How Do Birds Get Selected For Campaigns?

The brands we work with have different criteria. Some are looking for 30 hummingbirds in a specific community. Others want hundreds of millennial moms in any location to try and share a product. It's important to note that you don't need a specific number of followers to participate. We recognize that everyone has influence.

When thinking about the hummingbird selection process & who gets selected, it can be helpful to consider the reasons most brands work with Hummingbirds to start with:

• New fans & loyalty: Brands want new people to try their products/services and (ideally) become long-term fans.

• Brand awareness: They want authentic “word-of-mouth” exposure when Hummingbirds share content with their own audiences.

• UGC (User-Generated Content): Brands love repurposing authentic, high-quality content created by real customers.

• Outsourced management: Many brands just don’t have the time to manage their own campaigns one-on-one, so they rely on Hummingbirds HQ to handle logistics and selection.

• One-week window: Most campaigns accept interest and complete selections over roughly one week.

• Campaign goes live: Usually on a Tuesday (when most new campaigns appear). Birds express interest immediately. That said, campaigns do go live occasionally through the week!

• Rolling selection: HBHQ often selects in batches (e.g., Wednesdays, Thursdays, Mondays). Brands may increase the number of Birds if interest in a given is high and they have budget.

• Early interest helps: Express interest as soon as possible—if enough qualified people opt in early, the campaign may close before you see it.

If you apply for a campaign, there are several factors we consider when selecting the best-fit Birds:

• Brand Fit: Are you a relevant consumer for the product (for example, having kids for a kids’ product)? Are you likely to genuinely enjoy and become a fan of the brand?

• Content Quality: Lighting, video clarity, audio or voiceover quality, and how well you follow campaign instructions, such as in-store content, clearly showing you eating or drinking the product, and following the campaign theme. This is especially important when brands prioritize UGC content.

• Engagement Rate By Follower: The percentage of a creator’s followers who interact with a single post. For example, 50,000 followers with 5 comments is far less engaging than 500 followers with 50 comments.

• Total Engagements: The total number of interactions your content typically receives, calculated as: Likes + Comments + Shares + Saves

• Engagement Authenticity: Genuine, meaningful interactions versus bot-like engagement or purchased followers.

• Reel Views: Especially important when a campaign goal is maximum exposure or awareness.

• Reliability & Communication: On-time campaign completion, prompt responses, respectful communication, and a willingness to problem solve with HBHQ.

• Pitch Or Blurb: The optional “Why I’d love this campaign” section can make a difference, especially when brands are looking for superfans!

• Portfolio & Posting Ratio: A feed that is entirely sponsored content is less appealing. Brands prefer a healthy mix of organic and sponsored posts and enjoy seeing the variety of content you create.

And often, brands have so many great hummingbirds to choose from, but only have capacity to select a certain number for each campaign. So just because they don't pick you the first time, doesn't mean they won't in the future, so keep expressing interest! Also, it's best to apply to all campaigns that interest you while waiting for responses on if you're selected or not.

Mostly Hummingbirds HQ: HBHQ spends a LOT of time with brands while onboarding them into the platform and right before and after each campaign, providing us the confidence needed to pick approximately 80–90% of the time.

Occasional brand involvement: Some brands do their own selections, but it’s relatively rare because they typically rely on HBHQ’s expertise.

We actually have a course about this in The Charm called "Campaign Selection 101." Campaign selection is a matching process, not a scorecard. Some campaigns prioritize new creators, others returning ones. Some are designed for a specific life stage, purchasing behavior, or audience type.