Instagram, the app that has spent the last few years telling us Reels are everything, is now testing 90-minute videos. Not 90 seconds. Ninety. MINUTES. 😳

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So let’s get into it. What actually happened, why Instagram is doing this, and the catch I want every single creator to know before you start dumping full podcast episodes on the grid.

What Instagram just launched (the girl-to-girl version)

On October 26, Instagram started testing a new format called Features. Here’s the scoop:

• Horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long. Podcasts, vlogs, interviews, comedy, episodic shows. Basically all the stuff that has always lived on YouTube!!

• Clips as Reels. You can cut short moments from your long video and post them as Reels, and each one links straight back to the full video. So your Reels become little trailers for your long-form content, all inside the app. Obsessed with this tbh.

• Instagram on your TV. Yep, Instagram has a TV app on Samsung, Fire TV and Google TV, and it’s rolling out on Apple TV in the U.S. Instagram’s VP Tessa Lyons said they think the best way to watch long horizontal videos is “on a big horizontal screen.” Couch scrolling era, here we come.

• Who has it right now: a small test group. It started with creators in Brazil, and U.S. creators in the first test include podcast host Emma Grede, beauty creator Monet McMichael, interviewer Preston Rakovsky and football creator Donald De La Haye. Instagram says it plans to open it up to tens of thousands of U.S. creators over the coming months.

• It’s not exclusive!! You can post the same video on YouTube and keep your existing brand deals.

So if you don’t have it yet, don’t panic. You’re not missing a button. It’s coming, girl.

Okay but WHY is Instagram doing this?

Because YouTube is winning the living room. Period.

People aren’t just watching YouTube on their phones anymore. They’re watching it on their TVs, like Netflix. Podcasts moved to video, and video podcasts moved to YouTube. Disney just signed a deal with Dude Perfect. Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer who filmed himself with a tripod for YEARS, has a Netflix show coming out. YouTube creators are literally becoming TV networks!!

Instagram has had our attention 30 seconds at a time. Now it wants the full 90 minutes too. As Tessa Lyons put it, “we need more than just short-form video.”

And the timing? Very interesting. On February 1, YouTube is doubling what new channels need to get paid: 8,000 watch hours instead of 4,000. So YouTube is raising the bar right as Instagram rolls out the welcome mat. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, and I’ll be watching to see who blinks first. 👀

Okay, the catch: where’s the money?? 💸

Bestie, this is the part I really need you to hear.

On YouTube, creators get 55% of the ad revenue on their long videos. That’s a real, recurring paycheck.

On Instagram? There’s no ad revenue share for these videos. Meta told TechCrunch it’s “too early” to share a long-term plan for how creators will earn. Right now Instagram is directly paying some of the creators in the test, but that’s not a program you can apply for.

And Adam Mosseri has been very open about how he feels about paying creators directly. He said on the Colin and Samir Show that Instagram’s creator payouts lose money, and Net Influencer reported this week that he’s still making that argument. He’s said he’d rather help creators get paid by brands than pay them out of Instagram’s pocket.

So if you’re picturing Instagram turning into a second YouTube paycheck, I’d pump the brakes. At least for now!!

What I’m seeing from the agency side

Okay so here’s how I’d translate all of this as someone who manages creators and lives in brand inboxes all day long.

Brand deals are still the paycheck. Instagram is literally saying it plans to help creators find more brand partnerships for long-form content. THAT’S the business model. Not ad revenue. Brands.

Longer videos = more things you can sell. A 30-second Reel has room for one mention. A 45-minute episode has an intro sponsor, a mid-roll read, a product moment, AND clips. That’s so much more inventory to price, and so many more ways for one brand deal to grow!!

Your Reels just got a new job. If Clips as Reels works the way Instagram says it will, every Reel can send people to a longer video where they actually get to know you. And THAT’S how followers turn into an audience that buys what you recommend. 🫶

So... should you post long videos on Instagram?

My honest take: I don’t know. I don’t love that IG said we don’t know if we’re going to pay creators yet. Youtube is the #1 monetization platform and the #1 platform for pricing for brand deals. Instagram, in my opinion is NOT going to top that or replace it.

And honestly, if people can see your podcasts or long form youtube videos on IG while they’re doomscrolling there is no reason to go over to youtube and watch it. Missing out on tons of ad revenue so I’m honestly a little weary of posting your high value content (long form) on Instagram… But you do you girl!!

YouTube still pays you for long videos, people search it like Google, and those videos keep getting views for years. Instagram long-form is a fun bonus distribution channel right now, not a replacement.

Here’s what I’d do this week:

1. Keep YouTube first. If you already film long-form (a podcast, a vlog, a get-ready-with-me), keep publishing it on YouTube first. When Features opens up to you, post the same video on Instagram too. It’s not exclusive!!

2. Start cutting your long videos into Reels NOW. Pick the 3 strongest 30 to 60 second moments from every long video. This habit is gonna matter even more once those Reels can link back to the full thing.

3. Update your rates, babe. If a brand asks for a long-form integration, it should NOT cost the same as a Reel. More time, more attention, more value. Plus youtube videos are evergreen and will continue to grow overtime more than your ancient reels. Price it that way. 💅

The bigger picture

A few years ago, the advice was “pick a platform and go all in.” Now every platform wants to be every format. TikTok wants to be shopping. YouTube wants to be TV. Instagram wants to be YouTube. LOL.

And honestly? That’s GOOD news for you!! When platforms fight for creators, creators get more options. The ones who win are the ones who own their audience no matter which app is winning that month: your email list, this Substack, and a community that would follow you anywhere.

I’m breaking this ALL down out loud (plus Kylie Jenner’s YouTube vlogs and YouTubers getting Netflix shows!!) on the next episode of Content for Breakfast on November 3. Come hang out with me!!

And tell me in the comments: would you watch a full podcast episode on Instagram? Or is Instagram forever a scroll app to you? I’m SO curious. 👇

x, Brielle

Also I won’t be posting any more content of my AI Clone. It looks creepy, it doesn’t have my personality, and I’m over it. I always say I don’t have time to film content but I have the time to spend a whole day batching AI content… make that make sense. No it’s literally that I don’t want to make myself presentable to film and I need to just do it and stop being lazy because this AI shi ain’t it.

