Your hours set the lowest number you should accept for a sponsored post. They don't set the price. The price comes from what the post is worth to the brand, and you show that by quoting each piece of value as its own line.
How do I work out my floor?
Count every hour the job takes: the brief call, planning, shooting, editing, revisions, posting and replying to comments. Multiply by the hourly rate you need to earn. If a sponsored Reel takes 8 hours and you need $50 an hour, your floor is 8 x $50 = $400.
That $400 is a walk-away number. If an offer is under it, you're paying to work. We never want a creator to treat the floor as the quote, because a brand isn't buying your hours. It's buying your audience's attention and trust.
We're not going to give you a market rate here. We don't have data we can stand behind, and rates swing a lot by niche and audience. Be wary of anyone who hands you one number for everyone.
What pushes a quote above the floor?
Five things move the number. How many of your followers actually watch (check your own recent views, not your follower count). How well your audience matches the buyer. How much a customer is worth to the brand: a software subscription or a cosmetic dental case is worth more to a brand than a $12 candle. How fast they need it. And how many people you have to say no to by working with them.
We think the best quotes list these as separate lines, so the brand sees what each piece costs and you can drop a line instead of discounting your work. Here's the set we'd use:
- Content creation: one Reel, including the planning and edit
- Revisions beyond the included round
- Organic usage: how long the post stays up on your page
- Paid usage: the brand running your post as an ad, with a start and end date
- Exclusivity: you won't promote competitors for a set period
- Rush fee: delivery in less than your normal turnaround
What does moving from $400 to a quote look like?
The numbers below are illustrative only. They are not market rates.
Say your floor is $400 and a brand in a high-value category (a local clinic group, for example) asks for one Reel. You don't quote $400. You ask yourself: is my audience a close match for their buyer? Do my recent Reels get solid views? If both answers are yes, you decide the content line is worth double your floor. That's $800.
Next, ask what else they want. They say they'd like to run the Reel as an ad for 30 days and want you to skip competitors for 30 days. Those are two more lines. You might price paid usage at half the content fee ($400) and exclusivity at $200. Your quote now reads: content $800, paid usage $400, exclusivity $200, total $1,400.
The brand replies that they have $600. Don't shave every line. Your floor is $400, so $600 can work for the content alone, but it can't cover ad rights or exclusivity. Counter with: "I can do the Reel for $600 with organic posting only. If you want to run it as an ad later, paid usage is $400 for 30 days." You kept your price, removed what they didn't budget for, and left the door open to the extra money.
If they refuse to pay anything above $400 and want everything? That's their answer on how much they value the post. Decline politely.
What do I have to tell my audience?
The FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers says to disclose when you have a financial, employment, personal, or family relationship with a brand, and that includes free or discounted products. It says to "place it so it's hard to miss," and that disclosures are likely to be missed if they appear only on an About Me or profile page. It says "ad" and "sponsored" are acceptable terms, and adds, "Don't mix your disclosure into a group of hashtags or links." It also warns not to assume a platform's disclosure tool is good enough. Put the disclosure in the caption and the video itself, and write it into your quote so the brand knows you will.
What should I do this week?
Start by working out your real hours on your last sponsored post and write down your floor. Open your last five Reels and note the views, because that is the number you'll defend. Rewrite your quote template as the separate lines above, with paid usage and exclusivity always priced, even when the brand hasn't asked yet. Then attach a media kit so the brand sees your audience before they see your price. Our media kit checklist for creators covers what to put in it.
If you want the full process for pitching, pricing and landing brand deals, it's in How to Get Started as a Professional Creator ($97). Before your next quote goes out, write down your floor and your first counter line.