How to Write Instructions for Shoutout Requests

Good shoutout instructions ask for the recipient's name and pronunciation, the occasion, one personal detail, and anything to include or avoid. Keep it to five focused asks the fan can answer in a few sentences at checkout, so you can record the correct personalized video without guessing or a round of follow-up.

This guide explains how to write the instructions field. If you have not enabled Personalized Shoutouts, start with how to set up shoutouts on your link in bio. To evaluate the offer for your audience, read the full guide to selling personalized video messages as a small creator.

Why does the instructions field matter?

The instructions field is where the fan's brief is captured, so it decides whether you can record on the first take. FanBell pairs the request with the payment in one submission that lands in your creator inbox, which means a vague prompt costs you a follow-up message before you can film.

FanBell's Personalized Shoutouts page documents the order as four steps — turn on shoutouts, the fan submits their request and pays, record on your phone, deliver and get paid — with the fan telling you "who it's for and what to say" at step 2. A FanBell shoutout goes live on three settings — a price, a delivery window of no more than 120 hours (5 days), and a connected Stripe payout account — so the instructions field is the only place the brief is collected.

The brief also has to fit a very short video: FanBell's Personalized Shoutouts FAQ answers "How long should the video be?" with "Most personalized shoutouts are short — often under a minute," so all five asks must be answerable inside roughly 60 seconds of finished video. FanBell's how-it-works page describes the whole flow in five steps and confirms the fan "pays the full price upfront — checking out as a guest by card, with no account to create," so the instructions field is filled in by someone who never logs in (FanBell, "How it works," step 4 of 5).

The deadline is what a weak prompt eats into. On the personalized-video marketplace Cameo, the Site Terms of Service state that a talent user "has up to seven days or longer" to fulfil or decline a request, with an optional faster tier "such as 24 hours" (Cameo Site Terms of Service, last updated May 7, 2025). FanBell's own cap is tighter at 120 hours (5 days), so a request that arrives missing a name or an occasion can consume a large share of the window you promised.

A prompt such as “Tell me what you want” leaves the fan to decide which details matter, so ask focused questions that map to decisions you make while recording, and drop any question whose answer will not change the video or its delivery. That is a recommended FanBell creator template, not a proven conversion rule.

Four numbers a shoutout brief has to fit:

• 5 asks. FanBell's shoutout setup guide recommends collecting the recipient's name and pronunciation, the occasion, one personal detail, an include/avoid note, and the sender — 5 asks in total, offered as creator guidance rather than a platform rule.
• About 60 seconds. FanBell states that "most personalized shoutouts are short — often under a minute," so every answer a fan types has to earn its place in a roughly 60-second video.
• 120 hours. FanBell caps the Personalized Shoutouts delivery window at 120 hours (5 days), and any clarifying question about a vague brief has to be asked and answered inside that same window.
• 48 hours to 7 days. Cameo's Talent Terms of Service tell a talent user, "While we hope you will fulfill a request within 48 hours of receiving it, you may have up to seven days or longer (at Cameo's sole discretion) to complete and upload the CAMEO Video," which is the turnaround expectation the category has set.

What should shoutout instructions ask for?

Ask for five things: the recipient's name and how to pronounce it, the occasion, one personal detail, anything to include or avoid, and who the message is from. That is FanBell's recommended creator template rather than a platform rule, and each ask maps to a decision you make while recording.

Two of the 5 asks are load-bearing on every personalized-video platform, not just FanBell. Section 2 of Cameo's Site Terms of Service defines a booking as a video "personalized for you or a third-party that you identify as a recipient," so a paid request must name exactly 1 recipient before anyone records. Section 2 of Cameo's Site Terms of Service also states that the talent user "has sole discretion to determine how to fulfill your request and the content of the CAMEO Video created, and may not follow your request exactly," which is why the include/avoid ask should be worded as a request rather than a script.

FanBell delivers the completed order through the creator's page, and step 5 of its documented workflow is "You deliver and get paid" with no shipping or contact step, so the standard flow never needs the recipient's phone number or home address. Ask only for details that help you record or deliver the requested message.

Five rules, each stated once:

1. Name exactly 1 recipient per order, because Section 2 of Cameo's Site Terms of Service defines a booking as a video "personalized for you or a third-party that you identify as a recipient".
2. Cap the instructions at 5 asks, because FanBell states that "most personalized shoutouts are short — often under a minute" and 5 answers already fill a 60-second video.
3. Collect the brief up front, because the fan pays the full price at checkout as a guest and the request lands in the creator inbox in the same submission.
4. Ask nothing you will not use, because Article 5(1)(c) of the UK GDPR — the third of the 7 data protection principles — requires personal data to be "adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed," per the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO, "Data minimisation," UK GDPR Article 5(1)(c)).
5. Write the include/avoid ask as a request, not a script, because Section 2 of Cameo's Site Terms of Service gives the talent user "sole discretion to determine how to fulfill your request" and warns that they "may not follow your request exactly".

What shoutout-instruction examples can you copy?

Copy one of the three templates below — general-purpose, birthday, or pep talk — and change the wording to match how you speak. Each asks the same five things in one paragraph a fan can answer in about three sentences, no essay required, and each is a FanBell creator template rather than a platform requirement.

General-purpose instructions

Tell me: (1) the recipient's name and how to pronounce it, (2) the occasion, (3) one personal detail I can mention, such as an inside joke, hobby, or nickname, (4) anything you want me to say or avoid, and (5) who the message is from. A few sentences is plenty.

