Brand Deals for Small Creators: How to Get Them

Brand Deals for Small Creators: How to Get Them in 2026

Short answer: To get brand deals as a small creator, pick one niche, post on a schedule until your average views hold steady, and put three to five sample videos on a one page portfolio. Then apply to campaigns whose minimum you already clear and pitch brands you already buy from. You do not need a big following. Brands pay for average views and niche fit.

Updated October 2026. Nothing here is a promise of income. The pay figures below are what published guides report.

What brands pay small creators by format

Influencer Marketing Hub's rate guide, last updated October 2026, publishes these per post ranges and describes them as planning benchmarks you adjust to your own quote:

Platform	Nano (under 10,000 followers)	Micro (10,000 to 100,000)
Instagram post	$10 to $100+	$100 to $500+
TikTok video	$50 to $200	$200 to $800
YouTube sponsored video	$20 to $200+	$200 to $1,000+

Treat each range as a starting point for your own quote. Your number moves with your niche, your average views, the deliverables, and whether the brand also wants to run the post as an ad. Shopify's influencer pricing guide lands higher at the small end, and the follower band section below compares the two. To price a specific job, plug it into the UGC rate calculator, which shows reported rates for sponsored posts, UGC videos, usage rights and Spark Ads, each linked to its source.

Where to start today

Open the Socialync job board and look at the campaigns that list their pay, platforms and minimums up front. Anything you clear, you can apply to. The rest of this guide covers how to build the numbers that clear the others.

What a brand deal is, and the six shapes it comes in

A brand deal is any agreement where a brand pays you, in money or product, for content. The phrase covers six different arrangements, and each one checks different things about you before it pays.

Deal shape	What the brand buys	Does your follower count matter	How it usually pays
Sponsored post	A post on your own account	Yes, along with average views	Flat fee, per post, view bonus or CPM
UGC video	The video file, for the brand's own page or ads	Rarely	Flat fee per video, plus usage rights
Whitelisting, partnership ads, Spark Ads	The right to run your post as an ad from your handle	Somewhat, since the brand also pays for reach	Monthly fee, or a base plus commission
Affiliate	Sales through your link or code	Indirectly	Commission per sale
Gifted collaboration	A post in exchange for free product	Low bar	Product only
Ambassador or retainer	Repeat content over several months	Yes, after a first job together	Monthly fee or monthly guarantee

Read every offer against that table. A brand asking for "a quick video" might want a post on your feed, a file for its ads, or both, and each is priced differently. Whitelisting and Spark Ads are the ad versions of a sponsored post, where the brand puts money behind your handle. Affiliate deals pay on results, and UGC deals vs affiliate marketing runs the math on which pays a small creator more.

How brand deals work, start to finish

The brand writes a brief with the deliverables, deadline, usage rights and pay. You agree to terms in writing. The brand ships product if needed. You send a draft, the brand approves it or asks for changes, and you publish with a disclosure label or hand over the file. The brand pays on the agreed terms. The contract and scam sections below cover where each beat goes wrong.

How to get brand deals: seven steps

Seven steps, in the order they pay off. None of them needs a big following.

Step 1: Pick one niche and one main platform

Brands hire by category. A feed with skincare, gaming and travel in the same week reads as nobody's first pick. Linktree's 2021 creator survey found 37% of niche creators had done at least one brand collab, against 26% of creators without a niche. Choose the niche you could post about for a year, on the one platform where your audience already watches. How to find your content niche settles a tie between two.

Step 2: Post on a schedule and track your average views

Average views is the number a brand pays for, because it counts the people who watched your recent posts. Post on a schedule you can keep for 30 days, then work out your average views per post across that window. Brand floors that ask for views check that number, and it moves within weeks.

Step 3: Make your profile readable in five seconds

On Instagram, switch to a creator or business account, since the creator marketplace only opens to professional accounts. Everywhere, put your niche in the first line of your bio, add a contact email, and pin the three posts that best show what a brand would buy from you.

Step 4: Build a one page portfolio with three to five samples

A headline naming your niche, three to five videos in the formats brands brief, your average views, and a way to reach you. Spec videos made with products you own count. UGC portfolio examples and template has the full build.

Step 5: Apply to campaigns whose floor you already clear

Most brand campaigns set a minimum bar: followers, average views, country, language. Applying below it wastes your application. Sort every opportunity into "clear it today", "clear it in 30 days" and "not yet", and spend your time on the first pile. The Socialync job board only shows you the campaigns you already clear.

