Today I’m covering developing your initial portfolio. The best way to get a portfolio together is to create content, and then curate your best work. If you can create content for a brand, even better. Let’s cover some of the best ways to get paid for creating content.
Your first brand collabs are likely going to be for trade, meaning in exchange for product, or free. You have the product and you’re just creating the content. It’s free, meaning an organic post. There are people on TikTok right now saying go into your home, pick out a product you love, and make a video for it. Then go to the brand and say, I’ll sell this to you. I’ve also seen people that create videos and then find the brands on Instagram, and sell them the videos. This may work for some creators, but I don’t think it’s the ideal situation. Don’t expect a brand to pay you for organic content like that. When you do that, it becomes about you as a creator rather than the brand because they don’t have any input into the content. It just doesn’t work that way.
So how to get started?
Look around the house and start creating content by telling stories about real stuff you have and love. Really, there’s not any excuses to not just start making content, right? There just isn’t. If you have a phone and things that you love doing or love talking about, you can start creating content.
Whereas instead, before you purchase that, you went and said, hey, I’m re-doing my baby’s nursery, I love this bedding, I wanted to chat with you about collaborating, because I want to do a whole series of unboxing the bedding, and doing this. Before I pick any bedding out, I wanted to know, is there a new spring collection coming? Is there something that you want me to promote? Is there some bedding that you feel like needs a little attention, or a little love? Or you don’t have any UGC on it.
Giving the brand of voice before you put pen to paper, or hit record on that piece of content is huge, you know? And it’s going to make the brand feel like you’re collaborative, and feel more inclined to pay you for the content, because they had a say in the ideation and development. Instead of just creating what you want to create, and then bringing it to the brand, and then saying, hey, please pay me for it.
Apps for content creation
When thinking about being paid to develop a portfolio, there are tons of apps out there. You’re not paid a lot, but it is a great way to get your feet wet in working with brands and start getting paid to create content – Billo, minisocial, Join Brands, just to name a few.
Upwork and Fiverr are both freelance sites where you can offer creating TikToks for brands, depending on your role as a content creator. You can actually create content, or consult with brands and help them come up with ideas, or both? You can create different profiles for yourself on Upwork and Fiverr.
There are job sites like The Mom Project and Barnett X that have full-time and part-time creator jobs listed with a lot of flexible positions available. The Mom Project’s entire website is designed for moms looking for job opportunities, either coming back to the workforce after taking a long leave to be a mom to positions for moms who want to still be at home with their kids and work remotely, but need some income, to moms that just want to have a creative outlet.
Creating a profile
For whatever site or social app you choose, you have to complete your profile thoroughly. The algorithm of the websites will favor your profiles if they’re a hundred percent complete. You want to make sure that it’s polished and professional, there’s no spelling errors, you’re using professional photos of you looking into the camera, not wearing sunglasses, with good lighting, etc. Make your profile look as professional and polished as possible. Be cognizant of the keywords that you’re using. My opinion here is do a little competitive research to see what keywords are resonating. On Fiverr, how successful users are describing themselves, how they’re describing their gigs, or on Upwork, how they’re describing the work that they do.
On Upwork, you can apply for jobs. On Fiverr you post listings for what you offer. For example, “I will produce TikTok videos for you” with the description of “I will produce a 15 second video…etc.” Maybe this 15 second Tik-Tok video is $25, but for a 30 second video it’s $30. You can create a range of different options on there. But they should all be specific and tied together in some way to show what you specialize in. Looking at Fiverr for TikTok video gigs, one of the highest rated TikTok video makers is charging $350 per TikTok video. If you’re just getting started, you won’t be able to start there, but after getting positive reviews and feedback you’ll easily be able to work up to that.
Develop a portfolio
Once you start curating your content, whether it’s organic, or through some of these paid options, you can create a portfolio of work. If you are just looking to do content creation, you are basically an artist, you’re a content developer, and not an influencer. If you’re a content creator, you don’t need to have an audience, so a portfolio will be more beneficial to you than a media kit.
Vimeo is a great platform to utilize here because it’s free up to a certain amount. You can create a visually appealing Vimeo page, and upload your favorite videos. Anytime you email a brand, just say, “Hey, here’s some of my portfolio of work” and share the page with them. Keep it simple and add six or so of your best videos. Vary it up a bit and keep it up to date with your most recent best work. Feature some long form videos, some TikTok, and maybe even an intro video about yourself. Don’t just direct a brand to an Instagram page because you’re expecting them to do the work.
One important thing to note, in the mom and baby industry especially, is to pay attention to safety. For example, if the chest clip on a car seat is in the wrong place, that brand can’t use the video. Really make sure you understand any safety guidelines, even in the background of the video, take a look around and make sure that everything looks good.
Once you have this all in place, you’re ready to connect with brands! You can check out our recent post about connecting to your ideal brands here.
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