Are you unsure about how to contact YouTube influencers to start a collaboration?
If so, you’ve come to the right place!
Video, in general, is vital in helping brands connect with their target market. One thing you can be sure of is that your competition knows this as well and is already taking action on using video for brand and product promotions.
Nearly 86% of businesses are using videos in marketing in 2022, a huge increase from 61% in 2016.
Image via Wyzowl
Additionally, 92% of marketers view video as important to their marketing strategy.
Image via Wyzowl
Partnering with YouTube influencers is an easy way to create engaging videos that drive traffic, conversions, and all kinds of other marketing results.
What makes YouTube videos so powerful?
- They’re accessible to both the creator’s subscribers and non-subscribers who find content via YouTube search
- YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google with over 2.29 billion monthly active users
- YouTube videos show up in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
But how exactly do you reach out to YouTube influencers in a way that increases the likelihood they’ll agree to partner with you?
Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
How to Contact YouTube Influencers
Here’s how to effectively partner with YouTube influencers in six easy steps:
Step 1: Find YouTube Influencers That Fit Your Brand
The first step to contacting YouTube influencers is to ensure you’re reaching out to the right influencer in your niche who’s going to deliver the results you’re looking for.
But how do you choose the right influencers for your brand’s goals?
Find Influencers with Content and Tone that Fits with Your Brand
A YouTube creator is unlikely to respond to your request for collaboration if the look and feel of your brand don’t match with theirs.
Even if you think that it’s a match, there are still possible ways in which influencers may reject your request to partner.
Influencers may be concerned that a partnership with your brand may come off as inauthentic to their audience.
If you’re selling vegan products, for example, an influencer who often shares non-vegan recipes is a bad choice. In this case, the two niches simply don’t align.
They Have Loyal Audience
Influencers that have a loyal and highly engaged audience have the most influence over their audience’s buying decisions.
Influencers with high engagement tend to be more personal and transparent with their audience than those with lower engagement rates.
As you might imagine, a high engagement rate is an indication that an influencer has astronomical levels of loyalty and trust with their audience, and almost any recommendation they make about a brand or product will be taken as gospel.
For example, smaller influencers, on average, have higher engagement rates and charge less for product promotions making their impact on their audience quite powerful.
Image via ResearchGate
Step 2: Build a Relationship
A common step most business owners skip when contacting YouTube influencers is actually getting to know the influencer.
Most brands view influencer relationships as business alliances.
Going into the arrangement with this strategy makes every interaction with the influencer, from the initial outreach email to discussions about the campaign, very formal and impersonal.
There’s a big problem with this approach.
The influencer often views the partnership in a similar “cold, business-like” manner which fails to develop any kind of chemistry in the relationship.
When monetary gain is the only goal of an influencer partnership, and brands treat influencers like temporary transactions, it can have a negative impact on the quality of their content.
So how do you cultivate a relationship with a YouTube influencer that gets them excited to be your partner and talk about your brand?
Start by engaging with them and building a relationship before immediately trying to pitch them a partnership.
Take some time to study them and their work. Treat them like the real person that they are.
Look at their interests, values, and the causes they care about. Do they like humor, or are they more of a serious voice? Are they down to earth?
Knowing a little bit about the influencer will help you find some common ground that you can use to approach them and communicate in a friendly and personalized way.
This kind of communication nurtures a relationship that goes beyond money. It makes for a successful relationship on both sides. It can also play a major role in helping you turn them into a brand ambassador at a later stage.
Step 3: Find Their Contact Details
The third step is to find the YouTube influencer’s contact info.
Many influencers looking to promote brands will have their contact information on the “About” page of their YouTube channel.
Image via YouTube
Some influencers may state their preferred methods of contact as well, such as messages on other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook.
Step 4: Make Your Pitch
It’s now time for the most important step in the process of contacting YouTube influencers: making your pitch.
A good pitch to influencers will have several elements:
- Some background information about your business, such as products or services, location, and mission
- Why you’re pursuing a partnership with them; be sure to point out shared values and audiences
- An introduction to the influencer marketing campaign, such as your goals, your timeline, and the role the influencer would play
- A straightforward way for them to respond to you
All of this is important, as several brands like yours may be vying for a spot in their promoted content.