Step 6: Pitch brands you already buy from

You already know how those products work, and that shows on camera. Send one idea, one matching sample and your average views. The pitch section below has a template.

Step 7: Deliver on time, then ask for the next one

Hit the deadline, label the post, and send the brand the live link with its first week of numbers. Then ask whether it books creators every month. A brand that already paid you once is the easiest deal you will ever land.

Qualification floors: know the bar before you apply

A qualification floor is the minimum a brand sets before a creator can apply to a campaign. It is the most useful number in this whole process, and on many routes you only learn it after you have been turned down.

Floors are built from a handful of lines. Every line a brand sets is a hard filter.

Floor line	What it checks	How fast you can move it
Country	Where you live and post from	You can't, so apply where you fit
Language	The language you create in	Rarely worth changing
Niche	The categories on your profile	Weeks, by narrowing what you post
Minimum followers, per platform	The count on your connected account	Months
Minimum average views, per platform	Views on your recent posts over a window	Weeks, through hooks and consistency
Minimum engagement rate	Interactions relative to reach	Weeks, through replies and stronger openings
Posted within a set number of days	Whether the account is active	Days

The two lines you can move fastest are average views and recent activity, which is why Step 2 comes before everything else.

Why applying below the floor costs you

A brand filters on its floor before it reads anything else, so an application below the bar gets closed unread, and nobody tells you why. Entry rules hide this. TikTok One needs 1,000 followers before you can take part in projects, then says the other requirements "vary by project", so any single project can set a higher bar. Above the floor, your application lands in the smaller pile the brand actually reads, where your sample video and niche fit decide it. You control both.

Where to find the floor before you apply

The platforms' own marketplaces publish their entry rules, covered platform by platform below. Some job listings state minimum followers or views in the brief. For a brand you want to pitch, look at the creators it hired before: their numbers are a rough read on its floor. Job boards that check the floor for you, like Socialync's, remove the guessing entirely.

Turn "not yet" into a 30 day target

If the campaigns you want ask for 1,500 average views and you sit at 900, you know the gap and the window. Sharpen the opening second of your videos, narrow your topics, retire the formats that drag your average down, and check again in 30 days. How many followers you need for a brand deal covers the habits that raise average views without adding a single follower.

How to get brand deals by follower count

Follower bands change three things: which deal shapes are open, what you lead your pitch with, and what other creators report getting paid. Rates first, because every guide quotes them and few say where they came from.

Influencer Marketing Hub's rate guide, last updated October 6, 2026, publishes these per post ranges and labels them "planning benchmarks" for brands and creators to start from:

Tier (audience)	Instagram post	TikTok video	YouTube sponsored video
Nano (under 10,000)	$10 to $100+	$50 to $200	$20 to $200+
Micro (10,000 to 100,000)	$100 to $500+	$200 to $800	$200 to $1,000+
Macro (100,000 to 1,000,000)	$5,000 to $10,000+	$800 to $5,000	$10,000 to $20,000+
Mega (1,000,000+)	$10,000+	$5,000 to $50,000+	$20,000 to $50,000+

Shopify's influencer pricing guide, updated June 22, 2026, lands somewhere else at the small end: $25 to $150 per Instagram post for nano creators (1,000 to 10,000 followers) and $250 to $5,000 for micro creators (10,001 to 100,000). Shopify tells readers to use its numbers "as directional guidance rather than fixed expectations."

The gap is widest on YouTube. Influencer Marketing Hub puts a nano creator's sponsored video at $20 to $200+, and Shopify's aggregated estimate for the same tier is $200 to $1,000. Nobody audits influencer rates, so treat every range as a starting point for your own quote. Your number depends on your niche, your average views, the deliverables, and whether the brand also wants to run the post as an ad.

How to get brand deals with no followers, or under 1,000

Go after deals where the account never enters the decision. A UGC video for a brand's own ads is judged on the video alone, so it is open to you on day one. Gifted product seeding is the other door: free product for an honest post is a fair first portfolio piece, as long as you never pay for the product yourself. How to become a UGC creator without followers is the full 30 day plan for this band. Platform marketplaces mostly stay closed here.

How to get brand deals as a small influencer: 1,000 to 10,000 followers

This is the nano band, and brands are paying attention to it. Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark report, dated May 4, 2026 and drawn from 600+ respondents, found 51.43% of those answering plan to expand their work with nano creators. The figure was 52.83% for micro creators and 50% for UGC creators. The same survey shows what those brands expect to spend: about 55% of the answers pricing nano creators fell under $500.

