You don't need 100,000 followers to get brand deals on Instagram. Brands book small creators all the time, especially for niche products, local businesses and user-generated content (UGC). What gets you booked is a clear niche, proof that your audience pays attention, and a pitch that makes saying yes easy.
This guide is for Instagram creators with roughly 1,000 to 50,000 followers who want their first paid brand deal, or want deals to come in more often. It covers how to get your profile ready, where to find brands, how to pitch, what to charge and how to turn one deal into repeat work.
What counts as a brand deal on Instagram?
A brand deal is any arrangement where a company gives you money, product or commission in exchange for content. On Instagram, the most common types are:
- Sponsored post: a Reel, carousel or Stories on your account, paid as a flat fee.
- Gifted collab: content featuring a free product, paid in product only.
- Affiliate: posts with your link or discount code, paid as a commission per sale.
- UGC: videos or photos the brand posts on its own channels or in ads, paid as a flat fee and often extra for usage rights.
- Ambassador: recurring content over several months, paid as a monthly fee, commission or both.
UGC is worth a close look if your following is small. The brand is paying for your content, not your audience, so follower count matters much less. Our guide to earning money as a UGC creator covers how it works, and our guide to earning money as an Instagram creator covers every way to get paid on the platform.
Step 1: Get your Instagram profile ready for brands
Assume a brand will open your profile and decide in a few seconds whether to keep reading your pitch.
- Switch to a professional account. A Creator or Business account gives you Insights (reach, saves, audience location and age), which you need for your media kit. It also unlocks Instagram's branded content tools, including the "Paid partnership" label.
- Make your niche obvious. Your bio should say who you make content for and what it's about. "Budget skincare for oily skin" beats "Beauty | Lifestyle | Travel."
- Say you're open to work. Add a line like "Open to brand collabs" and an email address. A brand shouldn't have to DM you to find out how to reach you.
- Lead with your best work. Pin 3 posts that look like what you'd make for a brand: a product demo, a tutorial or a before-and-after.
Step 2: Know your numbers
Brands will ask for your stats, so pull them from Instagram Insights before you pitch.
- Engagement rate. Add up the likes and comments on a post, divide by your follower count and multiply by 100. A post with 450 likes and 30 comments on a 12,000-follower account has a 4% engagement rate. Average it across your last 10 to 12 posts, or use the free Engagement Rate Calculator.
- Average Reel views. Brands often ask for views alongside engagement, especially for video campaigns.
- Audience location, age and gender. A local coffee shop wants followers in its city. A skincare brand may want a specific age range.
Put these on a one-page media kit with 3 to 6 examples of your content and your contact details. Link to it from a Canva page or Google Drive folder instead of attaching a PDF to cold emails, which can trip spam filters. Jem Social can also build a media kit for you from your profile.
Step 3: Find brands to pitch
Start with products you already use
Your easiest first deal is a brand you've already posted about without being paid. You have proof of fit, and you can mention it in your pitch. Go through your camera roll and your shelves and list 20 brands you actually use.
See who's sponsoring creators in your niche
Search your niche hashtags and look for posts with the "Paid partnership" label or #ad. Those brands already have a budget for creators. Note the brand, the type of content and whether the creator is close to your size.
Join Instagram's Creator Marketplace
Instagram's Creator Marketplace lets brands discover creators and send partnership offers inside the app. If your account is eligible, you can join from your Professional Dashboard under Branded Content.
Apply to campaigns on a creator platform
Cold pitching is a numbers game. On creator platforms, brands post what they're looking for and creators apply. On Jem Social, you can browse open brand opportunities and get invited to campaigns that match your niche and audience.
Step 4: Pitch brands the right way
Find the right person
At larger brands, search LinkedIn for titles like "Influencer Marketing Manager" or "Creator Partnerships." At small brands, the founder often handles partnerships. Skip generic info@ addresses when you can find a person.
Keep the pitch short and about them
A good pitch is under 150 words and covers four things:
- Something specific about the brand, like a product you use or a recent launch.
- One concrete content idea for them.
- One proof point: a post that performed well, your engagement rate or an audience stat that matches their customer.
- One easy next step, like "Can I send over a few concepts?"
Leave your rates out of the first email. Share them when the brand asks or once they're interested.
Here's a simple structure:
Subject: Reel idea for [Brand]'s [product]
Hi [Name],
I've used [product] for [how long], and my followers ask about it whenever it shows up in my [routine/tutorial] posts. I'd love to make a Reel showing [specific idea].
My audience is mostly [who they are], and my last [type of] Reel reached [number] views. Here's my media kit: [link].
Would you be open to me sending 2–3 concepts?
[Your name]
Want one written for you? The free Brand Pitch Email Generator writes a personalized pitch and a follow-up in seconds.
Follow up
Brand inboxes are busy, and a first email is easy to miss. Wait 5 to 7 business days, then send a short follow-up that references your first email and adds one new thing, like a fresh content idea. Stop after two follow-ups and move on to the next brand.
Track your pitches
Once you're pitching 10 or more brands a week, a spreadsheet gets messy fast. Jem Social's pitch tools for creators give you access to 30,000+ brand contacts, write personalized pitches with AI and send follow-ups automatically, so no pitch gets forgotten.
Step 5: Price your brand deals
There's no single rate card for Instagram. What you charge depends on your niche, your engagement, the deliverables and how the brand will use the content. A few rules make pricing easier:
- Price deliverables, not followers. One Reel, 3 Stories and 30 days of usage rights is a different job from a single feed post.
- Charge separately for usage rights. If the brand wants to run your content as ads or post it on its own channels, that's worth more than a post on your account.
- Know your number before the call. Use the free Influencer Rate Calculator for sponsored posts, or the UGC Rate Card Generator if you're selling UGC.
Gifted deals are fine when you're starting out or really want the product, but agree on exactly what you'll deliver. "One Story in exchange for the product" is a deal. "Post whatever you want" is free work.
Step 6: Disclose, deliver and get rebooked
- Disclose every paid or gifted post. The FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers says disclosures must be clear and hard to miss. Use Instagram's "Paid partnership" label and say it in the caption too.
- Get the terms in writing. Deliverables, deadlines, number of revisions, usage rights, payment amount and payment date.
- Send a results recap. A week after posting, send the brand screenshots of reach, views, saves and link clicks. It's the easiest way to get booked again.
- Pitch the next campaign. Ask what they have coming up and offer an idea for it.
Send five pitches this week
Getting brand deals on Instagram as a small creator comes down to a clear niche, real numbers and pitches that make it easy to say yes. Pick five brands you already use, write each one a short pitch with one content idea and follow up in a week.
Ready to pitch less and get booked more? Browse brand opportunities on Jem Social or try Jem's pitch tools for creators.
