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Establishing Creator Partnerships

Set up formal partnerships with creators to unlock Brand Partnerships, Ad Partnerships, and Audience Targeting features.


Overview

Before you can collaborate with creators through the Marketing API, you need to establish a formal partnership. This is a two-way approval process: you invite the creator, and they accept in their Snapchat app.

This prerequisite applies to:

Not required for:

  • Ad Codes — Uses shareable codes instead of formal partnerships

Permission Levels

The two permission levels that previously existed have now been replaced with a model where the AD_LEVEL permission covers both levels, the Creator is also prompted to set a number of permissions at the point of accepting the partnership.

Permission LevelNameWhat It Unlocks
BRAND_LEVELBrand PartnerCreators can tag your brand in posts. You can boost that tagged content.
AD_LEVELAd PartnerRun ads as the creator's profile + target their audience. Includes all BRAND_LEVEL capabilities.

Workflow Summary


This guide provides two tracks for establishing partnerships:

  • Business Manager — Step-by-step walkthrough using Snapchat Business Manager (no code required)
  • Developer API — Programmatic workflow for automated integrations

Switch between tracks using the tabs below to see the approach that fits your needs.

Marketing Track: Business Manager Setup

Use Snapchat Business Manager to invite creators and manage partnerships manually.


Step 1: Send Partnership invitation to Creator

  1. Navigate to Business ManagerPublic ProfilesSettings

Public Profile Navigation

  1. Click on the Ad Accounts section
  2. Find the Pre-Approved Creators area and click "Add Creator"

Add Creator Button

  1. In the modal, search for the creator's Snapchat username

Step 2: Set the partnership expiration

The options are:

  • 7 days — Short-term campaigns
  • 30 days — Standard collaborations
  • 90 days — Seasonal campaigns
  • Permanent — Long-term ambassadorships

Permission Level Selection

  1. Click Send Request

The creator receives a push notification on their device and must approve the request in their Snapchat app and choose the permissions they allow the Brand before the partnership becomes active.


Step 3: Creator Receives Notification

The creator will receive a push notification that looks like this:

Creator Pre-Approval Notification

The creator then:

  1. Opens Snapchat
  2. Navigates to ProfileSettingsPending Invitations
  3. Reviews your brand's partnership request

Step 4: Creator Approves

The creator sees your invitation and must take action:

Creator Acceptance Screen

By accepting the invitation, the creator agrees to share post data, targeting of their audience and public profile usage, the creator can modify these in the 'Advanced Settings section':

  • Share content as Ad: — Share their asset with the advertiser to be used for paid campaigns
  • Share Insights: — Share organic metrics from posts that came from their account and are shared with the advertiser.
  • Share My Public Profile: — Share their handle to be used in paid campaigns
  • Share past Stories: — Allows advertiser to list the Creators Stories even after their live 24-hour window has expired

The creator taps Accept to finalize the partnership.


Step 5: Verify Partnership is Active

Once the creator approves, verify the partnership in Business Manager:

  1. Navigate to Business ManagerPublic ProfilesSettings
  2. Scroll to Pre-Approved Creators
  3. The creator should appear in your roster with status Active

Pre-Approved Creators List

You're now ready to:


Managing Partnerships

Viewing Active Partnerships

View all active creator partnerships:

  1. Business ManagerPublic ProfilesSettingsPre-Approved Creators

Removing a Partnership

To end a partnership:

  1. Find the creator in your Pre-Approved Creators list
  2. Click the remove icon next to their name
  3. Confirm removal
  • Removing a creator immediately revokes all permissions
  • Active ads using their content or profile may pause
  • You cannot claim new content from them until re-approved

Partnership Expiration

Partnerships automatically expire based on the duration you set:

Status During ExpirationImpact
7 days before expirationConsider sending renewal request
On expiration datePartnership status changes to Expired
After expirationCannot create new ads; existing ads may pause

Renewal: Send a new invitation before expiration to maintain continuity.



Partnership Status Reference

StatusMeaningCan You Proceed?
PENDINGInvitation sent, waiting for creatorNo — wait for approval
APPROVEDCreator approved, partnership activeYes — proceed
REJECTEDCreator rejected the invitationNo — invite rejected
EXPIREDTime limit reached without renewalNo — must re-invite
REVOKEDBrand or creator ended partnership earlyNo — re-invite needed

Next Steps

Now that your partnership is established, choose your workflow:

If you selected BRAND_LEVEL (Brand Partner):

Brand Partnerships — Monitor for creator-tagged content and boost it

If you selected AD_LEVEL (Ad Partner):

Ad Partnerships — Create ads that appear from the creator's profile
Audience Targeting — Target the creator's followers with your campaigns


Troubleshooting

"Creator not showing in my Pre-Approved list"

  • Check that roleStatus is APPROVED (not PENDING)
  • Verify you're checking the correct Public Profile (not Ad Account)
  • Refresh Business Manager or re-fetch via API

"Invitation stuck in PENDING for days"

  • Creator likely hasn't opened Snapchat or checked notifications
  • Send a direct message reminding them to check Profile → Settings → Pending Invitations
  • Consider re-sending if no response after 48 hours

"Cannot send invitation (400 error)"

  • Verify you're passing the creator's Snapchat invitee_username (not a UUID — the server resolves the user ID automatically)
  • Confirm you have Admin access on the Public Profile (not just Ad Account)
  • Check that partnership_level is exactly BRAND_LEVEL or AD_LEVEL (case-sensitive)

For more detailed error handling, see Troubleshooting.


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