Lead with average views, niche and audience country, which prove a tight, trusting audience faster than a follower count. Local brands and new product launches are good targets, because nano prices let them test several creators at once. TikTok One opens projects to you from 1,000 followers. Plan for most early deals to come from pitching and from UGC job boards.

Micro influencer brand deals: 10,000 to 100,000 followers

At micro size, paid sponsored posts get more regular. Brands start asking to run your post as an ad, and inbound DMs start showing up, some of them bad. Price usage rights and ad access as their own lines from here on. Whitelisting rates shows two published guides landing at 20 to 30 percent of the base rate per month for ad access, and UGC usage rights: how much to charge covers organic use, paid use and buyouts. Write exclusivity into every quote too.

100,000 followers and up

Inbound becomes the main source, and the work shifts from finding deals to sorting them. Influencer Marketing Hub's rate guide says creators at this size are more likely to have management, stricter contract terms and extra fees for paid media or exclusivity. It also reports that brand budgets at the macro level can rise 30% to more than 100% once the content is extended into paid ads, landing pages, email and other owned channels. That extension is your usage rights line, so quote it before the brand asks. On YouTube, joining the Partner Program in an available country makes you discoverable to brands through the Creator Partnerships tab in YouTube Studio, covered below. If you bring in a manager, put the manager's cut in writing. Retainers become realistic here, and the floor, sample and pitch habits from the smaller bands still apply.

Band	Deal shapes that open	Lead your pitch with	Watch for
Under 1,000	UGC videos, gifted seeding	Sample videos	Reimbursement asks, pay to apply
1,000 to 10,000	Sponsored posts, UGC, affiliate, TikTok One projects	Average views, niche, audience country	Exposure offers
10,000 to 100,000	Sponsored posts, whitelisting, Spark Ads	Average views plus past results	Unpriced usage rights
100,000+	All of the above, retainers, ambassador deals	Results from past campaigns	Broad exclusivity, perpetual rights

How to get brand deals on TikTok

TikTok runs its own marketplace, and it publishes the entry rules. Per TikTok's help article on joining TikTok One, last updated July 2026, a creator must be in a country where TikTok One has launched, be at least 18, and meet TikTok's Community Guidelines and Branded Content Policy. The same page says creators need at least 1,000 followers "and other requirements" to take part in projects. You can reach it by searching TikTok One in the app or through TikTok Studio.

TikTok One is one door. Job boards and direct pitches are the others. Smaller brands selling on TikTok are worth pitching directly, since a founder often reads that inbox. When a brand likes your post, it may ask for a Spark Ads code to run your video as an ad from your handle. Price that like whitelisting. Whitelisting vs Spark Ads vs partnership ads explains the three permissions, and the Spark Ads guide covers how brands use the code. Creator Rewards, TikTok's payout for views, is a separate program with no bearing on whether a brand can hire you.

Every paid TikTok needs the disclosure setting. TikTok's help article, last updated January 2026, puts it under "Content disclosure and ads" on the post screen. The post then shows a "Paid partnership" label when you promote a third party.

How to get brand deals on Instagram

Instagram has a creator marketplace inside the app, where brands find creators and send collaboration offers. It needs a professional account, creator or business. When Meta expanded it to ten more countries in May 2024, TechCrunch reported that creators must be at least 18 and have a "significant following," and that "Meta doesn't specify the number of followers you need." Check your eligibility in the app's settings. If you qualify, you can join from your professional dashboard.

Three Instagram formats come up in almost every deal:

• A Reel on your feed with the paid partnership label. The standard sponsored post. The label names the brand and makes the disclosure visible.
• A collab post. One post that appears on your profile and the brand's profile at the same time, with shared views and comments.
• Partnership ads. The brand runs your post, or a video you made, as an ad under both handles. Price this as ad access, by the month.

Lead an Instagram pitch with Reels views, saves and shares, and pin your best Reel in the niche you pitch.

How to get sponsored on YouTube

YouTube has a formal brand program, and it sits behind the Partner Program. YouTube's help page for Creator Partnerships, the program long known as BrandConnect, lists four minimums: be at least 18, be in the YouTube Partner Program, be based in an available country, and have no active Community Guidelines strikes. The available list covers 24 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and India. Once you qualify, the same page says brands can discover your channel and the Creator Partnerships tab appears on its own in the Earn section of YouTube Studio. Brand inquiries land in that tab, with an email alert.

