How Much Do Influencers Charge?
Influencer marketing has fast become one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and more.
However, working with influencers can be a challenge because the costs can vary greatly depending on your industry, the goals of your campaign, and many more factors.
Things like logistics (when and where they’ll post), scale (how often to have them post) and, payment (how to pay them and how much) pose a challenge to traditional marketers that are new to working with influencers.
Here’s a quick look at influencer pricing benchmarks on Instagram and other channels, how you can work with influencers for free, and what to consider when making an offer to an influencer.
What Is an Influencer?
Influencers have always been a mainstay in marketing – from the many popular actors who portrayed the Marlboro Man to Steph Curry promoting Under Armour apparel, people like to buy products from people they like and trust.
Now anyone can build a fanbase on social media platforms and then use their position to market products for companies. Given that 70% of teenagers trust influencers over celebrities, it’s safe to say that influencer marketing is only going to get bigger.
How Much Do Influencers Charge Per Post?
An influencer’s social media post is essentially an ad placement. So, how much do influencers charge for that ad?
According to recent reports, on average influencers on the following platforms will charge:
- Facebook influencer pricing: $25 per 1000 followers
- Instagram Influencer pricing: $10 per 1000 followers
- Snapchat Influencer pricing: $10 per 1000 followers
- YouTube Influencer pricing: $20 per 1000 followers
These are all rough estimates, as influencers typically don’t share their fees publicly.
A common method many marketers use to gauge social media influencer rates is the one cent per follower rule (also known as the $100 per 100,000 follower rule). While it’s not a hard and fast rule, it will give you a good starting point to base a budget off of.
Even if you can’t afford Kim Kardashian, who reportedly charges up to $500,000 for an Instagram photo, there’s a lot of wiggle room when it comes to pricing depending on your objective.
Influencer Pricing Depends on Many Factors
Social media influencer rates typically vary greatly and takes into account:
- The number of followers and fans the influencer has
- The amount of engagement their posts generally garner
- The fit of the advertisement with their brand and following
- The number of posts you want
- The type of post (image, video, audio, etc.)
- The amount of effort needed from the influencer (do you provide the image/video or do they?)
- Where the ad will be promoted (will it just be on the influencer’s account? Are you cross-posting it? Are you using it in other efforts?)
So, how much do influencers charge? Most influencers will set their own rates unless they use a platform like Tapinfluence or Revfluence that sets rates for them.
Regardless of what social media influencer rates are, however, it’s important to look at them from a purely financial standpoint – just like you would an ad placement.
Ask yourself:
- What’s the potential ROI here?
- What’s the potential reach?
- Are they a good match for your brand?
- How valuable is their audience? Does it line up with your target customers?
- Once you know the ROI, how does that compare to other marketing efforts? How much would it cost you to produce those same results in another way?
Don’t be afraid to ask the influencer for their own metrics. What have they done for other brands and products? How many views, likes and comments did their past posts get? How many daily engaged followers do they have? What are the demographics of those followers?
When it comes to influencer marketing, it’s important to gather data you need to fully evaluate the influencer and gauge their worth.
Micro, Power Middle, & Macro Influencers
Keep in mind when selecting who you want to work with that Influencers are usually placed into three categories based on audience size:
- Micro influencers
- Power middle influencers
- Macro influencers
Micro influencers
Micro influencers offer the most authority in a specific and narrow audience niche. These influencers have a smaller, yet intensely dedicated follower amount of 10,000 people or less. Micro influencers are a hot commodity because they are more affordable and have higher levels of engagement.
Power middle influencers
These influencers typically have an audience size ranging from 10,000-250,000 people. Power middle influencers likely already have experience working with a brand.
Macro influencers
Macro influencers are the big fish of the social media pond. These are the digital celebrities of Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc. Their follower and subscribers can number anywhere from 250,000 to over 1 million people.
The potential reach of macro influencers will dwarf that of micro and power middle influencers. However, that wide reach comes with a lower engagement rate and higher costs.
Want to find out how your Micro-Influencers compare to top dogs like Kendall Jenner, Jay Alvarrez, and Huda Kattan?
There’s an Instagram influencer marketing tool provided by Influencer Marketing Hub, called “Micro-influencers vs Celebrities” that helps you measure the estimated cost per Instagram post, average engagement rate, and estimated media value per post for Instagram Micro-influencers vs. Celebrities.
Free Influencer Marketing
How much do influencers charge per post? Some actually charge nothing at all.
If you’re lucky enough to stumble on a fan of your brand who also has a robust social media following, you may be able to tempt them into some sort of arrangement that gives them free product and you free publicity.
You can also utilize content that’s already out there from existing fans by reposting, retweeting and sharing content on your own social media profiles. Keep in mind though, influencers are going to do their best work when they have something at stake.
At the very least, there should be some sort of incentive to keep them interested – exclusive or early access to new products, exposure for their own brands or just plain compensation.
You don’t need the advertising budget of a Fortune 100 company to pull off a successful influencer program. In fact, 60% of influencer campaigns had a budget of $10k or less, according to a survey of 100 marketers conducted by Bloglovin’.
At the end of the day, you’re likely best served by a combination of both these methods. Use free influencer marketing when and where you can, but be sure to incentivize the influencer to keep them on track. At the same time, pay established influencers to keep your products and services top of mind with your target audience.
And remember: no two influencers are created equal. Different Instagram influencer marketing strategies will work better for different Instagram influencers, and the same goes for other platforms.
Social media influencer pay will vary, as will their following, their social savvy and the power they hold for your brand.
Evaluate each potential opportunity on its own, as you would a traditional ad placement, and use data to drive your decisions.
Want to learn more?
Boost Organic Influencer Content with Paid Social Ads
5 Reasons To Hire An Agency to Manage Your Influencer Marketing Tactics
How to Engage and Win With Influencer Campaigns in 6 Simple Steps
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