So enjoy my latest (NOT AI AT ALL) podcast episode :)

The costumes everyone’s searching 🔍

Google’s list tracks the biggest search spikes leading up to Halloween, and this year’s lineup is unhinged in the best way:

1. Buddy the Unicorn, the mascot from the horror movie Buddy. For the first time ever, “Buddy unicorn costume” beat out “kids unicorn costume” in searches. The kids are not okay (and neither is the unicorn). 🦄

2. NeeDoh, the squishy stress toy. Yes. People are dressing up as a squishy toy.

3. Nikki from Obsession, the highest-grossing horror movie of 2026. Her red and black zebra set is cheap, easy and ALL over Pinterest.

Also trending: Agamemnon from Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Oliver Tree, and Disco Scooby-Doo and Shaggy as the top duo. And Dolly Parton is the #1 kids’ costume and #2 pet costume, which is the sweetest tribute after we lost her in August. 💕

Gay Tiktok has taken over with it’s incredibly obscure halloween costumes, and it’s honestly my favorite part of the season. Because what do you mean they dressed up as Cynthia Ervio’s christmas nail… I’m dead.

credit: @bfflthought

Why this matters for you, bestie: brands buy seasonal trend content in a super tight window around every holiday. Have a quick-turn rate ready to go so you can say yes in hours, not days!!

The Meat & Potatoes: The scariest clauses creators sign 😱

Quick disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, but I have read millions of brand contracts and you should always get your contracts reviewed by a professional!! But these are the clauses I want every single creator to recognize on sight.

🧟 The Curse That Never Ends

What it says: “In perpetuity, worldwide, in all media”

What it actually means: They can run your face in ads FOREVER without paying you again.

Ask for this instead: A set term (30, 60 or 90 days), named platforms, and paid ad use priced separately.

👹 The Possession

What it says: Exclusivity with no end date, or for a whole category

What it actually means: They own your calendar, babe.

Ask for this instead: A named competitor list, a short window, and extra pay.

🏚️ The Haunting

What it says: “Unlimited revisions”

What it actually means: You reshoot until they get bored.

Ask for this instead: Two rounds included, then a revision fee.

💀 The Net 90 Nightmare

What it says: Payment 90 days after the campaign “completes”

What it actually means: You’re floating their marketing budget for three months. 😬

Ask for this instead: Net 30 from posting, 50% upfront with new brands, and a late fee.

👽 The Body Snatcher

What it says: Brand can edit your content or alter your likeness

What it actually means: Your face, their words, or AI changes you never approved.

Ask for this instead: Approval rights, and no AI changes to your face or voice. Ever.

👻 The Ghost

What it says: Brand can cancel anytime with no payment

What it actually means: You film, they vanish.

Ask for this instead: A kill fee (like 50% if they cancel after you’ve filmed).

🩸 The Morality Trap

What it says: Only YOU can be dropped for “bad behavior,” and they get to define it

What it actually means: One bad week and your deal is gone.

Ask for this instead: Mutual terms!!

A little more on that first one, because it’s the big one. Market rates for a short paid-usage license run around 30% to 50% of your base fee. And brands are boosting creator posts as ads more than ever: U.S. spend on boosted creator posts is expected to hit $14.15 billion in 2027!! Usage is where your content turns into an ad, so usage is where the money is. 💸

UGC or influencer? Know what you’re signing!!

These two types of deals come with totally different contracts.

UGC: the brand posts your video, so the contract is mostly about usage rights. Influencer: you post to your own audience, so it’s all about your reach and exclusivity.

If you don’t know which one you’re signing, you can’t tell which clause should scare you!!

🎬 This week on Brand Deal School: The Difference Between UGC & Influencer Marketing! (and which one pays more).

Your one move this week ✨

Open your last contract and search for two words: “perpetuity” and “exclusivity.” If either one shows up, read that clause again before you sign anything else!!

The bottom line

Brands aren’t villains, and most bad clauses aren’t evil. They’re just written to protect the brand, not you. Your job is to read them like they matter, because they DO.

The scariest contract is the one you signed without reading. 🕷️

Happy Halloween, bestie!! Go find those two words, watch the UGC vs. influencer breakdown, and I’ll see you in the next issue. 🎃

x, Brielle

Brands are writing AI copies of people’s faces into their contracts. I break down the Reuters investigation, the creator whose ad was changed with AI to say words she never said, and the three things to put in your contract before you sign. Then I take you through the rest of the scariest clauses I see as a talent agency owner: “in perpetuity,” exclusivity, unlimited revisions, net 90 payment terms and kill fees. Plus how my agency actually prices usage rights.

You’ll also hear a real $250 lowball offer we got this week, my UGC buyout trick for brands that won’t pay your rate, and why a YouTuber’s sponsor can keep him offline for up to six months.

Also on the menu: celebrity costumes (Kim as North, North as Natalie Nunn, Paris as 2001 Britney), Heidi Klum’s bloody teaser, America’s most-searched costumes, Love Is Blind Boston, and my spooky watchlist.

Not legal advice. Always have your contracts reviewed.

Links:
New this week on YouTube: The Difference Between UGC & Influencer Marketing → https://youtu.be/rG3NemqLukg
Every clause from today on The Influence Issue → https://open.substack.com/pub/sociallybrielle/p/the-scariest-brand-deal-clauses-halloween
Brand Deal Camp registration opens Nov 3, only 60 spots → BrandDealCamp.com
Follow @sociallybrielle everywhere

How you get in: You apply with one social account (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or Facebook). Amazon doesn’t publish a follower minimum. It looks at your engagement and whether you post product-related content like reviews, hauls and tutorials. Apply with the account where your audience is most active, not necessarily your biggest one.

Your storefront: Once you’re approved, you get your own page at amazon.com/shop/yourname. You fill it with idea lists and recommended products and earn a commission when people shop through it. Rates depend on the product category, roughly 1% to 10%.

Onsite videos (the part most people miss): You can upload review videos that, once approved, appear right on Amazon product pages. Those videos can earn you commission from shoppers who have never heard of you. Your storefront needs you to send it traffic. Onsite videos get traffic from Amazon itself.

What not to do: Don’t build a storefront and wait. A storefront with no traffic earns nothing.

