Influencers have thousands, if not millions, of followers on their various social media channels. Not only do they share the ins and outs of their lives and recommend products and services to their followers, but they also differentiate themselves by backing causes that are important to them.
Pitch a story or call to action to 10 of your favorite influencers to help spread the word about global poverty reduction.
Goals of Pitching to Influencers
- The influencer gives a shout-out to The Borgen Project and, thereby, increases awareness about the organization.
- The influencer has a discussion or shares a story with their followers about the importance of global poverty reduction.
- The influencer tells their audience about one of the bills we’re supporting and shows them how to email Congress from the website.
Please note* Do not ask influencers for donations! The goal is to spread awareness about the organization and the issues we advocate for.
How to Pitch Influencers
- Research 10 influencers that would be interested in The Borgen Project’s mission. Target influencers that already have activism, feminism, or poverty-based focuses. The influencers you reach out to should have between 5,000-500,000 followers. Avoid A-list celebrities, NGOs and politicians. Pro Tip: You can find such accounts by searching relevant hashtags.
- Check this document to see if the influencers have been contacted in the past. If not and if you decide to contact the influencers, add them to the ‘Influencers’ tab in the spreadsheet.
- Pick which goal(s) you want to achieve. Gather information about The Borgen Project, the key bill you want the influencers to mention and/or general information about global poverty reduction.
- Prepare your pitch. Influencers get a lot of direct messages, emails, comments and tweets every day so make sure yours stands out! Make your pitch as concise as possible while still giving them a good idea of what you want them to convey. Pro tip: Personalize your message. Make your pitch relevant to each influencers’ account. For example, if you’re reaching out to an account that advocates for gender equality with a pitch on COVID-relief, mention the pandemic has disproportionately affected women.
- Include a visual for the influencer to use in their post or video. Make sure the visual fits the influencer’s platform and style: if it’s for YouTube, try to send them a video sequence; if it’s for Instagram, send them an image from the website or infographic. Influencers appreciate it when you share content to help bring your message across. Tip: Check out social media resources here. Use Canva.com to create your own infographics.
- Find out how they prefer to be contacted. Some influencers exclusively read their messages while others have a designated email address for contact. You’ll want to find the best way to contact them before sending your pitch to maximize the chances of your message being read. For example, Check out the account descriptions or bios for contact instructions. “DM/tag to get featured/promoted/collab”
- Follow up. Since they get so many messages, it might take a while for the influencer to get back to you. Don’t be shy, though. Follow up with them after a week or so, especially if you see that they’ve read your message.
- If the influencer shows support, add the content to the ‘Confirmed Outreach’ tab in the Outreach spreadsheet.
Remember: The key to successful media outreach is all in the numbers. If you contact 10 Influencers it is likely that you will only hear back from 1, if that. The more people you reach out to the more likely you will be successful.
Example: What to say
Hi [their name]!
My name is [Name] and I am an ambassador for The Borgen Project, an advocacy organization that is focused on global poverty reduction as well as women’s empowerment. I love how you use your voice to spread the word about women’s empowerment, and I am reaching out to see if you could help us promote the Girls LEAD Act. Globally, about 132,000,000 adolescent girls between the ages of 6 and 17 are not enrolled in school. Promoting girls and women’s education as well as pathways to political leadership will decrease the likelihood of child marriages, violence against women, and promote the creation and maintenance of democratic societies. If you’d like to learn more about the legislation, you can do so here:
We are aiming to have this bill become a law by the end of the year and to do so, we are mobilizing people to email their Congressional leaders in support of it. Here is an email template to ensure that it only takes 25 seconds to email about the Girls LEAD Act.Can you please post this infographic to your story asking your followers to email their leaders in support of the Girls LEAD Act?Thank you and I would appreciate your help with spreading the word!
- Add an inforgraphic/picture for them to share.