For several years, with the rise of social media, the profession of influencer and content creator has become more professionalized. But many questions remain: How are influencers paid? How can you get noticed by a brand to establish a partnership or secure a sponsored post?
It’s not enough to simply have a community or a value proposition—you also need to know how to negotiate. In this article, YOO explains in detail how to get paid by a brand.
Understanding Brand Payments
Before sending collaboration proposals or publishing sponsored content, it’s essential to understand why and how brands pay creators. This will help you better value your work and negotiate your partnerships.
What Is a Paid Partnership?
A paid partnership is a win-win exchange. You create content for a brand, highlighting its products or services, and in return, you get paid.
There are different types of partnerships:
- Sponsored content: publishing a post, story, or video mentioning the brand.
- Affiliate marketing: sharing a link or promo code and earning a percentage of each sale made through you.
- Brand ambassador: signing a long-term contract and representing the brand on your social channels.
- Product collaboration: creating collections with the brand, such as clothing, accessories, or digital products.
Each type of partnership requires a different approach. One-off collaborations are a great way to get started, while ambassador contracts offer more financial stability.
Why Do Brands Pay Creators?
Brands pay for influence rather than fame. Even a creator with 5,000 followers can deliver significant value if their audience is targeted and engaged.
Main reasons:
- Visibility and reach: reaching consumers where they spend the most time—on social media.
- Real engagement: an engaged follower is more likely to purchase or try a product.
- Content creation: producing high-quality content is expensive, so brands outsource this task to creators.
For example, a sponsored Instagram post or a TikTok video can generate a higher ROI than traditional advertising, especially if the creator knows their community well.
How Many Followers Do You Need to Get Paid on Social Media?
According to the influencer marketing platform HypeAuditor, with a community of 1,000 to 10,000 followers, it is possible to earn money… even though 8 out of 10 accounts do not result in payment.
Furthermore, 44.5% of influencers with a community of 10,000 to 50,000 followers are paid between €100 and €500 on average for a sponsored post. For influencers with 500,000 to 1 million followers, a sponsored post averages between €500 and €1,000 (36.36% of them) and €2,000 or more (18% of them).
As you can see, there is no standard answer. It’s not just your follower count that matters, but what you have to offer and the engagement of your community.
How to Build a Community?
This is obviously the first step before you can get paid by a brand. Here are some tips it’s important to know:
- Post regularly and at the right time: The most important way to gain followers organically is to post consistently (1 to 3 videos per day at first) and at the right time. For this, you can check out our article on the best time to post on TikTok.
- Position yourself as an expert in a specific niche (cooking, sports, beauty, fashion…) because brands are often looking for specialized influencers.
- Find your own style, especially from a visual perspective.
- Produce only high-quality content.
- Be authentic.
- Use precise and targeted hashtags to stand out in search.
- Engage with your followers.
- Don’t focus on just one social media platform.
Building a loyal community takes time. But once you’ve built your audience, you can start monetizing your social media accounts.
Which Type of Partnership Should You Choose?
Partnerships between a brand and an influencer can take different forms. It could be a photo (sponsored post), a video, a story, a Reel (on Instagram), a giveaway in collaboration with the brand, and more. Don’t forget to add the label “Paid Partnership” to your post or video! It’s mandatory. Indeed, it is illegal not to indicate that the content is sponsored. For reference, Instagram introduced a feature a few years ago to provide more transparency about the advertising nature of a post: the “Paid Partnership” tag.
1. Become a Brand Ambassador
By becoming a brand ambassador, you act as a spokesperson for a company. This means sharing with your community the positive aspects of a brand (the benefits of its products, etc.) to help increase its visibility and boost sales. You may also be asked to publish stories, posts, tweets, or videos on your social media. For this type of partnership, influencers generally receive a fixed payment, though a performance-based payment (percentage depending on results) can also be arranged.
2. Create Sponsored Posts
This involves promoting a product or service through a post, story, article, or video.
3. Receive Free Products
Some brands send free products to influencers in exchange for mentioning them on their social media. These free products do not represent direct monetary payment, but when combined with an affiliate marketing strategy, they can generate income.
How Much Do Influencers Get Paid?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as your potential earnings depend on several factors, such as:
- Your number of followers
- Your engagement rate
- The type and duration of the partnership with the brand
- Your negotiation skills
In general, the more followers you have and the more engaged they are, the greater your earning potential and the higher your payment can be. But if you have few followers, don’t worry—you can still make money as an influencer. Even with 1,000 followers, you may have the opportunity to work with brands that match your style and values. What matters most to brands is that you have a loyal, engaged community that follows you daily and listens to your recommendations.
How to Find a Brand for Paid Partnerships?
While it is possible to contact a brand directly to propose a collaboration, this is not the best strategy. Brands receive hundreds of requests every day! It’s better to develop your style and grow your community so that companies notice you. Here are some tips to help you do that:
1. Sign Up on Influencer Marketing Platforms
You can sign up for free on these platforms and regularly apply to the campaigns they offer. It’s a great way to get noticed.
Important: always follow the briefs and act professionally. Most of the time, these platforms rate your work, and if you receive low ratings, other brands may not choose you.
2. Develop a Consistent Editorial Line
Brands need to know who they are targeting. If you are an expert in your field (sports, literature, cooking, fashion…), make it known! To do this, produce regular and consistent content and use the right hashtags. This will make you more visible and easier to categorize. Brands love influencers who have a specific expertise!
3. Mention Brands You Like (Without Being Pushy)
Don’t hesitate to mention the brands you’re interested in your posts or videos. This makes you visible not only to the brand itself but also to its competitors. Of course, don’t be pushy: it’s important to be a bit desirable. If you seem too accessible or appear willing to do anything for a collaboration, it may turn brands off.
4. Build an Engaged Community
More than the number of followers, brands are looking for a high engagement rate. You can only achieve this with a strong and loyal community. Of course, building such a community takes time… Stay authentic, interact regularly with your followers, be approachable, and the rest will follow.
5. Don’t Forget the Most Important Thing
Yes, getting paid by a brand is nice. But it’s not the most important thing. The key is to provide real value to your followers, whether by talking about a product that changed your life or sharing an amazing tip. Remember to stay consistent and true to your values, and avoid posting just anything… otherwise, you’ll get lost in the crowd, which is definitely not what you want!
How Much Does an Influencer Earn?
This is the question everyone asks: how much does an influencer really earn? The truth is, there is no fixed rate. Earnings depend on a set of specific criteria.
So, how much can you actually make from brand partnerships? The income is often dreamed about, but it is largely misunderstood. Between the fantasies on social media and the reality on the ground, there can be a big gap. Two creators with the same number of followers can earn completely different amounts.
An influencer’s income doesn’t depend solely on audience size. It also depends on engagement, niche, content quality, the platform used, the type of collaboration, influence power, and the ability to convert an audience into buyers.
Criteria That Influence an Influencer’s Earnings
Earnings are never set randomly. Brands use precise analysis frameworks to estimate a creator’s value.
1. Number of Followers
This is the most visible criterion, but not the most important. A larger audience means greater reach, but a large account with low engagement is often worth less than a small, highly active account.
2. Engagement Rate
Likes, comments, shares, clicks, direct messages… These interactions show a creator’s true influence. A creator with 8% engagement will always earn more than someone with 1%, even if they have more followers.
3. Platform Used
On Instagram, most collaborations happen through Reels, stories, and sponsored posts.
On TikTok, virality can drastically increase rates in a short time.
On YouTube, product placements are often better paid.
Each platform has its own economic logic.
4. Niche
Not all topics are equal in terms of earnings. Competitive fields like beauty, fitness, or travel are crowded, whereas niches like finance, real estate, or business have fewer creators but higher budgets. An influencer in a high-value niche can earn a lot with a smaller audience.
5. Type of Collaboration
A single post is not paid the same as a series of stories, a produced Reel, a YouTube video, a UGC collaboration, or a multi-week campaign. The more work a collaboration requires, the higher the payment.
Concrete Examples of Earnings by Platform
Here are some price ranges observed in France for a commercial collaboration. These amounts vary depending on the quality of the account, the niche, and negotiation skills.
On Instagram:
- 1,000 to 5,000 followers: €50 to €150 per sponsored post
- 10,000 followers: €150 to €400
- 50,000 followers: €500 to €1,200
- 100,000+ followers: €1,000 to several thousand euros
On TikTok:
Earnings depend heavily on virality. A creator can earn through partnerships, creator funds, affiliate marketing, or sponsored live streams. A single viral TikTok can generate several thousand euros.
On YouTube:
A sponsored video can earn around €500 for a small channel and over €5,000 for an established channel. Additional revenue comes from ads, affiliate marketing, online courses, and product sales.
Thus, a creator can combine multiple income sources, which explains why some can live very comfortably from their activity, even with a modest community.
Conclusion
Today, getting paid by a brand is accessible to anyone who builds a real community, creates high-quality content, and understands how partnerships and monetization work on Instagram and TikTok. Whether your goal is to monetize your account, secure your first collaborations, or develop regular partnerships, it all starts with taking action.
To start in UGC, you can also sign up on YOO, a platform that connects brands and creators in just a few clicks. Even without direct payment, you can receive products, enrich your portfolio, and gain visibility. For the past 8 years, YOO has been helping brands create authentic and high-performing content, with a community of over 100,000 creators.