Getting sponsored brand deals as an influencer is definitely a great way to monetize your social media presence. The influencer economy is projected to reach $5 billion in investments! That’s so huge!
However, that also means that the space is getting crowded and competitive. This shouldn’t scare you, though. It just means that your creative efforts need to constantly be up to standard.
In our Vimma app, we deliver daily brand campaigns to our influencers, so we know how brands think. Thanks to working with them daily, we began to truly understand what is it that they look for, and not only that but also what makes influencers get the green or red light.
That’s why we decided to compile the entire brand feedback and give you a list of 8 major reasons you are not being picked for sponsored brand deals as an influencer. Read on to learn more about it!
8 Major Reasons You Aren’t Being Picked For Sponsored Brand Deals
Your niche is not obvious
No better time than this one to emphasize - lifestyle is NOT a niche!
Now that that’s out of the way… One of the most common reasons influencers aren’t being picked for sponsored brand deals is because their niche is not obvious to brands.
When influencers focus too much on creating lifestyle content, they fail to become an authority in other aspects.
For example, to collaborate with Gucci you’d either have to be a very famous celebrity, or an influencer specializing in couture, high-end fashion. Since Gucci is an established, household brand, they will want to invest their campaign money into proven collaborators. Those collaborators would have an audience that has money to spend on pricey clothes and accessories Gucci offers (we’re talking about 4 digit dollars).
This being said, if your niche is not obvious to brands right away, that might be one of the reasons you aren’t being picked for sponsored brand deals as an influencer.
Your engagement rate is low
Another reason you might not be landing those sponsorships is that your engagement rate is low.
The engagement rate is calculated by dividing your total number of likes and comments by your follower count and then multiplying by 100 to give you a percentage.
This number shows how engaged your followers are with your content. That’s a clear sign to brands as to how your content is perceived and accepted by your audience. Brands need creators whose audience respects and interacts with you. That shows them that you can convert your followers to paying customers, which is the end goal.
If your engagement rate is low, that can deter them from offering you a paid sponsored deal, no matter how beautiful or professional your account looks.
The quality of your posts isn’t up to standard
The quality of your posts can be divided into two categories:
what you talk about (captions);
the media (photos, videos, etc).
What you talk about is mainly what your posts are about, and how you present them in your captions.
If your content mostly revolves around selfies with random quotes in captions that you found on Pinterest - well, that won’t cut it.
Captions are a place where you connect with your audience and showcase your true personality. That is where you show your authenticity in your own words. Now, there is nothing wrong with Pinterest quotes here and there. However, this is your place to shine. So don’t sleep on it.
Now, as for the media, aka photos and videos that you post online - This needs to look professional.
You have to bear in mind that there are millions of content creators out there whose photography skills are top-notch. Besides, social media platforms are mostly visual. So your visuals need to show brands that it would be worth their while to invest their campaign money to work with you.
This is one of the major reasons brands are turning influencers down’ for sponsored deals. Blurry selfies or filter selfies are not going to help you achieve your sponsorship goals.
Now, we understand that you guys don’t necessarily have the funds and means to invest in professional cameras. We’re here to tell you that you don’t need to. In this blog post, we touched on the subject of the Best Phone Cameras That Take Great Photos, so make sure you check it out.
You didn’t meet the campaign criteria
Sometimes we have to accept that other influencers are a better fit for a particular campaign than we are at the given moment.
For example, L’Oreal might be launching a new anti-age skincare line for mature skin over 55 years of age in the US. Even if you’re a skincare influencer who touches upon subjects of anti-age care, chances are you aren’t going to get it unless you’re 55 years old. Or maybe you are, but you live in Canada.
See? Sometimes you may appear as an ideal collaborator, but these trinkets decide on whether or not you get a sponsored brand deal as an influencer.
You are not your brand’s target audience
This one can be hard to deal with, especially if we’re in love with certain brands’ products or services.
For example, you might be a giant fan of CrockPot kitchen suppliances, but you create content for beginner developers who are just learning to code. This means that, no matter how much you love their slow cookers and use them all the time, your audience is not an obvious choice for a mutual campaign.
Or another example where lines might be blurrier. For example, you could be a street fashion influencer based in Amsterdam who focuses on everyday casual streetwear for women. And let’s say that Dior in France has a new line of business suits coming out, also for women.
Even though both Dior and you are in fashion, chances are you aren’t Dior’s target audience. Why? Because the new Dior line is for businesswomen located in France, which would leave your audience confused because it’s not what they’d sign up for. And Dior would lose a lot of money investing in you because no one from your audience would buy anything you’d promote.
A lot of fake or bot followers in your audience
We’ve all been tempted to artificially pump our numbers at one point in time, for sure. However, that would be highly detrimental to your account.
No matter how daunting it can be to grow your followers organically, it is always the right thing to do. Buying fake followers would result in shadowbanning because bot activity is heavily tracked and taken down by Instagram.
Instagram wants real people using the app, so any artificial activity won’t be supported by them. Whether you bought or accidentally accumulated a lot of bots following you - that’s something you need to take care of.
Natural growth is possible and is highly commended. If you’re struggling with it, we can help you with that in two ways. The first way is to use our Power Coaching feature in the Vimma app, where we give you strategic exercises to grow your following every day. The second would be to apply for our Growth Clinic and speak in person with a growth specialist. Sign up for a free trial here!
Rest assured that fake followers or bots in your following are one of the major reasons for not being picked for sponsored brand deals as an influencer.
Instagram pods are taking over your comment section
Since buying followers is not an opinion, influencers have turned to each other for support. Instagram pods became a new way of tricking the algorithm to perform in influencers’ favor.
Nevertheless, if your comment section consists solely of content creators who are also looking to land a deal from a brand, and not to buy something from one… Then Houston, we have a problem.
If brands see that your entire audience is made up of people just like you, aka influencers, then who can they sell their products to?
Networking is great, and you should network with other creators. However, you need to make sure that your audience is mostly made up of regular, non-influencer types of people that are looking up to you and trust you.
Those are the ones brands want to reach through you, and those are the ones that will be your biggest fans.
Your location is not a good match
Although we did touch upon this a bit in the aforementioned text, we feel like this is particularly important to emphasize.
Sometimes your account might be perfect for that one collab. You both share the same ideal customer, you speak about the exact same things and all, but you still didn’t get chosen for that sponsored brand deal.
Location plays a major role in landing desired collaborations. Sometimes brands only sell in specific locations, so if the majority of your audience doesn’t live in those locations, then you are not a good fit.
You can’t be promoting something that has no way of being sold and delivered to your audience. That would be a waste of money for the brand. And is for sure a hard pill to swallow for any influencer.
Of course, it’s better to know that so that you wouldn’t keep your hopes up, and then feel disappointed when you don’t get it.
In conclusion
Working with brands every single day, we at Vimma see a lot of accepted and declined applications for brand opportunities. This list contains our top 8 major reasons why influencers are not being picked for sponsored brand deals.
Now that you know why you might not be getting picked, it’s time to take a hard look at your account and your actions. Is your niche not obvious enough? Is your engagement low? Do you and your brand truly share the same niche? Are you even in the same country?
If you’re not sure why aren’t you getting collaborations, you can always reach out to us at Vimma. We have in-house brand specialists that help our 30.000+ creators pinpoint the exact reasons why they aren’t getting sponsorships. Do you need help with getting brand deals? Sign up for the Vimma app and let’s talk about it!