One year ago today I posted my very FIRST paid brand partnership on Instagram via Social Native. I may have had about 6k followers at the time and my total payout was $50 (plus the cost of product) but you couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t official.

Knowing where to start when working with brands can be confusing and not everyone likes to share how they started getting paid. I don’t rely on networks for brand partnerships nearly as much as I did in the beginning but we all have to start somewhere.

Here are a a 10 influencer platforms that you could use to exercise your pitching muscle and dip your toe into the world that is influencer marketing:

• Brandbacker
• Grapevine
• Heartbeat
• Find Your Influence
• The Shelf
• Popular Pays
• Cohley
• Social Native
• Obviously
• Takumi

At the beginning of your influencer journey, these platforms allow you to kick start the brand and social proof that you need for other brands to consider you. It’s also a great way to see if you’re truly cut out to handle the work that comes along brand partnerships. It seems like it’s just snapping a picture and posting it on the gram but it’s so much more work than that. It’s takes real time, effort and planning to make a partnership successful. Fair warning that many of the opportunities offered to you will be for “low” pay or product only but it’s still a great way to build your influencer resume.

Influencer marketing platforms was one of the many reason I had so many brand opportunities before I hit 10k. I truly believe that having those partnerships on my media kit really helped propel me forward.

Do you currently use influencer marketing platforms? If you’re familiar with most or all of these networks and would like to dive deeper into how to land higher paid brand partnerships or grow your brand, consider scheduling a coaching call with me.

In case you missed it, check out my previous post on 5 things I wish I knew before starting a blog.

Good Luck!