What to do instead: Film short, honest reviews of products you already own and upload them consistently. Every approved video is one more place you can earn. Keep an eye out for Creator Connections in your dashboard too. That’s where brands offer bonus commissions on specific campaigns.

Watch the full explainer here:

Talk soon,
Brielle

SOME of those boxes didn’t just show up. A HUGE brand reached out for a collab and she agreed to include it in her weekly unboxing on youtube!

And honestly? Iconic. Because if you’re trying to grow on YouTube before you’re monetized, this is the #1 strategy I’d give you, bestie. PR unboxings. Let’s gooo!!

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Why YouTube, why NOW

YouTube is the platform you can charge brands the MOST for. Like it’s not even close!! A reel is basically old news after 48 hours. A YouTube video sits in search for YEARS, and brands pay for that shelf life.

And the timing is so good right now. Ad money spikes in November and December (holiday campaigns, girl), then January comes and RPM (what you actually earn per 1,000 views) drops 30 to 50% in almost every niche. The creators who win the next wave are the ones who already have a library of videos sitting there when the money shows up.

So build the library NOW, before you’re monetized, and every single video is already working for you the day you are!!

Why PR unboxings work so well

Three reasons and they’re all kind of genius.

1. People search for them!! “PR unboxing” and “PR haul” are things people literally type into YouTube. Search is how small channels get found, because a search result doesn’t care that you have 200 subscribers.

2. You look like the girl brands are obsessed with. Viewers see box after box from big brands landing at your door and assume brands are lining up for you. And guess what? So do other brands!!

3. It becomes proof. Once you’ve done a gifted collab with a brand people recognize, it goes on your media kit. When a brand is deciding if you’re a safe bet, they look at who already trusted you.

Meet the queen: Adelaine Morin

Watch Adelaine’s Youtube Channel Here

If you want to see this done at the highest level, go binge Adelaine Morin. She’s THE queen of luxury unboxings and hauls. Her whole channel is basically a masterclass in this format.

But don’t copy her. Brand hijack her!!

Okay so here’s what I mean. Watch her unboxings with your notes app open and write down every single brand that shows up. Every one of those brands already told you three things: they have a gifting budget, they send product to YouTube creators, and they love this exact format.

Congrats bestie, that’s your list!!

The sneaky part (and the not sneaky part)

So here’s what a lot of creators are quietly doing. They request a gifted collab, the brand ships it, and they unbox it like it just magically appeared on the doorstep. Viewers assume it’s PR rolling in and nobody asks how it got there. Sneaky? A little. Smart? Very!!

The ONE thing you never skip: saying it’s gifted. Out loud in the video AND in the description. The FTC requires it, so it’s not optional, babe.

But here’s the best part. “This was gifted” or “Thank you [brand]” doesn’t tell anyone whether you asked for it!! That part stays between you and the brand. 🤫

Adelaine will also include things she actually orders and pays for herself. AND sometimes you’ll hear her say “I selected x, y and z”. That’s code for gifted brand deal.

How to ask for a gifted collab

1. Pick 10 brands from your hijack list. Mix a couple dream brands with a few smaller brands who are hungry for content (they say yes faster!!).

2. Find the door. Scroll to the bottom of the brand’s website and look for “Press,” “Collaborate,” or an influencer program. A ton of big brands have a creator application form, so you don’t even need an email!!

3. Keep it short and cute. Who you are, the video it’ll be featured in, and who watches you. You’re asking for product, not money, so it’s an easy yes for them.

4. Stack 3 to 5 brands per video. Title it the way people search: “PR Unboxing: [Brand], [Brand] + [Brand].” More brands = more searches you show up in!!

5. Send them the link. When the video goes live, email the brand the link with a cute thank you. That little email? It’s the start of the PAID conversation. 👀

Then it goes on your media kit!!

Every brand you unbox goes on your media kit under “Brands I’ve worked with.” And yes, gifted counts!!

Which brings me to my question for you...

Spoiler: it should be!! When a brand finds your channel at 2pm on a random Tuesday, your stats and the brands you’ve worked with should be ONE click away. Not stuck in a DM they’ll forget about by Thursday.

So go open your notes app, start that hijack list, and build your library before the money shows up. Future you (with a closet full of PR and a media kit that slaps) is gonna be SO thankful!!

x, Brielle

PS. Brand deal camp starts in ONE WEEK! And if you’re not already on the waitlist girl what are you doing hop on now! www.branddealcamp.com!

Then it asked for a $5,000 deposit on a car that may ship in 2028. Tesla’s own terms say it “cannot guarantee when a vehicle will be delivered, or whether it will be delivered at all.”

And people are lining up. Love him or hate him, that’s marketing.

The nine-year hype machine

The original 2017 pitch: 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds, 250+ mph and 620 miles of range, starting around $200,000. Then came years of delays while Tesla focused on the Cybertruck, the Semi, robotaxis and robots. The Roadster page barely changed for almost a decade.

The October reveal at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, was pure spectacle. A prototype drove up a curved ramp until it was upside down, held on by fan suction. Cold-gas thrusters launched it into the air, it flipped and landed on its wheels. Nobody was inside.

Tesla’s claims (not independently verified) include 0 to 60 in about 0.81 seconds with thrusters, over 230 mph and over 300 miles of range. That’s about half the range promised in 2017.

The money part

This is where it gets interesting for anyone who sells anything online.

• $5,000 to get in line, then a $50,000 total reservation for the Performance version or $250,000 for the Thrust version.

• No final price.

• Refundable until you configure the car, and not held in escrow. Meaning: Tesla can spend that money now. < That part is crazy

• Production aimed at 2028, with no guarantee.

That’s a deposit on a promise. And it works because people feel like insiders.

What creators can steal

Hype works when people feel like they’re early. You can build that for a course, a cohort, a product or a membership:

1. A free waitlist first. Test demand before anyone pays you anything.

2. A founding price with a real date. If you charge early, give people a delivery date and a refund policy in writing.

3. Behind-the-scenes updates. Let the waitlist watch you build. That’s the insider feeling, without the nine years.

What not to steal

Taking real money with no date and no refund plan. Tesla can survive that because it’s Tesla. A creator who does it loses the one thing that makes people buy from them again: trust. Your waitlist should have a date. That’s the difference between hype and a hostage situation.

