How to pitch brands as a creator in Nigeria

Last updated 26 September 2026.

A pitch usually stalls for one of two reasons: the brand cannot check what you told it, or cannot tell what you are offering. This guide shows creators on TikTok, Instagram, X and WhatsApp Status how to get brand deals by fixing both, and when an open brief beats a cold message.

Before you pitch

Pick brands whose customers already follow you. A snack brand selling to students is a better first pitch for a campus creator than a bank with a bigger budget, because the fit is obvious in thirty seconds of scrolling your page.

Make that scroll easy: a bio saying what you post about and how to reach you for work, and three posts near the top you would be happy to be judged on. Size matters less than people expect, as what a micro-influencer is in Nigeria explains: a small number the brand can check beats a big one it doubts.

What a brand will trust

A brand reading your pitch asks one question: can I check this? Followers and likes are sold openly online, so every figure you type is only a claim. In a cold pitch the brand sees only what you send, so attach:

• Links to posts brands have already paid for, which still work.
• Figures with a date and a source, such as "8,200 Instagram followers, from Instagram insights on 20 September 2026".
• A screen recording that starts on your profile and scrolls into your insights, so the brand can see whose numbers they are.

A screenshot is the weakest evidence, since anyone can edit one. If you quote an engagement rate, say whether you divided by followers or by views. What a good engagement rate looks like explains why, and the free engagement rate calculator shows its formula, which divides by followers only.

On Flixerpay, follower numbers on your profile come only from the accounts you connect, each dated. Profiles sit behind sign-in, so this helps with brands on the board; it is no use in a cold DM. Not every platform shows a number yet. A connected TikTok, for one, shows none, so on TikTok your videos are the proof. How to prove your reach to brands ranks the evidence in full.

How to price a post

Price the deliverable, not your follower count. Follower-tier rate tables are estimates that disagree with each other for the same tier, and none of them knows what this brand wants made. Before you name a number, ask:

• What is being made: the format, the length, how many posts and on which platforms.
• Whether it goes out on your account, or is a file the brand runs itself. The second is classic UGC work, priced as production.
• How the brand will use it afterwards, for how long, and whether as a paid ad.
• Whether it wants exclusivity from you, and for how long.
• How many revisions are included, how long the post stays up, and the deadline.
• What the work costs you to make, such as props, transport, a location or data.

Quote a base price for one post to your audience, then add usage, exclusivity and rush as separate lines the brand can see. Where you can, anchor on what brands actually pay: each campaign on Flixerpay states its bounty before you claim it. Never promise views or sales, because reach is the platform's decision. Pay per post or per impression covers who carries that risk.

Writing the pitch

Keep the first message short enough to read on a phone in one go. Its only job is to get a reply. The rate and your media kit, a one-page summary of your audience, best posts and past brands, come later.

The DM version

1. Who you are and who watches you, in one sentence.
2. Why this brand, naming something specific such as a new product. "I love your brand" tells it nothing.
3. One idea, described as a deliverable: the format, the length and the angle.
4. One link to your best post that fits, ideally paid work.
5. One easy question to end on, such as who to send details to.

The email version

Use email for bigger companies, where a DM may never reach the person with the budget. Find a marketing or partnerships address on the website, or the marketing manager on LinkedIn. Send the same five parts under a subject line naming your idea and the product, plus two or three links to published work and your dated audience figures.

Which channel to use

On TikTok and Instagram, DM smaller brands directly, since the founder often runs the account. On X, if a brand's DMs are closed, find its email. For WhatsApp Status, a brand cannot see your views, so record the viewer count shortly before the Status expires, around 20 hours after posting, and crop or blur the viewers' names before you send it. A channel with its own subscribers is a different sale, covered in WhatsApp TV advertising in Nigeria.

Following up

Wait about a week, then follow up once, in the same thread, with something new: a recent post that fits, or a launch or holiday the idea suits. "Just checking in" gives the brand nothing to reply to.

No answer to that means move on until the brand launches something new. Do not message several people at one company, and never chase in its comments. A no gets a thank-you and one question: can you pitch for a later campaign? Keep a simple list of who you pitched, when, and with what.

When a brand says yes, agree the deliverable, the fee, the deadline, the usage, the revisions and when you will be paid, in writing, before you make anything. A WhatsApp message both sides agreed to beats a phone call nobody can quote.