Birthday instructions

Who is celebrating, how old are they turning, and what should I call them? Give me one detail I can mention, such as their favorite show, a running joke, or what they are into right now. Tell me who the message is from and whether there is a phrase you want included word for word.

Pep-talk or encouragement instructions

What do they need encouragement for, such as an interview, a hard week, or a big decision? Include their first name, how I should address them, one personal detail that will make the message specific, who it is from, and anything I should avoid mentioning.

Each template is deliberately short: FanBell states that "most personalized shoutouts are short — often under a minute," so a brief that takes longer to read than the finished 60-second video takes to watch is already too long. Section 2 of Cameo's Site Terms of Service warns that a talent user "may not follow your request exactly," so a template should collect the facts you need rather than hand the fan a script to write. Focused questions define the expected answer more clearly than “What should I say?”

What should you leave out of shoutout instructions?

Leave out anything you will not use while recording or delivering: phone numbers, home addresses, social handles, essay-length prompts, blank “anything else?” boxes, and invitations to scripts you would decline. FanBell delivers the finished video through your page, so contact details add privacy risk without adding anything to the video itself.

• Essay-length prompts. As a recommended creator template, five short asks are more scannable than a dense paragraph and can usually be answered in a few sentences.
• Questions whose answers you will not use. Do not request a phone number, home address, or social handle “just in case.” FanBell's documented delivery step sends the finished video through the creator's page and requires no recipient contact details.
• Unnecessary personal information. The UK Information Commissioner's Office states that data minimisation — the third of the 7 UK GDPR data protection principles, at Article 5(1)(c) — requires personal data to be "adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed" (ICO). The same ICO guidance states plainly, "You must not collect personal data on the off-chance that it might be useful in the future," which is the test to apply to every field you add to a shoutout form.
• A blank “Anything else?” prompt. Replace it with a bounded question such as “Is there anything you specifically want me to avoid?”
• Promises you cannot consistently keep. Do not invite complex scripts, impersonations, or sensitive topics unless they fit your offer and stated boundaries. Cameo's Community Guidelines tell users not to "post or solicit content that is (or incites or encourages) illegal, abusive, harassing, hateful, racist, derogatory, or harmful to someone's reputation," and an open-ended prompt is what invites those requests in the first place (Cameo Community Guidelines, last updated August 1, 2024). Clear instructions can prevent many unusable requests, but they cannot screen out every inappropriate or impractical order, and the right to refuse one is standard: Cameo's Site Terms of Service give the talent user up to seven days "to fulfill or decline your request," and FanBell's how-it-works FAQ answers "What if I get a request I don't want to fulfill?" with "You can decline and refund it" (Cameo Site Terms of Service, last updated May 7, 2025 and FanBell, "How it works" FAQ). For refusal criteria and sample language, read how to set boundaries for custom video requests.

If the submitted details were usable but the finished video still needs attention, consult how to handle revisions for personalized videos. A revision decision should follow the applicable order details and your stated boundaries rather than an assumed automatic re-recording rule.

How do you set up the instructions field on FanBell?

Open Shoutouts settings in your FanBell creator controls, find the instructions field beside the price and delivery-window settings, paste one of the templates above, then save and view the offer as a fan would see it. No separate form builder is involved, because the instructions field ships with the shoutout offer itself.

FanBell's setup guide documents the same three required settings for going live — a price, a delivery turnaround of up to 120 hours, and a connected Stripe payout account — with the instructions field sitting beside them. New FanBell creators start with Personalized Shoutouts enabled by default and a starter option they can rename, re-price, and edit at any time, so writing the instructions field is usually an edit rather than a new setup.

Use this setup sequence:

1. Open Shoutouts settings in your FanBell creator controls.
2. Locate the instructions field beside the price and delivery-window settings.
3. Paste or adapt one of the templates above.
4. Confirm that the prompt asks for a name, occasion, personal detail, inclusion or avoidance request, and sender context.
5. Save the settings and review the published offer from a fan's perspective.

For the complete enabling and configuration walkthrough, read how to set up shoutouts on your link in bio.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum a fan should type before paying?

Enough to identify the recipient and the purpose: a name, an occasion, and one or two useful personal details, which fits in a few sentences. Section 2 of Cameo's Site Terms of Service defines a booking as a video "personalized for you or a third-party that you identify as a recipient," so naming exactly 1 recipient is the floor across the category. The five-ask template is FanBell creator guidance, not a mandatory FanBell minimum.

What should I do if a fan leaves vague instructions?

Ask one focused clarifying question before recording rather than guessing, and do it early: FanBell's delivery window is capped at 120 hours (5 days), and the clarifying round happens inside that window. The request stays in the creator's inbox as a private thread until it is delivered. If the request is inappropriate or outside your offer, follow how to set boundaries for custom video requests.

Should I request the recipient's phone number or address?

No. The finished video is delivered through FanBell — step 5 of its documented workflow is "You deliver and get paid," with no address or phone step — so the creator never needs the recipient's contact details. The ICO's data-minimisation guidance on Article 5(1)(c) of the UK GDPR requires personal data to be "limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed," which rules out collecting a phone number you will not use.

Is a requested change always a revision?

Not necessarily. A change may result from unclear original instructions, a recording error, or a new request from the fan. Whether you accept it or make a new recording depends on the applicable order details and your stated boundaries. See how to handle revisions for personalized videos.

Create your free FanBell link and write a tight instructions field before you share it — a few well-chosen questions now save you a round of back-and-forth on every order later.