Being an influencer today is not so easy like it was 4 years ago. According to Statista, in September 2017, the active users on Instagram reached  800million. Potentially all of these could be influencers and even if we want to consider only the 20% of these users who have a passion for fashion they would still be 160.000.000, so definitely A LOT!
Luckily more and more brands and PR agencies are learning the importance of micro-influencers, so today, to collaborate with brands, you don’t necessarily need to have millions of followers.
However, it could be difficult, especially at the beginning, to find the collaborations and business opportunities and in most of the cases, the most difficult part is letting the brands know that you exist and produce great content.
After some months of hard work to create great content for FREE you are finally ready to start pitching some brands to ask for collaborations. We know you’re excited and ready to send some emails. You should know the PR companies who manage the influencer and digital marketing for that brand and let them know about your blog and your collaboration proposal.
You may be lucky, but most of the time they will reply to you saying that they have already chosen other influencers and that they have no budget anymore and they will contact you in the future.
But there is a solution for this so you won’t have to waste time sending emails to brands that won’t accept your collaboration proposal.
If you want to start working with brands you definitely should consider joining some influencer marketing networks.
What are the influencer marketing agencies/networks?
They act in the middle connecting brands with influencers.
Like for you, influencer who wants to collaborate with brands but figure out is difficult to find the right brands at the right moment, also brands need help to find the right influencers for them, also because today there are millions of blogs out there, they cannot know everyone.
How does this work?
Once you join a network, fill your stats information and your contact, you’re immediately available among the other influencers so it will be easier for you to get known by the brands. Â When a brand wants to launch an influencer marketing campaign, you will see it open on the network and you can apply to it or you can be reached out by the brands directly to work with them.
This is a very great way to get on the influencer market, especially at the beginning.
Most of these agencies work both with big and micro influencers. If you’re a micro influencer you won’t probably see a Dior campaign, but you can work with other brands who will need and appreciate your work and that you’ll enjoy too for sure.
When joining this networks remind to not apply to all the collaboration opportunities, but for a long-term strategy for your blog choose only the brands who you really like and trust. If you collaborate with brands who you don’t like your followers will notice you and you may lose their trust because you’re telling them to try that product that you don’t personally like and that probably they won’t like either. If you want to grow your blog in the future and turn it into a business, you need to think strategically from the beginning.
These are some of the best influencer marketing agencies you can join (some of them need to accept you after your request, while some others will immediately give you the access)
Bloglovin is known as a blog collector so who better then them to launch an influencer agency? It’s really easy to use and you’ll see all the available campaigns or Instagram, Youtubers, Bloggers… and you can directly see the ones you can potentially apply based on your stats
IMA | Influencer Marketing Agency
Just an example of the campaigns that this Amsterdam-based agency realized is the one of Hilfiger with influencers such as OhhCouture. They also accept micro-influencers to their network, so you should request to join them.
They work with L’Oreal, LVMH, Cartier, Intimissimi, Ferragamo… and some of the influencers of their networks are Veronica Ferraro, Lydia Millen, Lovely Pepa… They have offices in New York, Hamburg and Milan. You can fill the form and ask them to add you to their list of adv opportunities.
You need to have at least 10K+ Instagram followers to apply to their network. But they work with amazing brands.
Joining a smaller influencer marketing agency is easier at the beginning and is also a smarter choice because you can start collaborating with brands without competing with bigger influencers.
They are not only an agency that will connect you with brands, but they will also provide you with data and analysis of your account. Marianna Hewitt and Jacey Duprei to name two of the influencers who use this network.
This new agency is perfect for micro-influencers. It’s easier to join the network of this kind of agencies.
At the end of the page, you’ll find a contact form. Send them a message introducing yourself and your blog.
I suggest you apply to all of them.
You may be scared to apply to some of them because you’re still at the beginning and you don’t have thousands of followers, but my suggestion is to apply anyway. List all of them in a sheet and take notes if they get back to you or not. Is also important to keep all your account data stored to remind all the influencers marketing you joined because you may forget about them and you need to check out their websites often to see if they have posted new collaboration opportunities – even if most of them will email you every time there is a new opportunity is always better to check the websites to stay updated. For those who have not got back to you, I suggest trying again when your followers have grown.
