How to Get Noticed Online for Brand Deal Opportunities

Are brand deals on your radar? This episode is going to set you on the right track for landing brand partnerships (and a little extra income!), even if you’ve never been interested in them before today. I’ve got a lot of insider advice from some of my closest friends so you’re going to walk away from this episode with tons of little golden nuggets. We’ll talk about optimizing your profile so you’re easy to reach, creating a media kit, and I even have a few ideas for cold pitching if you want to jump right in. Don’t be fooled by the size of your account, brand partnerships can be for small creators just as much as creators with huge account followings, so don’t let that stop you.

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• How to set the stage for future partnership opportunities, start sharing your values to create connection and build an engaged audience.
• Optimizing your Instagram profile to make it easy to get in touch, add a contact email and don’t forget to add your location!
• Tagging your favorite brands every chance you get, in your stories, in carousels, everywhere, just make sure to tag them.
• Setting and negotiating your rates for brand deals and whether you really need an agency representative.

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 105: Know When to Tune Out the Guru Advice and Trust Yourself
• Episode 108: Why You NEED To Take Content Creation Seriously
• Episode 113: This Instagram Story Strategy Became My Biggest Sales Funnel
• Episode 117: How to Start Making Money Without Fancy Funnels
• Episode 124: Have More Conversations and Let Your Audience Shape Your Content

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Transcript

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:05]:
I am your host, Shannon McKinstrie. Welcome to Good Content, the podcast where I remove the never-ending content creation guesswork and overwhelm so that you can actually enjoy being on social media again and growing your business with what has always worked, good content. I'm so excited for today's episode because whether you want to get brand deals or you just want to grow with whether you're a new creator, an OG creator, there's going to be so many little golden nuggets in here on how to grow your account, but also how growing your account and creating better content could possibly lead to brand deals that could potentially change your life. Even if brand deals aren't even like on your radar, you're like, I don't know, I don't want to do that. I was the same. I'm like, I don't want to push brands. Like, that's not my thing. But hear me out.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:48]:
I'm going to try to make this as short and sweet as possible, but there's a lot of things that I asked my friends who get, you huge brand deals too. Like, that's like their main thing. So I've got a lot of good advice for you guys. Now, while I'm not a brand deal expert and I, this is not something I specialize in, I do know a lot about it, especially because I've turned down brand deals. I've had brand deals and things like that, uh, brand deals that have led to partnerships that I've had for 2+ years now. So with that said, I just want to note something. Yes, I'm in my bedroom if you're watching on YouTube. I went into the podcast room, quote unquote, that we've been working on and the, the lighting was just I mean, it just, I don't know.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:21]:
It was just one of those times of days where I was like, this isn't going to work. So while I was thinking about it, I was like, man, now I'm just like this whole podcast. I just keep taking y'all room to room of my house. Right? I'm like, do you want the house tour? Sorry, I don't sing. But, uh, cue Sabrina Carpenter, right? So we've actually been remodeling this room right now. We're almost done with it. That's behind me if you're watching on YouTube. Uh, with that said, I'm like, man, I should be taking my own advice, right? I should have over the past few weeks on stories shown, Um, cause we worked with Amanda Bach who helped us design the beach house.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:51]:
She's an old client of mine. She's amazing. She's on Instagram, but I'm like, dang, I should have probably been like tagging this stuff in stories because while I'm not a home decorator, I don't know about any of that, you know, working on the podcast room that could have led to brand deals. I should have been tagging the mics I was buying, the da da da, the lighting I'm buying in stories at the very least, or Maybe when it's all done and I finally figure out where I want to have this podcast room in my house, I'll do a video on it. Like, here's how I record my podcast from a tiny nook in my house, right? Just to have a video, even though I'm not a podcast expert, even though my content is about content creation and Instagram growth, et cetera, that's still adjacent to my world, right? Even my room, I could have been tagging Sherwin-Williams and Home Depot, right? Because even though that's not my specialty. I want you guys to start getting used to tagging these things in stories at the very least, because that's going to get you comfortable. Uh, it's also, it's very natural for you to have products all over your videos, right? Like when I'm talking to the camera, I sometimes I have this Simple Modern thermos, right? Sometimes people, and, and, and like, I love Simple Modern, even when I'm like, we have one of the automated dish soap dispensers. So let's say I'm doing a video and I'm talking reels, but at the same time, I'm you know, washing my hands or doing dishes or whatever.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:11]:
