Influencer Contact Templates & Best Practices
Imagine this: You start an influencer marketing campaign, sending out dozens of messages. A handful of people get back to you, but after a few exchanges, it fizzles out. You're left feeling disappointed and a little lost, wondering what went wrong.
It's not uncommon for influencer outreach campaigns to go south like this. But the good news is, there are ways to avoid it. At Collabstr, we'll show you how to do influencer outreach the right way, plus give you some helpful contact templates along the way.
Things to keep in mind before you start your influencer outreach
There's no doubt that influencer outreach is a powerful way to reach new customers. What was a 1.7 billion dollar industry in 2016 is now a $15 billion industry in 2022.
But before you start your own campaign, there are a few things to keep in mind.
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Set realistic and achievable objectives – Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can start reaching out to influencers who can help you meet those objectives. Ask:
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What do you hope to achieve? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, or boost sales?
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How many influencers will you reach out to?
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What’s your budget?
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It's more than a numbers game (ask: are they relevant?) – Remember that every influencer is a person with unique preferences and personality. You want to choose one that aligns with your values and is interested in your products or services so they're comfortable sharing your ads. Here’s how to gauge that:
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Get to know them on social media (like, share, comment, etc.). What do they like to post? What does their audience think of them?
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Are they relevant? Are they in the right industry? Do they have the right audience? Collabstr allows you to quickly find influencers in your niche and other important things, such as the country they’re based in, their social media platform(s), preferred content formats, etc. For instance, here are some TikTok fashion influencers at unrivaled prices:
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Comb through their content and understand how they communicate. Does it align with your brand voice and personality? Is this who you want representing your company (e.g., do you want someone serious and monotone to promote your fun and bubbly company)?
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They have a lot of “followers,” but do they have a lot of followers? Looking at just the follower count isn't enough. What's more important is the engagement rate. How many people actually view, like, and comment on their stuff? That's the true indicator of an audience that listens to the influencer – the kind you want to touch to drive consideration for your product.
Influencer contact templates: Covering the bases
Whether you plan to contact Instagram influencers, or those on another platform, there’s a few best practices that we’ve detailed below to give you the best chances to form a relationship with an influencer. Let’s dive in.
Essential elements in an influencer contact message
When it comes to messaging an influencer, here are some of the important things you should cover in your communication:
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Who you are and what you do.
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Why you're reaching out to them specifically (explain what it is about their followers that you think would be interested in your product or service).
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What you're offering (a free product, a discount, etc.). You can go deeper into the specifics of your product later – otherwise, your message may end up being too long.
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What you hope to achieve with this collaboration.
A helpful way to think about it is the WIIFM principle – What's In It For Me? You want to make sure you're clear about what the influencer will get out of working with you.
First Message
First message best practices:
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Notice how we added the first name of the creator in the subject header and first line – this trick alone can increase the open rate of your email by 50%.
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Add a specific example of content that you enjoy – this gives the creator an extra bit of affirmation that you're not just saying you've been following them for months for the sake of saying it – you'll come off more authentic.
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It's short, sweet, and to the point – you want to get straight to the ask without beating around the bush. But, as it's still an email, you should be polite and professional.
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TikTok doesn’t allow you to message accounts that don’t follow you. In that case, you can send them a message on their other social media profiles or via email. Sometimes, they even add their email address in their bio!
General Influencer Contact Template
Subject line: {Influencer Name}, Let’s Work Together!
Hi {Influencer Name},
My name is (name), and I work for [name of the brand].
I’ve been following your profile at (social media name) for some time now – and I must say, we're a fan of your work! I especially enjoy (add content that you liked and briefly explain why).
Is there any way we could start a relationship and work together? You've got great content and you're awesome at providing value.
We have a product that we think your followers will love. Would you be willing to test and review (product name)?
Please reply if interested.
Cheers,
{Your Name}
TikTok Influencer Contact Template
Most Tiktok influencers are on the younger side, so your messaging can be more laid-back, simple, and friendly. Creators looking for brand partnerships will likely have their email contact pasted in their bio or Instagram linked.
Related: 6 Ways to Find TikTok Influencers For Your Brand
If you're reaching out through email, here's the version you should use:
Subject line: {Influencer Name}, looking to collab?
