How to Accept Brand Inquiries From Your Link in Bio

To accept brand inquiries from your link in bio, add a clearly labeled “Work with me” link that opens a structured form requiring the brand’s company, contact, budget, timeline, deliverables, usage rights, and campaign brief. Route submissions to one inbox, screen them, reply consistently, and track every lead by stage.

The link is only the entry point. A complete solo workflow has seven stages: placement, intake, demand, screening, response, pricing, and tracking. You can run it with a bio link, a form, one inbox, and a simple spreadsheet or board.

Why doesn’t “DM me for collabs” work as an intake system?

A DM cannot qualify a business opportunity. Fan messages and brand pitches share one inbox, senders decide what to disclose, and offers arrive without the budget, scope, rights, and deadline fields you need to compare them. A structured form fixes the order of operations: the brand states its terms before you spend time replying.

Direct messages are also the highest-loss fraud channel on record. The Federal Trade Commission reported on April 27, 2026 that nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam in 2025 said the scam started on social media, with $2.1 billion in reported losses (FTC, “New FTC Data Show People Have Lost Billions to Social Media Scams”). Reported losses to scams that began on social media in 2025 were eight times higher than in 2020, making social media the costliest fraud contact method of that year (FTC). In 2025 people lost more money to scams starting on Facebook than on any other social platform, with WhatsApp and Instagram second and third (FTC). Separately, imposter scams were the most frequently reported fraud type in 2025, accounting for nearly one in three fraud reports and $3.5 billion in reported losses — the exact risk a brand-impersonation DM or form submission carries.

A structured form reverses that dynamic. The brand describes the opportunity before you invest time in it, allowing you to decide whether to reply based on concrete information rather than a vague “Would love to collab” message.

This is especially useful when you manage your own partnerships. A form performs the first screening pass that a manager or agent might otherwise handle, reducing repetitive follow-up questions and keeping brand inquiries from consuming an unplanned afternoon.

Where should the brand-inquiry link appear?

Put the inquiry link in each platform's official profile-link field, labelled “Work with me,” “Brand inquiries,” or “Partnership inquiries,” and point it at the intake form rather than an email address or a generic contact page. Avoid a vague “Contact” label, which does not tell a brand where the link leads or what happens next.

Each platform publishes a different link allowance, so check the number before you plan the placement. Instagram's Help Center states that you can add up to 5 websites to your Instagram profile (Instagram Help Center, “How do I add a website to my Instagram profile?”). Instagram also caps the bio itself at 150 characters (Instagram Help Center, “Add a bio to your Instagram profile”), so the label has to be short enough to sit alongside your positioning line.

YouTube's Help Center states that you can showcase up to 14 links on your channel Home tab and that your first link is prominently displayed (YouTube Help, “Add links to your channel”). Because that first slot is the most visible one, creators taking inbound brand work should place the inquiry form there rather than in position 14, and repeat the same URL near the top of relevant video descriptions.

TikTok's Support Center states that a profile can add a website link once the account reaches 1,000 followers or holds a Registered Business Account, set through Profile → Edit profile → Links (TikTok Support, “Link a website or social media account”). Whichever placement you use, sending brands straight to the intake form ensures the screening questions appear before a conversation begins. For platform-specific wording and link placement, see add a “work with me” link to your bio.

What should a brand inquiry form ask for?

A brand inquiry form should capture the commercial terms of the deal, not just an introduction: company and contact identity, deliverables, budget, publication date, usage rights, exclusivity, paid-media access, revisions, and compensation type. A form that collects only a name and email is a slower DM, not a screening system. At minimum, request:

• Brand or agency name
• Contact name, work email, and role
• Brand website and campaign or product
• Requested platforms and deliverables
• Budget or budget range
• Desired publication date and approval timeline
• Content usage period and channels
• Exclusivity requirements
• Whitelisting or paid-ad access
• Number of revision rounds requested
• Product-only, paid, affiliate, or mixed compensation
• Any mandatory talking points or claims

A concrete deliverables field might say: “List the content you want, including quantity, format, platform, and length—for example, one edited vertical video plus three story frames.” A rights field might ask: “Will the content appear only on my account, or do you also want organic reposting, paid advertising, whitelisting, or website use?”

Use conditional fields where possible. If a brand selects paid advertising, reveal questions about duration, territory, and platforms. If it selects exclusivity, ask which competitors or product categories would be restricted and for how long.

A legitimate brand should be able to provide enough information for you to judge fit, even if its final creative brief is not ready. For a field-by-field template, see what to include in a brand inquiry form.

What if brand inquiries are not arriving?

An intake form organizes demand; it does not create demand by itself. No universal follower threshold determines whether a brand may contact a creator directly. As industry guidance rather than a platform rule, brand interest can depend on niche relevance, audience fit, content quality, geography, campaign goals, and whether the creator is easy to evaluate and contact.

