How to Work With an Instagram Influencer According to an Influencer

How to Work With an Instagram Influencer According to an Influencer

As the creator of the blog Style Bee and the Instagram account @LeeVosburgh, I write about responsible style and thoughtful consumption and share brands I love. Read on to find out my tips for brands who want to work with Instagram influencers—what to do and what not to do in order to build successful campaigns and long-term working relationships. Is their audience engaged? Even if the influencer has fewer followers than your brand’s account they may be able to send lots of new followers your way. Personally, I try to keep my brand partnerships and sponsored content well spread out. Personally, the best partnerships for me, in terms of audience response, are when I’ve had some time to experiment the product and have complete autonomy over how I share it with my followers. These posts always feel more genuine than if I have a scripted caption or predetermined content. Make sure you negotiate to have an Instagram Story included along with a post on the influencer’s feed. It’s always great when a brand partner directs their audience to my account during the campaign period. These tips should help you navigate your next Instagram Influencer campaign or project.

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Image via Lee Vosburgh with permission

As the creator of the blog Style Bee and the Instagram account @LeeVosburgh, I write about responsible style and thoughtful consumption and share brands I love. I also started the 10×10 Style Challenge, My Instagram account, which has been active since 2013, has grown into a wonderful community of over 46,000 engaged followers.

For several years at the beginning of my career I was using Instagram as a means to share my blog content and direct my readers to new posts. That’s still a big part of what I use it for. But, as my following has grown, I’ve had opportunities to work on Instagram collaborations and projects exclusively (not just as part of bigger blog based campaigns).

As an Instagram influencer, I receive enquiries from brands several times a day. This is great, but it takes a pretty special set of conditions to pique my interest—partly because my business is focused on a niche market (responsible fashion) and partly because I’m very particular about what I share with my followers. It’s taken me five years to build up the audience I have and I genuinely value their trust in my opinion. Any brand partnership I take on has to align with my (and my audience’s) values, taste, lifestyle and editorial calendar!

Like any other business partnership, the partnership between brands and influencers should be carefully considered and thoughtful. Read on to find out my tips for brands who want to work with Instagram influencers—what to do and what not to do in order to build successful campaigns and long-term working relationships.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

1. Do your research

I get it, time is precious. But, it always shows when a brand representative has done their research and actually knows what my brand and I are all about.

Try to be as thorough as you can when first exploring influencer options and make sure the ones you’re reaching out to are a good fit for your brand. This might take longer initially, but will lead to better suited partners, saving you time in the long run.

Here are a few questions to keep handy as you research:

  • Does this influencer’s brand align with mine in terms of values, aesthetics, and personality?
  • Is their photography of the style and caliber you want your products associated with?
  • Are the brands and products they have previously worked with similar to mine?

Another tip: Put more value on an influencer’s online integrity than on the number of followers they have. Having 10,000 devoted followers is way better than 60,000 bots that were paid for. Ask yourself:

  • Is this influencer’s content high quality?
  • Are their captions thoughtful and well written?
  • Is their audience engaged?

These are all things that take time and effort and can serve as a good indicator of how they’ll be to work with. Even if the influencer has fewer followers than your brand’s account they may be able to send lots of new followers your way.

Also consider how often they’re posting sponsored content. Personally, I try to keep my brand partnerships and sponsored content well spread out. When an influencer has sponsored posts back to back to back there’s a good chance they’re not terribly discerning when it comes to the brands they work with and their audience will notice too.

2. Introduce yourself thoughtfully

Most influencers will be happy to hear from you and much more inclined to reply to a message that’s been thoughtfully written, not copy and pasted. Keep it short and to the point about why you’re reaching out. Talk about your brand and how you’re interested in working together.

Initial contact via direct message is OK, but I usually prefer to hop over to email when it comes to digging into the specifics of a project. Plus, sometimes I don’t check DMs from new contacts so I won’t see it until days later.Y our best bet when making initial contact with an influencer? If there’s an email address or contact info in an influencer’s profile, that’s the best way to get in touch.

Even if I don’t have room in my calendar or it’s not a good fit, I’m always happy to hear from an interesting new brand or independent designer because it could always lead to projects down the road.

Just don’t send out a mass email. This may seem like a given, but I’ve lost track of how many of those emails I’ve received. The truth is that it’s immediately obvious when a DM or an email has not been sent personally. For me, those types of initial contact will rarely get a reply. I’ll often immediately decline or delete them.

Earlier this year a marketing rep from Elizabeth Suzann, a responsibly produced clothing line based in Nashville, TN, reached out to say hello and express their interest in participating in the Spring 10×10 (a style challenge I created and host every season). Instead of diving right into what they wanted to see from me they outlined why the challenge was important to them, how the brand could support the community I’d been working to grow and ways in which they’d be open to giving back to the participants.

I could tell right away…

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