Sharing is caring!

There is this big misconception that you need to have a ton of followers to work with brands on Instagram. But we’re here to tell you that it’s just not true. There are plenty of ways to collaborate with brands on Instagram without a large following. Truth is, if you have other skills or an engaged following, you can work with brands with as little as 1,500 or 2,000 followers. Sometimes, you don’t even need any followers to partner with brands!

In fact, we first started working with brands while we were traveling, with a brand new Instagram account, and a freshly-attained following of 1,500 followers. We got to work with many hotels during our long-term trip and it helped us save quite a bit of money on the road. So we’re here to tell you how you can do it too! Plus, Carine has been working in marketing for the last 15 years. She’s seen and lived on both sides of the social media marketing spectrum, as a brand and as someone pitching to brands. So we’re spilling all the tea in this article!

This article may contain affiliate/compensated links. For more information, please see our disclaimer here. We take all the efforts necessary to ensure the information included in this post is accurate, correct and current, sometimes, things just change! Travel information like opening hours, business operations and prices may change. If you find anything in this post that is incorrect or outdated, please let me know in the comments so I can update it for other readers. Cheers!

Why brands work with small accounts and influencers on Instagram

Often, people think that they need to have a huge following on Instagram to work with brands. And for some things, it may be true. Of course, that depends on what type of work you’re looking to do.

Sure, some big brands will look for influencers with large following because they want to reach a bigger audience. While other brands want to have beautiful content created for them – and that’s where smaller accounts on Instagram can earn some money. But we’ll get into that later!

For now, if you have a small following on Instagram, you can still collaborate with brands. In fact, there are many studies that show the benefits of brands working with smaller accounts on Instagram.

• In a recent study by Later and Fohr, data showed that Nano influencers (with less than 10K followers) have the highest engagement rate on average. This is great for brands who are looking for sales and leads!
• 92% of consumers trust the authority of an influencer over a traditional advertisement or celebrity endorsement. (Source) So if you have a loyal following, and authority in a field, you’re in luck
• 11% higher ROI is delivered from influencer marketing content than traditional forms of digital marketing. (Source)

There is a ton of opportunity out there, and social media budgets keep increasing, so you have a chance to carve out a piece of the pie for yourself too.

Questions to answer before you start pitching brands for collaborations

Before reaching out to brands on Instagram to work out partnerships, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself. This will help you figure out what brands you want to reach out to, and what you can offer them that is unique from others. Knowing the answers to these questions, you’ll also be able to ensure a higher positive response rate and find better-fitting partnerships.

So take a few moments and answer these questions. Be honest with yourself and see what part of this you may actually want to include in your pitch to brands.

1. Do you want to be an influencer or content creator?

There is a big difference between these two terms although they seem to get thrown around quite loosely. It’s important to know how you want to present yourself as to the brands you want to collaborate with. You’ll also want to orient your media kit and your pitch in that direction.

Make sure you check out our article about Media kits. We’ll help you set yours up.

What is an influencer?

Influencers are the vloggers, bloggers, Instagrammers, storytellers and product reviewers on social media. What they sell brands is their authority with their community and their ability to recommend and sell products. Like the name says, influencers are there to influence you to buy products, to make a change in your life, etc. Studies keep showing how consumers are seven times more likely to trust someone they follow on social media over a conventional celebrity. So if you have expertise in a certain area, you can become an influencer too!

When it comes to the content influencers create, it might not be the most beautiful, creative or breakthrough. But that’s not why brands are working with them. Their ability lies in being able to capture their audience’s attention and ultimately influence purchase decisions. Brands see influencers almost like a media channel.

So if you have authority in a certain field, from travel to health and wellness, arts, food, fitness, beauty, whatever… you have the ability to become an influencer. This means brands will work with you so you recommend their products or services to your community. When working as an influencer, reach, impressions, sales become the metric you will be judged on. So if you have any hard data about the ROI you have produced for other brands, then make sure to include it in your media kit.

If you have 30,000 followers or less, then you’re considered a micro-influencer. Usually, brands won’t consider you an influencer (or micro-influencer) without having at least 2,000-2,500 followers in your community. If you want to collaborate with brands on Instagram as an influencer, we recommend working on building up your community before approaching brands.

