What a brand buys from a creator

A common thing creators get wrong: "I don't have enough followers, brands won't be interested." A brand isn't buying followers. It's buying access to people who trust you, and a measurable result. That's where we start.

Trust beats reach

A brand can buy impressions in an ad manager in a minute. It doesn't need another channel for impressions. It needs someone the audience trusts more than an ad to talk about the product. That's what the money is for.

So a small audience that replies in the comments, saves posts and clicks links is worth more than a large one that scrolls past. A creator with five thousand engaged followers can do more for a brand than one with a hundred thousand cold ones, as long as that audience matches the brand's customers.

The numbers a brand actually looks at

Follower count is at the bottom of the list. Here's what matters.

Reach: how many different people saw your content over the past month. Not followers: the people your content actually got to. Views are counted separately, because one person can watch a video several times, so views usually run higher than reach.

Engagement: likes, comments, saves and shares relative to reach. Saves and shares count for more than likes: they mean someone found it useful or wanted to show it to others. Brands calculate engagement differently, off reach or off followers, so say which one you used next to your number.

Retention: how much of a video people actually watch. For video it's one of the main quality signals. If half the viewers leave at second three, reach won't save you.

Audience: who those people are. Gender, age, cities and countries. A brand whose customers are over forty won't pay for an audience of teenagers, however engaged it is.

Clicks and actions: how many people tapped the link, used the promo code, sent a message. This is the main metric for brands that sell, as opposed to brands "building awareness". The brand sees those numbers on its side, while you only see clicks on your own links, so ask for a unique link or promo code. Otherwise your numbers won't match theirs.

Mistake. Sending a brand your total follower count and average likes. That tells the manager very little: brands don't pay for followers and likes.

Ways of working together

Integration: you talk about the product inside your own content, in your own account. The classic creator ad.

Review or unboxing: a separate post or video entirely about the product.

UGC: you film a video the brand posts on its own channels and often runs as an ad. Posting it on your account is optional. Your audience isn't needed; your filming and delivery are. There's a separate course on this.

Ambassadorship: a long contract over several months, regular mentions, often exclusivity in the category.

Gifting (product instead of payment). Works at the start, and for expensive products you'd have bought anyway. Doesn't work as a permanent model.

Affiliate deals: a flat fee plus a percentage of sales through your promo code or link. Worth it when you're confident your audience will actually buy the product.

The same brand can order different things: an integration today, UGC videos for paid ads next month. You need to know the difference to price correctly: a video in your own account and a video for the brand's ad account cost different amounts.

Direct or through an agency

Direct: the brand messages you, you negotiate yourself. Upside: the whole fee is yours. Downside: the brief, the contract, revisions, payment and disputes are all on you.

Through an agency: it matches creators to the brand's task, handles the brief, approvals and payment, and takes a percentage or a flat fee out of the budget for it. No agency can promise you jobs. How payment works through an agency is covered in the pricing lesson.

Both routes are fine. Many creators do both: they're on several agencies' rosters and answer direct requests at the same time.

Tip. When a brand reaches out for the first time, ask what the goal is: sales, awareness, content for their own channels. The answer decides the format, the price and how you'll report back.

Do this now

• Open your account insights for the past 30 days and write down reach, number of saves and your audience's top three cities.
• Work out your engagement: add up likes, comments and saves and divide by reach. Write the number down and note that you calculated it off reach.
• Think of the last product you bought on a creator's recommendation. What convinced you: their numbers, or how they talked about it?