Many influencers make their money through sponsored social media posts. No matter the size of your following, if you can prove to sponsors that your posts will generate a lot of customer engagement, then you can charge more for every sponsored post you make.
Start by choosing a sponsor whose target demographic matches yours.
No matter how good your sponsored post is, your audience won’t care if they can’t relate to the products. For example, if your audience is predominantly under eighteen, then working with a stock investment app or an alcohol company likely won’t generate a lot of new customers.
Therefore, you should choose your sponsors carefully. Ask any potential sponsors about the age range, gender, and location of people they’re trying to reach. If their target demographic matches yours, then your sponsorship should be mutually beneficial.
However, you should also be diligent in auditing the business ethics of any sponsor you work with. Think about how your sponsored post could affect your audience. If a fifteen-year-old fan sees you selling diet pills on Instagram, how could that impact her self-worth or her mental health?
Share a story, not a sales pitch.
Influencers impact the choices their viewers make as consumers because of the personal connection they build with their fans. Your audience isn’t following you because they like your products; they’re here because they like you as a person.
So, don’t clog their feeds with copy-and-pasted ads. Even if a sponsor wants you to include something specific in your sponsored post, you should build it into a personal story. Connecting with your audience in that way shows them how the sponsor has made your life better and can potentially improve theirs.
One of the best and most responsible sponsored post-making influencers is British parenting vlogger Louise Pentland. Her lengthy captions are always written in a conversational tone, so even sponsored posts like this one make her followers want to stop and check them out.
Pose the problem and offer your post as the solution.
Another effective strategy for getting your followers to interact with your sponsored post is to pose your sponsor as the best solution to a problem that you and your viewers share. Pull from both the struggles you’ve shared online and the insecurities you’ve kept to yourself.
Be as specific as you can when describing the problem. In what ways has this challenge hindered you? How long have you dealt with it? How does it affect you emotionally?
Now, describe how your sponsor helped you solve that problem in detail. Be personal, as if you were recommending a product you bought on your own to a friend.
Include several core benefits of the sponsor’s product or service.
Your audience wants to know more about a sponsor than just how much you liked it. Aside from your opinion, share specific facts and benefits from the company directly.
List three to four ways your sponsor will benefit your fans. You can use this information to support your positive review of the company.
In this sponsored post, Louise talked about the benefits of her sponsor as well as the recent awards the company had won.
Address any potential objections.
Every time you make a sponsored post, some of your followers will wonder why you chose to work with that specific company. Don’t be afraid and shy away from these concerns. Instead, you should address any potential concerns by reframing your sponsor in a positive light.
For example, Louise has been working with Facebook to promote content creation on the platform. In her latest sponsored post regarding Facebook, she addressed the issues many young parents like herself have with online safety concerns. She asked her followers to submit questions they had for her to share with Facebook.
The effectiveness of a sponsored post depends on how well it resonates with your audience. Make it personal, share a story, and solve a problem.
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Kristen Harris enjoys listening to a wide range of music, from Taylor Swift to, on occasion, Celtic instrumental. She also spends her time writing, reading, and baking.
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