Labelling a paid post

Flixerpay's Terms already require you to disclose clearly that a post is paid or sponsored. Beyond that, two sets of rules matter in Nigeria, at different stages.

The first is law. Section 54 of the ARCON Act 2022 makes it an offence to create or place an advert for publication aimed at the Nigerian market without prior approval from ARCON's Advertising Standards Panel, and it catches the sponsor or beneficiary too, as Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie summarise it. In May 2025 ARCON told influencers and content creators that this covers the adverts they post, as Punch reported on 5 May 2025. ARCON's vetting guidelines cover online and social media, set a standard online vetting fee of ₦7,500, and set a minimum penalty of ₦500,000 each for the advertiser, the agency and the media house. An Advertising Offences Tribunal was inaugurated in Abuja on 11 August 2026.

The application must be signed by an advertising practitioner registered with ARCON, so in practice the brand or its agency files it. Ask before you post whether the advert has been approved, and keep the answer in writing.

The second is still a draft. On 13 April 2026 the FCCPC published exposure drafts of new consumer protection regulations, including a regulation on commercial influence disclosure and draft guidance notes. Comments closed on 4 May 2026, and as far as we can find no final version had been published by 26 September 2026. Treat these as where the rules are heading. As drafted:

• Paid, gifted and affiliate content would be labelled before anyone engages with it, and never passed off as independent opinion.
• The label, such as #Ad, #Sponsored or #PaidPartnership, would go at the start of the post.
• A video would carry it in the video and in the description. A Story would keep it on screen long enough to read, a habit that suits a WhatsApp Status too.
• The draft would apply at any follower count, and a free product you did not ask for would still count if it leads to a post.

The draft says brands may be jointly liable, so expect to be asked to label. Use the platform's own paid-partnership setting too, where it has one. What the rules expect of brands covers their side. This is a summary, not legal advice: check ARCON approval with ARCON or a registered advertising practitioner, and the FCCPC rules with a lawyer.

Claiming an open brief instead

Cold pitching suits the few brands you most want to work with. For most paid work it is slow: you are guessing whether there is a budget, a person or a campaign at all. An open brief answers all three before you write a word.

On Flixerpay a campaign states its brief, bounty, any deadline and remaining slots before you claim, and once you claim, the proof you must submit to be paid. The brand funds it with a hold on its own Uphiva wallet, and an unfunded campaign cannot be claimed. When the brand approves your post, Uphiva pays you from that hold at the stated bounty, less Flixerpay's creator fee for your plan, which is fixed at approval. A refused payment shows as approved but not paid until retried. A brand can return work for a fix up to twice, and you keep your slot while you redo it.

Flixerpay sets no follower minimum, though a brand can set one on its own campaign, and the bounty is set, so there is no price to negotiate. Read how Flixerpay campaigns and bounties work, see how UGC creator work pays in Nigeria, or browse the guides for creators and brands.

Questions

How do I pitch to brands as an influencer?

Send a short message: who you are and who watches you, why this brand, one idea described as a deliverable, and one link to your best relevant post. Leave your rate for the reply, and follow up once after about a week.

Can I get brand deals with 1,000 followers?

It is possible. Small accounts cost less to test, and what a brand needs is an audience that matches its customers and figures it can check. Flixerpay sets no follower minimum, though a brand can set one on its own campaign.

How much should I charge per post?

Price the deliverable, not your follower count. Ask what is being made, where it will run, how the brand will use it afterwards, whether it wants exclusivity and how fast it needs it. Quote a base price for the post, then add usage, exclusivity and rush as separate lines.

As a creator, do I have to label a sponsored post?

On Flixerpay, yes: the Terms require you to disclose clearly that a post is paid or sponsored. Separately, ARCON requires adverts aimed at the Nigerian market, including influencers' adverts, to be approved before they run. Draft FCCPC rules, not in force on 26 September 2026 as far as we can find, would add a label such as #Ad at the start. This is not legal advice: check ARCON approval with ARCON or a registered advertising practitioner, and the FCCPC rules with a lawyer.

How do I get brands to sponsor me on TikTok?

Let your videos do the proving: link two or three that fit the brand, since it can see their view counts itself. A connected TikTok shows no follower number on Flixerpay yet, so on TikTok your published work is your strongest evidence.