Platform-run matchmaking programs are the exception, and each publishes an exact gate. Instagram's Help Center states that creators must be at least 18 years old, hold a professional public Instagram account, and have a minimum of 1,000 followers to access Creator Marketplace. TikTok's Support Center states that a creator must be at least 18 years old, have at least 10,000 followers, and have at least 1,000 post views within the last 30 days to check eligibility for TikTok One, TikTok's creator-and-brand collaboration platform. Your own bio-link inquiry form carries no such threshold, which is why it remains the working inbound channel for creators below those numbers.

Make the commercial fit visible before expecting the form to convert. Your recent content should show what you cover, who it is for, and how a relevant product could appear naturally. Your inquiry link should also be easy to find without requiring a brand representative to search through posts or send a DM for contact details.

The form does not find brands, pitch on your behalf, guarantee submissions, or negotiate terms. If inquiries are not appearing, the problem is upstream of the form; how small creators get more brand inquiries explains the discovery and positioning work that can help.

How should you screen a brand offer before replying?

Screen every brand submission against seven checks before you negotiate: sender identity, campaign fit, compensation type, scope realism, rights requested, security risk, and required claims. Confirm the email domain belongs to the brand or a named agency, then verify that the stated budget and deadline actually match the deliverables before you write a full reply.

Work through them in order:

1. Identity: Does the sender’s email domain match the brand or a verifiable agency?
2. Campaign fit: Does the product align with your subject matter and audience?
3. Compensation: Is the offer paid, product-only, affiliate-only, or unspecified?
4. Scope: Are the requested deliverables and deadlines realistic?
5. Rights: Does the brand want reposting, paid advertising, whitelisting, or exclusivity?
6. Security: Is anyone asking for passwords, login codes, upfront payments, or suspicious downloads? Imposter scams were 2025's most frequently reported fraud type, at $3.5 billion in losses (FTC), so verify the sender before sharing anything.
7. Claims: Would the brief require you to make statements you cannot verify or honestly support?

Some submissions are genuine but still unsuitable: the budget may not cover production, the brand may be outside your niche, or the requested rights may be broader than you are willing to grant. Declining those quickly is part of screening, not a failure to negotiate.

Do not rely only on logos, display names, or a polished signature. The verification steps and common warning signs are covered in how to screen brand offers.

How fast should you respond, and what should you say?

Set a response target you can maintain, such as one business day after screening. That is a recommended operating standard, not a published industry benchmark. If you cannot assess the offer that quickly, send a short acknowledgment and state when the brand can expect a full response.

A useful reply confirms interest without accepting missing terms:

Thanks for reaching out. The campaign appears relevant to my audience. Before I quote, please confirm the final deliverables, publication date, revision rounds, usage period, paid-media rights, exclusivity, and available budget.

A counter can be equally direct:

Thanks for the details. I can deliver the proposed scope, but the quote would need to account for the requested paid usage and exclusivity. I can also suggest a smaller organic-only package if the current budget is fixed.

A concise decline avoids unnecessary negotiation:

Thank you for considering me. I’m going to pass because the scope and compensation are not a fit, but I appreciate the invitation.

Discuss disclosure requirements before signing, not after creating the content. The FTC says a material connection can include a financial, employment, personal, or family relationship, as well as free or discounted products; disclosures should be clear, hard to miss, and placed with the endorsement (FTC — Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers; not legal advice). The FTC announced its updated Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255, on June 29, 2023, adding new and revised principles, examples, and definitions covering endorsements and reviews.

Platform rules run alongside the federal ones, so settle them in the inquiry thread. Instagram's Help Center states that all branded content must be disclosed using the paid partnership label, and that adding the paid partnership label is only available in the Instagram app (Instagram Help Center, “Branded content policies”). Agreeing in writing who applies that label — and on which posts — costs one sentence in the reply and prevents a re-upload after publication.

For additional accept, clarify, counter, and decline templates, see how to respond to a brand inquiry.

How much should you charge for a first brand collaboration?

There is no platform-set price for a privately negotiated brand collaboration, and no public rate card governs one. Build the quote from the work and rights actually requested — production hours, usage period, exclusivity, paid-media access, revisions, and direct expenses — rather than copying a generic per-follower rate, then confirm the total still clears your costs and taxes.

A practical formula is:

Production baseline + usage rights + exclusivity + paid-media access + extra revisions + direct expenses

For example, if a project requires 6 hours of work and your chosen working rate is $50 per hour, the production baseline is $300. That is a hypothetical calculation, not an industry rate. You would then add amounts appropriate to the requested usage, exclusivity, whitelisting, revisions, travel, props, or expedited delivery.

Quote the gross figure, not your take-home. The IRS states that the self-employment tax rate is 15.3%, consisting of 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare on net earnings from self-employment (IRS, “Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes)”), and the IRS states that you must file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more (not tax advice). A $300 production baseline is therefore not $300 in hand.

Quote each major term separately when possible:

• Content creation and posting
• Organic reposting rights
• Paid-advertising usage
• Whitelisting or creator-handle advertising
• Category exclusivity
• Additional revision rounds
• Raw footage
• Rush production or delivery

The form’s budget, timeline, deliverables, and rights fields give you the inputs needed to prepare that quote without reopening the entire discovery process. For a fuller pricing framework, see how to price your first brand collaboration.

