Influencer FAQ
A few weeks ago on our IG stories, we did a “Tell All” Q&A story spilling all the juicy details about being influencers/bloggers. We shared the behind the scenes of running Sweat & Tell like how we pitch ourselves, deets on paid sponsorships, and so much more! We love talking about these “taboo” subjects and bringing BTS content to the surface for our community, so we rounded up a few of our answers for the blog … enjoy!
♡♡ Answering Your Questions ♡♡
How did you get your first S&T partnership?
Getting partnerships when you are first starting is ALL about outreach! Email, DM, LinkedIn, literally any way to get in contact with brands/companies. So much networking!!! When we first started out, we would send out hundreds of emails pitching ourselves to brands we wanted to work with to see if they’d bite. We never let receiving a “no” or lack of response discourage us or stop our persistence. Our first partnership was actually with a local fitness studio that we had reached out to, we met with them in person after class one day and pitch ourselves! Also, we would always make sure that whatever we were positioning would be mutually beneficial. It’s so important to show genuine support for a company or brand before pitching a partnership.
Do you use a “media kit” to pitch yourself? Or just email?
Yes, we have a media kit and brand deck! We usually send them out with a couple different rate options based on the requested deliverables by the brand/company.
How do you choose what collabs you do?
To be honest, we probably turn down about 95% of the collaborations/partnership opportunities that we are reached out about. If you saw our inbox, you’d be floored haha. We are VERY picky! Here is what our decision-making process usually looks like:
Do we genuinely love the product or service? THIS IS A NON NEGOTIABLE. If we’re genuinely interested in a company but haven’t tried their products and/or services we request a trial or samples before committing to anything to ensure we don’t end up promoting something that isn’t really the right fit.
Does the brand share a similar mission or values to ours? Again, we are very picky with the brands we work with and want to ensure that their mission and values align with Sweat and Tell.
What are the requirements for the deliverables? We thoroughly review all contracts prior to execution and always make sure we have creative freedom! Deliverables are a mix of feed posts, stories, raw images, etc.
Will this be mutually beneficial for all parties involved? In terms of paid partnerships, it needs to be mutually beneficial and we want to be compensated for our efforts. If brands have a lower budget, we try to get creative with other opportunities like giveaways, gifting, etc.
Would our audience be excited that we’re sharing this? We always keep our audience top of mind and deeply consider what you’d be interested in. We’re not going to promote something that we don’t believe our audience will enjoy.
How much do you get paid for ads & partnerships?
There are a lot of different factors that play into our rates like exclusivity, the duration of the partnership, the specific promotional requirements, overall deliverables, and more. On average, our rate is $2k per post but again, it drastically varies based on what brands are requesting. We prefer to work in a long-term partnership capacity as it is more organic, helps with brand recognition and ultimately produces higher ROI for companies. We also, consistently update our rates based on our growth.
How do you plan/schedule your content? Do you ever run out of things to talk about or post on IG?
We try not to plan too much when it comes to content, we like a more “in real-time” feed, but for larger-scale campaigns or more formal things we plan ahead. We use the Planoly app. We usually just snap photos with our phones and then post them the same day. We try not to take it too seriously or obsess over having a super curated feed - that’s what works best for us!
There are definitely days we feel like we have nothing to talk about, and sometimes we just don’t really feel like broadcasting what we’re doing on social. If we ever feel like this for more than a day or two then it usually means we need to unplug and refresh so we can feel more inspired! We find when we force content it doesn’t seem genuine and we don’t think it brings much value.
Do you guys tell each other when you post stories about your day? Or just post them?
Yes and no. We both just kind of post things as we go about our day and will just check IG to make sure the other person isn’t in the middle of something. On the flip side, we will text each other if we’re about to start a long story series or something for a brand that cannot be interrupted. Again, we are pretty relaxed with what we post as you can probably tell haha!
Do you have management?
Nope! We have interviewed with a few different agencies but never found the right fit. We are open to it in the future, but for now, we love keeping everything in house. Honestly, we’ve streamlined our biz so that it is a well-oiled machine and feel really confident with how we run our biz overall. TGOD we have our team (Kendall & Tori) to keep us sane and help manage our workload though!
Presets?! How do you edit?
We use the preset “Summer Love” we bought off of Etsy and use Lightroom to edit. Etsy has a ton of good filters + step by step instructions on how to upload to Lightroom. We are thinking about changing ours though because we have found ourselves not really using it and going more ~au natural~ TBD!
Do you use an outside source to target more people on Instagram?
Nope. No bots, outside agencies, engagement pods, etc… that stuff scares us lol. We’ve always kept things organic!
We do use other social platforms (which are technically outside sources?) like YouTube, Pinterest or TikTok as they can be a great way to expand reach.
What do your full-time coworkers think of S&T?
They love S&T and show so much support! It’s honestly so fun influencing in the workplace!
Is it challenging or fun doing it with a friend?
It is so much fun!! Like 99.9% of the time it’s a dream come true but we’d be lying if we said there aren’t any difficult times. It can be challenging to find that balance in a friendship and be able to separate business from personal. We’ve worked together really well the past three years though. We would say that mutual respect, trust, and having a great sense of humor is key to building both a strong relationship and business partnership.
Do you split the profits 50/50?
Yes, but we put a large portion of what we generate back into our business account to reinvest and save for future plans we have (that will be expensive AF). We barely even paid ourselves out last year which is crazy, but we’re really proud of where we’re at financially!
What’s your favorite part of running S&T?
The connections we have made with our followers, brands, and individuals we have met through this journey is incredible. Sharing our own personal stories and having other people relate to them or find some type of inspiration from them is truly the greatest motivation. It is a very humbling and grateful feeling that we can impact so many people and help them on their own self love journey.
Getting to meet and work with so many incredible people and brands that we had dreamed of when we first started. There are truly so many “pinch me” moments. And of course, we are so grateful to have this amazing community of ours!
♡ Hope it was fun to get a little peek behind the S&T curtain! ♡
Let us know if you have any other questions! if you know someone that is an aspiring blogger/influencer feel free to share this post with them - this is a lot of info that we wish we would’ve known when we first got started a few years ago!
