Stacy Kim is an Instagram nano influencer based in California.
Stacy Kim
Smaller accounts on Instagram can still make money as influencers.
“Nano” influencers, who have fewer than 10,000 followers, earn revenue from brand deals.
An influencer with as few as 2,300 Instagram followers has landed deals.
If you’re worried your Instagram account is too small to even think about making money as a content creator — think again.
Instagram accounts with just a few thousand followers are finding ways to monetize their content and leverage their smaller, and often more niche, audiences. Instagram accounts can get brand sponsorships with between 2,000 and 3,000 followers, according to interviews with influencers.
Smaller creators, usually categorized as “nano” influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers, are making money as content creators like their larger counterparts with brand deals, user-generated content, and affiliate marketing.
Take Stacy Kim, a third-year student at the University of California, Los Angeles. With around 3,000 Instagram followers, Kim is building a business as a travel and fashion influencer by leveraging her small audience.
“My engagement on posts is really high, and I heard that most brands care more about that than the number of followers you have,” she told Insider.
As of February, Kim had worked with dozens of brands, used a media kit to pitch partnerships, and earned a total of $5,000 from paid partnerships on Instagram.
See the exact 1-page media kit Stacy Kim used to land brand deals with 3,400 followers
While influencers can pitch brands directly, some companies are already on the lookout for smaller creators to work with. For instance, some like jewelry brand Mejuri have applications for influencers to express interest in becoming a partner.
Creators also have a plethora of resources available to them, such as creator marketplaces on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, affiliate-marketing platforms, and third-party influencer-marketing companies that connect brands and creators.
Insider is compiling our reporting on how smaller creators are getting themselves sponsored on Instagram, their strategies, and how much money they are making.
How smaller influencers are getting sponsored on Instagram
From media kits to DM templates, these creators are leveraging their smaller audiences to pitch themselves to brands and ink sponsorships.
The influencers are listed in order of their follower count at the time Insider interviewed them.
Here are 10 examples of how smaller influencers are getting sponsored by brands on Instagram with under 10,000 followers:
Tess Barclay, a lifestyle influencer with fewer than 10,000 followers on Instagram and TikTokKhadijah Lacey-Taylor, a fashion and lifestyle influencer with Instagram 9,800 followersJulie Tecson, an influencer and talent manager with 7,100 Instagram followers. Jour’dan Haynes, a lifestyle creator with 5,900 Instagram followersJack Betts, a college athlete with around 5,500 Instagram followers.Laur DeMartino, a nano influencer and full-time college student with Instagram 5,200 followersJalyn Baiden, a skincare influencer with 4,000 followers on Instagram and 8,000 followers on TikTokStacy Kim, a travel and fashion influencer with 3,400 Instagram followersJen Lauren, a part-time lifestyle influencer with Instagram 2,900 followersAmber Broder, a part-time skincare influencer and full-time college student with Instagram 2,300 followers
To see how micro influencers with over 10,000 followers are inking sponsorships and getting paid, check out this article by Insider.