I guarantee if I used it, someone in the comments would go, what is that? And I would tag Simple Modern and you just never know. Now, again, I will say as someone who has already established a personal brand and yada, yada, yada, I would find a way to work Simple Modern in probably because I'm like, here's how I work from home. Here's what a normal routine is for me as a person who creates content for thousands of people and blah, blah, blah. Right. And then I would find a way to segue. Right. So with that, because I'm now at the point in my career where when I work with brands, which really I've ManyChat, ManyChat's really the only one to be honest. Now that I think about it, I'm like, what other brands have I worked with? I know there's been others, but I am in control of the creative, which I, it's part of the deal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:52]:
Right. And I think they know that because when you go to my account, you right away see my messaging, my values, et cetera, which is no BS. You guys know I hate the guru garbage and I grew a lot in 2021-ish when I started going against everything they said, saying, No, you don't have to post 3 times a day. Yes, hashtags are still beneficial, blah, blah, blah, right? I just went against everything they said. And because I didn't want to do clickbait, I didn't want to do this BS. Did it mean I grew a lot slower than the people pushing all that? Yeah, but I was fine with that, right? But people know that about my brand, and that's why I've built such an engaged audience, because they know if I'm telling you something, it's because I've tested on dozens of other accounts, not just my own, other niches, right? So I'm now at the point where I could— I would be open to brand deals that don't exactly like I would go, that doesn't really make sense. I would find a way to, in a creative direction to do it. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:38]:
But I will say, unless it's a product I already use, I will never accept a brand deal. That's just me. With that said, if you're trying to get your bag and you're a new creator or an OG creator, and you're like, no, I need to start getting some brand deals. Like I need some more income. And you're open to trying things that you haven't tried before. I love that. Right now, I will say I've turned down brand deals before when I'm at capacity, because my focus for the past few years has been speaking engagements. The Reels Lab, and then all stuff, right? And I just 2 weeks ago sent my daughter off to kindergarten.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:06]:
She's been home with me like 90% of the time because preschool was only a few hours a few days a week, right? So now I have more time. I'm like, ooh, this could be fun. So right now I've had to say no to certain brands, which has sucked because some of them are really, really good brands. I was just at capacity. So I want you to know, getting brand deals is still work. And it's a lot of negotiations sometimes if it's a new relationship with you. So just know that when you're getting into it, You want to have things set up to make it smooth. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:31]:
And that's what we're going to talk about today. First, if you're brand new, I just want to preface this, or if you're like, Shannon, I'm stuck and my account grew and now it's crap. Hear me out. Content first. Focus on creating content. Also, if you, if it's product and brands, whatever, maybe your dream brand, I would start making a list of your dream brands. Maybe you're, um, a content creator or a stay-at-home mom or whatever, or a dentist or a realtor, but you also love skincare. Right? Do a video where you're talking to us about what your day looks like, or maybe a conversation you had with a client.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:03]:
And as you're doing it, do your skincare routine. Oh, they will reach out if you tag them. And I'm telling you right now, I have tagged so many random brands in my stories. I talked about it on last week's podcast and they have sent me stuff in the mail. It's like, it's just a thank you. They're like, thank you, because they see I have an engaged audience. So number one, make sure you're creating content that shows one, what your values are, what you stand for. Not just that you like, again, if you're a runner, what kind of runner? Why is running passionate to you? Why do you care, right? If you're a dentist, what makes you different as a dentist? Do you, do you do things differently, right? What is it? You're a law firm, what's different about you? So that's what brands wanna see because that's what creates engaged audiences is connection, period.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:41]:
This is why when all those faceless accounts and all that stuff, now faceless accounts, great for UGC because what a lot of products want from you is just video of the product. You're not building a personal brand, you're just wanting to be UGC. That's different. That's cool too. With that, I will say as a little side note, If you're like, I didn't want to show my face and I just want to, I love creating videos though for products, make sure your bio has UGC creator in it and an email. Or if you have a professional Instagram, you can actually go to contact options when you press edit profile and you can put a little button there for your email. Make it easy for brands to reach out. Another thing I beg of you, add your location.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:15]:
