Over the last ten years or so I've been involved in countless brand rep searches - both for my own brands and on behalf of clients.
And while it's definitely fun discovering so many new accounts and finding out how clever so many of you are when it comes to photography, reels and nurturing an engaged audience, it's also one of the most difficult things to do - I just want to pick everybody!
As a small business however, it's not possible to give everyone free product, as much as we'd like to - and so the process begins of whittling down hundreds of applications down to a select few.
If your kids are interested in becoming a brand reps for their favourite brands, here are our top tips.
1. Follow!
If you're hoping to rep for a brand, it makes sense to be following the brand you're applying to. Not following shows you're not all that interested in the brand and probably wouldn't make the best rep.
2. Follow the criteria
If a brand is looking for accounts with a certain number of followers to help with their brand awareness, they probably won't be interested in your account if it only has 139 followers.
Likewise, if a brand is on the hunt for amazing photographers so that they can use your images on their socials, website and other marketing materials, they won't be looking for accounts with only average image quality.
Don't take these requirements personally - when a brand does a rep search they're looking to gain brand awareness or amazing content, and if your account can't do one of those things right now, that doesn't mean it won't be able to in the future...just that you need to do a little more work to get your account to where it needs to be.
3. Check your engagement
High engagement rates (2-3%+) on your account show that your audience loves your content and is receptive to what you put out.
An account with 5,000 followers and an engagement rate of 5% is more likely to get brand rep positions than an account with 15,000 followers and an engagement rate under 1%.
4. Check their aesthetic
Take a look at the brand's overall aesthetic and ask yourself honestly if yours fits in well - if they're aesthetic is dark and moody, your brightly lit, colourful style might not be a good fit...and vice versa.
5. Know what you can bring to the table
When a brand is looking for a rep, they're usually offering hundreds of dollars of product as well as an opportunity to help you grow your instagram account by featuring you on their feed. Think about what you can offer in return - if you have a low follower count, your images aren't at a semi-professional level or you have low engagement, the brand most likely won't get a return on their investment in you.
On the other hand, if you have a highly engaged audience and your images are fantastic, brands will love working with you which will lead to more free product for you and perhaps even payment for future work together.
So if you aren't landing as many brand ambassador gigs as you'd like, try working into your niche and refining your photography style which in turn will help get you followers, raise your engagement rate...and lead to ambassador roles in the future.
Good luck x