How to get collaboration on Instagram with few followers
Knowing how to get partnerships on Instagram with few followers requires a change in mindset: you need to stop seeing yourself as an ordinary user and start seeing yourself as a professional content creator. The focus shifts from the vanity of the total number of followers to the quality of the content and the engagement of the community.
The Value of Nano-Influencers in Today’s Market
A Nano-influencer is generally defined as someone who has between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. For a brand, hiring this type of profile is advantageous because the audience is usually made up of friends, acquaintances, and people who genuinely trust the creator’s recommendations.
Authority and Specific Niche
The biggest advantage of having few followers is the ability to dominate a specific niche. If you only talk about “specialty coffees in Curitiba” to a local coffee shop, you are much more valuable than a national influencer who talks about everything to everyone. Brands seek relevance, not just reach. By focusing on a well-defined topic, you become the ultimate authority for that small group, making it easier to secure partnerships.
High Engagement Rates
The larger the number of followers on instagram, the greater the tendency for the engagement rate to drop. Smaller profiles are able to respond to almost all comments and maintain genuine conversations via Direct Messages. For a company, seeing that its community is active and responds to its stimuli is the main indicator that a partnership will be successful.
Preparing Your Profile to Attract Brands
Before submitting any proposals, your profile needs to pass the “professionalism test.” When a brand visits your page, they should immediately understand what you do and what your tone of voice is.
Professional Bio and Media Kit
Your bio should be straightforward: what you do, your location, and a professional contact email. Additionally, even with few followers, having a Media Kit is essential. This is a simple document (it can be made in Canva) that shows who your audience is (age, gender, location) and what your reach and engagement metrics are. Having a Media Kit demonstrates that you take your work seriously.
Aesthetics and Organic Portfolio
Brands want to see how you promote products. If you don’t already have paid partnerships, start by partnering with yourself. Review products you already use and like. Show how you create content, how you edit your Reels, and how you present a solution to your audience. This serves as a living portfolio for future clients.
Growth Strategies and Social Proof
Although engagement is a priority, we cannot ignore that numbers still have a psychological impact on closing deals. Having a minimum follower base helps convey confidence to a company’s marketing department.
Building a Foundation of Trust
Many aspiring creators face the challenge of the “ghost profile,” where the content is excellent, but the low number of followers prevents larger brands from giving them a chance. In this context, one of the strategies used to gain followers on Instagram is through the purchase of followers.
This practice aims to accelerate the social acceptance process of the profile. One of the advantages of buying followers is the immediate increase in social proof, making the profile seem more established and “approved” by a community. This can be the deciding factor for a marketing manager to respond to your proposal email. For those on a tight budget at the beginning of their career, there are affordable options, such as searching for website to buy Instagram followers Singapore, allowing for a quick visual adjustment to the account while organic content work remains the top priority.
Using Reels for Discovery
For those with few followers, Reels is the only tool that allows you to break through the filter bubble for free. The Reels algorithm doesn’t look at the size of your account, but rather at the quality of the video. A well-made video can reach 50,000 people even if you only have 500 followers. This type of “peak” in reach is valuable data to present in partnership proposals.
How to Approach Brands Effectively
Don’t wait for brands to come to you. Initially, you should be the proactive side of the relationship. However, the approach should be personalized and strategic.
Avoid “Copy and Paste”
Nothing discourages a brand’s social media manager more than receiving a standard message that has been sent to 50 other companies. Study the brand beforehand. Explain why their product fits into your audience’s routine. Point out a problem you’ve noticed in their communication and how you, as the creator, can help solve it or humanize that message.
Value Proposition vs. Barter Request
Instead of asking for free products, offer value. Instead of saying “I want to test your product,” say “I have an audience of 1,000 people highly interested in sustainable fashion and I would like to create a Reels video showing how your brand differentiates itself in the market.” Focus on what the brand gains by working with you, not what you gain from them.
Networking and Long-Term Relationships
Collaboration on Instagram aren’t just transactions; they’re relationships. Often, a small exchange today can turn into a permanent ambassadorship contract in the future.
Interact with Target Brands
Before sending a proposal, start interacting with the brand organically. Like their posts, respond to their Stories intelligently, and tag the brand when you genuinely use something from them. This makes your username familiar to whoever manages the company’s account, facilitating the opening of doors when the formal proposal arrives.
Deliver More Than Agreed Upon
If you’ve already shared a post on your feed, also deliver some behind-the-scenes Stories. Show the brand the results of the partnership through screenshots of your Insights after a few days. This “overdelivery” builds an impeccable reputation in the market, making brands want to work with you repeatedly, regardless of the size of your follower count.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best way to gain followers on Instagram?
The best way to gain followers on Instagram is to focus on creating Reels that deliver quick value or entertainment, as this format currently has the greatest organic reach. Additionally, maintaining an optimized profile and interacting daily with your target audience helps convert visitors into real and engaged followers.
How to gain 1k followers on Instagram fast?
To quickly reach your first 1,000 followers, it’s recommended to post Reels frequently (at least 3 to 5 times a week), use trending audio, and use hashtags specific to your niche. Another effective tactic is to interact with profiles similar to yours, commenting in a relevant way to attract the attention of people who are already interested in your topic.
More Tips: With the growing popularity of Facebook and the increasing awareness and need for businesses to have a presence on the social network, there are more and more options for buying likes or followers on Facebook.
What can I do to get Instagram to show my posts more effectively?
Instagram prioritizes delivering content that generates immediate interaction. To increase reach, create captions that encourage comments and use visual hooks in the first few seconds of your videos. The more saves and shares your post gets, the more the algorithm will understand that it’s relevant and show it to more people.
Is it a good idea to use hashtags to gain followers?
Yes, hashtags function as labels that help the algorithm understand what your content is about. Ideally, you should use a mix of niche (more specific) and community hashtags, avoiding overly generic terms. Using between 5 and 10 well-chosen hashtags is usually more effective than filling the caption with irrelevant terms.
What’s the best time to post on Instagram?
The best time is when your specific audience is most active. You can check this metric in the “Insights” panel of your professional profile. Generally, times close to lunch (11 am to 1 pm) and at the end of the day (6 pm to 8 pm) tend to have peak audience times, but constant testing is the best way to validate what works for you.
