Edit: The post and link below will help you learn how to work with brands on Instagram. This is meant as a BEGINNER guide to it, no matter how many followers you have. Most of my insight below is working for product exchange. However, as time has progressed I have moved into almost all of my sponsored posts being paid. If this is the part you are moving into as well, please feel free to message me with any questions regarding that.
Learn How to Work with Brands on Instagram
I might not have 10k followers on my Instagram yet and my husband quitting his day job might still be a ways off, but if there is one thing I know on Instagram, it’s collaborations. I began doing them before I even really knew they were a thing and had my first one ever published on the company’s Instagram account. (Hello, Pink Blush!) I wanted to share a little bit of my story, and then if you scroll to the bottom, you will find a link to “The Ultimate Instagram Collaboration Guide” where you will learn how to work with brands on Instagram. <3
I remember hitting 1k followers and another instagrammer (with way more followers than me) sharing a list of companies I could contact. She also shared with me one influencer platform that I still get collabs on to this day. It was like she had sent me a goldmine. I quickly began typing up emails and sending them out to companies. I was SO excited when a company would say YES they wanted to send ME an item to share on my feed. $20 of product? Oh, yes please. A free watch? Here’s my address.
It was a whole new world to me. I wanted to find all the platforms and places I could collaborate with companies. If I had a list like the following one I am sharing with you a year ago, I would have been set up so much better then. I am SO thankful though to that one instagrammer for what she was able to give me. (I think influencer platforms are SO new though as well that this info has not always been as readily available.)
Stats
Since June 2017 (this post being written August 2018) I have done 55 collaborations with 49 different companies and have made close to $1,000 and a ton more in free product: Bose headphones, watches, clothes, baby bows, etc. (Please note free product was all I did for several months before ever seeing a dime.) I now consider myself an influencer and really love it!
Enough about me though! Interested in seeing the best ways to get collaborations? Sign up for my monthly email and in return you will get special access to my top 5 ways to collaborate with companies including a list of influencer platforms and email template.
I know emails get long and fill up inboxes fast. So I can assure you that you will be lucky if you get more than one a month from me! Simply click here!
Want more Instagram tips? Check out my post on why I left Instagram engagement pods.
(Pin below to share with your friends!)
That is so cool! I haven’t done a whole lot on just IG alone (I figured since I don’t have tens of thousands of followers companies would laugh at me) , but maybe I’ll try!
You totally should! And with your blog following, who knows what could happen!
xo Bethany
What a great resource! Thanks Bethany for sharing this!
Thanks for checking it out, Sarah!
xo Bethany
I loved this post and such great information, thanks for being so open with this!
I am so happy to hear that!
xo Bethany
This is helpful! I am getting close to my goal of 1K followers on instagram and have no idea where to start with the influencer goal of mine. You have outlined a great start … Thank you for the information 🙂 and I am going to find you on instagram as a token of my appreciation 🙂
I hope this helps and you are starting to get some collabs!! And thank you <3
xo Bethany
This is so good, Bethany! You are rocking it so much on IG and I love how transparent your feed is! It’s like a breath of fresh air on social media!
Oh my goodness, this makes my day!
xo Bethany
So great that you’ve been able to have such great success on IG!
Thank you!
xo Bethany
Love this! Thanks for sharing the info. 🙂
Any time!
xo Bethany