How nano influencers on YouTube and Instagram land brand deals and earn money
Hi, this is Amanda Perelli. Welcome back to Insider
Influencers really only need a few thousand followers to start cashing in on their online platforms.
Called "nano" influencers, this category of creators generally have fewer than 5,000 subscribers on
Nano influencers often specialize in a specific niche, with a small and engaged community that feels like they know the influencer on a personal level.
When starting out, nano influencers will usually pitch their own brand sponsorships.
My colleague Sydney Bradley spoke with Laur DeMartino, a 19-year-old influencer with 5,000 Instagram followers.
She earns most of her money as a creator by working with brands like Lululemon, Curology, and SeatGeek. Her YouTube starting rates are between $300 and $500 for sponsorship.
To land deals, she uses a 9-page
Check out DeMartino's current media kit, which she uses to land these deals, here.
How a fitness influencer started training TikTok stars at Sway LA and Hype House
Alex Hager trains some of
My colleague Dan Whateley spoke with the fitness influencer, who has built an audience of around 250,000 TikTok fans. Hager uses TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to promote his digital fitness program, "Six Week Shred."
He isn't paid by members of Sway LA for his training tips. But filming with wildly popular TikTok stars have helped grow his business.
"My sales went up within two weeks of posting TikToks with these guys and then getting into YouTube and then posting [Instagram] Stories all the time," Hager said.
Read more on Hager's fitness business here.
How a nano influencer landed her first brand deal and how much she gets paid
Jen Lauren is a nano lifestyle influencer on YouTube and Instagram.
I spoke with Lauren, who as a part-time influencer makes money by partnering with brands on sponsorships. Lauren said she charges around $350 for an Instagram or YouTube sponsorship (but that price varies).
She emails the brands she wants to work with directly, DMs smaller brands on Instagram, and sometimes finds an influencer marketing contact for a brand on LinkedIn and then messages the person.
She also earns money through Amazon's affiliate program and from YouTube ad revenue.
"It's important to build a relationship with brands and to work with brands that you already love, especially when you're starting out, to build subscriber loyalty," she said.
Check out Lauren's exact 3-page media kit here.
More creator industry coverage from Business Insider:
YouTube:
- How much money a YouTube video with about 100,000 views makes, according to 5 creators (Amanda Perelli)
Creator Spotlight: James Charles' stylist Lena Nash
Lena Nash is the personal stylist to beauty guru and YouTube star James Charles, who has 23 million subscribers.
Nash landed the gig styling Charles in April, after he tweeted that he was looking to hire someone. To apply, he asked LA-based applicants to send him a direct message on Instagram with photos of their past work. Nash sent her work Instagram – where she posts photos of her past projects – to Charles and a short message about herself.
"I remember I went to his profile, thinking he would never see this, and then he replied back within 30 minutes, which is wild," Nash said. "We talked for a little bit, then we Facetimed, and that is basically how it happened."
Nash said she grew up in a creative environment: her mom is a creative director and her dad is a photographer.
She got her first styling gig after college when a friend set her up with a job for a GQ Style magazine spread assisting the men's fashion director.
She moved to LA in 2018, and she did a few styling internships until starting a job at the high-end streetwear retail store Kith, which today is her main job.
Nash said streetwear and sneakers are two top fashion trends among influencers right now.
Check out Nash's Instagram here.
This week from Insider's digital culture team:
Yoga influencers are battling to weed out QAnon conspiracy theories that have infiltrated their world of wellness
QAnon, the baseless far-right conspiracy theory, has found its way into the world of yoga.
The movement is focused on the notion that a "deep state" cabal of child traffickers runs the world.
The phrase "Save the Children" has been part of QAnon's successful pivot into mainstream culture.
The phrase is being used in captions on pastel-colored Instagram posts by yogis, but they do not embrace the conspiracy theory explicitly.
Insider reporters Rachel E. Greenspan and Gabby Landsverk wrote that yogis' interest in the conspiracy-theory movement started amid the pandemic, with a rise of medical misinformation.
"People are drawn to yoga and spirituality who have felt marginalized and let down by the medical system. For many women, it's that they've felt patronized," Julian Walker, a yoga instructor who's researched cultism in wellness, told Insider.
TikTokers are reacting to President-elect Joe Biden's victory with memes (Palmer Haasch)
Ariana Grande criticized TikTokers for socializing in LA during the pandemic (Lindsay Dodgson)
Fans are criticizing a popular YouTube creator after she posted QAnon conspiracy theories (Rachel E. Greenspan)
Inside the life of YouTuber Tati Westbrook and her questionable vitamin brand (Amanda Krause)
Here's what else we're reading:
Followers raise ethical concerns over Khloé Kardashian's recent ad for migraine medication (Tanya Chen, from BuzzFeed)
Twitch's top streamer is a 29-year-old political commentator (Taylor Lorenz, from The New York Times)
Sally Beauty launches an influencer ambassador program: SallyCrew (Priya Rao, from Glossy)
YouTuber MrBeast took over a burger joint for the day and gave away free meals (Brie Handgraaf, from The Wake Weekly)
Thanks for reading! Send me your tips, comments, or questions: aperelli@businessinsider.com