How to Price Your Rate (Without Guessing)

A single flat "my rate is $X" ignores the fact that a Story, a Reel, a dedicated YouTube video, and a piece of UGC content all take different amounts of your time and reach different amounts of audience. Think in terms of a rate per deliverable type, not a single number for "a post."

Four things move your rate more than anything else:

• Reach: how many people are likely to see it, roughly tied to your follower count on that platform.
• Engagement: a smaller, highly engaged audience is often worth more per follower than a larger, passive one.
• Production time: a dedicated video with scripting, filming, and editing is worth more than a 15-second Story, regardless of reach.
• Usage and exclusivity: what the brand can do with the content after you post it, and whether you're blocked from working with competitors.

A common starting point for follower-based content is a rough rate per 1,000 followers, adjusted up or down for engagement, then multiplied for any extra usage rights or exclusivity the brand is asking for. Our rates calculator walks through exactly this and gives you a range, not a single number: ranges give you room to negotiate instead of anchoring yourself to one price before the conversation even starts.

• Usage rights. Organic-only posting is worth less than a license letting the brand run your content as a paid ad: that's a separate, additional right, not something bundled in for free.
• Whitelisting. If a brand wants to run ads directly from your handle, that's more valuable (and more exposure to their spend decisions) than a standard usage license. Price it as its own line item.
• Exclusivity. Being blocked from working with competing brands for a period of time has a real cost to you: the longer or broader the exclusivity, the more it's worth.
• Rush turnaround. A brand that needs something in 48 hours is asking you to reprioritize your whole schedule: that's worth a rush fee.

If you're a UGC creator delivering raw footage for a brand to post themselves, your rate isn't about your follower count at all: you may have no public following to speak of, and that's fine. Price UGC by scope: how many concepts, how much filming and editing, how many revision rounds, and what usage rights the brand needs. A flat rate per video or photo set is standard.

• Quoting one flat number for every deliverable type, regardless of the actual work.
• Giving away usage rights or whitelisting for free because it wasn't explicitly asked about.
• Discounting immediately when a brand pushes back, instead of asking what's driving their budget.
• Not having a kill fee or cancellation term if the brand pulls the deal after you've started work.

Your rate should move as your engagement, production quality, and track record improve, not just your follower count. Keeping a record of what you've charged and how each deal went (paid on time, easy to work with, worth repeating) makes it much easier to justify an increase the next time a returning brand reaches out.