The main problem with creators on Instagram not knowing how Social Media Collaborations work is the lack of awareness.

Not many creators share how Social Media collaborations actually work.

There is no rule book that states what are the market norms, what you should expect, and what to ask for, depending on the size of your audience & engagement.

I’ve been a content creator on Instagram and taking up social media collaborations for almost 5 years now.

I started from scratch, accepting barter collaborations, and have now reached a point where I don’t accept any kind of barter collaborations, irrespective of how big the brand is. (Brands with verified Instagram accounts often lure budding creators to work for free)

How do collaborations work on Instagram

Brands collaborate with influencers, content creators on Instagram to spread a word about their existing products or create a buzz for a new launch.

Since content creators on Instagram are genuine people, people who their future customers can relate to and have a big audience, brands consider collaborating with them.

Social media collaborations help brands build trust among their target group and reach people at the grass-root-level.

To put simply, brand pays a content creator to promote their products on the creator’s Instagram profile.

Things to keep in mind when accepting social media collaborations

(speaking wrt to collaborations on Instagram)

Get everything in writing before starting a collaboration

Asking questions only shows that you know what you’re doing and are not an amateur in your field.

So, don’t shy away to ask everything you want to know about the collaboration. It’s better to see what you’re getting into before you’ve said YES to the social media collaboration deal.

Some of the things that you should ask are:

• Deliverables – Number of posts you’ve to publish for the brand and of what kind (static, stories, reels)
• If the photos/videos you publish will also be sent to the brand for them to use on their Instagram page or other websites
• What kind of images/videos they’re looking for? (So that you can calculate the efforts you’ll have to put in)
• Expected timeline of the deliverables (This ensures that you are not hurrying up, juggling multiple things later on)
• Their budget for the collaboration

Know when to stop accepting barter collaborations

Personally, I would recommend people to stop accepting barter social media collaborations after they’ve crossed the 5,000 mark in the number of followers they have.

Start out by charging a small amount so as not to overwhelm the brands that approach you.

Gradually increase your rates as the quality of your work improves, your audience grows and more brands come under your portfolio.

Having said that, accepting barter collaborations isn’t completely out of the picture too.

Suppose the brand that has contacted you fits your account’s niche. In that case, if you love their products, they have got an active & engaging social media presence (the real kind, not with fake followers and spammy comments), then it’s okay to take up barter collaborations once in a while.

This is only when you know the barter collaboration will be beneficial to you and will improve your overall worth and word on Instagram as a content creator.

Deciding your commercials for different kinds of social media collaborations

To give you a perspective, the top creators on Instagram with over 80-100k followers get paid in lakhs for one social media collaboration post.

So, it’s fair to ask for a few thousand if you’ve got a good enough number of following and the quality of your work is top-notch.

If this is your first time asking to get paid for a collaboration, you can begin by asking for 1000 bucks for one post & story.

But keep in mind that this is when you have less than 5-6k followers on Instagram.

As you grow, so should your rate card

Which factors influence your commercials for a social media collaboration as a content creator on Instagram?

#1 The size of the brand

If it’s a renowned brand whose products are a tad bit more expensive than what a general customer would go for, charge higher.

If it’s a brand just started by an individual like you yourself, you can charge a bit lower to support small businesses.

But that’s totally your call.

Also Read:

#2 Kind of deliverables needed

Charge more if the collaboration requires you to post multiple times on your Instagram feed, both photos, and videos.

Naturally, an Instagram reel video or a carousel of 4-5 images takes more effort than a static (single photo) post on the feed.

If the brand is asking you to buy certain things for the picture or the video, like fresh flowers, and aloe vera if that’s the main ingredient in their product, you shouldn’t pay for it.

Ideally, the only way this works is that the brand compensates you for the things they make you buy for the collaboration.

Asking for the money to be reimbursed after you’ve bought them, and posting the photos can be a mess. Because what if they ghost you?

Here’s the solution.

If you are buying the things locally, tell them the cost of it and ask them to send them over after which you can go out and source them.

If you are buying the things online, tell them the address to which you want to get them delivered and ask them to order them for you.

#3 Timeline of the collaboration

Charge more if the collaboration’s deadline is super close and the brand insists on doing the job ASAP.

Red flags to look out for

• Brand’s representative pushes you to get confirmation ASAP, mostly to intimidate you into underselling yourself
• Brand tells you to buy the products you’ve to review and post about. Assuring you that they will reimburse once the post is approved by the team
• Brand compares you or your work with other creators or on Instagram