Product seeding is the practice of sending free products to influencers or creators with no formal payment or guaranteed post in exchange. The brand is betting that some recipients will post about the product on their own. It's typically run at scale, sending to dozens or hundreds of creators at once rather than negotiating with each one individually.
How Product Seeding Works
A brand builds a list of creators who fit its target audience, ships them free product, and waits to see who posts. There's usually no contract specifying content requirements, posting timelines, or usage rights the brand can follow up with creators who post and offer a paid partnership, but the initial send carries no obligation on either side.
Product Seeding vs. Paid Partnerships
In a paid product gifting campaign, the brand and creator agree on deliverables before the product ships: what gets posted, when, and under what usage terms. Seeding skips that agreement entirely, trading guaranteed content for lower cost and a much larger reach across creators.
When to Use Product Seeding
Seeding works best for testing which creators respond well to a product before committing budget to paid deals, for new product launches where broad, organic-feeling exposure matters, and for categories beauty, food, tech accessories where creators are likely to post about free product without being asked.