The faster way to get paid

If Tesla’s model is “pay now, wait years,” affiliate programs are the opposite. This week on Brand Deal School: Amazon Influencer Program Explained (2 Ways It Pays You). You can start with content you make this week, and you get paid on the next sale. Linked below.

Speaking of things worth way too much money

Kelly Clarkson called out a small Brooklyn toy shop online over a $15,000 mechanical bird named Molly.

The shop says the bird was never for sale, and that fans then sent its staff threats. Its response: raising Molly’s price to $15 million “due to popular demand.” The lesson for anyone with an audience: a complaint you post isn’t a review, it’s a crowd. Brands notice how you handle conflict before they book you.

The bottom line

Hype is a tool, not a business model. Tesla gets to make people wait nine years because it’s Tesla. You get to build hype too, as long as you keep your promises: a waitlist with a date, a price you honor, and updates that make people feel like insiders.

Build the excitement, then deliver. That’s how one launch turns into the next one. Watch the Amazon Influencer Program breakdown this week, and I’ll see you in the next issue.

Pull quote: “Nine years. Half the range. Still sold out of hype.”

Open your analytics and find a reel where the retention line falls off a cliff before three seconds. Then watch your own first second honestly. Nine times out of ten there is a breath, a settle, a small adjustment before the real thing starts.

That is the whole problem, and these are the four cuts that fix it.

1. Cut the run up

Find the first frame where something is actually happening and delete everything before it.

Not trim. Delete. The instinct is to keep half a second for comfort, and that half second is where you lost them.

If your video opens with you inhaling, adjusting, or saying so, it starts too early.

2. Put the most interesting frame first, even out of order

The strongest visual does not have to arrive when it happened. If the payoff is at second nine, put two seconds of it at the front and then cut back.

This is not a trick, it is editing. Every trailer ever made works this way.

3. Make the first line a claim, not a setup

Setup: today I want to talk about pricing.

Claim: the rate you sent is not why they ghosted you.

One of those tells people what they are about to get. The other asks them to wait for it, and they will not.

If your first line could be deleted without losing information, delete it.

4. Give the eye a reason to stay one more beat

A cut, a movement, a zoom, a reveal, a hand entering frame. Something has to change in the first two seconds or the brain reads the video as static and moves on.

A locked off shot of a person talking is the hardest possible open. If that is your format, change the framing every two to three seconds early on.

How to know it worked

Do not judge by likes. Go to retention and look at one number: what percentage is still watching at three seconds.

Run the same content with two different first seconds. The gap between them will be bigger than you expect, and it is the most useful thing you can learn about your own audience.

This week

Take your last five reels. Cut the first second off each one. Watch them back.

Most of them get better, and it costs you nothing to find out.

Before you go

If you’re getting gifted product and affiliate links but no paid partnerships, your follower count isn’t what’s holding you back. Creators smaller than you are getting paid right now. The difference is positioning, confidence, and knowing how the industry works from the brand side.

That’s what we cover at Brand Deal Camp, my 7-day experience for micro creators, January 11 to 17. You get six nights of fireside chats and six cabins of ten. Your trunk ships before camp starts.

Only 60 bunks are available, and doors close December 1.

Save your bunk at Brand Deal Camp →

What it is: As a TikTok Shop affiliate, you promote products sold inside TikTok Shop. You tag them in your videos or lives, and you earn a commission (a percentage of each sale) when someone buys through your tag.

Who can join: You need to be 18 or older with a personal account in good standing. The standard requirement has been 5,000 followers, though TikTok has tested lower entry points for smaller creators. Your Creator Center in the app shows what your account qualifies for right now.

What it pays: The seller sets the commission, and it’s commonly 10% to 20% depending on the category. There are two ways in:

• Open collaboration: any affiliate can promote the product at the listed rate.

• Targeted collaboration: the brand invites you directly, often at a higher rate and sometimes with a free sample.

What not to do: Don’t treat affiliate as your paycheck. You’re paid only when someone buys, and no sale means no pay. A closet full of free samples is not income.

What to do instead: Use affiliate as proof. When a brand can see your videos actually move product, you have leverage to ask for a flat fee plus commission next time. That’s where affiliate turns into a real brand deal.

Watch the full explainer here:

Talk soon,
Brielle

Romee Strijd walked Victoria’s Secret for years. This fall she flew to New York to cast, waited on an answer, and found out through her agency that she’d already been released. The only explanation she got: they thought she “wouldn’t fit the show this year.”

On the same runway, Kylie Jenner closed the night in the Fantasy Bra. Kylie has walked exactly two other runway shows.

So did influencers replace the Angels? Kind of. And if you make content for a living, you should care about why.

What actually happened

The 2026 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show aired Sunday, October 18, from Los Angeles. It didn’t air on network TV. It streamed free on Victoria’s Secret’s own YouTube channel. Megan Thee Stallion and Tate McRae performed. Adriana Lima walked her 21st show and Alessandra Ambrosio her 20th.

But the conversation wasn’t about the veterans. It was about who was missing. Romee Strijd and Frida Aasen weren’t selected. Romee said it plainly: “I can live with a no, but I just would like to know.” Meanwhile the announced lineup included creators like Quenlin Blackwell and Gabi Moura, plus celebrity kids like Amelia Gray, Lisa Rinna’s daughter. Fans started using words like “boycott.”

Then came the Fantasy Bra. It’s valued at $50 million, has 4,410 natural diamonds and took over 1,000 hours to make. It hadn’t appeared in eight years. Kylie is the first non-Angel to ever wear it.

One stylist called it “tone-deaf.” Another said we’ve shifted to a world where “celebrities now become models rather than models becoming celebrities.” A third said people feel Kylie “skipped the line,” and that the backlash itself is free marketing.

And where was Kendall? I don’t think that Kylie “took” her sister’s spot like some are claiming but it would’ve been very cool to see them both in the show. Why do you think Kendall didn’t walk? Was she not invited? Or did she choose not to attend / participate? Let me know in the comments!

Why brands cast audiences now

Three reasons, and none of them are about how anyone looks in wings.

