The short answer

A free product can be fair when you genuinely want it, the requested work is small, no guaranteed post is required, and the value to you clearly exceeds your time and costs. Require payment when the brand asks for planned content, deadlines, revisions, approval, usage rights, exclusivity, detailed reporting, or access to your audience.

Separate a gift from a job

Ask the brand to state exactly what it expects.

• No-obligation gift: You may try the item, but you do not promise coverage or a positive opinion.
• Product exchange: You agree to specific content in return for the item.
• Paid sponsorship: You receive money for defined work and terms, sometimes plus product.

Calling required work “gifting” doesn't make it a gift. If the brand specifies a reel, three story frames, talking points, approval, and a posting date, you are looking at a campaign brief.

Calculate the real exchange

Use the product's value to you, not the retail price in the brand's catalog. A $500 appliance you already planned to buy may be valuable. A $500 specialty gadget you cannot use or resell may be worth almost nothing.

Then estimate:

planning + production + editing + communication + revisions + publishing + reporting + taxes and expenses

If a post will take six hours and your internal labor floor is $50 per hour, the work alone is $300 before usage rights or exclusivity. A $75 item is not an even exchange merely because it arrives in a pretty box.

Payment is especially important when the brand gains more

Require a cash quote when the company wants to reuse the content on its channels, run it as an ad, edit the files, receive raw footage, block competitor work, or keep rights for a long period. Those rights are separate business assets.

Also consider audience cost. Every commercial post uses some of the trust and attention you have built. A poor-fit product can cost more than it pays.

Free still requires disclosure

The FTC's Disclosures 101 guide says free or discounted products can create a material connection that should be disclosed when you endorse the product. Make the relationship clear in the content itself, even if the brand never asked you to post.

Never promise a positive review. Agree to an honest review or a clearly defined demonstration. If you cannot say what you actually think, decline.

Tax treatment, consumer disclosure, contracts, and rights vary by location and arrangement. Keep records of product and cash compensation, and ask a qualified local accountant or attorney how the rules apply to you.

Sources and further reading

• FTC: Disclosures 101 for social media influencers

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Related Questions

• How many times should I follow up after a sponsorship pitch before I stop?
• What do usage rights and exclusivity mean in a sponsorship agreement?
• What is earned media, and how does a media pitch help you get it?
• When should I use a media pitch instead of a press release?

Related WAHMN resource

If you want a complete system for planning, creating, distributing, and measuring useful content, this course carries the process further. See Content Marketing Business.