How to Work with Brands for Instagram Sponsorship in 2019
Have you ever wondered how to do an Instagram brand deal?
From pitching to negotiating to actually shoot the content, publishing and talking to the brand the entire time?
Well, if that all seems overwhelming and you're not sure, you are in luck, because I am here doing a brand deal right now with these cute clothes on an amazing steam train in the United Kingdom and I will give you the inside scoop on how it's done so you'll be prepared for your next Instagram sponsorship. Welcome to Dare to Dream School. You can read on to find my best tips and tricks or watch my Youtube video and see how I do it.
How to do an Instagram Brand Deal in 2019 – Youtube
I thought since I was able to put together a brand deal, this was the perfect opportunity to show off my threads, get some wonderful pictures and bring you along so that you can learn how I was able to put this all together.
But first, while you're here if you're interested in learning more about social media growth, online videos and building a personal brand for you or your business, consider subscribing and turning on notifications so that you can be notified of my weekly live stream or I can answer your questions directly.
How to do an Instagram Brand Deal
So to start out with, I recently did a brand deal for Femme Luxe, which is a women's fashion line in the United Kingdom.
Now they reached out to me. But if you're a smaller Instagrammer, brands are probably not going to reach out to you.
If you want to learn how you can start getting sponsorship deals with a small following, make sure you check out part one of this post where I walk you through some proven tips and tricks that have helped me and other Instagrammers get sponsorships with a small account. Read:
How to Find Instagram Sponsorship with a Small Account
Once you have a brand deal in, these are the steps to follow in order to succeed with it:
1. Have an Email Linked in your Instagram BIO
Coming back to Femme Luxe Brand Deal whose marketing team somehow found out I was in the United Kingdom was probably based on some of my posts. They reached out to me because I had my email in my Instagram BIO. That's why it's really important that you have your email set up on your Instagram account. This way a business can contact you.
Femme Luxe reached out to me and what they did was they sent me to a special version of their website where influencers were able to pick out clothing. This was one of the outfits that I picked out.
They were able to ship it to me very quickly to the place where I am staying here while I'm in the UK.
2. The Brand Specifications
Femme Luxe spoke about the terms and conditions. I won't go too much into it, but usually, brands tell you something like it has to be posted within this amount of time. Usually, it's a matter of a couple of weeks to a month that they give you to put your content together.
They might let you know the theme of their brand. They might give you a few do's and don'ts of a window you need to be inside of.
All the brands I've worked with have been really flexible on the kind of content that I make because they want it to be authentic to their brand and how you normally post your Instagram pictures.
The brand might also give you some rules about what time you can post and particular hashtags you can use, which is partly what happened in my email.
They told me that I had a couple of weeks to shoot it and that there were specific time slots in which I could post, but that was about it. They were not very strict about any other books other than that.
Going back in time to when I received the package from this British company that wanted me to pick out some products. I picked them out on the website and have them shipped at my temporary location in England.
And there was the package delivered to me in a matter of days. These are the perks you get when you live the digital nomad lifestyle, which is what I do, I can work and travel whenever and wherever I want.
3. Do Some Homework and Setup
In the package, I got four products which were mostly just a bunch of sweaters. These are called jumpers here in the UK, although they're turtlenecks. I got a variety of colors and because I like to be efficient and take advantage of free stuff, I also got them in special colors that will work specifically for some of the music videos that I plan to do over on my main music channel.
I'm doing some Steven Universe covers. It's a cartoon show, so I am going to be wearing colors that match some of the characters in the show. Double bonus there as I got some cool outfits that work for my other projects as well.
As soon as you receive the package make sure everything fits before you think about how and where you are going to pose with the products. Especially if you are doing a brand deal with a fashion wear company.
With some clothing items, you will have to really channel your inner Fashionistas. Some mix and match and you can make really cool outfits for your pictures.
Once I was done with the fit and finish of the clothing items I went to the train station and took some shots. It’s interesting trying to find enough time to change and do all this with only a couple of train rides cause that's what we paid for it. Yes, I went on a steam train.
