The secret to how to get sponsored on Instagram involves finding your niche, posting amazing content, and following these tips on outreach and app features.

Whether you want to make money or earn free products, it’s an influencer’s dream to land a brand deal. 78% of marketers want to partner with influencers on Instagram, making this an excellent time to cash in on your Instagram clout. 

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The problem is that there are well over 500,000 influencers on Instagram, which means brands have their pick of the litter. If it’s high time for you to score a brand partnership, you need an Instagram page that screams to brand sponsors, “You need to work with this person.” 

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Let’s dig into potential earnings on the app and how to get sponsored on Instagram.

How Much Can I Make with an Instagram Sponsorship? 

More than 34% of brands pay influencers with cash, and the same percentage pay with free products. There’s nothing wrong with getting freebies in exchange for your work, but this won’t help you make a living as an influencer. You need to charge money for your time. 

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At the end of the day, you can make a good living as an influencer, but your earnings depend on the brands you partner with, their budget, your follower count, and your negotiation skills.

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Influencer marketing campaigns aren’t regulated, so you’re free to set whatever price you think is fair. Generally speaking, micro-influencers (>10,000 followers) earn $88 per sponsored Instagram post, while celebrity influencers (1 million+ followers) earn an average of $670 per post. Other influencers follow a simple formula to charge brands fairly: $100 per 10,000 followers.

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If you’re not sure what a fair going rate is for your account, you can also check average influencer rates by follower count and engagement rate.

How to Get Sponsored on Instagram: 9 Pro Tips for Influencers

Sponsored posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok increased by 27% in 2021. Brands are clearly clamoring for sponsorship opportunities. Here’s how to cash in.

1. Establish a Knockout Personal Brand

Remember, there are well over 500,000 influencers on Instagram. You need to create a unique brand and voice to stand out from the pack. That means you need to be thoughtful about your: 

• Niche: Identify a specialty topic like fashion, food, fitness, pets, etc. to attract the right paid partnerships. Don’t be afraid to really drill down, like specializing in fashion for people living with disabilities or athleisure for busy parents.
• Aesthetic: Create a visual style that’s unique to your account. You can easily do this by creating your own Instagram filter so everything has a cohesive look. You can also use a consistent color scheme and editing software to ensure your aesthetic comes together.
• Personality: Are you serious or laid-back? Funny or quirky? Let your personality shine through in your captions and content so brands know exactly who they’re dealing with.
• Bio link: Your Instagram profile has limited real estate to sell your personal brand, so add a link-in-bio to promote your unique voice. Hype lets you create a free microsite that features your contact information, portfolio, and “about me” details in one place. You can even offer to list web links for brands you are working with or eventually will work with. 

2. Decide How You Want to Work with Brand Sponsors

Before you start hunting down brand partnerships, you’ll need to decide how you want to partner with brands. Do you want one-off posts, or a long-term, affiliate agreement? Here are just a few of your options: 

• Sponsored posts, Reels, or Instagram Stories
• Instagram account takeovers
• Affiliate programs
• Sponsored Instagram ads
• User-generated content

Brands will want to know your pricing structure for these options, so determine your pricing right now. This will help you keep a clear head when it’s time to negotiate with brands. You can always revisit this as you figure out what brands can pay and the value you’re offering them.

3. Consistently Post Quality Content

You can’t post once a month and expect brands to shower you with offers. You need to post Instagram content like it’s your job — you’re trying to turn this into a paying gig, after all. 

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As a general rule of thumb, try to post quality content at least once a day. The best times to post on Instagram are generally from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. most days, but it depends on your niche and followers. Sundays are the worst day to post, so maybe hold off on those #SundayFunday posts. 

4. Use Instagram’s Monetization Features

Psst — did you know that Instagram has a built-in content Creator Marketplace that just went live? This new matchmaking marketplace connects brands with Instagram influencers.

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If you want leads to come to you, sign up for the Creator program. You’ll need to convert to a Professional Account, which will allow you to access other Instagram monetization options like subscriptions, in-stream video ads, badges, bonuses, and affiliate marketing

5. Add Geotags to Your Posts

Instagram allows you to add geotags to your posts, which display the location of your photo or video. If you’re trying to go after local brand partnerships, add geotags to your posts when they’re in the area. It helps prove to potential sponsors that you really are who you say you are. 

6. Include Up to 30 Relevant Hashtags

One of the keys to learning how to get sponsored on Instagram is to make your profile available. Hashtags make your content more visible on Instagram, helping sponsors to see you more easily. 

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Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but it’s best to stick with niche-specific hashtags. Also, choose hashtags that a brand would search for to find influencers. They probably aren’t looking at #Instagood or #InstaDaily, so stick with specific hashtags like #CleanBeauty or #SustainableFashion to connect with brands. 

7. Do Brand Outreach

You can wait for brands to come to you, but you also need to take an active role in hunting for partnerships. There are so many ways to do brand outreach, but for starters, you can try: 

• Tagging brands: It might feel like you’re coming on too strong, but brands won’t know about you if they don’t see you. 
• Using a pitch template: If you’re pitching brands en masse, typing out all of those messages gets a little tedious. Create your own template for brand outreach and drop in a few personalized nuggets to pique the brand’s interest.
• Targeting small businesses: Small businesses are more likely to give you a shot as a newbie influencer. By starting small, you can iron out the kinks in your process and gain legitimacy before going after bigger fish.

8. Make Yourself Available

Don’t make brands hunt for your contact information. You’re taking your influencer game to a new level, and contact information makes you much more legit. 

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Instagram direct messages are okay, but it’s best to communicate with brands via email so you have a record of the entire conversation. This also makes it much easier to communicate with multiple people at a business at once. 

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With a link-in-bio tool like Hype, you can even share a link to your calendar or booking software. This makes it super easy for brands to check your availability and schedule time to chat about promotional opportunities.

9. Create a Media Kit

Brands want to partner with influencers, but they need something tangible to take back to their team and decide if you’re the right influencer for the job. 

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This is why so many brands will ask influencers for a media kit. A media kit is a document that gives brands a sky-high view of what it’s like to partner with you. It should include: 

• Your target audience demographics
• Metrics like engagement rates and follower count
• Sponsorship opportunities
• Pricing information

Treat your media kit like a portfolio for your brand sponsorships. As you get more experience under your belt, add past projects to your media kit to prove your expertise to future partners.

Score Instagram Partnerships with Ease

Brand partnerships are the best way for influencers to make a living. If you want to master how to get sponsored on Instagram, you’ll need to: 

• Create a personal brand
• Determine your partnership options
• Post good content, often
• Monetize through Creator Marketplace
• Add geotags
• Use hashtags
• Reach out to brands
• Add your contact information
• Share a media kit
• Use a link-in-bio microsite

You worked hard to earn your Instagram followers’ trust, so turn that hard work into a paying career. Approach online influencing like the full-time gig it is, and you’ll go far.