Why can brands keep using the content I create for a campaign — even after the campaign ends?
The short answer: when you opt into a Hummingbirds campaign, you're granting the brand long-term rights to use the content you create for that campaign. While although this has been part of the terms since we launched, our most recent Terms & Conditions makes it more visible and straightforward in the update.
Here's how we actually think about it.
What's being exchanged. When you join a campaign, you're not just getting a perk for one post. You're getting:
Access to brands you'd likely never connect with directly.
A campaign brief, creative direction, and a brand partner who's chosen you.
A platform doing the matching, vetting, and coordination work.
A perk for the post itself.
In exchange, the brand gets the right to keep using the content they paid (the platform) to enable. The rights are durable because the value of the content is durable — a brand may use it next week on Instagram, next quarter in a retail display, next year in a paid ad.
Why the trade works this way. Hummingbirds was built to make a particular kind of brand-creator relationship work at scale: exciting and sometimes emerging brands that need to show up across many creators and many markets in each campaign, and everyday creators who want a steady flow of brand opportunities to participate in and build a possible portfolio around. What we've found is that both sides have to lean into a structure that's simpler than what a one-off, individually-negotiated deal might look like. For brands, that means rights that hold up across the long-term use of campaign content. For creators, that means trading some of what a direct deal might give you for the steady access to campaigns the platform provides.
What this means in practice. A brand can:
Repost or feature your content on their own social channels.
Edit or reformat it for different placements (a Reel becoming a TikTok, a photo becoming an ad asset).
Use it in paid media, retail materials, or other marketing.
Share it with their own partners and channels.
What this doesn't mean.
You don't lose ownership of your underlying creative — you can still use your own content however you want, on your own channels.
The rights only apply to content created for a specific campaign — not your everyday posts.
Each campaign is opt-in. If a campaign's terms don't sit right with you, you can pass.
We're not selling your content to anyone outside the brand partner relationship the campaign is for.
How we hold ourselves to this. The licensing structure above is built against the same standard we apply to every choice that shapes Hummingbirds — that it works for both creators and brands sustainably, over time. For specific questions about how this applies to your account, you can reach us at help@hummingbirds.com.