4. Some Great Pictures
I took some pictures that spoke for both my brand and theirs. If there are any specific instructions from the brand follow them otherwise go with your regular Instagram/brand theme. Make sure you are going to catch your viewers with the idea behind your picture.
Editing
If you take pictures on a DSLR camera, you've got to put them in your laptop. Then it's time to edit the photos. There are many ways you can go about that part.
Let me know in the comments if you want me to cover photo editing in the future and in what ways.
I often use Instagram or Lightroom to edit my photos. In this instance, I'm would use Lightroom. But because I'm short on time, I'm going to go ahead and invest some money in paying somebody else to edit photos. If you're not at that stage with your business or you're not ready, to invest in another person or to trust them, that's totally fine.
You can either learn how to edit the photos yourself. Or you can use software like Adobe Lightroom, it is fantastic for photographers. Additionally, you can just spend a little bit of money on Fiverr. Or you can go to dare to dream school Fiverr page for a deal. I can get you if you're curious and just want to start out with that.
Instagram Filters for Beginners?
If you're just starting out and it's a really basic brand deal, I personally think it's fine to just use Instagram filters.
Try to finesse it, really go behind the scenes and use all of the editing functionality of Instagram. It's up to you, but just remember you need progress, not perfection.
If someone is looking for a micro influencer, for instance, and you're really new to this, I really don't think there's a problem with using Instagram filters as long as you put some care and quality into that.
Let me know in the comments if you want me to show you how to really make your pictures pop even with just Instagram, I really think that you can do quite a lot with just the APP.
5. Go Above and Beyond
You're not completely done working with the brand. A lot of brands want to get a preview of what your post is going to look like, the final photos and also the captions.
In this particular brand I worked with, they weren't particular at all. They just gave me a Hashtag and they asked me to tag them and that was it, which is pretty awesome. Usually, brands are not as easy going like that. Femme Luxe didn't ask for a final review so I'm just going to post them without a review.
Use your Blog too
That can be it but I'm actually going to go above and beyond that. I do this a lot and you may want to consider that as well. I tend to throw in a bonus without promising anything and I'm going to post more than one photo because I want to embed them in my blog, which I'm just building up this now. I'm going to give them Instagram as well and then embed the Instagram photos in my blog, which is why I'm doing Instagram first.
So if the brand wanted to check and make sure your photos are okay and your caption is okay, then you're ready to move on.
I will say I've never so far had any brand come back and say, Hey, can you change this one thing. They tend to want you to be authentic so as long as you speak in your voice, they're usually okay with it. I've never had a problem where a brand wanted any kind of revision on my post.
Femme Luxe brand wants me to only post at particular times, so I'll make sure to follow that and then just let the brand know.
Final Check
Remember, you went through all that work. The terms and conditions might have been that you only post it for 24 hours and then you're allowed to remove it. That tends to be commensurate with the price. It's up to you. I tend to keep mine up because I'm really happy with them and I tend to do really cool photos that I just want to keep on my feed. For that, I tend to make my price match that, but it just depends on what you want to do.
Another reason you want to add it to your portfolio is that you may want to have a media kit eventually and show, hey, I worked with these brands. That's why it's important to document, especially if you're going to remove the post in 24 hours or two days. You definitely want to have a copy of that somewhere as proof of the collaboration.
These are the tips on how to rock an Instagram brand deal in 2019. If you want to grow faster on Instagram, I have lots of tips and tricks on that. I can show you how I grew my Instagram pretty fast and how you can too. Keep a lookout for my next posts.
Remember, you can do this. If you've never had a brand deal, you've never been paid, don't worry. The theme of Dare to Dream School is never give up!
Always be a dare to dreamer and hit me up on Instagram, Michelle Osorio.
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Michelle Osorio is a singer, filmmaker and content creator turned entrepreneur sharing her secrets to growth on social media and livestream.
