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The success of Uber and Airbnb showcase that people want and need to earn extra money on top of their basic, salary income. And while these structured options might work for some people, other would prefer to get that extra cash in other, perhaps less time-consuming ways. That is where the question how to get sponsored comes into play, and since we’re living in a social media obsessed world, the wisest, easiest and perhaps most profitable way of earning from sponsorship is through your followers and fans.
If you have an established social media following for whichever reason, and regardless of where you live, you might be scrolling away on a gold mine.
Brands are aware that people are sick of direct marketing in which the product or service is basically waved in front of the person’s nose, so they market in a safer and more informal way via influencers. Safer, as the majority of the “risk” for promoting the product is on the middleman, and so was the effort in building the interested audience.
One person’s hobby is another person’s job and source of income so whether you have a pool tricks Instagram page, a YouTube channel revolving around all things soccer or a Facebook page about pigeons in movies, someone will want to advertise on it.
How To Get Sponsored: Actionable Steps
Quite commonly advertisers will reach out to you, but in order to maximize or speed up your revenue collection, you should be proactive.
Start by singling out around 10 companies that operate in the field your social media profiles are, although sometimes even companies with irrelevant business activities could advertise on your social media accounts.
Think in terms of what you use to accomplish the things you’re dealing with on social media, and then find the people who are manufacturing it or providing the service for it. As for the majority of your life, Google will be your best friend and a simple search can give you the results needed. Google “field of work” + “your location” + “companies” if you have a small or modest following or if you’re operating in an influencer saturated market (nutrition). But if you have a significant following or operate in a field that isn’t overflowing with social media marketers (woodworking, agriculture…) you could google “leading” + “field of work” + “companies”.
Finding similar projects in your niche and seeing who sponsors them can also be a useful insight. Even in saturated markets, you could pull some cash as you can target companies that are starting out or are in an inferior position to their competitors.
Every company has a website, every company has a contact email of most of its departments, and you should aim for the marketing one, but a general one will work if you can’t find the promotions sector.