First, distribution. A model walks the runway. A creator walks the runway and posts the GRWM, the behind the scenes, the reaction and the recap. Every creator in that lineup brought their own audience with them.

Second, the show is content now. When your biggest night of the year streams on YouTube, it gets judged like a YouTube video: views, watch time, clips. Talent that drives views wins the casting.

Third, controversy is reach. Every think piece about Kylie in the Fantasy Bra is another headline with Victoria’s Secret in it.

I see this every day from the brand side. When brands reach out about creators, they ask about average views, audience demographics and content quality long before they ask what someone looks like.

The counterpoint

There’s a real cost here. Victoria’s Secret built a billion-dollar image on Angels being untouchable. Creators make the brand relatable, but relatable isn’t always aspirational. If anyone with an audience can wear the Fantasy Bra, does it still mean anything? That’s the brand’s risk to manage, not yours.

What this means for you

If a lingerie brand is paying for audiences, your audience is an asset. Price it like one.

That means two things. Charge for distribution, not just the video. And when a brand reuses your content anywhere besides your own page, that’s usage, and usage is billed separately. Go open your last brand deal. If they ran your content on their page or in ads and you got one flat fee, you left money on the table.

And you don’t need a runway to start. This week on Brand Deal School I’m breaking down How To Make Your $1,000 With UGC and How To Get Paid From TikTok Shop Affiliate.

One more thing: Dylan Sprouse is winning the husband game

Barbara Palvin walked about six weeks after their daughter Sylvie was born, and Dylan was front row posting “Built different.” Barbara called six weeks a normal U.S. return-to-work window. For creators, there’s no paid leave at all. If you’re planning one, batch content ahead, lean on evergreen affiliate links, and put delay language in your contracts so a life event doesn’t breach a deal.

The bottom line

Victoria’s Secret didn’t stop caring about beauty. It started caring about reach. That’s the same math every brand in your inbox is doing, whether you have 5,000 followers or 5 million. The creators who win this era know what their audience is worth and say the number out loud.

So here’s your homework: look at your last deal, find what you gave away for free, and price it next time. If you want help getting there, start with this week’s two new Brand Deal School videos. I’ll see you in the next issue.

“The runway isn’t a runway anymore. It’s a content shoot with wings.”

At beginner UGC rates ($150 to $300 per video), $1,000 is four videos at $250, or five at $200. It’s not a viral moment and it’s not a big following. It’s four or five videos for brands that need content.

Here’s how to get there.

1. Make three spec videos. A spec video is a practice video for a product you already own, made as if a brand hired you. Three of them is your starter portfolio. You don’t need gear: a window, a clean counter and a steady phone are enough.

2. Put them somewhere a brand can see them. One simple page with your three videos, what you make (unboxings, demos, testimonials) and how to reach you. Brands decide in seconds, so make it easy.

3. Be findable. Add “UGC creator” to your bio. Post UGC-style videos on your own page so brands scrolling for creators see the work. Join UGC marketplaces like JoinBrands or Insense, where brands post open briefs and creators apply.

4. Quote your rate and don’t flinch. Start at $150 to $300 per video. What not to do: drop to $50 to “get your foot in the door.” The door you walk through at $50 stays at $50.

5. Turn one client into a repeat client. This is the fastest route to $1,000. A brand that liked your first video will usually need more. Offer a three-video package. Three videos at $250 is $750 from one yes, and your first thousand is one more video away.

Watch the full breakdown here:

If you’re ready to go from gifted to paid, Brand Deal Camp runs seven days this January. Join the waitlist here.

Talk soon,
Brielle

The first is to do the trend. Same audio, same format, same joke, your face. That gets you a small distribution bump and zero new followers, because nothing about it was yours.

The second is to use the sound as a container and put your own specific thing inside it. That one occasionally goes somewhere.

Timing matters more than people admit

A sound has roughly a week of real usefulness. By the time you have seen it four times on your own feed you are already late, and late means competing with a thousand better executions of the same idea.

The way to be early is not to scroll more. Tap the sound on any reel and look at how many videos have used it. Under about 10,000 is early. Over 100,000 and you are doing it for fun, not for reach.

Be specific to a degree that feels excessive

The trend gives you a shape. Your job is to fill it with something only you could say.

Generic: when you finally finish your to do list.

Specific: when you finish the brand deliverables at 11pm and remember you still have not invoiced anyone.

The second one is smaller. That is exactly why it works. Specific is what makes a person tag someone.

If your version could have been posted by any creator in your category, it will perform like a video by any creator in your category.

Keep the sound, change the frame

The easiest way to stand out inside a trend is to change one variable and leave everything else alone. Same audio, unexpected setting. Same format, opposite conclusion. Same joke, from the other side of the transaction.

That last one is a gift if you have any insider position at all. Everyone is doing the trend from the creator side. Do it from the brand side.

When to skip it entirely

If the sound does not fit what you are actually about, skip it. A feed full of unrelated trends reads as a person with no point of view, and that is the thing that makes you hard to describe in one sentence, which is the thing that makes you hard to book.

Trends are a tool for getting reach on an idea you already had. They are not a substitute for having one.

This week

Check the audio page before you use a sound. Under 10,000 uses, or do not bother.

Then write your version and ask one question. Could anyone else in my niche have posted this. If yes, make it smaller and more specific until the answer is no.

Before you go

If you’re getting gifted product and affiliate links but no paid partnerships, your follower count isn’t what’s holding you back. Creators smaller than you are getting paid right now. The difference is positioning, confidence, and knowing how the industry works from the brand side.

That’s what we cover at Brand Deal Camp, my 7-day experience for micro creators, January 11 to 17. You get six nights of fireside chats and six cabins of ten. Your trunk ships before camp starts.

Only 60 bunks are available, and doors close December 1.

Save your bunk at Brand Deal Camp →

First, they spend money they don’t have on gear they don’t need. Then they make a few videos and charge $50 for them.

Both mistakes come from the same wrong idea: that the brand is paying for something other than the video. It isn’t. Brands aren’t paying for your follower count, and they aren’t paying for your camera. They’re paying for a piece of content that sells their product.

Once you see it that way, everything gets simpler. This week I put out two short videos on exactly this, one on getting started and one on pricing. Here’s the short version of each, plus what to do with it.

