This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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In this episode, we help a college student and aspiring influencer navigate her first brand partnership on Instagram. Welcome to Side Hustle School. Welcome to what we might call the Side Hustle Spotlight, where we explore the world of entrepreneurship or microentrepreneurship, just helping somebody make extra money without quitting their job, perhaps turn it into something that goes far beyond just that extra money. Not that there's anything wrong with extra money. And this question is gonna come to us from Sarah.
She is a college student from Los Angeles. She has been working on this Instagram account and her hard work is paid off. She's caught the attention of a brand who's interested in partnering with her for a sponsored post. And so she's like, well, this is cool, but what do I do? Like, what do I do next?
How do I enter into that partnership? How do I understand that I'm getting paid a fair compensation? How do I disclose what that sponsored content is and stay true to my brand? 'Cause ultimately the brand that wants to sponsor her post, well, they're gonna be there and they're gonna go away, but it's her account. It's her brand that she's building.
So how does she manage all this? Let's talk about how to build this successful and authentic partnership as a new influencer. Sarah's question coming up after this. Quick shout out to our sponsor. Thanks for being there.
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Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm a college student from Los Angeles. I've been growing an Instagram account focused on skincare and beauty tips. And I recently got approached by a brand for a sponsored post. I'm excited about the opportunity, but unsure how to navigate brand partnerships. How should I negotiate rates for sponsored content and what factors should I consider before agreeing to work with a particular brand?
Additionally, I want to ensure that I'm being transparent with my followers and maintaining my authenticity as an influencer. What steps should I take to build successful brand partnerships while staying true to my audience? [Music]
Hey, Sarah, good work. Congratulations on getting your first offer for a sponsored post. So what do you do in this situation?
Well, if it goes through an agency, sometimes the agency will approach you. They tend to have like their own pricing model and they're like, here's how it works. And it's either good for you or it's not. But if you're working directly with the brand, then you might have some more leeway. So if you are in the place of proposing a rate for the sponsored content, you want to propose a rate that fairly compensates you for your time and effort, while also considering the brand's budget and the long-term potential.
Like, is this a one-off situation? Is this something that can build into something more? And then also one trick, or it's not really a trick, it's just kind of a smart negotiating move, is you have the sponsored post. I mean, that's what they're looking for. But consider offering something that is a bit of a package where it's like, okay, you're gonna get the sponsored post, but I'm also going to do two Instagram stories.
I'm also going to mention you on my website or in my newsletter or something else, the more little add-ons that you can put in, the more it takes away from a standard benchmark, meaning that there are industry benchmarks for sponsored posts and brands are like, oh, we're gonna pay X dollars to receive this thing. But if you can say, well, it's not just that thing, it's a few other things, it's a package, then there is no comp, there's no comparable, and that can work in your favor. Basically, you can get more money. That's the short version there. That's kind of how it works for the pricing.
As for everything else, well, it's important, as you know, to disclose your sponsored partnerships clearly. There are FTC guidelines for that. Usually have to include a hashtag or a note that's an ad. It usually needs to be like the first thing that's mentioned in the post. There may be a couple of other requirements, but the main thing is just to be transparent about it.
You don't have to overdo it. Just make sure people understand what's going on. And when you do that and you continue to post valuable content, then if your engagement metrics stay high within the Instagram algorithm, then you can keep doing it and you'll get more sponsored deals and you'll continue to post organic content that keeps your reels and stories and posts in the algorithm and it can just become kind of a cycle that keeps going. Of course, there's never any guarantee of how long it will keep going, but that is basically how the business model works. So Sarah, it sounds like you're off to a good start.
Let us know how it goes. Love to see that post and hear how you're able to continue to negotiate as you go forward. Listeners, let me know what you're working on. If you have a question, an idea, an opportunity, sidehustleschool.com/questions. New episode every day.
This has been episode 2710, 2710. Next week, we're talking about chat bots. We're talking about somebody who's looking to hire their first assistant and so much more. So thank you for being a big part of everything. That's it for now.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
