Hey y’all,

Social media platforms have become so important by way of sharing your passions and connecting with likeminded people all across the world. I find it truly a blessing to be apart of the generation using technology to its full advantage and that includes getting paid for your work. A lot of people have the viewpoint that influencing isn’t a job and therefore should be unpaid but I disagree. Monetization (the action or process of earning revenue from an asset, business, etc.) isn’t the goal for every social media user and that’s perfectly fine but for the folks who are putting in hours of content making I think its fair that they expect compensation for their work. Sharing a photo or a funny video may seem easy from the outside looking in but any dedicated content creator knows that getting those things just right takes time and effort, similar to a full time job. Depending on what type of content you’re delivering on your page there are several different steps that fold into sharing that photo or video. There is the clean up before and after the shoot, the staging of the piece or persons, set design, hair and makeup, directing, editing, creative writing, the list goes on. Add into that equation another party like a sponsorship for a brand and there’s email communication, contracts, administrative work, and approval from a team, all of this can eat up a big chunk of your time which to me should be billable hours.

I initially entered this space with high hopes of monetizing our platform to free me from the barriers of a traditional job and to fund our more lofty goals for our homestead property. I have been incredibly inspired by the many influencers I have seen quit very well paying full time jobs to pursue their passions and share them with the world at large. I believe with enough dedication, creativity, and consistency anybody can make this a reality for themselves. And while we have quite a ways to go before I am able to call this my full time occupation we have been fortunate enough to receive several paid partnerships from some well known brands all by our visibility on the platform. I am definitely no expert but I would love to share a few techniques that have helped us bring in income from our page.

I wanted to start by sharing that we did have a ton of help when we first entered the instagram scene because our page was shared by a few big name accounts which drove our follower count up practically overnight. Having a huge following isn’t exactly a necessity when it comes to securing partnerships but maintaining at least 1k – 5k with high engagement from your audience will help convince brands to pair with you. Follower count is one of the things brands look for in terms of KPI (key performance indicators) and falls into the engagement category which in my short experience is what most partnerships are interested in. At the end of the day you have to remember that whomever you’re partnering with is a business and their ultimate goal is to get as many eyes and buys on their products as possible. So monitoring and maintaining your engagement with your audience is really of major importance, use your professional dashboard on Instagram to your advantage.

If you haven’t already change your account label to either a business or creator account, that way you have access to all the tracking tools Instagram already provides. There are also a number of apps you can use to track engagement, for me personally I rely heavily on my professional dashboard. Keeping your audience engaged is really a matter of consistency and authenticity in my opinion. You don’t have to follow every trend or use the same popular sounds as everyone else because that isn’t what drew your audience in in the first place. Remaining as true to yourself as possible regardless of what’s popular will always land you with a group of loyal followers because they are interested in you! To keep them interested be consistent, I know that coming up with new content everyday can be difficult but the way these apps are set up is you will disappear if you do not post. Beating the algorithm is hard enough so remember to check in with your audience and use all the features to make things easier, you don’t have to post on your profile grid everyday you can just pop in on your story to give folks a quick update on the goings on of your life.

Having brands reach out to you is absolutely wonderful but at a certain point you are going to have to put in some work to secure partnerships. My ultimate advice is to reach out to brands that you already support so that you are familiar with the company and product. A lot of blogs will provide you with a template that you can copy/paste once you’re ready to make contact but I find its in your best interest to form personalized emails for every company you reach out to. Explain to them what you love about their brand and how you feel it aligns with yours, mention products that you have used and of course talk about how your audience values your insight. You don’t want your page to be full of ads that don’t align with your original message because it will cause your follower count to drop so be discerning when connecting with brands.

Have a media kit ready to share with whatever company you reach out to, there are several templates on Canva that you can use to create one. Media kits are important because it is essentially a one page visual aid representing your major key performance indicators. You want to keep it clean and simple so its easily digestible and showcases you as a professional. Don’t be afraid of putting your rate right on the front page of your media kit, brands want to know upfront what you charge so be sure you have that figured out before you begin reaching out to companies.

Rates can be tricky but honestly go high because there is nothing worse than selling yourself short. The brands more often then not will accept but sometimes there is negotiating involved, don’t let that discourage you though. The more you practice the better you’ll get at securing the rate you want. Often times brands are represented by the same media company so even if you didn’t get the rate you hoped for taking the job might ultimately land you more work. Remain professional and on top of your game and I promise you’ll be monetizing your content in no time flat.

I really hope this was helpful and know that if you have any questions I would be more than happy to provide you with my limited but useful insight.