Part one: start with what you already own

UGC (user generated content) is a short video a brand pays you to make so they can post it on their own channels or run it as an ad. You don’t post it on your page. Your followers don’t matter to the deal.

Your phone already shoots better video than most brands need for social. Before you buy anything, get these five things right:

1. Window light. Face a window during the day. Soft, free light beats a cheap ring light.

2. A clean spot. A clear counter, a plain table or a tidy shelf. Nothing should pull the eye away from the product.

3. A steady phone. A stack of books and a mug make a perfectly good tripod.

4. A quiet room. Rooms with rugs and curtains sound better than an echoey kitchen.

5. Three spec videos. Practice videos for products you already own. These become your starter portfolio.

Watch the full walkthrough (it’s under 3 minutes):

Part two: what to charge for one video

Your base item is one video, 15 to 60 seconds long. Here’s what that’s going for in 2026:

• Beginner: $150 to $300

• Growing: $300 to $600

• Experienced: $600+

Now, what not to do: don’t charge $50. Not even for your very first video. The brand is still getting a finished ad. Pricing yourself at $50 tells them you don’t know that, and it’s very hard to raise your rate with a client who met you at $50.

Three things move you up those tiers: a portfolio, repeat clients and results. And anything beyond the base video costs extra. That includes add-ons like extra hooks or raw footage, and usage. Usage is the right to run your video as a paid ad or keep it up past an agreed timeframe. That’s where a lot of creators leave money on the table.

The full rate breakdown is here:

Your homework this week

Set up your filming spot using the five steps above, then film one spec video. Just one. Next week, film the second. By the end of the month you’ll have a three-video portfolio and a rate you can say out loud with a straight face.

If you want me in your inbox for the rest of it, subscribe to the YouTube channel too. Every video there answers one brand deal question in under a few minutes.

And if you’re ready to go from gifted to paid, Brand Deal Camp runs for seven days this January. Join the waitlist here.

Talk soon,
Brielle

Before we get to numbers, here’s the part most new creators miss: the brand isn’t paying for your followers. It’s paying for the video.

UGC (user generated content) is content you make for a brand to use on its own channels, like its website, its emails and its ads. It never goes on your page, so your follower count has nothing to do with your rate. Your rate comes from your skill and your track record.

Your base item

Every quote starts with one video, 15 to 60 seconds long. Here’s what that’s going for right now:

• Beginner: $150 to $300

• Growing: $300 to $600

• Experienced: $600+

What not to do

Don’t charge $50. Not even for your very first video.

At $50 the brand still gets a finished piece of content they can run as an ad. All you’ve done is tell them you don’t know what it’s worth. It’s also very hard to raise your rate with a client who met you at $50. Start at the bottom of the beginner range and let your work move you up.

What actually raises your rate

Three things move you from one tier to the next:

1. A portfolio. Brands want to see what you can do before they pay for it. Three solid sample videos is enough to start.

2. Repeat clients. A brand that books you twice is proof you deliver, and that’s what the next brand is really buying.

3. Results. If a video drove sales, clicks or a winning ad, ask the brand for the numbers and use them.

Why add-ons and usage cost extra

Your base rate covers the video. It doesn’t cover everything a brand might want to do with it. Extra hooks, raw footage and usage are all priced separately. Usage is the right to run your video as a paid ad or keep it live past an agreed timeframe. When a brand asks for those, your price goes up. That’s normal, not greedy.

Watch the full breakdown here (under 7 minutes):

If this helped, subscribe on YouTube too. Every video there answers one brand deal question, start to finish.

Talk soon,
Brielle

Usually the problem is that there is nothing to look at. One shot, one angle, one static frame of a person explaining something. The brain gets the information in four seconds and leaves.

B-roll is not decoration. It is the reason the eye stays.

The shots nobody films and everybody needs

Hands. Hands doing the thing, picking it up, opening it, typing, pouring, closing the laptop. Hands are the most useful footage in the world and they take four seconds to get.

The walk in. You entering the frame, the room, the cafe, the car. It gives an edit a beginning.

The object alone. Whatever you are talking about, sitting there, no person, slow pan. Two seconds. This is your breathing room between points.

The detail nobody asked for. The steam, the texture, the label, the ring on the notebook. These are the frames people screenshot.

The reaction with no words. Your face after the thing happens. Three seconds. Use it as a punchline.

Twelve seconds is the whole assignment

Five shots. Two to three seconds each. That is enough b-roll for a sixty second video, and it is about ninety seconds of actual filming.

You are not making a film. You are giving the edit somewhere to cut so a person does not have to stare at the same rectangle for a minute.

Shoot it after, not before

The reason most people have no b-roll is that they film the talking part, feel done, and stop.

Make the last thing you do every shoot the same. Five cutaways of whatever is in the room. It takes less time than picking the audio will.

Where to actually put it

Over the part of your script that is a list. Over the sentence you say every time. Over any beat where you are explaining rather than reacting.

Do not cover the emotional line. When you say the thing that matters, stay on your face.

Build a bank

Keep an album on your phone called b-roll. Anything ambient you shoot goes in it. Your desk, your walk, your coffee, your car, your city.

Inside two months you will stop needing to shoot for the edit, which is when making content stops feeling like a production and starts feeling like assembling.

This week

On your next shoot, film five cutaways before you put the phone down. Hands, the object, the detail, the walk in, the reaction.

Then watch what it does to how long people stay.

Before you go

If you’re getting gifted product and affiliate links but no paid partnerships, your follower count isn’t what’s holding you back. Creators smaller than you are getting paid right now. The difference is positioning, confidence, and knowing how the industry works from the brand side.

That’s what we cover at Brand Deal Camp, my 7-day experience for micro creators, January 11 to 17. You get six nights of fireside chats and six cabins of ten. Your trunk ships before camp starts.

Only 60 bunks are available, and doors close December 1.

Save your bunk at Brand Deal Camp →

The expensive part of making a video is never the recording. It is getting dressed, fixing the light, finding the angle, and getting your brain into the mode where you can talk to a phone without sounding strange. You pay that cost once per session, not once per video.

So have fewer sessions.

Do the writing on a different day

This is the part people skip and it is the part that makes batching work.