How can you track brand leads without project-management software?

Use one spreadsheet or board with a small set of stages: new, screening, awaiting details, negotiating, booked, delivered, paid, and passed. Assign every inquiry one current stage and one next-action date.

Useful columns include:

• Brand and contact
• Campaign
• Date received
• Budget
• Deliverables
• Usage and exclusivity
• Current stage
• Last contact date
• Next action and due date
• Contract status
• Delivery date
• Invoice or payment status
• Notes

Review the pipeline on a fixed schedule. The purpose is not to build a complicated customer-relationship system; it is to ensure that every live offer has a next action and that booked delivery dates do not conflict.

Two IRS rules set the floor for what the tracker has to retain. The IRS states that the Form 1099-NEC reporting threshold for nonemployee compensation is $600 for payments made before 2026 and $2,000 for payments made in 2026 (IRS, “Am I required to file a Form 1099 or other information return?”), so a brand may issue a form for one campaign and not for an identically sized one paid in a different year — your own record is the only continuous one. The IRS also states that you should keep records for 3 years from the date you filed your original return, or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, which is why the invoice, payment, and delivery columns are worth keeping long after a campaign closes.

A low-maintenance workflow for follow-ups and stale leads is available in how to organize brand leads solo.

Which two setup decisions are easy to get wrong?

Two setup decisions cause most of the avoidable rework: treating a media kit and an inquiry form as interchangeable, and routing brand pitches into the same inbox as fan requests. The first loses you information a static PDF cannot capture; the second buries a sponsorship offer under messages that need an entirely different response and timeline.

A media kit and an inquiry form solve different problems. A media kit is a static overview of your audience, work, and past results. An inquiry form captures the details of a specific opportunity. A PDF cannot collect a campaign budget, and a form alone may not give a brand enough evidence to evaluate your work. Media kit vs. brand inquiry page explains when to use one or both.

Brand inquiries and fan requests should enter separate workflows. A brand sponsorship may involve contracts, usage rights, revisions, and a long approval schedule. A fan may be purchasing a private question, shoutout, or tip. Mixing a five-figure sponsorship offer with fan requests in one feed makes both harder to manage. See separate fan requests from brand inquiries.

Does FanBell take a cut of brand deals?

FanBell’s Brand Collaboration Inquiries feature provides a “Work with me” form and routes submissions to a brand inbox separate from paid fan interactions. It organizes inbound opportunities; it does not find brands, pitch, screen offers, set prices, or negotiate for you.

FanBell has no follower minimum for enabling the inquiry feature (how it works). This is a FanBell product policy, not a claim that follower count never affects an individual brand’s campaign decisions.

A FanBell page is free to start and has no monthly fee (pricing). FanBell’s 12% platform fee applies only when a fan makes a payment through the page; submitting a brand inquiry is lead collection, so FanBell does not charge 12% when a brand completes the form. Brand-deal payment is arranged directly between the creator and brand outside FanBell.

The cited pricing page identifies the 12% as a platform fee. This article does not state a separate payment-processing rate; consult the current pricing page for the applicable processing treatment rather than assuming an additional amount.

A Pro tier with an enhanced media kit is coming soon but is not part of FanBell today. The media-kit comparison above therefore concerns a standalone media kit and the current inquiry form, not two currently available FanBell features.

For the broader income comparison, brand deals vs. fan-supported income explains how the two revenue streams can operate alongside each other.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a certain follower count to receive brand inquiries?

No universal follower minimum prevents a brand from contacting you. Individual brands may apply their own campaign criteria, while niche relevance, audience fit, content quality, and discoverability can matter alongside audience size. FanBell specifically has no follower minimum for enabling its inquiry feature.

Is a media kit the same as a brand inquiry form?

No. A media kit summarizes your work and audience, while an inquiry form captures a particular brand’s budget, timeline, deliverables, and usage requirements. See media kit vs. brand inquiry page for when to use each.

Must paid or gifted brand content be disclosed?

Generally, a material connection should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. The FTC says material connections can include payment and free or discounted products, and the disclosure should be hard to miss and appear with the endorsement (FTC — Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers; not legal advice).

Will a brand send me a tax form for a sponsorship?

Not always, and the cutoff changed. The IRS states that the Form 1099-NEC reporting threshold for nonemployee compensation is $600 for payments made before 2026 and $2,000 for payments made in 2026. Income is reportable whether or not a form arrives, so log every brand payment in your own tracker (not tax advice).

Do I have to label sponsored posts on Instagram?

Instagram's Help Center states that all branded content must be disclosed using the paid partnership label, and that adding the label is only available in the Instagram app. That platform requirement sits on top of the FTC's disclosure guidance, not instead of it.

Does FanBell take a cut of a brand deal?

No. FanBell’s 12% platform fee applies only to fan payments processed through the page. A brand form submission is not a FanBell transaction, and the creator and brand arrange payment for the deal outside FanBell.

Ready to give brands a real way to reach you? Create your FanBell link — it's free to start.