Hey {Influencer Name}!
My name is (name) and I’m a part of the team over at (brand name). We came across your Tiktok and we really like your work – especially (add content that you liked and briefly explain why).
We have an offer that we think you’ll be interested in. Our team would like to send you a (product name) for free to test and review in a short tiktok. In return, we would greatly appreciate if you could give us a shoutout on your profile and mention our brand.
What do you think? If you’re interested, feel free to get back to me with your rates :)
Cheers,
Instagram Influencer Contact Templates
If you're looking to form relationships with influencers on Instagram (or if you're reaching out to Tiktok creators through Instagram), start by interacting with their content. Leave thoughtful comments, share their stuff, and maybe even tag a friend or two. If they see that you're an active member of their community, they'll be more likely to want to work with you.
When you're ready to reach out, start by sending a direct message. Keep it short and sweet – you don't want to bombard them with too much information right away. Something like this should suffice:
(V1) Influencer Contact Template for Instagram
Hey {Influencer Name}!
I'm {Your Name}, and I absolutely love your stuff. I've been following you for a while, and I think you're awesome.
I'm reaching out because I wanted to see if you'd be interested in working together. We have a product that we think your followers will love. Would you be willing to test and review (product name)?
Let me know 😁
(V2) Influencer Contact Template for Instagram
*Send a post you liked*
Haha, I love this!
Hi {Name}, the team and I at {company name} love your energy lol. What do you think about partnering up for some occasional posts about our products? We sell {product} and I think your audience would love it.
We can talk details, but I wanted to know if you're interested in general first :)
{Your name}
Key Takeaways for DMing Influencers on Instagram:
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Start by interacting with their content before sending a direct message – this helps you come off as more authentic and less sales-y.
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Be friendly and personable – let them know that you're a fan of their work. Heck, send 'em something you liked to get the conversation started.
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Tailor your message to the platform – you're on a texting app, don't be afraid to use texting lingo (but read the creator first). That means using emojis and acronyms as we did in our templates.
Following Up
It's not the end of the world if you don't hear back from a creator right away. In fact, it's rather normal. Life happens, and sometimes people just can't reply to everything immediately.
If you don't hear back after a few days (or a week, depending on the creator's activity), feel free to shoot them a follow-up message or two. Just keep it short – something like this should suffice for an email follow-up:
Hey {Name},
Just wanted to make sure I hadn't lost your attention – my previous message might have gotten buried in your DMs. So here's a friendly reminder in case you're interested in working together:
{Insert brief version of original offer}
Looking forward to hearing from you
{Your name}
For a DM follow-up on Instagram, you can just shoot them a quick message like this:
Hey {Name}! Just wanted to make sure my previous message didn't get lost in your DMs. Let me know if you're interested in working together.
{Your name}
Next Steps
By curating your emails and following up you should be able to drastically improve your open rates and response rates when doing influencer outreach. This means you’ll probably see an influx in the number of influencers joining your influencer marketing program, so you’ll need to put some systems in place to accommodate this.
To filter out influencers that don’t have much engagement within your niche, use something like an engagement calculator to set a threshold for influencers that are worth collaborating with.
You’ll also need a process in place when it comes to licensing out content or anything else that would require a contractual agreement between your business and the influencer. There are plenty of influencer contract templates and tools that allow you to automate this process.
If you’re running larger campaigns, it can become a mess when trying to communicate deliverables to dozens of influencers at once. In cases like this, you’ll be better off creating an influencer campaign brief that serves as a central document that all the influencers can be sent as a reference.
Once you optimize your pipeline with the correct tools and operations, influencer outreach will feel like a breeze.
Want to skip the back-and-forth? Find your favorite influencers on Collabstr.
Reaching out to influencers can be a great way to market your product, but you need to do this in a thoughtful and authentic way. Our templates provide you with a guide on how to reach out to creators on different platforms, while still being polite and professional.
If you're looking for an easier way to find and collaborate with willing influencers charging at unrivaled prices, check out Collabstr. It’s the leading marketplace for finding the right creator for your brand easily with convenient search and filtering tools.
Thanks for reading!
