Hi everyone! Today I am going to do something a little different on here! Lately I have been getting all kinds of questions on Instagram about how I got started working with companies and doing all of that kind of "influencer" work. I think the word Influencer is so weird and I don't really like it but that's what they're calling it so we'll just go with it.
Ever since I was younger I have always loved writing and taking pictures so doing the whole blogging/influencing thing has my name all over it! I am a wife, mom, was a student for a long time, am getting into estate and I do a lot of side-gigs so I am all over the place and don't consider influencing my main "thing" just yet. I really, really do have so much fun with it though and hope to build my audience more and more. For right now though, I have about 5k followers on Instagram which is not very much compared to a lot of other people out there. BUT I am able to pay a lot of bills, get a lot of free stuff and have sooo much fun doing it with my "smaller" audience.
You don't have to have millions of followers to be an "influencer" on Instagram.
If you are wanting to get into the whole world of Influencing and blogging, I think that signing up for these websites is a great place to start!
Basically, with each of these, different brands (some big, some small) sign up and different influencers (some big, some small) also sign up. The websites then connect you with different "campaigns" that they think you would be good for! You usually get a product/service in exchange for posting about it on your social media AND a lot of times you get paid too!
Here is a nice roundup of all of my favorite networking sites for micro influencers (think: around 50k followers or less)-
OCTOLY
Octoly is a super cool one that I just started using recently. Basically, how it works is they give you a certain number of "credits" and you can use those credits in their free store. It is constantly being updated with all kinds of quality products, most are hair/makeup/beauty related but I have also seen clothing and home decor a few times on there too. Each product costs one credit and you get the credit back once you have submitted your post about that product! Super simple and cool.
Pretty much all of my Lancome posts and Laneige posts are through Octoly and so was my CHI post! If you use my referral link, you can get 5 credits. Keep in mind that you do need to have 5k followers on Instagram to be approved for Octoly though!
HEARTBEAT
Heartbeat is so good for influencers who are just starting out! You don't need to have a certain # of followers to be approved and a lot of times you can get paid for posts. It's usually not a ton of $$ but hey, every bit helps, right?! Through them I have done a ton of posts like my Bouq's post and my Little Nut post. I am only qualified to make like...$20/post but every now and then I find it to be worth it. For instance, I once got a $100 Gymboree gift card included in my post and I found that to be totally worth it.
COLLECTIVELY
Collectively is awesome! Usually they don't pay but just send out products to be reviewed on Sephora or Ulta websites, so a lot of the stuff I get from them I don't actually have to post about on my social media (although I usually do anyways because I think my followers like hearing about them). Some campaigns ARE paid though so that's really nice too. I did my recent EOS lip balm campaign with them :)
INFLUENSTER
Influenster was the very first influencing network I joined and I still love it! Every now and then (probably once/month for me) they send different 'Vox Boxes' full of cool (usually beauty) products to review. It is super simple. Nothing is paid but it is a great way to get stuff to review.
DEALSPOTR
I really am liking Dealspotr lately. A lot of their campaigns are paid and all of them usually offer some kind of product. They also usually give you a coupon code that you can give to your followers. Use my link to sign up.
MNFST
MNFST, or 'Manifest' is an app I started using recently, and is very new (at 5k followers I am in the top 5% of users on the app so ya, very new). There are a lot of campaigns right now, most are just fun little filters you can use and post on your Instagram story, your Instagram feed or your Twitter acocunt. Each one pays, and while it isn't life-changing amounts of money, they add up and you get paid via PayPal instantly. Super good way to make a little bit of extra cash on the spot.
AMBASSADHER
Ambassadher is a really good platform for female influencers. I actually used to get a lot of opportunities from them but have just been busy with bigger campaigns and haven't used them in a while. Ambassadher is great for influencers who are just starting out but want to make some money. You can pay for their full-service (which is only like $2.99/moth I think and you get it refunded if you don't get any campaigns that month) or just do the free-version which has a little less campaigns. I paid for it for a while and made some good $$ but as I started working on other platforms that offered more, I decided to stop my membership with them. Maybe I will start it up again soon though! I think it's worth it.
INTELLIFLUENCE
Intellifluence is a platform that has a TON of opportunities, you just need to sort through and figure out which ones work out for you. Some companies can take a while to respond on here though so keep that in mind.
TRIBE
Tribe is a newer one that I have really been loving lately! It is all done on an app (not on desktop computers) and a lot of the campaigns pay really well. You DO have to buy the product beforehand for a lot of the campaigns but I have found that its usually 110% worth it. My Babor post and my Blue's Clues post were both sponsored by Tribe.
FIND YOUR INFLUENCE
Find Your Influence is a great site with a lot of really good opportunities. I have established a good relationship with a few brands on there (like Planet Oat, one of my faves) and work with them regularly on paid stuff.
SOCIAL NATIVE
I actually did my very first paid post through Social Native (it was a while ago for Lean Cuisine). They don't have a huuuuge number of opportunities, but when an opportunity does come, you can bet it's a good one.
I like this one! I don't get a ton of opportunities from it though since a lot of the campaigns are for bloggers in the UK, but I do get some and it's worth checking out and signing up for.
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I know that there are probably a lot of other ones out there but these are my FAVORITES and the ones that I like to recommend to people who ask, and hopefully it'll help you out!
The other obvious way I get partnerships with companies is through the actual company reaching out to me through e-mail. Maybe I will make a post more on that some other time.
Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to go over blogging-wise and be sure to connect with me on Instagram as well!
Happy influencing!
xo