The Partner Program has its own bar. YouTube's eligibility page asks for 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Below that bar, YouTube sponsorships come from pitching and job boards, in two formats: an integrated mention inside a normal video, usually near the start, or a dedicated video about the product, priced higher. YouTube videos keep collecting views from search long after they go up, so pitch with your average views at 30 days and at 90 days.

Disclose in YouTube Studio. YouTube's paid promotion help page says selecting the paid promotion setting "adds a disclosure label that appears at the beginning of your video."

How to get brand deals on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky

Fewer guides cover these platforms, and brands still pay creators on them. Each one runs deals its own way.

• Facebook. Reels and Page posts, disclosed with the paid partnership label. Shopify's pricing guide reports $25 to $250 per post for nano creators and $250 to $1,250 for micro. Meta partnership ads can run on Facebook as well as Instagram, so ask whether Facebook placement is part of any Instagram ad access you quote.
• LinkedIn. Software, finance and business brands pay for posts from creators their buyers follow, and an expensive product needs very few buyers, so a small account with the right readers can get paid. LinkedIn's Thought Leader Ads page says a company can promote posts from "industry experts, customers, or content creators", and the author gets a request to approve or deny before the post runs as an ad. That approval is LinkedIn's version of whitelisting, so price it the same way.
• X. Mostly text and image posts in tech, finance and news niches, where brands weigh who replies to you. Shopify's guide reports about $2 per 1,000 followers for nano creators on X and $20 to $100 per post for micro.
• Threads and Bluesky. Neither rate guide quoted in this post publishes numbers for them. Sell a post here as an extra line on an Instagram or X package, priced on its own.

Views are the gap on three of these. Socialync does not read per post view counts on X, LinkedIn or Bluesky, because those platforms' APIs do not give it the numbers, so a views floor on those platforms cannot be cleared on the board. Follower floors still work on all three. Off the board, lead a pitch on these platforms with replies, reposts and who follows you.

Websites and apps to apply for brand deals

"Where do I apply" has six answers, and each one sets the bar in a different place.

Route	Examples	Who sets the bar	Watch for
Platform marketplaces	TikTok One, Instagram's creator marketplace, YouTube Creator Partnerships	The platform first, then each brand	Eligibility rules change, so recheck them
Independent UGC and influencer apps	See the neutral breakdowns of SideShift UGC, Trybe UGC and others	Each app's own rules	Who holds the money, and when you get paid
Job boards with a floor	The Socialync job board	The brand, per campaign, read from your connected accounts	Floors on platforms you have not connected
Brand-run programs	A "creators" or "ambassadors" link on a brand's own site	The brand	Programs that pay in discount codes only
Affiliate programs	A brand's own program, a shop's affiliate tool	Usually none	Commission that never reaches a payout
Direct pitching	Email, DMs	The brand, privately	Silence, so follow up once

Use more than one. Pitching reaches brands too small to be on any platform. Best UGC platforms for brands and creators compares the independent apps by how they charge and how they pay.

How the Socialync job board works for creators

I'm Jack Vitick (LinkedIn, X), and I built Socialync solo. The job board opened on November 1, 2026, and it is built around Step 5: you see the campaigns you already clear, with the pay and the terms on the listing before you apply.

What every listing shows before you apply:

Listing field	What it tells you
Platforms and deliverables	Which accounts, and how many posts or videos
Deal type	Organic post, whitelisting, or ads (a video file for the brand's own ads)
Pay structure	Flat fee, per post, flat plus a view bonus, CPM with a payout cap, or commission only (no base) on whitelisting and ads deals
Usage rights and licence length	What the brand can do with the content, for 12 months unless the brand sets another length
Exclusivity	How long, if the brand asks for any
Product	Whether the brand ships one; your clock starts when it arrives
Floor	Countries, languages, and per platform minimum followers and average views

How a job runs from there:

