To get brand deals on Instagram, switch to a public professional account, turn on branded content tools, and give brands three ways to find you: Meta Creator Marketplace, a contact route on your profile and a short pitch. Label every paid or gifted post. Instagram publishes no follower number for branded content, and the marketplace asks for 1,000.

Every Instagram rule below comes from its Help Center or Instagram for Creators, read on 13 October 2026. Instagram changes these pages without notice, so treat the date as a stamp, not a promise.

What counts as a brand deal on Instagram?

A brand deal is any post where a brand gives you money or something of value for featuring or mentioning it. Instagram calls this branded content, and its Help Center says gifted products and services count. A free product you post about is a brand deal even when no money changes hands.

A post with an affiliate link also needs the paid partnership label. A post that promotes your own products is not branded content, because no partner is involved, though Instagram reminds creators that legal disclosure duties still apply.

How many followers do you need for brand deals?

Instagram publishes no follower number for branded content, and Meta Creator Marketplace asks for 1,000. The eligibility page for branded content asks for an authentic, established presence with a sufficient follower base, and does not say what sufficient means. The marketplace is more specific: you must be 18 or older, hold a public professional account, have at least 1,000 followers and agree to Meta's Partner Monetization Policies.

Meeting those four does not guarantee access: Instagram says the feature may not be available to you yet, and the marketplace is closed in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Russia. How many followers you need to make money on Instagram compares every earning tool.

What should be ready before a brand looks at your profile?

Five things: a public professional account, branded content tools, a contact route, a clear bio and your numbers.

  • A public professional account. Instagram says that switching a private account to professional makes it public. The switch sits under Settings and activity, then Account type and tools.
  • Branded content tools. Tap Menu, then Creator tools and controls (or Business tools and controls), then Branded content, then Set up branded content tools. If you are eligible, tap Enable. If not, you can request a review.
  • A contact route. Under Edit profile, below Public business information, Profile display lets you show or hide your category and contact details. Show them.
  • A bio that says what you make. A brand should know your niche at a glance.
  • Your numbers. Instagram for Creators suggests giving a brand your follower count and the average likes, views, comments and shares on your organic and past branded posts.

If you join the marketplace, Instagram also gives you a creator portfolio for text, posts, Reels and the profiles of people or brands you have worked with. Only you can see it until you change its visibility.

How do I get sponsored on Instagram without waiting for a message?

Run three routes at once: the marketplace, a direct pitch, and brand programs outside Instagram.

The marketplace. From your Professional dashboard, tap Branded content, then Join creator marketplace, tap Accept and review the Terms. How the Instagram creator marketplace works has every step. Once you are in, tap View available projects, open one to see the content requested, the posting date and the offered payment, and tap I'm interested. You can also name up to ten preferred brands, which then see you on their Interested creators list.

A direct pitch. Look for a partnerships address on the brand's profile or website first, and use a DM as a short pointer to it. How to DM a brand for a collaboration has the wording.

Programs and platforms. Some brands run their own creator programs and others use sign-up marketplaces. Brand deal platforms compares the ones whose own pages we could read.

Instagram's post of 24 March 2026 says Reels tagged with products also appear in Partnership Ads Hub, which it says increases your visibility to brands. The rollout began in the US, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Where do brand deals for small creators come from?

Below 1,000 followers, they come from your own pitches and from programs that name no follower minimum. The marketplace waits until you reach 1,000, so email and DM outreach carries more weight. Fohr's FAQ, read on 13 October 2026, says its creator platform has no follower minimums, and some retailers run creator programs of their own, such as Walmart's. Read each program's terms first. A gifted deal still needs the label, and it can start the record of past work that Instagram suggests showing brands.

How do brand deals on Instagram get paid?

The brand pays you directly, not through Instagram or Facebook. Instagram's Help Center says brands are responsible for payment and that you should agree how the brand will pay you. Some creators get a flat rate or gifted products, others are paid per piece of content based on a campaign's performance, and creators can be paid more if the brand uses their content in an ad, which Instagram says is paid off the platform. Instagram publishes no typical rates, so this page gives none.

Before you say yes, settle five things:

  1. What you will make. The formats and how many.
  2. When it goes live. One date, in writing.
  3. The money. The amount, the payment date and how it is sent.
  4. Ad use. Whether the brand may run your post as an ad.
  5. Changes. How many rounds of edits you will do.

Inside the marketplace, each project detail is marked negotiable or fixed. Negotiable means the brand may adjust it for individual creators, including what you earn. Fixed means you can discuss it but nothing changes. When you tap Accept project, you agree to post the described content for the offered payment, and the brand cannot change anything afterwards. For a deal agreed in DMs, keep the final terms in one message or email.

What does Instagram require when you post a brand deal?

Add the paid partnership label to every paid, gifted or affiliate post, and stay inside Instagram's Branded Content Policies. The first time you tag a brand, Instagram sends it a request. Until the brand approves, your post carries the label without the brand's name, and if the brand denies the request the label is removed. The brand must have a professional account.

The policies draw lines worth knowing before you agree:

  • Some things cannot be promoted as branded content at all, including tobacco and vaping products, drugs, weapons, adult products other than family planning and contraception, payday loans, multi-level marketing and initial coin offerings.
  • Alcohol, subscription services, financial and insurance products, cosmetic procedures and weight loss, and family planning can run only with restrictions.
  • Branded videos cannot carry pre-, mid- or post-roll ads or banner ads, or title cards in the first three seconds.
  • Creators cannot accept anything of value to post content that does not feature themselves or that they were not involved in creating.

If your audience is in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's guide for influencers (dated November 2019, read on 13 October 2026) adds that you should disclose any financial, employment, personal or family relationship with a brand, and should not assume a platform's disclosure tool is good enough. It asks for plain words such as "ad" and warns against vague ones such as "sp", "spon" or "collab". Other countries have their own rules, and we did not read them.

How do you spot a fake brand deal?

Treat any offer that asks for money, a login or a move off Instagram as a stop sign. Instagram's scam guidance lists the signs: requests to move the conversation off Instagram, urgent messages, poor spelling, unverified accounts claiming to represent large companies, and accounts with no followers, no profile photo or no real-looking activity. It also warns against job postings that ask you to pay anything upfront, which is the same pattern as a brand deal that asks for a fee.

To check a brand, open its profile, tap the three dots, then About this account. Instagram shows the date the account was created and how many times the username changed, and for some accounts its country and verified status. Marketplace offers arrive in the Partnership messages folder, and how to tell real Instagram collab messages from scams goes further.

What happens when the post goes live?

Comments under a live deal post work like a second inbox. Followers may ask where to buy and brands may ask for rates. A comment-to-DM automation can answer each one with a link in a private message, such as your portfolio or a product page. Check the brand's own terms before you send its link by DM. inDM's Free plan includes comment-to-DM, and setup takes a few minutes.

Where this stops working

  • No message is promised. Instagram describes how brands can find and contact you, and gives no figure for how many do.
  • Access varies by account. Instagram says the marketplace may not be available to you yet, even when you meet the requirements.
  • There are no rates here. Instagram publishes no typical rates, and we found no named study we could verify, so we quote none.
  • We did not read the marketplace Terms. You accept them when you join, so read them first.
  • Law and tax sit outside this page. The FTC guide covers US disclosure only. Contracts, tax and other countries' rules need their own sources.

Set up the profile, join the marketplace if you qualify, send a few pitches you would be proud of, agree the terms in writing and label the post: that is the whole route.

Sources

Read on 13 October 2026: