How to pitch brands as an Instagram creator

Brands look at your Reels before your follower count

Follower count is close to the least useful number you can lead with in 2026. Partnership teams have watched too many big accounts deliver nothing. What they check instead is plays, saves and shares on your recent Reels, because those predict whether a paid post will actually move product.

A 4,000 follower account with a Reel at 80,000 plays is a far easier yes than a 40,000 follower account whose last three Reels did 1,200 each. If that is you, lead with the play count and never mention followers at all.

Open your Professional Dashboard, set it to the last 30 days, and screenshot reach, plays, saves and your top three posts. That screenshot is your proof.

Fix your profile before you send anything

The first thing a brand does after reading your message is open your grid. If it does not immediately say who you make things for, the conversation is over before you know it started.

Three fixes take ten minutes. Put who you serve in your bio rather than a list of emoji. Turn on the contact button with an address you actually read. Pin three posts that look like the work you want to be paid for, so a brand can see the finished product rather than imagine it.

If you have run collabs before, put them in a highlight. A brand that can see another brand trusted you has far less to worry about.

Choose the DM or the inbox, and know why

Small and mid-size brands genuinely read their DMs, often the founder is the one reading. For those, a DM is faster and warmer than email and it works.

Anything with a partnerships team wants email. Your DM lands in a request folder nobody opens, and being a real follower who has commented before is the difference between landing in requests and landing in the primary tab.

When you are not sure, do both in order. Send four lines by DM, and put the detail, the numbers and the rate in an email the same day.

What to actually send

Keep it under 80 words. You are not trying to close the deal in the message, you are trying to earn a reply.

Hi [name], I have been using [product] since [when] and my audience keeps asking about it.

I make [content type] for [who your audience is]. Last month my Reels did [number] plays with [number] saves, mostly [who].

I would love to make you one Reel plus a set of stills showing [specific idea]. Happy to send my rates and a few examples. Would that be useful?

[Your name]

Use Instagram's own collab tools as an argument

The Collab feature puts your post on the brand's grid as well as yours, in front of their followers, with their engagement counting toward it. That is a real benefit you can name in the pitch, and a lot of creators never mention it.

Say that you know how to apply the paid partnership label too. Brands have compliance people who worry about disclosure, so a creator who raises it first looks like less work and less risk.

Follow up once, then move on

Wait about five to seven days and send one short follow-up that adds something new, a fresh idea or a recent post that did well. Do not bump the thread with a question mark.

If there is no reply after that, leave it. Brands come back months later when a campaign budget opens, and the creator who was gracious is the one they remember.