Looking to grow your following in an organic and healthy way, make sure you read our following articles:
– How to grow your account
– How to take couple’s pictures
– Learn more about how Instagram works with the 15 things we wish we knew before startong our account

What is a content creator?

The name is pretty clear as to what they do. They create content, but not just anything! Content creators create high-quality content like photos, videos, blogs or a mix of all those things. They’re usually photographers, creative directors, writers or videographers. They’re well-versed in creating professional-quality content that gets people engaged.

If you have the skills to shoot photos or videos, create blogs, tourist guides, or anything that brands can use to market to their own community, you have the ability to become a content creator and work with brands on Instagram in that capacity. Content creators don’t necessarily have the largest following, but that’s not what brands are looking for when they work with them.

If you want to work as a content creator, you will be judged on your skills in the field you focus on (photography, videography, written content). Brands will want to see a portfolio of your work, and the quality of your work.

If you’re aspiring to be a content creator, there are plenty of opportunities for you! You can work with properties to showcase their spaces. Or you can work with brands and take pictures of their products, or create videos to promote them. Also, you can write articles for their blogs and website if you have some SEO knowledge. The possibilities are endless!

Pro tip: If you love a brand and want to work with them, take some pictures of their products, or shoot some stories that feature them. Share them with the brand and with your community. This will show the brand that you actually care about them and love them. It will make them more inclined to want to work with you, and you’ll already be standing out from other creators and influceners.

2. What are your values (and do they fit with the brand’s)?

Often, it’s so exciting to get a positive answer that you may forget to see if the brand actually fits with the values you have and the ones you promote to your community. Before approaching a brand, or committing to a partnership, it’s important to know what your values are and to look into the values of the brand you want to work with.

We often use this example, but early on in our account, we were approached by a fairly large watch brand. We had seen many influencers and creators work with them. They offered us free watches in exchange for talking about them to our community. We were really excited that a brand reached out to us to work together. However, we didn’t feel really drawn to this brand (and ultimately, we chose not to work with them). The truth is that we don’t wear watches, so it wouldn’t have made sense to promote this brand. It just didn’t vibe with our values.

So next time a brand wants to work with you, ask yourself these questions:

• What are my values?
• What are the values of the brand? Do they respect the things that are important to me? This can be anything from fighting climate change to respecting human rights or fighting for LGBTQ+ rights.
• Would I actually buy the product or service the brand is selling with my own money?
• Would my community like this product?

3. What can you offer the brand?

A brand will want to work with you because you can offer them something no one else can. And this is regardless of the size of your following. Just make sure you’re clear about what that special something is.

As a micro-influencer, your special something might be that you can give the brand access to an engaged community or authority in a certain field. As a content creator, it may be high-quality images and videos that the brand can use in its own marketing materials.

No matter what that is, make sure you highlight it in your media kit or portfolio.

4. Who is your audience?

If you’re pitching to brands on Instagram as an influencer, it will be super important that you know who your audience is. This will not only help brands understand what they can gain from working with you, but it will also help you grow your account.

Influencers are super clear on who their audiences are. This means pulling out demographics from your Instagram Insights tab. You should know:

• How old is your audience?
• Are they mainly women or men? (Isn’t it time Instagram offered more options for gender?!)
• Where are they from (country and city)?

Then, you will want to dig deeper into your niche. Because as much as the information above is important, it’s lacking in more important socio-demographic data, like:

• What are their interests? You can get this information from third-party apps and sites, or by knowing what your niche is.
• What do they like and dislike?
• What are they looking for?

A great way to get some of this information is through third-party apps, or to ask questions to your audience. You can use the different engagement widgets on stories to learn more about your community.

5. What type of partnership are you looking for?

Now that you figured out if you want to pitch to brands as an influencer or a content creator, you can start to think of what type of partnership you’re looking for. Do you simply want to create content for the brand that they can use on their own platforms? Or do you want to talk about the products or services to your own community?

Keep reading on and we’ll dive deeper into the different types of partnerships.

6. How will this partnership benefit you and your community?

You should know how this partnership will benefit you and your community. It can be an immediate benefit, or it can be a benefit that comes later on in time.