I have told people this since literally 2014, 2015. Well, I was only doing Facebook then. I started doing Instagram management in 2016, 2017. Since then, so we're talking 10 years, I've begged, begged people to put where they're located. Even if you're a product, like I need to know that you're, if you're in the USA, if you're in Canada, like Canada-based ships worldwide, like put that stuff. I have seen, I follow a lot of people on LinkedIn who are in charge of finding creators to represent the brand they work for. And I've seen, and I literally have a screenshot somewhere. I know I can find it somewhere where someone goes, for the love of all things.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:53]:
Creators, UGC, put your location in your bio because they do want to know where you are. Number one. 2, because a lot of times there might be an event nearby that they want you at. You just never know. Put your location. I even have it. I work with people in Australia. I work with people everywhere.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:07]:
I have a little pin drop with NC. People want to know where you're at. Okay. With that said, I want you to focus on products you can integrate naturally into your content, because that's going to feel most natural because they want to also see that your stuff doesn't feel too scripted. to curated, because trust me, they know, they know what's working. They've spent millions, these big brands, right? But let's say for instance, you want a Home Depot deal because you're a contractor. If you're a contractor, home design, anything, plumber, you can make so much money as a plumber with Home Depot. Are you kidding me? Lowe's, tag them, tag them in your stories when you're there.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:40]:
Do a carousel with the 5 tools I always have on hand as a plumber that every homeowner should have to keep me, or so that you don't have to call me in the middle of the night. I don't know. That's a long hook, but you know what I mean? And then as you swipe through, it's like this tool wrench, tag the wrench. Um, sorry, I don't speak, uh, tools. I speak tech tools, but I don't speak tool tools. So, but tag them in the, in the caption, tag them. I always like to say, we start as interns. I worked at C-SPAN after college.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:09]:
I did not make a dime, but that on my resume, Help me get into CNN, right? Same for you as a creator with 2,000 followers. And yes, they will give you a brand deal with 2,000 followers, but you saying, you tagging, and oh, this is— I don't even— again, let's, let's just keep going with the plumber. Okay. Because I think people underestimate how these everyday jobs, you're like, oh, well, I'm just this, or I, oh, I don't care if you're a lifeguard making $15 an hour, you tag the sunscreen you use, you tag The swimsuit, the possibilities are endless. Do you know the creator economy? I mean, we're talking billions. Okay. So with that said, start shouting out brands naturally, 'cause it just, it's inevitable. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:48]:
And I get it all the time in my reels. Like, oh my gosh, where's your mug from? I'm like, Target. Right. Uh, now I'm not gonna make money off that, but you never know. Target might see it. And I, I could do a whole things in my house that help me work from home, romanticize working from home. That's still an adjacent to. who I am and my brand and my content, right? All right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:07]:
With a plumber, you could even say like your standard lunch or, but no, I like think about it. I'm like, gosh, this whole room remodel we did, I could still do it. Like, here's how, cause I work in my bed a lot of times. Right. And I could do a reel about like, here's things that make creating content from bed feel. And I could tag like the tray from Amazon I have and all this stuff. Like these are things that you just never know. So I just want to start with that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:30]:
Okay. But again, so it feels more natural if you're new to it. Start shouting out brands and things that are again; it just feels natural. So that's first thing: make sure your content stands for something that you say why you're using these products. Your favorite water bottle as a person who's picking up running in their sixties—that shows me your values right there. It's like oh, they they're taking care of their health finally as an empty nester. Da da da. Tell the story.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:52]:
You guys know this. You guys know this already. I'm beating a dead horse at this point. Okay, so now that you've started doing that and you your content is resonating and people are paying attention, brands are going to notice if you have one thousand followers, two thousand. Or a million, they want to see people are engaged and they trust you. And if you're listening to this podcast and you're creating content based on what I share on Instagram and that, you are already ahead of the game. So good for you. And I want you to start showing up like you already have a huge following.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:15]:
I did that from day one and I didn't mean to, but I just showed up like, excited to show up is how I showed up. I was excited to show up with 1,000 followers. So anyway, these are just little golden, little, hopefully little nuggets you can take with you. I want to make sure it's easy for you. I want to make sure your email is in your bio, or at least a button for your email. Or at least a contact, right? Something there. I also want you to have a media kit. And if you go to Canva, I just looked, there are media kits.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:36]:
So just use that as a template. They're gonna wanna know your follower count, your reach, your engagement rate. They're gonna want samples. And again, I've created UGC for other brands. I've had people send me stuff and as a thank you, I just send them a video of like some B-roll or stuff and I tell them what their hook should be. I've got plenty. So you can have like a little Google Drive maybe where they can click on it and it can show them videos you created. Now.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:58]:
You'll want your rates there too. If you're not sure about rates, I don't want to tell you what to charge because that's not my specialty. There are agencies out there. Uh, be careful what agencies. I've heard a lot of people get burned, but, um, I would lean on other people that, you know, I feel like at this point we all know a creator with brand deals. Ask them if there's someone that they trust. But that's a great way. Then you don't have to like cold pitch and all that stuff.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:19]:
And they take a commission. That's just how it works. But again, I think the best way to do videos, if you want to start having like a, again, a Google Drive with things is talk like a consumer to the camera. The best thing you can do. Oh my gosh. The best thing. I think this might be the best takeaway. This just came into my brain because I have notes over here, but this is, um, TikTok Shop.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:35]:
Go to TikTok. If you don't have TikTok, I don't know, borrow your friend's. Look at the TikTok Shop videos. These are literally— there's like the TikTok Shop people, like, give— I'm pretty sure they like give them scripts and ideas and things like that. It's the same as like my brand partnership with ManyChat that I've had for a couple years because they, um, and again, they give me creative freedom, which I love because they know I know my audience. Like a lot of the videos that other people have created for ManyChat, they, they send them to me. They go, here's some ideas of other people's. I'm like, yeah, my audience, that wouldn't resonate with my audience.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:06]:
It resonates with those people's audience, but it still gets, you know, the creative juices flowing. So go on TikTok Shop and like, they'll give me like things to kind of key points, but I put my own twist on it. Same with TikTok Shop. They give them stuff, but they don't want everyone's videos to sound the same. They put their own twist and usually they start with a story or they go, oh my gosh, I can't believe I've gone my whole life without this, blah, blah, blah. You want to speak like a consumer to the camera. They don't want it to feel scripted. And my ManyChat ones, I try to make as least scripted as possible.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:33]:
I make it lived in real life, right? I know I did one where I was like at the beach, like on the beach. And I was like, the only reason I'm able to make sales right now on the beach is because blah, blah, blah, right? Because it's real to me. That's what they want to see. And ManyChat loves when I do stuff like that because they even know the scripted, like ManyChat blah, blah, blah isn't what people want anymore. We want to feel like we're listening to our friend telling us about their favorite new Restaurant, Trader Joe's find, credit card, right? Like, oh my gosh, I just found this credit card. We, that's how we want it to sound. So look at the TikTok shop videos for inspo on how to make these videos and start. You can do them in stories or you can do them on TikTok.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:09]:
So again, I want you to talk like a consumer and get that media kit ready so that you're ready to go. 'Cause you don't wanna be caught off guard because again, there's usually negotiations and there's contracts and then there's a date they give you and a deadline and You got to meet it right now. I want to say, I know I mentioned LinkedIn a little bit ago. If you're, if you're like wanting to cold pitch, I would start honestly with LinkedIn because I see them actually posting and start following the person. Okay. Let's say you want to work with Pinterest. Like you can search Pinterest. You can search all these companies are on there.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:37]:
And then obviously people list, oh, here we go. Brand deal manager for Think Media. This guy, Mark Angelo. I'm going to actually, um, connect with him right now because that just seems like someone I should be connected with. So you can literally look up things like that. Brand deal manager. That's one title. Brand partnerships is another title.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:54]:
Head of brand partnerships. Search these. They're on LinkedIn. Again, I'm not a cold pitch person. I get cold pitches all day long in my emails. These, I want it to be to the point that they're just reaching out to you. And the easiest way is like I've already told you, but if you want a cold pitch, there you go. You know, ask Chat or Claude for a good email.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:15:12]:
