What is a brand deal?

It's the core transaction of the creator economy. A brand wants access to your audience and your ability to make content people actually watch; you have both, and a brand deal is how that exchange gets formalised. The specifics vary enormously — a deal can be a single sponsored Story worth a couple of hundred dollars or a year-long ambassadorship worth five figures — but the shape is always the same: agreed deliverables, an agreed timeline, agreed usage, and an agreed fee.

How a brand deal works

Most brand deals follow the same arc. A brand reaches out (or you pitch), and you agree on what you'll make — the platform, the format, and how many pieces. You settle the rate, including anything extra for usage rights if the brand wants to reuse the content. Terms get put in writing, you create and deliver the content for approval, the brand signs off, and you invoice. Payment usually follows on net 14 or net 30 terms.

The part creators most often underprice is usage. Making one video for a brand to post once is a different deal from making a video the brand can run as a paid advertisement for three months. The second is worth more, and it's why usage rights are typically negotiated and charged separately from the cost of creating the content.

The common types of brand deal

Not every brand deal is a sponsored post. The main types you'll come across are:

• Sponsored content — you post about the brand on your own channels to your audience. The classic deal.
• UGC (user-generated content) deals — you make content for the brand to use on its own channels, not necessarily posting from your account. The audience isn't the point; the content is. See UGC vs influencer deals.
• Ambassadorships — an ongoing, usually longer-term paid relationship with regular deliverables, often at a retainer.
• Affiliate deals — you earn a commission on sales you drive, rather than a flat fee.
• Gifting — the brand sends free product in exchange for coverage. Payment is the product, not cash.
• Whitelisting and usage deals — the brand pays to run your content as ads, either from your handle or its own.

How creators get paid

The most common structure is a flat fee per deal, invoiced after delivery and approval. Affiliate and commission deals pay on performance, ambassadorships often pay a recurring retainer, and gifting pays in product. Whatever the structure, the details that matter for getting paid are the same: what was agreed, what was delivered, the usage terms, and clear payment terms on the invoice. Keeping all of that attached to the deal is exactly what a brand deal tracker is for.