For example, when it comes to your community, it can be a new discovery that they will love because it will improve an aspect of their lives. It can be that they will learn a new skill or a new ability.

When it comes to you, you need to think if this partnership will help you grow as an authority in your field. Will it give you new skills that you’ll be able to use and market later? Is it a stepping stone toward working with a dream brand later on? Will it open any doors for you in terms of experience, contacts or anything else?

Before jumping on an opportunity, you need to make sure you’re in it for the right reasons. Whether these brand partnerships are paid, free, or on commission.

After all, the best partnerships with brands are the ones that are a win-win for everyone involved. If you feel like you’re getting the short end of the stick, you need to reevaluate the partnership itself or the terms of the collaboration.

Types of partnerships you can offer as a small influencer or content creator

When it comes to working with brands on Instagram, there are plenty of options out there. Here are only a few of them. We’re hoping this will give you the knowledge you need to be able to negotiate your own type of partnership too.

1. Work with brands as an influencer by exchanging services

This is a great way to start working with brands as a micro-influencer or as a content creator. It’s also a great way to build your portfolio if you don’t have anything to show yet.

Usually, a brand will send you a free product in exchange for your reviews to your community, featuring it on your page, or for you to create content. Sometimes, they will offer you a discount code so you can get the product at a discounted rate. Here, you’ll need to decide if you’re ok with that – again, refer to those questions above about how this partnership will benefit you and your community.

We’re always hesitant (and always refuse) to work with brands looking for influencers who offer discounts, instead offering their product. The reason is simple. If they want to benefit from us by gaining access to our skills or our community, but they expect to benefit even more from us by taking our money, they’re not serious about this partnership and they are not in it for the long run. It doesn’t make sense to us that we have to pay to promote the brand. You have to make sure that the collaborations you choose to do are win-win for every party involved… including you!

Content creation and influencer marketing take time, effort and resources. If a brand does not recognize this, then they do not respect the work you do. And for that, we prefer not to work with these types of brands.

When collaborating with brands in exchanges of services, you may get a free product to promote. You can also gain free access to a property, for example, a free hotel stay in exchange for photos or videos. Just make sure you know where to draw the line.

2. Get paid to work with brands on Instagram

There is an allure to getting free items from brands, but exposure doesn’t pay the bills. So as we mentioned before, it’s great to work with brands as an influencer (or content creator) in exchange for free products or free nights in hotels, but you also have to know and respect what you bring to the table.

With experience and better skills, you can market these things (your audience, your ability to sell or your quality content) to get paid for the work you do.

As an influencer, if you notice that you are getting high ROI for the free collaborations you’re doing, it may be time to switch to paid partnerships. This is especially true if you know that you can deliver results for the brand you’re working with. It will be important to establish your rate card, and communicate this to the brands you collaborate with.

As a content creator, the same applies to you. After a certain number of free stays or free products, you can also shift to paid work. Sure, when we’re traveling, we often accept free stays in hotels in exchange for our photography and videography – social media marketing is not the same in each country. But back home, we only do paid work.

Plus, as a content creator or influencer, you have the ability to create long-term relationships with the brands you work with. That means that you can propose to create content each month for the brand you’re working with. You can help them get the content they need to fill up their monthly content calendar.

3. Collaborate with brands on Instagram by earning a commission

Finally, another way to work with brands as an influencer is to earn a commission. This can be a discount code that is given to your followers so you earn a commission each time they buy a product or service using your code.

It can also be through affiliate marketing. For example, on your site, if you book a hotel through our Booking.com link, or if you buy something from our Amazon store, we earn a small commission. This is done at no extra cost to you, but it helps us out tremendously!

You can do the same thing. There are tons of ways to earn a commission from working with brands. Often, they will have an ambassador program where you get a discount for each purchase your followers make. You can also have a dedicated link that tracks which leads come from you.

Either way, this is a great way to earn a little more money doing what you love.

A few tips to keep in mind when you work with brands on Instagram

Sure, working with brands is not easy and it takes a lot of time. But if you’re serious about growing your business as an influencer or a content creator, then hopefully, these tips will help you.

As we mentioned before, each partnership you do with a brand needs to be a win-win. If it’s not, you need to rethink the parameters of the influencer brand collaboration and find a middle ground that works for you too.

