How to Apply for Sponsored Posts on Social Fabric (+ FREE eBook w/ pitch templates!)
I want to make this clear: All of this information is from MY personal experience and what as worked for me. I’m not claiming that this is the ONLY way to get a sponsored post from Social Fabric, but it has worked for me repeatedly and hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
Chances are that if you are a blogger trying to make a little bit of extra money off of your blog, you’ve heard about Social Fabric. It’s one of the biggest influencer agencies out there right now and for a good reason! They connect bloggers with a variety of brands and have a strong payout.
Social Fabric has been my favorite Influencer Agency to work with. Since being accepted in August of 2015, I’ve completed 25 sponsored posts with them. In November, I made 900 dollars from their network alone. And, 4 out of the last 7 posts I completed for them were chosen for Facebook syndication (meaning that they chose to pay for Facebook Ads specifically for my blog and that post!) The posts I have done with SoFab have been some of my best work to-date: not only are they some of my most thorough posts, but full of high-quality photographs!
You can check out my recent SoFab sponsored posts here and here!
A question I see a TON in my blogging communities is how to apply to Social Fabric and how to get sponsored posts through them (you have to apply and pitch an idea to them and be selected for the post.) So, today, I thought I would break down the basics of how to apply for the network and how to apply for sponsored posts on SoFab to help anyone out there who hasn’t 1. been accepted to the network yet or 2. has been accepted but can’t seem to get a sponsored post through them!
Applying to the Network:
Most networks have a requirement of page views and followers in order to be accepted into their community. Although Social Fabric doesn’t have specific page view requirements on their application page, I would highly suggest that you wait on applying until you have some decent stats behind your belt. Not only do you want to have an arsenal of awesome content to apply with as examples, but you want also want to show that you are worth it to them to connect you to brands (aka, you have a good social media reach that is engaged!)
To give you a ballpark on applicable numbers, here were my stats when I applied back in July of 2015:
Page views: 8,000
Twitter Followers: 700
Facebook Likes: 633
Bloglovin’ Followers: 248
Instagram Followers: 917
Bear in mind that things change for them, so my numbers are not THE numbers; you may have more or less when you apply and still get in/not get in.
TIP: Make sure you use proper punctuation, complete sentences, and spelling in your application; it shows SoFab that you are professional and want to take your job as an influencer seriously!
After You’ve Been Accepted:
Once you’re accepted into the Social Fabric community, you need to do several things before you can actually start applying for their Shoppertunities!
Go to a Google Hangout Onboarding Sesh- Once you get approved, sign up for a time to go to a G+ hangout session. Someone from SoFab or CollectiveBias will walk you through the site, show you how to use it and talk about the different aspects of the application process. This took 20 minutes tops and I’m glad I went because it showed them that I was serious about being a member of the community AND it gave me a contact for when I was having issues with my coding.
Install the Analytics Plugin/Coding- If you are on WordPress, you’ll need to download the plugin specifically for Social Fabric and input a specific tracking code assigned to your account. This is how SoFab will be able to track your blog stats and see how your sponsored posts are doing. You will not be allowed to apply for any of the opportunities until your code has been installed and verified (this took about 2 weeks for me!)
Take the SoFabU Introduction Course – Social Fabric has a sister site called SoFabU, which is an online school of blogging courses put together specifically for its members. While you are waiting for your analytics coding to be verified, take the 20-3o minutes to go through the SoFabU Shoppertunities Course. This course goes through the exact process you’ll take to apply for shoppertunities, how to find the instructions and how to submit your links when your post is completed. It also touches base on the rules and ethics of blogging with them. Almost every application for a sponsored post will ask you if you completed the course, and although it is not required, it does give you a leg up! It shows SoFab that you understand how their system works and that you know how to submit your links and contact your Campaign Leader/Manager. SoFabU also has a ton of other awesome courses and they are all optional to take, but full of some really great resources and ideas. I recently took a “Blogging with Pets” course there and learned some great tactics about how to involve Rosie into my blog more organically and authentically!
How to Apply for Sponsored Posts on Social Fabric:
Once you finally get your analytic coding verified, you are ready to apply for sponsored posts! Your home page on Social Fabric will show you all of the open shoppertunities you can apply to, along with the dates they are accepting applications through.
In order to apply to a shoppertunity, click on the “apply now” button underneath the picture of the campaign you want to apply to. Make sure you READ all of the instructions at the top; this will detail exactly what kind of bloggers they are looking for, what specific product they want to be shared and what type of post (tutorial, story-telling, DIY) they want you to write. You do not want to skip over this and pitch an idea that is the complete opposite of what the company is looking for!
Many shoppertunities have multiple rounds you can apply for. This means that there will be several groups of people posting for the same campaign, but will have different due dates! You can apply to all of the rounds you want, but if selected, will only be asked to post one post.
After you pick which rounds you want to apply for, it’s time to pitch your post idea! I know that this is where many bloggers stumble and get frustrated. They will apply to 10 campaigns and not get selected for any and that can be frustrating! The pitch is the most important part of getting accepted to a campaign and isn’t something you should quickly answer!
I put together a FREE 7 page eBook detailing the exact steps I take to apply for sponsored posts, the template I use to pitch my idea and included several of my ACTUAL pitches that were approved and paid for! If you are serious about making money through Social Fabric, this guide to SoFab is for YOU!
Let me just say this: it is totally and completely OKAY to want to make money off of your blog (and it’s totally and completely OKAY if you don’t want to, as well.) Social Fabric has been instrumental in me being able to fund my blog and expand my ideas and content and I love working with them. Don’t give up on getting to work with them if you haven’t gotten a post yet! Read the eBook, check out my pitch template and shoot me an email if you need any other help!
And, stay tuned, because I was able to chat with an actual Campaign Manger for Social Fabric at the blog conference I went to and got some amazing insight on how sponsored posts work through their end!
Let me know: Was this helpful for you? Do you work with SoFab at all? What other questions do you have about monetizing your site/working with SoFab?