• Connect your accounts once. Follower counts come from your connected account. Average views and engagement come from the posts you publish through Socialync in the last 30 days, read from the platform API. No screenshots, no self-reported numbers.
• Post through Socialync to get measured. A platform with no posts through Socialync in the last 30 days reads as unmeasured, and cannot clear a views floor until you publish from it.
• Apply free, as often as you like. A free account works one job at a time. Any paid plan, from $20 a month, works five at once.
• Unlimited revisions, with a clock on the brand. The brand has 7 days to rule on each draft. If it goes quiet, you can walk away with your video and no mark on your record.
• On post deals, publish from your own account. Campaign posts go out with disclosure switched on: TikTok's Paid partnership label, and Instagram's paid partnership label naming the brand when its account is connected.
• Two confirmations close the job. The brand confirms delivery, or delivery confirms itself after 14 days. Payment is due 14 days later unless the listing says otherwise. You confirm you were paid.
• The brand pays you directly. US creators are paid on Socialync's pay page through Stripe, where Stripe's processing fee applies. Elsewhere, you and the brand settle directly and Socialync verifies the delivery. Socialync takes nothing from creator pay.
• Brands can invite you. A brand you applied to or worked with, or one that has your exact handle, can invite you to a campaign. You still apply and clear the floor, and you can switch invites off.

Reimbursement deals are banned on the board, and marketplace participation is 18+. Brands post campaigns, and the creators who clear the floor apply. Creators who opt in are also listed in a directory that brands can browse, in plain order with no ranking. Make a free creator account at socialync.io/signup and connect the accounts you post from.

How to ask for brand deals

A pitch that gets a reply answers three questions in under 120 words: who you make videos for, why this brand, and what you would make. Put your numbers in the email itself. A brand reading on a phone rarely opens a PDF.

Subject: Reel idea for [product] from a [niche] creator

Hi [name], I make [niche] Reels and TikToks for [audience], mostly in [country]. My videos from the last 30 days average [number] views each. I already use your [product] and have an idea for a 30 second video showing [one specific use]. A similar video of mine is here: [link]. If you are booking paid creator posts this quarter, I can send rates and a timeline. [Your name]

The audience line answers the floor before the brand asks, and the views line is the number it pays for. Saying you already use the product proves you are a customer. One concrete idea gives the brand something to say yes to.

Follow up once, about a week later, with a fresh sample or a new number. Then move on. Leave out your follower count as the opener, requests for free product, and any rate before the brand asks. The UGC pitch email template has five copy and paste scripts and subject lines that get opened.

What to charge for a brand deal

Build every quote in lines, so each extra a brand asks for has a price next to it.

• Base rate per deliverable. One Reel, one TikTok, one YouTube integration. Start from the reported ranges above and adjust for your average views and niche.
• Usage rights. Organic reposting by the brand, paid ad use and a full buyout are three separate lines.
• Whitelisting or Spark Ads access. Priced by the month while the ad runs.
• Exclusivity. Priced by how wide the category is and how long it lasts.
• Rush delivery. A deadline under a week costs extra.

UGC rates: how much do UGC creators make walks through a full pricing template. The UGC rate calculator at socialync.io shows reported rates for sponsored posts, UGC videos, usage rights and Spark Ads, each linked to its source.

When a brand offers product instead of money, decide on purpose. A gifted deal can make sense for a product you wanted anyway and a sample you need. It stops making sense once your sample shelf is full. Reimbursement, gifted, or paid UGC deals has the exact words for turning a gifted ask into a paid one.

Read the terms before you film

A deal agreed in DMs is hard to enforce. Before you film, get these in writing:

• Deliverables: how many posts or videos, which platforms, what length.
• Deadlines that run from a real event, such as the product arriving.
• Pay: the amount, the method, and the date it is due.
• Usage rights: organic, paid ads, or both, and for how long.
• Exclusivity: which categories, and for how many days.
• Revisions: how many rounds, and how fast the brand must answer.
• Disclosure: which label, and where it goes.
• A kill fee if the brand cancels after you film.

The free UGC contract template has every clause to copy, plus what New York and Illinois freelance laws require in writing above set dollar amounts.

Brand deal scams and red flags

Scammers target creators asking this exact question. The patterns repeat:

• Pay to apply. A brand that wants a fee before it will consider you is selling to you. Real brands pay creators.
• The overpayment check. A "brand" sends more than the fee and asks you to wire back the difference. The check bounces after your money is gone.
• The reimbursement deal. You buy the product, post, and wait to be paid back. Every dollar of risk sits with you.
• Requests for your login. Nobody legitimate needs your password to check your stats. Real tools read them through a permission you grant on the platform.
• Lookalike email domains. A big brand's name on a free email address, or a domain one letter off. Check the brand's real site before you reply.
• Perpetual rights for one post's fee. "Full usage rights" with no end date, priced like a single organic post.
• Exposure as payment. Visibility does not pay rent.

