How Chelsey White Creates Sponsored Content Her Audience Loves | The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

In terms of the ability to get sponsored content on those different platforms, have you seen that shift over time? And I know, like, even I look at Captivate. Captivate was a company that does like kind of. It's almost like an influencer marketplace. I don't know if you're familiar with it or have ever worked with brands on there. Okay, so Captivate as we. And there's this is an aside disclaimer. We did a small angel investment in Captivate early through a syndicate. So we weren't like really involved with it. So that's why I'm somewhat familiar with it and track along with it. But they, I've seen them start to shift a little bit in terms of their positioning and say TikTok, like before it was really Instagram. Within the last couple years it's been TikTok. Have you seen that reflected in terms of any brands or sponsors who reach out to you and say, hey, you know, it used to be three years ago everybody would want to work with you on Instagram. Have you seen a shift to TikTok or like more people on YouTube? What does that look like in terms of an interest from sponsors?

So I think that like the large companies that have the big social media budget, the big social spend are so slow moving. Like I used to work at l' Oreal and I used to manage the social budgets there for Garnier, Maybelline and Essie. So I have like a very unique insider perspective. I also worked at a PR agency doing corporate finance there. So I've seen both sides of how everything works. And a lot of times like it takes large companies, like they were still shifting from like TV spend, a digital spend.

Like, yeah, totally. Billboards, dude.

Like some companies are still like just moving to Instagram and like, because everybody wants the metrics on like what, like that's the number one question. Like, well, how many sales does this generating? And sometimes you can't always tie it that neatly or create that like direct of a number. So it takes companies a long time to move and I think that like I've actually seen more sponsored posts on Instagram for me than I ever have this year. And I think the social spend is increasing because companies know that so many people are spending so much time on their phones and like watching TV and things and YouTube videos and stuff on their. So I think that they know that's where consumers eyes are. So small spend is going up in that category as a whole. I definitely have gotten more TikTok sponsorships, but like it's Been so slow moving, and I think it will take a lot more time for companies to get comfortable with that. They're definitely, like, pivoting quickly, but that still just takes, like, so long.

Like, it's gonna be a long time. In terms of corporate. Yeah.

And especially, like, they might be buying ads on the platform, which is, like, great. And TikTok has done a really good job incorporating that in. But in terms of, like, paying influencers to create ads and things like that. Still, still coming. Yeah, it's happening right now, but it's. There's more to come.

Yep. Which would make sense now. Kind of at the peak of the shift towards Instagram, maybe two, three, four years from now, that will change to a platform that currently has a lot of traction exist.

It could be like a new platform for sure.

What do you feel like you learned when you had the role of you. What was the first role you had talked about? It was like you were managing that budget for or.

Yes, so I worked in, like, corporate finance or FPA at l'. Oreal, and I was. I mean, I just. Yeah, I just managed the social budgets for those brands.

What. What do you feel like you learned from that experience and then now apply with your day to day of, like, being an influencer who would be getting paid from brands?

I love that question because I think a lot of influencers, and it's not like this is the wrong thing to do, but a lot of people think that you should, like, reach out to brands and, you know, direct contact people directly and sit around waiting for brands to come to you, which it never hurts to be proactive. Like, that's a great, you know, thing to do in life. But a lot of times the way these budgets are formulated, like, you create buckets and you make them like before the year even starts of, like, where you're going to allocate your funds, what big campaigns you have, when that spend is going to happen. It's laid out, it's tied to your revenue because your P. L is like a work of art. It has to flow just right to hit sales numbers, especially if it's a publicly owned company. So you can reach out to a brand and be like, I'd love to work with you, but realistically, they have, like, you know, thousands of dollars set aside in September for this specific activation. And they'll reach out to you when they're ready to work on that campaign. Like, you can make them aware of you, but, like, they don't just have a slush fund of money sitting around to, like, put aside to random things like that, that's just not how those big companies work, and that's where the big dollars are. So in my experience, like, I initially was like, oh, I should be reaching out more. But realistically, like, when companies have money to spend, like, and their agencies that they work with, they'll find you. So, like you, it's hard to get your foot in the door at first. But I think once you start doing some campaigns, like, brands will become more aware of you. And as you grow, like, they have systems where they track influencers on their platforms, their followers, like, the analytics are crazy. And a lot of large companies or agencies have their own systems that they do that in. You just need to, like, have a big enough presence to hopefully get into one of those systems and then you can come up when they're searching for people that are the right fit for different campaigns and different clients.

Yeah. So almost advice. Well, maybe. Maybe the question is, would your advice be, hey, you can reach out. It's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing to make a connection, it's not a bad thing to pitch. But if you're going to spend 50% of your time doing that, it's probably better to spend 50% of your time figuring out how to build your following, how to, how to create engaging content. Because those are the things that will tip you into these databases where they say, hey, we want to find somebody who focuses on baked goods and has over 250,000 followers. Filter. They see the list, we want an engagement rate of at least 4%. Filter. You see the list, and then people reach out to you. Is that kind of what you're getting at?

Absolutely, that's exactly what I mean. And I think that, like, if you're really creating good quality content, I like to say, like, you know, people notice and people will find you. So just I think that's the best way, place to put your energy into, is just trying to create the best stuff that you can.

Yeah. And so for you, when you're working with brands and sponsors, mostly on Instagram for social, are you doing any on your blog or is it mostly social when it comes to sponsor content?

I was going to say something about that earlier and then I forgot. I was going to say it's really great if you can't. It's super challenging to grow across platforms because they're all uniquely different. And trying to really make the best possible quality content across that many different formats is challenging. But it really helps to have a presence across different platforms. Because a lot of times a brand will be like, we want an influencer that can make a YouTube video, an Instagram video and a TikTok for this new product that we're launching. And so it's really helpful to have that array of platforms so that you can do. And I mean it's not to say that like you won't get partnerships because a lot of times it is just one platform, but being able to offer those options and include them in your rate card and showing that you can do that is really helpful. I found a lot of big partnerships want like to have like for you to share it across your platforms. And so I'm so grateful. Even though it like is a pain. And I think I kind of do like a B job across all my platforms instead of focusing on one and doing like an A plus job. I still think it's a better way to like divide my energy so that I'm ready for any opportunity that comes my way.

Yeah, I think of that with Pinch of Yum. So the Lindsay, my wife, kind of does the day to day with a great team there for Pinch of Yum. And all credit to them for building, building that as a platform. But they do like, if a sponsor will come to us and they'll say, hey, we'd be interested in working with you, we'll have like you said, a Ray card and it'll break it out and say like, hey, we could do like blog posts, we could do videos. If we do videos, here's what it would look like to publish it to Instagram and to Facebook and to the blog. Is that kind of what it looks like for you? A brand will reach out, you send them what it would look like to work with you and then you kind of work together to put a package together. Are you doing that and, and what have you. If so, what have you learned about that that you can teach other people in terms of putting together a package that's like competitive and you're getting paid well, but also something that the brand would work for. The brand.

Yes. So I love having a media kit ready which kind of shows, includes a bunch of stuff, kind of talks about me, what my brand is about, shares about like any accomplishments I've had, like TV appearances. If you've done a book, you could put a book in there, like anything that you're really proud of. I talk about the different formats of content I create and through my platforms, my following count and just like what platforms I have a presence on. And then I Also share stats about my blog and also examples of past partnerships that have done well because like they want to see what you're capable of. It's a, it's a PDF, but I embedded like a link in it so you can click to the sponsorship and actually see what I've done, which is nice. So I think that's good just because it kind of shows a brand what you're capable of. It gives them a quick snapshot. Like, realistically, they've probably already done the research if they're reaching out to you, but if they're reaching out to you just as an inquiry and they have like 10 influencers they're considering and they're only gonna have three for the campaign. Like, it's so helpful to just like have everything laid out and to look really professional. So I made one in Canva. It's like not super. It's a little bit time consuming. It's not super hard to do and you can update it then as you go. So. So I highly recommend having a media kit and then a rate card that shows either. Yes. Like you mentioned your individual pricing. I have like a full package that's obviously like a better deal if you know. So they're more motivated to do everything like blog post, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Instagram stories, the whole works totally. But yeah, I will send that back. And then a lot of times though, like a brand already knows like what they want. So like you can work with them and figure out what makes sense, but they know that they want like an Instagram post and a TikTok video or they just want a TikTok video or whatever it is. So there's not like too much of that, but there's, there's more negotiating in terms of like what I'm going to make and how I'm going to use their product or how I'm going to share it on my platforms. And you know, then you get into the actual iteration of the content and the content review. But usually brands are very. Have a clear idea of exactly what they want from you when they email you is what I found.

Yep. Do you have. Don't have to share the. With the actual rates are. But I mean, but I think a lot of people are like, how do I go about figuring out what my rate is like? I think a lot of people come to the table and they're like, I don't know, like either on one side. Like, hey, I want to work with brands and I'd kind of be willing to get paid Not a lot to get started and kind of build my portfolio or on the other side, don't want to send people something. And they'd look at it and be like, what, you think you're going to get paid that much? Never. You know, and then no reply.