Sit down with a note and write five hooks, with a few bullet points each. No filming. Just the first line and the shape of the point.

If you try to think and perform at the same time you will get through two videos and be exhausted. If the thinking is already done, five is easy.

Change one thing between videos

This is the whole trick to not looking batched, and it is smaller than people think.

Move to a different wall. Add or remove a jacket, glasses, a clip in your hair. Change the angle from straight on to slightly above. Sit for two, stand for two. Open a window shade.

Five small changes across five videos reads as five different days. Nobody is looking closely enough to catch more than that.

Shoot in one direction and do not review

Record all five back to back without watching anything back.

Reviewing between takes is where two hours becomes five. You will get in your own head about a video that was fine. Record, move on, review at the end.

If you flub a line, do not stop. Pause, say it again, cut it later. A retake costs nothing in the edit. Restarting your energy costs everything.

End with the cutaways

Last twenty minutes. Hands, objects, the walk in, the details, reaction faces. Shoot them loose and not tied to any specific video so they can cover anything.

That is what lets you edit for the rest of the week without opening the camera again.

Then edit on a third day

Write one day, shoot one day, edit one day. Three touches, five videos.

The reason this beats daily filming is not the time saved. It is that you stop making decisions under pressure, and the work gets better because of it.

Your first session

Five hooks written in advance. One two hour block. One small change per video. No reviewing until the end. Twenty minutes of b-roll to close.

Do it once and you will not go back.

Before you go

If you’re getting gifted product and affiliate links but no paid partnerships, your follower count isn’t what’s holding you back. Creators smaller than you are getting paid right now. The difference is positioning, confidence, and knowing how the industry works from the brand side.

That’s what we cover at Brand Deal Camp, my 7-day experience for micro creators, January 11 to 17. You get six nights of fireside chats and six cabins of ten. Your trunk ships before camp starts.

Only 60 bunks are available, and doors close December 1.

Save your bunk at Brand Deal Camp →

Here’s what I’ve learned watching that happen over and over: nobody is counting your followers first. They’re scrolling your grid asking one question.

Can this woman sell a thing?

That’s it. That’s the whole evaluation. And most of the pages I send over answer it by accident, if at all.

The portfolio problem

Think about how any other paid creative gets hired. A photographer sends a portfolio. A copywriter sends samples. A designer sends a case study. Nobody hires them off a promise.

Content is the only field where people expect to be hired on potential. You send a media kit full of reach numbers and hope somebody imagines what you’d make for them.

Brands are terrible at imagining. They are busy, they are protecting a budget, and they need to walk into a meeting and show their boss a link. If your page is quote cards, carousels, and talking-head advice, there is nothing to link to. You might be excellent. They can’t tell.

If your page has products living inside a real life, being opened, used, poured, worn, and talked about, they have their answer without asking you a single question.

The content that gets you your first paid deal is content you make before anyone is paying you. That’s not working for free. That’s building the portfolio.

What actually makes a post brand ready

Three rules. They sound small. They’re the difference between content that gets you booked and content that just performs.

One. The product is in the first three seconds. Not the reveal at the end. Not the payoff after the story. Brands scroll exactly like everyone else, and half of them are watching on mute in a Slack thread.

Two. Show the use, not the item. A bottle on a shelf is a photo. Hands opening the bottle is an ad. Motion is what makes a person feel the product, and feeling is what makes them buy.

Three. One hero per post. You can have five things on the counter. One of them is the star. Brands need to see their product own the frame, not fight four other logos for it.

Bonus rule that has made my creators real money: shoot it like you’d want it on the brand’s page, not just yours. Vertical, a little wide so they can crop, logo readable in at least one clip, your voice over it instead of text on screen. That’s the difference between getting paid for a post and getting paid again when they license it for their own ads.

Four ideas to start with this week

You don’t need a shoot day. You need to point a camera at what you’re already doing.

Your morning, product by product. The first hour of your day, start to finish. This is the single most requested format brands ask for, because coffee, skincare, supplements, and small appliances all live in that hour naturally.

“I was doing this the hard way for years.” The old way, then the fix. Problem, then product. It’s the highest converting structure on the internet and you can write it about anything sitting in your kitchen.

The restock. What you rebought this month, and what you didn’t. Repurchase is the strongest possible signal, because it’s the one thing a brand can’t fake and can’t buy. A marketing manager can walk into a meeting with “she bought it twice” and win.

Your desk, but every item has a reason. If you run a business, your workspace is full of products you’ve never once shown. Tech, office supplies, and software brands are all sitting there unpitched. Software brands in particular pay well and get pitched by almost nobody.

Notice none of these require a brand to say yes first. That’s the point.

Then go get paid for it

Here’s the part people skip. You make the content, it does well, and you leave it there.

Post it organically. Let it sit a week. Then send it to the brand with the receipts attached.

What goes in that email: the link, three numbers (views, saves, and one comment that proves purchase intent, the “where is this from” kind), and one sentence about what you’d make for them next. No rates. Let them ask.

Steal this:

Hi [name], I posted about [product] last week and it did [number] views with [number] saves, plus a comment thread of people asking where to buy it. I’d love to make a paid version for your page. Here’s the post: [link]. Happy to send my media kit if you’re interested.

Short, specific, no begging. That email works because you’re not asking them to imagine anything. You already did the work and you’re showing them the result.

The free download

I put together the full list, 28 product-forward content ideas grouped by category, with a line on each explaining why brands actually buy that format. It also includes the shooting checklist that makes your footage licensable, the organic-to-paid email play, and a 30-day plan so you don’t try to do all 28 and do none of them.

It’s free. Grab it here

Make four of them this month. At the end of it you’ll have a portfolio, which is more than most people pitching for the same deal will have.

You don’t need a bigger audience. You need better proof.

I did the thing you are probably doing. I boosted posts. I built these elaborate interest audiences stacked ten deep because a guru on YouTube said the money was in the targeting. I split my tiny budget across five ad sets so each “angle” had its own little home, then I sat there refreshing Ads Manager and turning things off the second they had a bad morning. I paid a lot to learn nothing, and I quietly decided ads just did not work for someone at my level.

Subscribe now

This time I did something different. I let Claude run them. I stopped arguing with it, I stopped “improving” things at midnight, and I did exactly what it told me to do for a month.

