Influencer marketing, has no doubt, proven to be one of the most successful marketing strategies in today’s digital age. In fact, it has almost overtaken traditional digital marketing, and its’ not that difficult to understand why. People tend to trust other people more than they trust prints and billboards. If a public figure is endorsing it, it must be a good product, right?
In addition, about 26 percent of all desktop users use ad blockers, meaning that digital ads don’t even reach this much percentage of the targeted group. For these reasons, and many more, influencer marketing, especially on Instagram, has grown to be widely popular and has become the preferred method of creating brand awareness and increasing a company’s bottom line.
So, should your brand be adopting this revolutionary marketing strategy too? If you want increased revenue, yes. But, as is the case with all other business efforts, the question arises: How much do you have to invest? In other words, if you were to work with an Instagram influencer, how much would you have to pay them?
First of all, it is important to know that there is no standard, definitive answer to this. There are a number of factors that determine how much an influencer charges for every Instagram post. Let us take a look at some of the most important ones.
- Number of followers
The more followers an Instagram influencer has, the more people they can reach with their post, and hence, the more expensive their service will be. This has always remained the top factor that determines how much an influencer charges.
Typically, many brands follow the one cent per follower rule as a starting point. This means that for every 10k follower an influencer has, they will be paid $100. For micro-influencers (influencers with a following between 1000 to 100k followers), the rates may be lower. Major influencers, on the other hand, usually charge around $1000 per Instagram post.
- Rate of engagement
Another critical metric for deciding an influencer fee, the engagement rate refers to the rate at which followers actually engage or interact with their posts and stories on Instagram. This means that the more people engage with these posts and stories, the more people indirectly engage with the brand, and hence the more expensive the campaign. Engagement rate can be calculated by dividing the total number of followers who likes or comments on a post by the total number of posts the influencer has. The average cost per engagement ranges from $0.10 to $0.15 depending on the industry, location and age of the influencer.
- Product to be marketed
The product or service your brand is marketing also determines how much you will have to pay the influencer you work with. The industry your business belongs to also plays a huge role here. For instance, if you are selling clothing items, you will definitely have to pay lesser than if your brand was selling luxury sports cars. To put it simply, the more expensive the product you want to market is, the more money you will have to pay an influencer.
- Nature of relationship between brand and influencer
Are you working with an influencer directly or through an agency or a similar platform? This determines how much you will have to pay. You might think that working directly with influencers may be cheaper, but in reality finding influencers and managing your campaign through a platform is more reliable and less time consuming, thus, more efficient and less expensive. Trusted platforms such as iFluenz.com work as middlemen that connect you to the perfect influencer for your campaign – an influencer with an ideal niche following. Moreover, it is easier to find an influencer who is within your budget, yet still has experience and is trustworthy.
Also, other specific requirements such as link in bio, video post, etc. can increase the price paid for a post.