

How brands look for influencers and how to get found

They look through hashtags, locations, and sometimes even Google. Another key to being found: have your e-mail address in your Instagram bio!

The 3 Things Brands Look For in Your Instagram Feed

Authenticity

Brands can tell if you're really passionate about your brand or if you're just in it for the likes.

Aesthetic

Your aesthetic is the general look and feel of your feed.

Audience

Brands may be checking out your page, but they're also looking at your audience. This is ultimately who they will they

WHAT actually happens when they want to work with you

If a brand e-mails you - great! You're halfway there. However, you can't assume you're the only influencer they've...

If you're serious about your business, you can make serious money as an influencer. You've created beautiful content, your influencer is portfolio is ready to go - but how do you know how much money to charge? 

What are brands actually paying for?

Brands are paying for advertising. As influencers, we are advertisers. Brands are paying to get their product in front of our audience, just as they would if they paid a TV station to run a commercial. As an influencer, your audience is your product. This is why it's SO important to be crystal clear on your audience. 

The difference here is that influencers already have a connection with their audience - they already know, like and trust the influencer. This is why influencers can charge a premium - it's an endorsement to a higher-quality audience.

Standard benchmark rates for posts

The standard benchmark is around $100 per 10,000 followers on Instagram. This means that if you get a brand sponsorship, you can expect to...

Is your mindset holding you back?

Until you take 100% responsibility for your success, you will never achieve it. What are you doing to build your brand and to grow your following? What steps are you taking? Posting is not enough, it’s never been enough. So if you’re waiting for things to happen, chances are they’re not.

There are three HUGE MISTAKES that influencers make that hold them back from reaching their full potential: 

#1 Believing you need TONS of followers in order to work with brands.

There are students in my courses with under 10k who have booked PAID sponsorships with brands More likely, you need to gain clarity on your brand. 

#2 Facing the Fear of Not Being Good Enough

Have you ever thought:

"Who am I to do this?" 

"Why is my story worth telling"

If you're letting fear block you - it will always be a "no". What have you got to lose?

#3 Treating Your Brand as a Hobby and Not A Business

This is why it’s important to practice...

So, what’s the difference between a collaboration and a sponsorship anyway? When working with brands, it can become tricky to figure out exactly what they're offering. Here are three different ways you can work with brands at any stage of your brand's growth.

The 3 Different Ways to Work With Brands

Collabs 

Brand collaborations are usually unpaid, but product is typically provided. Sometimes they ask you to buy the product or give you a discount code, but this is generally something to avoid unless they give you product for free. Why should you pay THEM for your hard work?

Partnerships

Partnerships may be paid or unpaid; the term can be vague  and you may need to ask the brand for clarification on what they're offering.

Sponsorships 

This is our big goal as influencers - a paid deal where you are offered payment for promotion services on your channel. 

What Should You Focus on If You Have Fewer Than 10k Followers?

The #1 thing you should be doing...

As influencers, we get tons of great perks. Free trips, products, and event invites, but these perks don't pay the bills. If you're serious about building your brand, you'll need to create a monetization plan.

Here are my top 5 proven strategies to attract and pitch to brands EVEN if you don't have a huge following yet. 

Strategy #1 Know and Grow Your Audience

Get into your analytics, find out what your audience wants, and narrow down your niche. It's vital that you're crystal clear on your brand before pitching to brands.

Strategy #2 Build Your Unique Brand

What is your big, huge brand vision? What is your brand's mission? What makes your brand unique?

 Strategy #3 Create Consistent Content

Think of your favorite, most successful influencers. How often do they post? It's important to be present on social media and your primary content channel. 

Strategy #4 Be Portfolio Ready

Your portfolio is like a resume for influencers. The three essential elements of a...

Without brands, influencers wouldn't have opportunities to make money. If you are SERIOUS about your brand and want to create a sustainable income, it's important that you create relationships with brands. 

Here is my 5 step framework to attract brands to reach out to YOU for partnerships.

Step 1: Profile

Do you know who your audience is? If not, you're not ready to work with brands. It's important to become crystal clear on exactly WHO your audience is, their average age, their location, their interests, otherwise brands won't see the advantage of working with you if they're not sure they're marketing to the right audience.

Step 2: Position

Who are you as a brand? What do you stand for? It's vital to define your brand and how you present yourself to brands.

Step 3: Plan 

As an influencer, your #1 goal is to provide VALUE to your audience. If it doesn't help your audience - don't post it! Did you try out a product that you hated and was a waste of money? Don't promote...

We are seeing a strong increase in influencer marketing these days. Is it possible to become a full-time influencer and still be able to pay your bills?

What is your product?

As an influencer, your product is your audience.

Brands pay to get in front of your audience - this is why it's so important to be crystal clear on who your audience is. If a brand isn't sure of your audience, why would they waste money promoting to the wrong people?

There are several revenue stream opportunities for influencers: 

Advertising 

This can include branded content sponsored posts on your blog, Instagram, YouTube or other social channels. The benchmark rate is about $100 per 10,000 followers, though this is not set in stone. 

Affiliate Marketing

This is where you promote a brand's product and receive a commission if your audience buys through your personalized link. 

Products

There are two types of products - physical and digital. Physical would include something tangible like...

One of the most-asked questions I get is this:

"How much time does it REALLY take to be an influencer?"

There's a decision to be made here. The most successful influencers are the ones that commit the time and push through. Think of it like a business -because it is!

Maybe you want to try it out for a month and decide to quit - that's fine, but it will be a HOBBY for you instead of a BUSINESS.

How long it took me to work with brands and get my first brand deal

Now if you want to create your business, you will probably not see a return until you've grown your following. I started getting collaborations with brands around 2,000 followers and brand sponsorships around 10,000 followers. These numbers DEFINITELY are not set in stone - members in my Influencer Academy are getting sponsorships with fewer than 10,000 followers - it depends on the brand.

The harsh reality of being an influencer

I recommend spending ONE HOUR per day working on Instagram to my students for consistent growth....

So many influencers are relying on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to grow their following but as entrepreneurs and business owners, it’s really important to build your email list.

Here are 3 reasons why influencers like you should make the effort to build your email list:

Reason #1. You own it

You own your list and no one can take it away from you. You don’t own Facebook or Instagram and they can decide to change anything they want. In fact, as you know, these platforms don’t show your content to 100% of your audience, that’s because they want you to pay for that reach. When you email your audience, 100% of your emails reach your audience, it just depends if it lands in spam, or in the promotions section, or if they choose to open it.

So in this case, it’s up to you to optimize your email or create a really good subject line, but you don’t have the option to pay for it to be seen.

Reason #2. To sell

People are still buying via...

Every influencer wants to work with brands, but some of them don’t know how to get started or what they need to have ready.

Here are the 3 essential elements that you’ll need in your influencer portfolio if you want to work with brands:

1. A Media Kit.

This is sort of like a resume for jobs and your media kit will have all the information including your brand name, description, if you have a blog, your social channels and your stats like how many followers you have on each platform, views, reach, engagement. It will also have your audience demographics and brands you’ve worked with before, pretty much everything a brand would want to know before they choose to work with you.

Now when you’re just starting out, you may not have a lot to put into your media kit and that’s okay. That’s why if you’re just growing your following, you really want to work on that every single day and doing as many brand collaborations as you can.

Think of it as...