The One Thing You Need to Know about Brand Partnerships
By: Christina Yannello
Christina Yannello is not only one of my greatest friends, but my oldest. In fact, she was 6 weeks old when her parents brought her to the hospital on August 25th, 1998 to meet me when I was only a day old! Christina is a passionate, gentle soul that has always been with me through thick and thin. Throughout her life, Christina has struggled with her skin. A year and a half ago she went on Accutane to see if it could help and started an Instagram to document her experience and progress. Through her vulnerability and authenticity, she quickly grew a following without even trying. Now with 39.5K followers, a Sephora mentorship, and a bunch of brand partnerships under her belt, she is truly a special and unique full time content creator! I have watched her in action and she is a dedicated hard worker. Her content is unlike a lot of others on social media and it’s quite inspiring. In this article, she writes about her number 1 trick on how to lock down brand partnerships for those who might be wanting to break into the influencing world. I am so proud to have her as my first article on Friends of FP, enjoy!
Scrolling through social media, the chances of seeing #ad is more than likely. Call them what you want, “content creators,” “influencers,” and “specialists,” have garnered the respect of not only top fashion houses, but executives in beauty to even technology.
The one thing that led me to be a full-time content creator is not only having the versatile skills of being every person you need such as director, accountant, negotiator, editor, camera-man, makeup artist, hair stylist, script writer, you name it, but also that I connected with the people at the brands I wanted to work with.
It’s easy to see your favorite brands in all their glory and not realize there’s actual people who work behind them. However, it’s these connections that build the trust and respect for the brand to make room in their budget for your own sponsored post. As they are bombarded enough by notifications: emails, comments, likes, reactions, etc., what will really catch these brands eyes is building rapport and character, the total package of a genuine connection!
I got to where I am in this world today because I was truly just shocked a brand would react to what I had to say. I would always message them and share my appreciation. One message leads to another and all of a sudden you know their name and build that greater connection, sometimes even a friendship!
The influencer world is constantly changing, but one thing will always remain the same: the connections you make matter. More often than not, the people behind these brands have colleagues and friends who are within the same industry and are happy to make more introductions for you. So look past the excitement of a brand simply seeing your post – dig deeper by introducing yourself and creating that connection! That is my biggest tip for people who want to break into the industry.
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