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Brands and marketers are following the money when it comes to social media influencer marketing. The strategy’s effectiveness and comparatively low cost mean that more than 86 percent of companies plan to allocate parts of their budgets to influencer marketing in 2019, according to a report from Influencer Marketing Hub.

Why is that? Because, on average, for every dollar companies spend on influencer marketing, they get $6.85 in earned media value in return. Influencer marketing’s runaway success is the reason that in 2018, it was a $4.6 billion industry. And it’s forecast to reach up to $10 billion in 2020.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is when brands, businesses or marketers partner with influencers to promote a product or service. Influencers do this through sponsored posts, videos or tweets on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat. Today’s influencers are typically people who have large followings on social media. These fans are passionate about the content the influencers post.

Influencers specialize in areas like beauty, travel, food, fashion, parenting, health and interior design. They post content that followers value and enjoy, often setting new trends. Influencers can also be celebrities, bloggers with specialized websites, journalists and/or experts in their respective industries.

What Does Social Media Influencer Marketing Cost?

There’s no one standard for the cost of influencer marketing. It can be as little as the cost of supplying the influencer with samples of your product to try out and review online. Or, it can be as much as the fee for working with a celebrity influencer who charges $1 million per Instagram post, as CNBC reports Kylie Jenner does.

What Affects the Cost of an Influencer Marketing Campaign?

The cost of an influencer marketing campaign can depend on a number of factors. These include the influencer’s following, engagement rate, number of impressions, your campaign timeline, usage rights and the platforms the influencer posts on.

Following

Some influencers have followings in the millions. Others that appeal to niche markets, also known as nano- or micro-influencers, have as few as several hundred or a couple thousand. The more followers the influencer has, the higher the price usually is.

Extended Usage Rights and Exclusivity

You’ll pay more for extended usage rights, which is something to keep in mind if you plan on repurposing content beyond social media. If you don’t want an influencer to work with a competitive brand, exclusivity also comes with a higher price tag.

Engagement Rate

When vetting influencers, remember that a high engagement rate is important. It tells you that the influencer is actually in touch with followers by responding to real questions and comments. It also makes fraud more unlikely. The higher the engagement rate, the higher the cost — a consumer who’s engaged is more likely to buy.

Content Creation

Social media influencer marketing costs can also vary depending on whether you or the influencer creates the content. Production costs for photo and video shoots can be elaborate. And, the numbers and types of posts the influencer produces affect pricing, too. Usually content is more expensive the higher the quality is of the copy and photography. When you’re producing the content, be sure to factor in your team’s in-house costs and overhead.

Influencer’s Campaign Responsibilities

Influencers doing things like attending events, meeting and greeting fans or striking licensing deals can also affect the cost of influencer marketing. Keep in mind that the more responsibilities the influencer has in the campaign, the higher the cost will probably be.

Type of Industry

Another variable that can affect the overall cost of an influencer marketing campaign is the influencer’s industry. A recent study showed the cost of a sponsored travel industry post to be $5,335, notes Econsultancy. That’s 10 times the amount of the average posts for industries like fashion and food.

Demographics

The demographic an influencer reaches also can affect social media influencer marketing costs. If the influencer reaches a high-income audience that’s a target market for your product, they’re likely to charge more.

Agency or Influencer?

Whether you work with an agency or directly with the influencer on the campaign is another cost factor. It’s typically more expensive to work with an agency. You’ll likely have to pay a fee for the agency to connect you with the influencer who’s best for your campaign. You may also need to pay a monthly management fee.

Campaign Timeline

The length of your social media influencer campaign will also affect the cost, with longer campaigns being more expensive than shorter ones. A greater amount of work and number of hours for the campaign will naturally mean higher costs.

Number of Platforms Used

If an influencer has a sizable following on several platforms that align with your target market, you can expect to pay more.

The Value of Your Product

The value of the product or brand you want to promote also comes into play in the cost of social media influencer marketing. This is also true for the value of the exposure the influencer gets through the brand’s promotion of the campaign. Top influencers typically charge more to work with well-known brands. Influencers with smaller followings often charge less, given the exposure they receive from the brand.

Are There Specific Costs Per Influencer or Platform?

Costs per platform or influencer can vary. Influencers and agencies usually offer a la carte options and may also bundle different options together into one package. Here’s an approximate overview of specific costs you can expect.

Costs Per Influencer

Generally, a starting point for influencer rates is about one cent per follower.

Although the size of an influencer’s following affects the cost, engagement rates can be just as, if not more, important to marketers.

Average Costs Per Platform

Some of the most popular social media influencer marketing platforms are Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter. Here’s what influencers are charging on average for sponsored posts on these platforms:

YouTube: YouTube influencers charge about $20 per 1,000 subscribers to start. They also charge about 4 cents for every view of a product mention in a video and 8 cents for every view of a dedicated video. YouTube costs tend to be higher because of the expenses involved in producing videos.

Instagram: Instagram influencers charge about $1,000 per 100,000 followers. The cost per post can range from $75 to $1,000 for influencers who have between 2,000 and 100,000 followers.

Instagram influencers also usually charge:

  • About 16 cents for every engagement with an Instagram video
  • About 14 cents for every engagement with an Instagram post
  • About 6 cents for every view of an Instagram Story

Snapchat: Snapchat influencers typically charge between $100 and $350 per 1,000 views.

Facebook: With Facebook influencers, you can expect to pay about $25 per 1,000 followers per post.

Twitter: Twitter influencers charge approximately $2 per 1,000 followers per tweet.

Blogs: If you partner with a blogger for blog posts, your cost will be based on the amount of traffic their website gets. The more organic traffic it gets, the higher the cost will likely be.