Sometimes an opportunity comes around that just feels perfect for you. It’s a brand you love, a vibe that works with your page, and perfect timing too. Obviously reaches out to you and you sign up right away. Sometimes you wait a week (or longer) to hear back, only to find out you ultimately weren’t selected. This can feel like a huge bummer, and we totally get how frustrating and confusing that can be. So, we’re going to be real with you. We’re breaking down exactly why this happens and what you can do about it.

We reached out because something about you was right for this project.

When a brand offers a project through Obviously, they rely on us to do the groundwork. It’s our job to show them incredible influencers who are excited to work with them and will jump on board right away. This saves them the work of sifting through thousands of profiles and sending hundreds of emails. We have thousands of influencers on Studio, and you were one of the people we chose to contact -- so congrats to you for being awesome!

Understandably though, brands want to have some choices. In many cases, we show the brand twice the number of influencers they need for a project, so ultimately only about half of the people who sign up will actually be selected. That is to say, you have a 50/50 chance of getting selected.

Why do brands choose who they choose?

The vast majority of the time, a brand’s decision has nothing to do with you personally or your work. They have very specific needs they’re trying to fill. For example, they might want a certain percentage of men vs women on their project. Or they may be looking more for black-and-white photos, while you’re great at color. Or they may be looking for influencers only in a very specific area of a very specific age with exactly three children and an interest in Scrabble. In other words: most of the time it’s honestly not because you’re doing something wrong. This can be frustrating, but it’s also liberating to see the full picture.

What do I do now?

There are absolutely no negative repercussions from Obviously if you don’t get selected for a particular project. If you’re someone we love, we’re going to keep reaching out to you and keep showing your profile to brands. Really, it’s a simple numbers game. The more projects you sign up for, the more brands we can show you to, and the higher your chances are of getting selected for something you love.

Of course, it never hurts to keep growing your audience. The best way to make yourself more attractive to brands is to have a great (authentic) following and great engagement.

Okay, but this KEEPS HAPPENING. What gives?

As we said, most of the time it has nothing to do with you. But what if this is the fourth or fifth -- or ninth or tenth -- time this has happened? You may start to wonder if the problem is you.

We’re going to level with you.

Obviously wouldn’t show you to the brand if we didn’t think you were doing a good job, but it could be that you’re just not quite there yet. You might be just below that ideal follower count, or your content is just missing that extra something special. We’re going to write a lot more posts on this blog about how to improve your content and engagement, but in the meantime here are three major things brands are looking for:

Aesthetic: Does your content fit together as a unified whole? If someone were to ask you “what does your page look like?” how would you answer?

Personality: How does your content stand out from other bloggers in your same area? What is your personal take on fashion/beauty/parenting/etc?

Quality: Do your photos look professional? Are you avoiding social content and focusing on creating beautiful images?

That’s it! Keep on doing what you do best and we truly look forward to working with you soon.