Are you an influencer, but do not know how much is your worth in the Instagram business community? Or how much you should charge from the brands? No problem, we are here for your rescue.
Now, most of you think that only your follower count matters in calculating your rates, but you might be wrong. This is because there are many factors that directly or indirectly influence your worth and market value.
As per the recent survey, 19% of the marketers have invested in influencer marketing in 2020. So, if you are searching for the key points that will help you in knowing and subsequently increasing your worth, this article is definitely for you!
Factors Determining An Influencer’s Market Value
The market value of any influencer usually depends on the following factors:
1. Follower Count
This is simply the number of followers you have. Your number of followers, in fact, shows your commitment, permanency, engagement and firm progress.
So, the more followers you have, the more are the chances that you will be noticed by brands and companies. Though this is not the only criteria, it is definitely an important factor that helps you in determining your rates.
2. Audience Engagement
Like follower count, user engagement is an important factor that determines any influencer’s market value. Engagement rate is the percentage of followers who engage with your posts and stories.
To calculate your engagement rate, simply divide your average number of likes with your follower count and multiply it by 100. This will give you a percentage which is your average user engagement rate.
User engagement also depends upon your target niche. However, consistency and understanding user behavior can help you improve your engagement rate.
But wait, why are we emphasizing on engagement rate? This is because the user engagement rate is an indicator of how much you are trusted within your social fan following.
The higher number of people engaged with your posts and stories, greater are the chances that the brand product you recommend will be liked and utilized by your audience. Your engagement rate similarly tells the brand that they are making a wise decision by investing in you.
3. Growth Rate
Growth is always an essential part of any business and determines its future survival. This is because if you don’t grow with time, you eventually perish.
The same is the case with the influencer community. The number of likes, comments, and shares on your new posts does not always remain the same.
With the passage of time, they start to shrink. This is because the users are always in need of some anticipation that ties them to their favorite bloggers & influencer, and so is the brands.
A steady and firm growth rate is an important factor that helps you in determining your market value.
If you want to know your growth rate, take the difference in the total number of followers you have today, minus the total number of followers you had a month ago. Divide this number by the total number of followers you had one month ago. And then multiply it by hundred.
If your percentage lies between 5-7.5% and above, that means you are actually doing great, and your growth rate is well accomplished.
4. Tracking Return On Investment
A successful Instagram influencer is the one who always keeps a check and balance and has a keen eye on his growth and returns on investments. This simply means he knows how much the brand has invested in him, and in return, how much monetary benefit he is giving to the brand.
There are several stat apps and websites like Squarelovin, Pixlee, and CrowdFire that you can use to view your demographics and can see where you stand in the influencer community and how much likable you are to be endorsed by the brands. In this way, you can compare yourself, see your worth, and decide your market value accordingly.
5. Sponsored Posts
You might be thinking that the more sponsored posts you have on your account, the more you are worthy as an influencer. But you might be wrong!
This is because the more you feature sponsored content on your newsfeed, with the passage of time, your next post will be less powerful.
In simple words, the value of each sponsored post is diminished with the advertisement of each preceding post.
Almost half of the people tend to skip posts that are being tagged sponsored. Posting too many sponsored posts will lead to a lesser engagement rate.
So, as an influencer, you need to be choosy in terms of sponsored posts. Also, you need to make sure that whatever sponsored post you are selecting to be displayed on your newsfeed, it should be in line with your brand and your audience.
In this way, you can reach a more targeted audience, and this will correspondingly not harm your value.
Effective Tips To Improve Your Market Value
Since we have almost covered the factors that determine your worth as an influencer, now you would want to know how you can improve your market value. So, below are some tips and tricks that will help you in your growth.
1. Collaborating With Other Brands
Collaboration with different brands is an effective tool that helps any influencer in building his online reputation within the corporate sector. Collaborations are usually made with mutual benefits. For example, a brand will either offer monetary benefits or will provide free product samples to you in return for their product being highlighted in a post.
But before collaborating with any brand, you should always do thorough research, ensuring that the brand and you share a common voice, a common niche, and most importantly, you both have a similar targeted audience.
2. Creating Authentic Posts
As the internet remains to get satiated with content, influencers need to work harder than ever to break through the clutter and link with individuals online.
Since this is an era of authenticity, therefore your followers can spot imitated content from a mile away. Hence, while posting, you should always keep three things in mind. Be authentic, be honest, and be transparent. That’s it.
You can simply learn more about creating authentic and inventive content with EssaysnAssignments. Also, if you want to prove your authenticity, try posting unedited and behind the scene pictures and videos occasionally.
3. Work With Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers, as defined in the United Kingdom, are those who have followers ranging from 5-70 thousand. Thinking that working only with famous brands and big names is not always a good idea.
In fact, micro-influencers though having a small number of followers, usually have a high engagement rate.
Collaborating with these micro-influencers, if not much but to some extent, will help you in increasing your engagement rate and improving your market value.
4. Write Favorable Reviews
How can writing reviews for brands be fruitful for you? The answer is simple.
Your reviews and appraisals can make a brand or break it. This is because most of the users usually turn to reviews before making any purchase decisions.
Hence, as an influencer, it is your utmost duty to write authentic reviews for the brands, as your audience trusts you with your words.
Conclusion
Influencers are, and have always been an integral part of the Instagram community. Their importance and existence can never be denied. Being an influencer, you should be aware of your worth in the social community.
You spend so much time in improving your content, building your community, and engaging with your followers.
Thus, this is the right time that you get an insight into your market value. This will not only help you in calculating your worth but will also be a fruitful point for your fast pacing growth.
Author Bio
Gloria Kopp is working as a Digital Marketing Analyst at Essays and Assignments, a well-known platform for providing writing solutions. Her passion for helping people in all aspects of online marketing flows through in the expert industry coverage she provides. She also works as an SEO analyst, helping businesses with search and content marketing.