Such good questions.

How do you get. Feel comfortable with a, with a rate that's like competitive but also paying you well?

It is hard, especially when you're starting. It's like number one, you doubt yourself and you're like, am I worth this? Like, am I creating things? And so I totally get that feeling. And just like when you're new to it and if you like. Luckily I had a background in it, so I was like reviewing influencer contracts, like managing those things. So I saw what people were charging and like, I was familiar with it, which helped a lot. But I think kind of like the going rate is like a dollar per 100 followers. So like, if you were to take my following on like Instagram, say it's like 1.2 million, like $12,000 a post. And that's not to say that you like, if you have amazing engagement, maybe you charge more or like, also if you like less, like, I know, I think if you have like 250,000 followers, you probably could charge more. I think there's like a band and on the upper end, you probably can't charge too much more because it really so much money in a out of a budget. But if you're on the lower end, you probably can charge up a little bit. But that's just like a rule of thumb. So that's like by no means, like you need to hear by that the ultimate.

Yeah.

And also like, you know, sometimes I will get a pitch from a brand like, that I really love or like I genuinely love the product or it's like a show that I'm like a huge fan of. So even if the budget is like lower than my like rate card, sure, I'm like usually willing to work with it. But I mean, you do need to negotiate because, like, it's not that they're buying just your time, they're buying your audience. Like, you're feeding this ad to your audience and you've spent like how many years building this page, building this audience and following, so you don't want to undervalue yourself. But at the same time, especially when you're getting started, you know, like some money is better than no money. And if you're trying to make a go of it and be full time, like, it's all about what you're comfortable with and what you feel good about. So it's hard and it varies. And I. You want to stand firm, but at the same time, it's okay to be a little bit flexible. And some. But some brands, if it's not some huge brand, probably don't have a huge budget. So you might want to be more flexible with that.

So, yeah, it seems like some of the variables are, to your point, like, how much do I like this company? How much do I like this brand? Another variable would be how much do I like doing sponsored content? I know some people who hate doing sponsored content. So they quote a ridiculously high rate. And some people will say, hey, we really like working with you, so we'll pay it. So they, like, don't enjoy it, but they feel justified by the price. Another would be like, how closely aligned is it with the content that you produce? And for you, you talked about, hey, this would be a show. And I think some people would hear that and be like, wait, show, wait, a show will sponsor you. Can you talk a little bit about how that works and how that plays into you creating recipes, but then how it could also be a show?

Yes. So when I say show, I just mean, like, I did a partnership with Rick and Morty, which, like, I love. I love animated TV show. Like, I love spongebob. It's a. It's a long saga. But I got reached out to by them, and they were like, can you make a reel to celebrate the fifth season of Rick and Morty? And I was like, heck, yeah.

Yeah.

So, like, I made a pickle Rick cake. Unless you watch the show, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

I know, I know. Like, I've read. This is like how I consume content. I've read articles about Rick and Morty and, like, but I've never actually seen an episode of it.

That's totally fine. So there's like a really iconic episode that's like the season I think won an Emmy or I don't know if it was a show or the season, but just like a very iconic season that if you like episodes, if you like the show, you know this. So I made a cake of that and it performed really well because anybody that likes the show, it's like a obsessed with that. Like, they understood it, which I was nervous about because I was like, is this too niche? Is anyone going to get it? But people did. But there's stuff like that all the time. Or like movie premieres, Like, I made a overall cake for like Mamma Mia. Two, like years ago. That was like one of my first bigger partnerships. And I was like, this is crazy. They sent me overalls. It was a whole thing. It was fun. And so I generally like making sponsored content. I mean, I don't. I prefer doing my own stuff 100%, but a lot of times with my. The way I. My platforms are, like, I really try my hardest to do something that's like, fun and that I'm proud of. And so I can make a cake or something that's really cool and aligned with what the brand wants. Like, I'm excited to make it. So I really try to stick with opportunities like that. I wouldn't. I never do things that are off brand like, like sugar, like the sugar sugar bear hair gummies or like slim slim tea. I get so many things like that that just like, yeah, I would never, ever do. But so it's also about picking the right opportunities that are aligned with your brand.

Yeah, that makes sense. And in your case, it sounds like sometimes this sponsored content can even be the best performing content. Like if it's. If it's a niche, it's. If it's about a show, people would be excited about it. And that, to me, is the best type of content.

Yes.

It's a win for the brand. It's a win for you if your followers are excited about it. Like, all of that stuff aligns. And I think that's where sponsored content works the best, is when you can align all of those things. Sam.