Here is what happened.

The receipt

I ran ads for my free live class, the one where we build your custom Claude business dashboard together on the call. I spent about $700.

That $700 brought in 335 registrations.

That is roughly two dollars a registration. Two dollars. Every “realistic” number I had ever seen put a webinar registration somewhere between six and nine dollars, and that is on a good day with a warm audience. I had no big list feeding this. It was cold traffic and a two dollar seat.

I am telling you the number first because I want you to know the rest of this actually worked, and it worked by doing less, not more. Let me walk you through the five things Claude had me do that go against almost everything the experts sell you.

1. It refused to let me target anyone

The experts want you buried in audience settings. Interests, behaviors, lookalikes stacked on lookalikes. It feels productive. It feels like the work.

Claude let me set two things: age and gender. That is it. Women, the age range that fits my buyer, my country. No interests. No behaviors. Nothing clever.

The reasoning is boring and correct. When you have no list and a small budget, the algorithm is a better targeter than you are. Meta already knows who books calls and who buys courses. Your job is not to guess who those people are. Your job is to hand the algorithm a good signal and get out of its way. Every interest I would have added would have made the pool smaller and the learning slower. So we skipped it, and the algorithm went and found my people for two dollars a head.

2. It tested creative cheap before spending a cent on conversions

This is the move I wish someone had shown me two years and several hundred wasted dollars ago.

Everyone tells you to optimize for the conversion from day one. Run your ads for registrations, right out of the gate. The problem is registrations are “expensive” events, so Meta spends slowly and carefully while it figures out your creative, and you burn a week of budget just learning which video people will even stop scrolling for.

Claude flipped the order. First campaign, we optimized for landing page views. Cheap, fast, tons of data. Within a few days it was obvious which creative was pulling people in and which was dead weight, and I had barely spent anything to find out. Only then did we take the winners into a second campaign optimized for the actual registration. So I was never paying premium conversion prices to test a hook. I tested the hook for pennies, then spent the real money only on the ads that had already proven they work.

Test creative on cheap traffic. Scale winners on the real objective. Two campaigns, in that order.

3. It used ad set budgets, not campaign budgets

Small technical thing, big consequence.

The default advice, and honestly the setting Meta nudges you toward, is to put your budget at the campaign level and let it decide how to split the money. It sounds smart. In practice, when you are testing, it means the algorithm quietly starves the ads you actually want data on and dumps everything into one early favorite that might not be your real winner.

Claude had me set the budget at the ad set level while testing, so I controlled exactly how much each thing got to spend. Every creative got a fair, equal shot to prove itself instead of getting choked out on day one. When a clear winner showed up, I could feed it deliberately instead of hoping the campaign math landed there on its own. You want your hand on the dial while you are still learning what works.

4. It scaled the winner slowly, on purpose

Once I had an ad that was printing two dollar registrations, every instinct in my body said pour the whole budget in right now.

That instinct is how you kill a good ad. Big budget jumps throw the ad back into the learning phase, and it comes out the other side more expensive and worse. So we scaled it the boring way: raise the budget about twenty percent every two or three days, and leave it alone in between. Slow enough that the algorithm never panics, steady enough that the thing keeps growing. The ad that started at two dollars stayed near two dollars while it scaled, because I did not spook it.

Patience is the actual skill here. Not cleverness. Patience.

5. It told me to skip retargeting, and it was right

This is the one that surprised me most, because retargeting is supposed to be the easy money. Warm people, cheap clicks, free sales, that is the whole pitch.

I ran it. It did nothing. My retargeting registrations were not cheaper than my cold ones in any way that justified the setup, the extra campaign, or the attention. On a small budget, retargeting splits your money one more way and asks a tiny warm audience to somehow produce enough volume to matter. It cannot.

So we turned it off. And here is the better move Claude pointed me to: retarget with email instead. The people who hit my page and did not sign up, the ones who registered and went quiet, those are follow up emails, not ad dollars. Email is free, it is warmer, and it does the exact job people are overpaying Meta to do. Keep your ad budget on cold traffic where it actually earns, and let your inbox do the chasing.

Why this beat the experts

Here is the thing nobody wants to say out loud. Claude did not beat the experts because it knew some secret setting. It beat them because it would not let me do the expensive, complicated, impressive looking things that make you feel like a real marketer and quietly drain your account.

No fancy audiences. No day one conversion tax. No budget setting that steals from your own test. No scaling too fast. No retargeting a crowd too small to matter. It kept the whole thing consolidated and calm and let one good structure learn. That is it. That is the secret the million dollar accounts are actually running, sized down to a budget you and I can afford.

You do not need an agency. You do not need to be smarter. You need the structure, and the discipline to stop touching it.

Get the playbook

I put all of it into one thing: The Small-Budget Meta Ads Playbook. The exact campaign structure, the honest math, the numbers that tell you when to scale and when to kill an ad, and the three week runway I ran, all in a few pages you can follow start to finish.

It is free. Download it here.

Go get your seats filled.

x, Brielle

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Here's the format that works.

Step 1: Open with "I'm going to do something I rarely do today and talk about the paid tier."

This frame matters. You're not pitching. You're letting your audience in on something they're curious about. Reader trust goes UP, not down.

Step 2: Show your paid post titles from the last month.

List them with one-sentence descriptions. Free readers see the volume and the depth of what they've been missing.

Step 3: Explain who paid is for.

Be specific. "Small business owners producing reels weekly." "Coaches launching offers quarterly." "Marketers managing multiple accounts." The more specific the audience, the more the right reader self-selects.

Step 4: Explain who paid is NOT for.

This is the converting move. Tell people who shouldn't pay you. "Don't subscribe if you're not actively posting." "Don't subscribe if you want passive content." This honest framing builds enormous trust and dramatically increases conversion among the right audience.

Step 5: Soft pitch with the price.

End with the price and the link. No urgency. No pressure. Just clarity.

The conversion-conversation post should run once a month. Quarterly minimum. Almost nobody does this and the math is wildly in your favor when you do.

Saturday is Skill 05, the Content Repurposer. Goes into your AI Content Manager. The AI Content Manager becomes complete this week.

See you Saturday.

x, Brielle