Um, and obviously hype them up, talk about why you're obsessed with their product and how you have an engaged audience, include your media kit. But I would start with LinkedIn first, 'cause I think that's just really smart. It, it shows you went the distance. So again, when it comes to these brands and these deals, you wanna really focus on what your niche is, what your messaging is, and what's adjacent, what's in alignment with you. So as a last, like, little tip, 'cause this is a longer episode, let's say you're like, well, Shannon, I'm just a lifestyle person. Where do I start? Great question. Are you type B? Are you local to— I live in Raleigh. Are you local to Raleigh? Uh, your, your lifestyle, but you sprinkle in Raleigh? Sure.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:15:45]:
Like there's so many. Yeah. crazy huge influencers here in Raleigh. They're not known for Raleigh, but you know, you'll sprinkle it in. You'll see people in the comments like, oh my gosh, that's my favorite coffee shop too. Right? So any local businesses, it would be really smart for them because these creators have a huge following all around the world, but still Raleigh. Right? But let's say your personal brand, but you work in finance. I want to know how you pay off your credit card.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:16:08]:
I want to know what credit card you're doing, you use. I want to know what QuickBooks you have set up. QuickBooks would probably reach out. I want to know, as me, like, Flodesk, I use Flodesk, I use Kit, I use this, I use that. Like all these things make sense for me to reach out to because my niche is content creation growth, but it also, I use email, I use QuickBooks. I bet QuickBooks, I could maybe partner with QuickBooks, Chase Bank. I mean, who knows, right? This makes it top of funnel because everyone, you know, needs help with finances. Claude, I could maybe partner with Claude if I ever learned it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:16:39]:
I'm like, oh man, everyone's going from ChatGPT to Claude. Oh, another thing. But you know what I mean? It doesn't have to be so in your niche. Um, again, if you're a lifestyle creator, but you love playing pickleball, like show me your outfits, show me your makeup routine. Maybe you put on a little concealer, but you're over 50. You're an empty nester. That brand's gonna be like, ooh, L'Oreal could call you and be like, oh, we loved your video. Da da da.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:17:03]:
They're watching. They're actively watching. But if you're not tagging them or talking about it, if you're not tagging them in stories, whatever, it's going to be hard for you to be visible. So the First thing to do, make a list, get your media kit ready, be sure your bio is optimized so they know where you're at at the very least, and then an email for you. And like I said, if you are, if your whole purpose is like, no, I want to do UGC, I want to create videos for them to post, you don't need to be in them, etc., make sure it says UGC creator in your bio. Also add the word collab for collabs and an email, some sort of contact, and make sure your media kit has your rates and everything. Now again, Rates are scary for a lot of people. I'm one of those that I'm very like, okay, here's my prices.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:17:43]:
I've always been that way to this day. I always usually say, especially if it's a brand that I really want to work with, I'm like, this is my typical rate, but I'm willing to negotiate because this, I just see this being a great opportunity. And that's kind of how it went with ManyChat. And it's gone up and up and up. The more the content I create for them makes the money. It's now a partnership. And that's what I want for you is partnerships. So you're not bouncing brand, brand, brand, brand, brand, because Then it's easier.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:18:07]:
There's not big negotiations. There's not, it's like, oh, I talked to Steph at ManyChat and that's my girl, right? So there you go. That's really it. And especially as a new creator with 2,000 followers, if you have 2,000, 1,000, you can still get brand deals because if people are commenting and they see they're engaged, that's all you need. Make sure your content isn't just, you're sharing paint one day and then you're sharing your running story and then you're, you're talking about your trip to Costa Rica, like There needs to be a way to pull it all together. So decide what you want to be known for most. And then again, again, like I said, I, I throw random stuff out there all the time, but not every video, right? We want to make sure most of your content shows right off the bat if they align with you, if your audience is engaged, and the quality of your content. And no, you don't need to do crazy, crazy editing.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:18:55]:
Um, they just want to make sure you know how to shoot, edit decently, and that your content's getting engagement. And there you go. All right. So I hope that helps. Again, you can always hire an agency, but be careful. And I would love y'all's feedback because again, I'm, this is not my expertise, but this is what I've learned after making brand deals and talking to my friends who have made a crap ton of money with brand deals. So I hope this was helpful. Trust me guys, you just never know.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:19:22]:
You never know. You're one video away. from possibly changing your life. I love you, friend.