UGC creator scams: 12 red flags covers each one, plus what to do when a brand does not pay you.

Disclose every paid post

In the US, the FTC's Disclosures 101 for social media influencers sets the rule. If a brand gives you money, free or discounted products, or other perks, and you mention its product, disclose it. The disclosure goes with the endorsement itself. In a video, it belongs inside the video, and the FTC notes viewers are more likely to catch it when you both say it and show it.

Platform	Built-in tool	What viewers see
TikTok	Content disclosure and ads setting	A "Paid partnership" label
Instagram	Paid partnership label	A label naming the brand
YouTube	Paid promotion setting in YouTube Studio	A label at the start of the video
Facebook	Paid partnership label	A label naming the brand

Use the platform tool and say "ad" or "sponsored" in the video. A brand that asks you to skip the label is asking you to carry its legal risk on your own account. Keep the label on. On Socialync, every sponsored post on TikTok and Instagram carries the label.

Brand deal questions, answered

What are brand deals for small creators?

They are paid agreements where a brand gives a creator with a smaller audience money or product for content. The common shapes are a sponsored post on your account, a UGC video the brand uses in its own ads, and a gifted collaboration. Small creators land them because many brands set low minimums on purpose.

How do I get brand deals?

Follow the seven steps above. In short: one niche, steady average views, three to five sample videos, applications to campaigns you clear, and pitches to brands you already use. Browse open campaigns on the Socialync job board, and price your first quote with the UGC rate calculator.

How much do brands pay small creators?

Influencer Marketing Hub's October 2026 guide lists $10 to $100+ for a nano creator's Instagram post and $50 to $200 for a TikTok video. For micro creators it lists $100 to $500+ and $200 to $800. Those are planning benchmarks, and actual pay varies by niche, views and usage rights.

How do you get brand deals with a small following?

Pick one niche, track your average views, and build a portfolio of three to five sample videos. Then apply to campaigns whose floor you already clear and pitch brands whose products you already use. Many brands set low floors on purpose, because small creators cost less per post.

Can you get brand deals with 1,000 followers?

Yes. UGC video deals rarely check your follower count, and sponsored post floors in tight niches can sit at or near 1,000 followers. TikTok One, TikTok's own marketplace, opens projects to creators from 1,000 followers per its July 2026 help page. Expect rates at the low end of the published ranges.

How do influencers get brand deals?

Four ways: platform marketplaces like TikTok One, campaigns on apps and job boards, direct pitches, and brands reaching out after seeing their posts. Small creators rely on applying and pitching. Inbound grows with the account.

How do you get sponsored by brands?

The same seven steps: one niche, steady average views, three to five samples, then applications to campaigns you clear and pitches to brands you already buy from. Most sponsorships from brands are a paid post on your own account, so quote the post, the usage rights and any ad access as separate lines, and disclose the post with the platform's label.

What websites can you apply to for brand deals?

Platform marketplaces (TikTok One, Instagram's creator marketplace, and YouTube Creator Partnerships once you are in the Partner Program), independent UGC and influencer apps, job boards with floors such as socialync.io/ugc-jobs, and brand-run ambassador programs on brands' own sites. Read who pays you and when before you sign up for any of them.

Is it hard to get brand deals?

The first one is the hard one. Linktree's Creator Report, from a 2021 survey of 9,576 creators, found 67% had never collaborated with a brand on their social channels. The survey is old, so read it as a baseline. The same survey found niche creators were more likely to have done a brand collab, 37% against 26%, which is why Step 1 comes first.

Do brand deals get taxed?

In the US, yes. Brand deal pay is self-employment income for most creators, and the IRS self-employed tax center says you have to file a return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. Self-employed people generally owe self-employment tax on top of income tax and pay estimated tax each quarter. This is general information. Ask a tax professional about your own situation.

Start with the deals you already qualify for

• Average views and niche fit decide most small creator deals.
• TikTok One opens projects from 1,000 followers. Instagram publishes no number. YouTube's program sits behind the Partner Program.
• Price usage rights, ad access and exclusivity as their own lines, and get every term in writing.

The fastest deal is the one you already qualify for. See how the board works for creators at socialync.io/ugc, connect the accounts you post from, and apply to the campaigns your numbers already clear. Marketplace participation is 18+.