Beyond Gifting: How to Optimise Brand Partnerships

As companies place more and more trust in partnerships, many influencers feel ready to shed the association with creating content as a hobby.

If you’ve also found yourself growing beyond gifted collabs, taking a moment to pause and re-strategise could be the key step towards turning your socials into an income source. Unsure where to start? Recently, we’ve asked influencers to share their best-kept secrets about paid brand partnerships, cross-promotion opportunities, and how to land them. We’ll let you dive right in.

Collaborations, elevated.

Paid posts

From one-off posts and story mentions to ongoing brand partnerships, paid collabs come in endless forms. Whether you are a micro influencer with 2,000 followers or an established full-time creator with millions, studies show that brands are happy to support most influencers as long as they showcase an authentic, reliable and strengthened connection with their audience. How do paid sponsorships differ from gifted collabs besides the obvious financial benefit? These opportunities usually have more specific deliverables, contracts and structure overall – perfect if you’re looking to level up your social presence.

Repurposing and whitelisting

Brands often reach out to their most trusted influencers to form advertising partnerships. These include turning existing collab posts into ads, and promoting them to a wider audience on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube. By allowing your confirmed brand partners to boost your existing posts, your account will inherently benefit from paid ads and reach millions within your target audience.

Paid shoots

If your content is centred around photography, making the transition from organic posts to paid content shoots is easier than you think. With the rise of UGC, more and more companies are looking to foster ongoing relationships with content creators.

Joint giveaways

Not unlike repurposed ads, joint giveaways are an amazing way to reach new followers and grow your audience. To maximise the potential of the giveaway, we recommend confirming all the (mutually beneficial) terms of the giveaway, as well as an advertising budget to boost the post. Instead of letting the brand take full control, don’t shy away from suggesting ideas while figuring out the details. After all, your insight and creative input is invaluable for brands.

Social media curation

Successful collaborations often lead to long-term partnerships and work opportunities. Many startups and independent brands who are still in the process of establishing their presence are looking for creative strategists. If you know how you’d elevate the brand’s social media and would love to help them grow with your ideas, don’t forget to ask if they’re currently accepting portfolios.

Identifying the best opportunities for you.

Although more complex and time-consuming than people think, being a creator also comes with flexibility and freedom that allows you to pick the right collabs. You don’t have to entirely bid farewell to gifting, or purely rely on paid ads – here are a few aspects to consider which partnership might be best for you.

Your schedule

If you’re guilty of enjoying the thrill of the chase a bit too much, we recommend thinking about your availability before confirming opportunities and reaching out to too many brands. This ensures that you avoid collabs that feel too overwhelming or demanding given your schedule (especially if you’re studying or working full-time).

Your strengths

No one understands your passion, inspiration and competitive advantages as well as you do. While some creators adore shooting, others prefer the social aspect and building their following. Collaborations feel the most worthwhile when the work plays to your strengths – so don’t feel bad for being selective and only pitching for opportunities that revolve around what you truly find joy in.

Your goals

At its core, any job, and specifically creative position, should feel fulfilling and rewarding. At the height of hustle culture, we believe it’s important to think about what you actually want. If you prefer easy-going collabs, crafting your own narratives and keeping your social media authentic to yourself, there’s no need to rush into endless paid partnerships. On the other hand, if you’re committed to stepping outside your comfort zone and turning content creation into a full-time job, set your standards for brands high and go for it with confidence.

Pitching and landing.

Found a couple of paid opportunities that would be perfect for your current accounts? Maximise your chances of confirming more brand partnerships with a media kit - and say hi to Ezra.

Why media kits and why Ezra?

A media kit gathers insights, aesthetics and achievements into a detailed portfolio of your online presence. Similar to a resume, it shares more about your ideas and expertise, allowing brands to get a glimpse at the person and followers behind your content. Rather than constant back-and-forth and screenshots sent over DMs, influencer media kits turn discussing the details into a simple click.

Why media kits and why Ezra?

A media kit gathers insights, aesthetics and achievements into a detailed portfolio of your online presence. Similar to a resume, it shares more about your ideas and expertise, allowing brands to get a glimpse at the person and followers behind your content. Rather than constant back-and-forth and screenshots sent over DMs, influencer media kits turn discussing the details into a simple click.

Ezra provides a design-led toolkit to create influencer media kits in minutes. Offering integrated socials, pre-built sections and shade palettes selected by designers, it’s an impactful, concise and professional way to approach brands and streamline the outreach process. Unlike one-off media kits, the designs you create in Ezra evolve with you. As your following grows, our system automatically displays your latest stats, making sure that your media kit is never outdated. The templates are also effortlessly easy to edit…adding your most recent brand deals, tweaking your bio or opting for a different shade palette only take a few minutes.