Influencer
Instagram Influencer Kristel Andraos of Kikiandraos on Making Better Content & Landing Brand Deals
How can you land more brand deals and create better content online? Kristel Andraos of Kikiandraos shares her tips, tricks, and experience joining a talent agency to access more opportunities. Keep reading about her dream collaboration and how you can make better content.
About Kristel Andraos
Kristel Andraos is a Canadian Instagram influencer who initially began posting content for her own enjoyment. She shares that people started telling her that she should consider joining an agency and transforming her Instagram page into something more because of her visually interesting photos and talent.
At first, she brushed this off. However, she eventually saw an ad for Sintillate Talent Agency, a multi-award-winning talent and influencer agency representing talent in 18 countries, and decided to apply. After joining the agency, she grew her following and learned many new skills to develop her brand.
Kristel explains, “Since [joining Sintillate Talent], I evolved a lot more. I started to think about what I should be posting so people would be more drawn to me, not superficially, but in a body positivity way, and what people could relate more to me.”
Kristel’s Content
Kristel shares, “Before, I thought that showing more skin would attract more people to my page. I thought that everything needed to be perfect before posting something. I used to think about it for hours. Now it’s more accepting, more supportive to others… I think that people, when they relate to you, it’s more interesting than just being this fake person.”
Before joining Sintillate Talent, Kristel explained that she didn’t interact with her followers because she felt like everything online was fake. However, since joining the agency, she has connected with a supportive group of people who constantly encourage one another, even when they work in the same space.
As a result, Kristel feels less afraid to post what she wants and is more unabashedly transparent online.
“When people or girls or anybody sends me a message, I talk to them. I share with them. It really gives me an insight into what they like to see, and I can share with them and give [back.].”
Kristel’s typical content is fashion, especially when she is traveling, and she has exciting backgrounds to include in her photos. She notes that photography has always been her passion, so her Instagram has been a great way to combine her love of fashion and photography.
Landing Brand Deals
Before joining Sintillate Talent, Kristel explained that she had no idea how to get brand collaborations.
“I learned [about brand deals] pretty quickly with their guidance – what to do, what not to do, what brands like to see, what they don’t like to see, and so they keep choosing you for more opportunities. When that happened, I got more and more exposure and a lot more followers.”
She also loves how Sintillate Talent educates her and other creators. For example, she recalled a conference with a Powerpoint presentation that featured slides, each with two photos. The presenter would have everyone pick their favorite between the two pictures on the slides.
Then, the presenter explained why specific photos spoke to the audience more, such as photos with direct eye contact being important for audience interest.
Kristel adds that this learning experience helped her improve her feed, how she presents herself, and what she wears in photos.
“When everybody likes your content, it really gives you a confidence boost. You feel like you can achieve anything. They message you. They let you know that they like it. It really gives a confidence boost and also, as I said before, the groups of talent supporting each other. You feel like you can achieve anything.”
Kristel feels that the feedback from the Sintillate Talent team and other talent is genuine, increasing her confidence in the creative process.
How to Make Better Content
So, how can creators make better content? Here are Kristel’s top tips:
- Have patience with yourself and your content process.
- Put as much effort as you can into your content and watch to see what your audience responds to most. For example, does your audience engage more with selfies or a different type of photo?
- Focus on and develop a specific niche.
Kristel’s Biggest Highlights
Kristel shares that joining Sintillate Talent has been the biggest highlight of her career so far because of how much she has learned and the opportunities she has had since joining.
For example, Kristel has collabed with Pretty Little Thing and Shein. Both of these brand collaborations felt unattainable to her before joining the agency.
“I’m proud of all the campaigns [I’ve done] because they really encourage body positivity. They encourage you to share their products however you want. They don’t give you restrictions. They don’t tell you you need to be doing this or be fake…. It’s really like expressing yourself, do whatever you want.”
Kristel likes that she can simultaneously encourage people while promoting products she is proud of.
Kristel’s Shein campaign involved making an Instagram reel and individual posts for each item that she received. For example, if she received six items, she would make a post for each item and a reel with all the looks.
“People really responded to it because the reel was all the looks mixed together, which was really interesting for them. I had two pieces. I had dresses. I had coats, so it was really a mix of things.”
In her experience, Kristel has had brand collaborations where you provide a link for your followers and earn a percentage of the sales. She’s also collaborated with brands that sent her items for free while others paid her directly for the ad.
She adds that since joining Sintillate Talent, she has had more opportunities to work with brands that pay for the ads directly when you post their product to your story, for example.
The Creator Marketplace
Kristel shares that she would love to see more people accept themselves and share authentic content that genuinely interests them in the future.
“People will like it even if you’re not photoshopped. I know because it took me a lot to realize this, but people will feel that they can connect with you more. They won’t feel that you’re unattainable, that you’re perfect. They can talk to you. I would like to see more of that.”
In the future, Kristel plans on doing more collaborations and continuing to grow her brand.