Keep in mind that they’ll most likely quickly scan through the first part of the email to see if it’s of interest to them before moving on to the next brand’s offer.
Because of this, you’ll want to state the purpose of your message early in the email.
Here are some subject lines you can use:
- “Hi Jane Doe, You and your audience will love this product!”
- “Hi Jane Doe, (Brand name) would like to work with you on a paid promotion!”
These subject lines make it clear what your email is about and entice them to open it.
Beware that most influencers receive TONS of emails from brands looking to exchange free products for posts so don’t expect many replies if you’re not also offering payment for your promotion.
If your promotion offer does include payment, be sure to include “paid promotion” in the subject line so the influencers don’t skip reading your message.
Step 5: Discuss Compensation
Once you’ve made your first contact and the content creator indicates interest, you’ll need to have a conversation about compensation.
Now here’s the tricky part: how much do you offer to pay the influencer?
If you offer them too little, it’ll appear that you’re low-balling them. They’ll also feel like you don’t value their effort, time, and influence.
Offer too much, and you may wind up burning through your budget too quickly and decreasing your campaign results.
So be sure to do your research first!
Use metrics like subscriber count, average video views, and average video watch time to determine how much compensation is fair for the influencer’s services.
There are several methods you can use:
- Flat rate: a single amount for a YouTube video or integration
- Commission: a percentage for every sale they bring in. Keep in mind that you might need to give the influencer a signing bonus to sway them into working with you under this model
- Flat rate + commission: a fixed fee for creating a video, and a commission for every sale they bring in
Compensation that befits the influencer’s quality of work is the best way to guarantee a long-term relationship.
To ensure that the payment model you use is bringing in ROI, you should also track the influencer’s metrics.
If you’ve opted for the commission model, you can track the sales that they’ve driven using an affiliate marketing tool.
Step 6: Give the Influencer Creative Freedom
The final step in collaborating with YouTube influencers is to allow them to get as creative as they want to.
You can of course give them creative guidelines. But beyond this, try to give them as much creative freedom as possible.
We know you may feel like you have to control your influencer-generated content because you’re paying for it. But the right influencers already know the kind of content that will engage their audience, so trust their process!
Providing creative freedom will also guarantee that the influencer will not lose their own voice and authenticity.
That said, some basic creative guidelines could be:
- What you expect from the campaign
- Your brand messaging
- Info about the product or service they’ll be promoting
- DOs and DON’Ts for your brand
- A call-to-action
You should also arrange to review a draft of the influencer’s content before they publish it.
FAQs
1. How do I approach a YouTube influencer?
If you want to approach the right YouTuber for a collaboration, start by getting to know them better. What are their interests? What are they passionate about? Start engaging with their content and then reach out to them via email to introduce your brand and requested promotion.
2. How do I contact YouTube creators?
If you’re wondering how to contact YouTube influencers, head to the “About” page on their channel.
There, you should find a business email address or directions on how to reach them for business inquiries.
3. How do I contact YouTube influencers for collaboration?
Here is how to contact YouTube influencers for collaboration in six steps:
- Ensure you have the right influencer
- Start to build a relationship with them
- Find the email address of the YouTuber in the “About” section of their channel
- Introduce your brand and requested promotion
- Discuss monetary compensation
- Give them some creative guidelines but also freedom
4. How can I contact popular YouTubers directly?
You can contact them by email or via the YouTube influencer’s other social media accounts and reach out to them directly there.
5. How do Influencers on YouTube post sponsored content?
Influencers on YouTube are required to disclose if a video is sponsored by stating it in the video description box. Sponsored content on YouTube can come in the form of brand and product mentions, integrations, or dedicated videos.
Contact YouTube Influencers and Hype Up Your Marketing Campaign
Partnering with YouTube influencers can be a great way to grow your brand online. Just don’t skip the step of vetting them before reaching out!
And if you need help saving yourself time and money, work with an experienced influencer marketing agency.
We’re happy to help your business find genuine YouTube influencers and run your campaigns from start to finish. Get in touch with us and we’ll provide you with our expert opinion on the right approach to your next influencer campaign.
