If you are like me, content creation is a huge creative outlet for you as a college student. Everyone has a phone with a camera and an Instagram or TikTok account, and it is a common wish to go viral and turn content creation into a full-time career! As I started posting on these platforms, I watched huge creators open giant PR boxes with free products and wondered how that was possible. But with more experience, I have had the privilege to work with a ton of large brands such as Valentino, Clinique and Wet N Wild! Large brands prioritize working with college students because we are the key demographic for Gen Z. Here are 10 tips from my experience about how to work with large brands as a small content creator in college.
- Choose your niche
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Have you ever been scrolling through TikTok and saw a creator you followed posting something completely different than what you followed them for? I often unfollow that creator because even if their content is still good, it is not the reason I followed them. This topic you follow a creator for is their niche! Finding your niche is crucial for building an engaged audience and appealing to brands as a creator. When brands search for creators to work with, they look in their niche. Poppi would be less likely to want to work with a beauty and fashion creator and would steer toward a food and nutrition creator. Find a niche you are passionate about and keep posting in that niche to build your audience.
Canva - post consistently to build your audience
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One of the best tips I could give is to post the content sitting in your drafts and just keep posting! My favorite creators post almost every day. As a college student with a busy schedule, posting every day is not always feasible. It is not necessary to post every day, but create a consistent schedule or batch-create content to grow your audience. Large brands are more likely to work with a creator who is posting at a consistent rate than a creator who only posts once a month.
- Post about your favorite brands
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Do you have a favorite makeup product you use every day and hope to one day work with that brand? Post a video about that product! You never know who is viewing your post, it could be the lead influencer marketer searching for creators to collaborate with. It is also scarily easy to tag the brands you are wearing in your videos and these brands notice this. Brands want to work with creators who already using and loving their products.
Original photo by Danielle Wallace - Engage with brands on all social media platforms
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Similar to posting brands, it is so easy to engage with brands online. A simple like on a brand’s post or a comment that you are excited about their new product launch can go a long way. If you consistently like and comment on brands socials, they see that. A piece of advice in this realm is to engage with brands on platforms they are not usually reached. For example, in the beauty space, X is not a common platform creators post on or engage with beauty brands on. Liking or commenting on what they post on that platform is noticed more than a like on Instagram.
- Keep your email in your bio
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In my experience as a small creator, I have yet to have a brand slide into the DMs. Most brands who reach out to me contact me through the email I place in my bio on my platforms. This does not have to be your personal email. Create an email specifically for content creation so your inbox is not flooded. Additionally, look out for spam emails! Brands do not use Gmail as their domain, but a lot of scammers will email you claiming to be a large brand in the hope of stealing your information. By keeping your email in your bio, brands know exactly how to reach you knowing you will answer.
- Email your favorite brands
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Are the brands you would love to work with not reaching out to you? Have they not noticed the comments you send on their socials or seen the content you created about their product? It is your turn to reach out. Most brands have a contact email or a way to reach out to the brand on their websites. Email them and tell them who you are, the content you create and why you would love to work with their brand. It also does not hurt to send them your portfolio, which leads me to my next tip.
- Create a social media portfolio
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A social media portfolio is a collection of content examples to show the skill you have as a creator! A portfolio also highlights the brands you have worked with previously and shows brands you are reliable and have the ability to create high-quality content for them. Brands do not just give out products or collaboration opportunities because they like a creator. It is a marketing tool to reach your audience. So show brands you have the audience they are looking for and the skills to create high-quality content to enhance their brand!
- Join influencer communities
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Reaching out to brands can take a lot of time out of the day as a college student, so why not let someone else do this work for you? Brands work with influencer marketing communities to quickly carry out campaigns and reach Gen Z. College Fashionista, Campus Trendsetters and InfluenceHer Collective are just a few communities that work with large brands that specifically want to work with college students and small creators.
- Apply to brand ambassadorships
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As a college student, you have opportunities to work with brands no one else has. Brands specifically want to work with college students to reach Gen Z and other college students and encourage that demographic to purchase from them. Almost every single brand has ambassadorship opportunities for college students to receive free products and carry out campus-wide events to promote their products. These can be found through influencer communities or brand websites. Here is a short list of brands that work with college students to show you how brands across every niche want to work with you: Kodak, Poppi, CeraVe, Princess Polly, Adidas, Bumble, Samsung and that is just a few!
- Be authentic with your audience
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My last tip is to create content that is truly you! No one wants to watch someone who is posting about things they are not passionate about. I can always tell when a creator’s heart is not in their content, and it turns me off to see larger creators who are inauthentic. So post what you love and be authentic with your audience! They want to see what you think and what you love!
Now go out and post that content! You will be working with large brands in no time!