The influencer / blogging industry is currently a million dollar industry that doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. With new bloggers and influencers joining the industry, it’s surprising how the secrets to earning income in this industry are still well guarded. I am not the biggest influencer out there, but I've been asked this question so many times and it is only fair I share with you. Here's 5 ways you can make money as a blogger/influencer
- Affiliate Marketing: This is an ongoing partnership with a brand/company where you drive traffic and sales for them in exchange for a percentage of each conversion. Basically working on commission. This one of the most common ways to mke money as a blogger or influencer. However, I am not personally fond of this collaboration option because it requires continuous promotion of the same company to earn sales or conversion but it is one the few partnerships options where you the influencer can directly monitor and control your profit and growth.
- Some popular affiliate marketing networks are; Amazon, LinkShare, Clinkbank and some beauty and fashion companies have personalized affiliate systems to referrals.
- Brand Ambassadorship: This in my opinion is the most effective way of partnering with brands and make money as a blogger. Brands will hire influencers as surrogates to introduce their products to their desired client. It is important to know your audience and how to position yourself and your content to be accessible to both the brand and your readers. It will be your responsibility to gather as much information as possible about the product and share that with your audience. However it is also your responsibility to ensure that you are being honest and fair with how you share that information.
- Brands will hire bloggers / influencers who fit their image or message. Being a big influencer does not play a huge role here as brands are now actively tapping into the micro-influencer community because they have a more direct reach with their readers. You can be employed as a brand ambassador for a short term or you can go into a long term relationship with the brand.
- Sponsored Blog Posts: I'm sure you are wondering what the line between ambassadorship and sponsored blog posts are! Well a blogger/influencer can put out a blog post for a brand with links to a product or service that are monetized. This type of collaboration can also be based on paid contact as well as conversion. It can be a mix of ambassadorship and affiliate marketing that means you get paid for putting out a personally curated content while still earning income when you bring in sales for the brand. This collaboration is not the easiest to come by but it is out there and can be achieved.
- This collaboration can also be on a gifting basis, where the influencer receives the product/service for free and then shares them to their readers while they receive a percentage of the sale conversion.
- However it is important to make sure that you collaborate with brands that are a good fit for you. Being a blogger/influencer is not just about the income. Having the trust between you and your readers is important. Not every post should be sponsored, leave room for organic content and engagement.
- Social Media Sponsorship: A couple months ago a friend of my mine told me that blogging is dying off. A conversation that was fun an insightful and of course got heated. But it is true; there are a lot of partnership opportunities that are only social media based. You can collaborate with a brand to share their content via Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and across any social media platform with influence. Knowing how to price your content is important with collaboration option as well.
- On Instagram for example, you can partner with a brand to share their product via Instagram stories where your readers can engage with the content or on your feed to reach a broader audience. Exposure and reaching a new target market is usually the goal for this collaboration.
- And like always, being honest and open with your followers pays more that you know it.
- Event Coverage / Promoting: This is still a young collaboration option and a lot of influencers/bloggers (me included) are definitely trying to tap into it. A brand can partner with a blogger/influencer to create awareness about their event or event host it. I mean who better to host your event than the people that talk to their audience about it all day!
- With bigger influencers, guest appearances can also be an option with the influencer being the main guest of the event. For micro-bloggers and micro-influencers, event hosting can definitely be a big way to connect with your local audience. Winning your local area can be as big as winning an international audience sometimes.
I hope this gave you some tips on how to collaborate with brands and make money as a blogger or an influencer. Did I miss any form of collaboration? Feel free to leave your tips for collaboration below as well.
For outfit details, see my Instagram -HERE. Catch up on the previous blog post -HERE. See ya!
Love,
Auneetuh
