Roberto Blake
Roberto Blake.
- Many creators on social media earn the bulk of their income by promoting brands online. But these influencers often don't think of LinkedIn as a platform they can make money on.
- Business and tech influencer Roberto Blake started a YouTube channel in 2009 and today has over 436,000 subscribers.
- Blake told Business Insider that he will mention a brand or product in a LinkedIn post in exchange for payment. On average, he charges around $1,000 per sponsored post or article on LinkedIn.
- He said any creator whose content is focused on career development, business, or an industry niche can use the platform to earn money.
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Brand sponsorships are a top revenue stream for many social-media creators, but influencers often don't think of LinkedIn as one of the platforms they can make money on.
A typical brand sponsorship is when a social-media creator promotes or name drops a brand or company online in exchange for payment. Many influencers promote brands on YouTube or Instagram, but depending on their audience demographic and the type of content they share, LinkedIn can also be a viable option.
A sponsorship on LinkedIn could be within an article or a separate in-feed post. This works well for creators whose content is focused on career development or someone who often speaks at events.
Business and tech influencer Roberto Blake turned his online presence into a full-time career through brand sponsorships, affiliate marketing, ads in his YouTube videos, and business coaching. He started posting videos to YouTube in 2009 and today he has over 436,000 subscribers.
Blake told Business Insider that occasionally he will mention a brand or product in a LinkedIn article in exchange for payment. He broke down how much he typically charges and what a LinkedIn sponsorship looks like for a creator.
Roberto Blake
Blake.
How social-media creators can use LinkedIn to promote brands and earn money
Sponsorships, along with branded merchandise and consumer products, have proven to be lucrative sources of income for many digital creators, and a way for influencers to diversify their revenue streams outside of direct revenue earned off YouTube.
Blake has previously worked with brands like Samsung, PayPal, and HP on sponsored content across his YouTube channel, Instagram page, and LinkedIn account. A sponsored LinkedIn post will include hashtags like #sponsored and #ad, as well as the creator clearly stating within the article that the content is sponsored.
Here's an example of what it looks like:
Blake writes: "This article post is sponsored by Adobe Spark, as per usual, all opinions stated here are my own" and he includes "#Sponsored By Adobe Spark" at the bottom of his LinkedIn article titled, "7 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR 2020 TO HELP YOU DOMINATE THE COMPETITION."
Screen shot of Blake's sponsored LinkedIn article.
Blake's sponsored LinkedIn article.
"People who are in industry-related niches - not just business - or anyone who uses a software as a service and software related tools lend themselves well," Blake said. "Event sponsorships also work well on LinkedIn, in posts or article form."
According to his media kit, an 11-page document that he uses to pitch brands, around 2,000 people view his LinkedIn posts, and he charges around $1,000 per LinkedIn sponsorship.
Like Blake, many influencers charge set rates for a sponsorship deal based on their overall engagement. Creators sometimes work with a manager or agent to help them secure opportunities (managers and agents take about a 10% to 20% cut).
Creators typically charge more for a yearlong campaign, which could include a mix of YouTube videos, Instagram posts, and other formats. One YouTube creator with about 2 million subscribers told Business Insider that he charged upward of $30,000 for such a campaign.