Here are a few tips to help you even more:

1. Introduce yourself on Instagram but switch to email communication.
   • Instagram is great as a way to introduce yourself to a brand, but after a few messages, it’s time to switch to email communication. It’s more professional, and it’s easier to organize and find information than in a small message box on Instagram.
   • Just make sure you get the name and direct email address of the person you are communicating with, or the person who will be taking care of your partnership.
2. Don’t accept to work with anyone
   • This is easier said than done. We know – getting approached by a brand or getting a positive reply is enticing… but be picky with which brands you work with. If they don’t align with your values, if it’s not a win-win, if you’re not enjoying communicating with the lead person, don’t do it.
   • Just remember that sometimes, working with a brand that doesn’t align with your brand may have a negative effect on you in the long term.
3. Always be professional and polite
   • No matter what. Even if you feel like you’re not getting what you deserve. And even if you know that you won’t work with the brand. Stay professional. Social media marketing is a small world and word gets around.
   • And don’t forget that you’re not only representing your brand, you’re also representing all influencers and content creators.
4. Aim for long-term relationships
   • This is a great way to ensure you have a steady income. Whenever you work with a brand, try to build a long-term relationship with them. This is easier for them because they don’t always have to look for new collaborators, and the same goes for you. And with time, your relationship with the brand and your knowledge of them will only help you both benefit.
5. Know about the brand you want to work with
   • This is a key to introducing yourself to a brand. Make sure you know about them. We mentioned their values but it’s also good to know about their products or services.
   • Before you approach them, or before you start digging deeper into the partnership, take a look at their Instagram and their website. How do they portray themselves? What kind of content do they produce? What other influencers do they work with and how do they promote them?
   • Knowing about the brand will help you create content that aligns with theirs, and it will also help you sound more professional. This will help you when you’re talking to the brand and to your community.
6. Know your worth when collaborating with brands on Instagram
   • Sure, many brands will try to negotiate your rates, or they will tell you they have no budget. And sometimes, you may accept to do things for free or for a discounted rate. But it’s also important for you to know your worth when collaborating with brands on Instagram.
   • Your time, your community and your skills are worth something. if you don’t feel like these things are being respected, then you have to decide – is this partnership worth it?
7. Don’t be afraid to walk away from a brand if it’s not serving you
   • If it doesn’t feel right. Or if the partnership isn’t a win-win. If the brand doesn’t want to respect your conditions, don’t be afraid to walk away. We’ve often walked away from brands that didn’t want to pay our rate or that weren’t going to help us grow our business. You should also be brave and do the same. Brands will find other people who are willing to work with them… and so will you – on your terms!
   • The more influencers and content creators stick together and stick to their guns when it comes to budgets and conditions, the more brands will work toward fair conditions. Sure, there will always be people who do things for free, but the more we all level up, the more paid opportunities will be available for us all, big or small creators.
8. Don’t give up!
   • You’ll send out a ton of emails and reach out to a ton of brands. Some will answer positively, but more likely, you’ll get negative responses, or you won’t get an answer at all. This is normal – don’t be alarmed. Brands have so many people reach out to them on a daily basis that often, they just don’t have the time to answer. But don’t despair. As Wayne Gretzky said: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. So shoot your shot. Follow up, and if it doesn’t work out with one brand, don’t worry, it will with another!

How to collaborate with brands on Instagram with a small following

There you have it. These are all the things you need to know when you’re looking to collaborate with brands on Instagram. These principles work whether you have a large following or a small one.

But don’t let the numbers discourage you. Regardless of the size of your following, you have something unique to offer to the brands you want to collaborate with. And if you’re not sure how to highlight your unique skills, make sure you check out our article about building a media kit for micro-influencers.

Did these tips help you out? Are you ready to approach some brands? Is there anything else you’re not sure about? Let us know in the comments and we’ll be sure to get back to you. We want to help you grow your online business and thrive as a social media marketer.

---

Thank you so much for reading the article all the way through!

We put a lot of time and effort into the content we create. Please like, comment and share – every action on your part helps us out tremendously and is very appreciated.

You can also help us by pinning this article for others to find.

---