What is a pinned comment sponsorship on Instagram?

How pinning works on Instagram

Instagram lets the owner of a post pin up to three comments to the top of it. The feature rolled out to everyone in July 2020, after a test earlier that year. A pinned comment sits directly under the caption with a small "Pinned" label, above every other comment, and the person who wrote it gets a notification when it's pinned.

Below the pinned spots, comments are ranked, and Meta's ranking system can show different comments to different people. The pinned ones don't move. That makes them the only part of a comment section a brand can count on everyone seeing.

What a sponsorship looks like

The creator picks one of their recent Reels that's still getting views. The brand comments on it from the brand account, and the creator pins the comment. Nothing new gets filmed, and the creator's Reel stays exactly as their followers know it.

Because the comment comes from the brand's own account, the @ goes straight to the brand's profile. One tap and a curious viewer is looking at the brand's grid, not a link they have to trust.

Why it works

• People read comments to judge brands. In a Jungle Scout survey of 1,000 US adults, 48% said they read social media comments to see what other people say about a brand.
• The Reel already has an audience. A pin goes on content the creator's followers have already chosen to watch, so you're not paying for a post that might flop.
• It repeats. When five creators in the same niche pin your comment, the same followers run into your name on several accounts they trust, in the same month.
• It's cheap to test. There's no production, no script and no shoot, which keeps the price per placement low.

Pinned comments and reposts go together

In August 2025 Instagram added reposts. Anyone can repost a public Reel or feed post. The repost can be recommended in their followers' feeds, it's collected on a Reposts tab on their profile, they can add a short note, and the original account keeps the credit. Meta also says reposted content can be recommended to the reposter's followers who don't follow the original account.

So a creator can repost the brand's own Reel to their followers, with a note that includes #ad. Pair that with a pinned comment and the brand shows up twice: once in the creator's comments, and once in the feed as the brand's own video.

What it costs

There's no industry survey for pinned comments yet, because almost nobody sells them. For comparison, Later's 2025 Creator Rates Report puts the starting fee for one sponsored Reel at $100 to $200 for nano creators and $200 to $1,000 for micro creators.

At Oakgill, we pay creators $40 to $150 per pin and $50 to $200 per repost, depending on their size. For brands, our Spotlight package covers five creators in your niche, each pinning your comment twice and reposting one of your Reels, from $1,100. You can check what a creator of any size should charge with our rate calculator.

How to disclose it

The FTC says anyone with a financial connection to a brand has to disclose it, clearly, where people will see it. "Ad" and "sponsored" are fine. Vague tags like "sp", "collab" or "ambassador" aren't, and a disclosure buried among hashtags or hidden behind "more" doesn't count.

For a pinned comment, put #ad inside the comment itself. Comments are short, so it's visible without tapping anything. The same goes for the repost note. In a 2024 review of Drunk Elephant's influencer posts, the National Advertising Division also said disclosures should be visible without tapping "more" and that creators who only received free product need to disclose too.

How to write a pinned comment people tap

• Talk about the Reel. A comment that clearly saw the video reads like a person. "Check us out!" reads like an ad, even before the #ad.
• Give one reason to tap. One product, one use, one moment. Not a list of features.
• Use your @, not a link. Links in Instagram comments aren't clickable. Your handle is.
• Keep claims you can prove. Skincare, supplements and pet health all have rules about what you can promise. Our posts on skincare comments and supplement claims go through them.

When it doesn't fit

Pinned comments build recognition. They're not a direct-response channel on their own, so if you need tracked sales next week, add Story links with a tracked URL, or run sponsored Reels with the creators whose followers already responded. That's the order our packages follow: Spotlight, then Test, then Scale.