Influencers have increased their rates by an average of 50 percent year over year since 2017, according to MediaKix. So it is perfectly fine for you to increase yours when the time is right. The question is, how do you know it’s time? We’ve laid out the criteria that affect your influencer rates as well as the going rates by follower count and platform. Use this information and our checklist of benchmarks to help you determine if now is the time to start charging more.
Factors That Affect Your Influencer Rates
The brands you’ve been working with are mainly concerned with whether or not their partnership with you is helping them reach their marketing goals. These goals range from driving sales to increasing brand awareness, boosting engagement, improving brand reputation, generating leads and so on. The level to which you’re able to do this is based on several factors that you undoubtedly include in your influencer media kit to showcase your skills and successes. Let’s recap the factors that affect how much brands are willing to pay for your influencer efforts:
Engagement Rates
As an influencer, you engage with your audience by responding to comments and questions, asking them their opinions and otherwise interacting with the people who follow you. Those who interact more have higher engagement rates, which translates to closer, more authentic relationships. Brands may pay more for an influencer who has higher engagement rates because their message is trusted and results in higher conversions.
Type of Content
The more effort you need to put into creating the type of content a brand requires, the more your rates can increase. For instance, producing a video takes more time and skill than writing a 280-character tweet. A product testing and review generally takes more effort than a single image post with a short description.
Production Costs
Production costs vary based on the type of content you’re creating. To ensure professional quality content, you should factor in your equipment and software costs, as well as costs for supporting staff such as photographers or makeup artists. If travel or other fees are required for your content, factor in these costs as well.
Campaign Requirements
Similarly, the amount of content you’re asked to produce affects your rates. How many posts per week and across how many channels will you create content? A one-off influencer marketing campaign will obviously pay less than a long-term relationship.
Channels
Both the type and number of social media platforms, blogs, podcasts or other channels you post content on influence your rates. If you’re a Twitch streamer who repurposes your content on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, you’re likely more marketable than someone who uses one channel. Also, if a brand’s target audience is mainly on Instagram, they’ll be willing to pay more for an influencer who has a large audience on the platform.
Audience Size
The number of followers and subscribers you have is a common benchmark for determining influencer rates. In general, influencers with larger follower counts are expected to charge more than smaller influencers.
Audience Type
Audience demographics is also important to brands that may want to partner with you. Most of the time, brands want to match their brand persona with your target audience. This ensures they’re reaching potential customers who’ll be interested in their products.
Niche
The industry you specialize in also influences your rates. If your type of expertise is harder to come by, such as thought leadership in business or medicine, you may charge higher rates. The fashion industry, however, is flooded with influencers, so their rates are more competitive.
Influencer-Brand Match
Brands are also looking for influencers whose values match their own. Their reputation can plummet if paired with an influencer who makes political statements or social faux pas that resonate poorly with their audience. A perfect influencer-brand value match — including an influencer who already uses and likes a brand’s products — will likely bring a higher ROI. With that in mind, a brand may pay higher fees to influencers who match its brand identity.
Usage Rights
You might agree to let a brand reuse your sponsored content on its own social media channels, email marketing or other platforms. If you do, you can generally charge higher rates than someone who claims sole usage rights.
Exclusivity
A brand that asks you not to create content for its competitors for a period of time should also pay you more. By putting these exclusivity limits on you, the brand is reducing your prospects of partnerships and income, so you should be compensated for it.
Influencer Rates by Social Media Platform
While there are no set rates for influencer marketers, your follower count on each social platform is a standard measure on which to base your fees. To see if you’re up for a raise in rates, first determine which influencer tier you fall into:
- Nano-influencer: 1K–10K followers
- Micro-influencer: 10K–50K followers
- Mid-tier influencer: 50K–500K followers
- Macro-influencer: 500K–1M followers
- Mega-influencer: 1M followers and up
Next, compare what you currently charge to industry standards based on the social media platform or platforms you post on. Remember, these rates are estimates based on what influencers and marketers report. Your individual rates will be influenced by the additional factors discussed previously, as well as other standards of influencer equality.
Consult sources such as Influencer Marketing Hub, which keeps an accurate, annual estimate of influencer rates by platform. For 2021, here are some highlights:
- Instagram nano-influencers earn $10–$100 per post, while a mega-influencer may earn over $10K per post.
- YouTube influencer rates are higher, with a nano-influencer earning $20–$200 per video, and a mega-influencer earning $20K or more.
- TikTok influencers can expect to earn $5–$25 per post, while mega-influencers may fetch $2,500 per post.
- Twitter posts are generally less labor-intensive, so nano-influencers tend to earn $2–$20 per tweet, while $2K or more is the going rate for mega-influencers.
- Facebook nano-influencers earn $25–$250 per post, and their mega-influencer counterparts command $25K or more per post.
Knowing When to Raise Your Influencer Rates
Don’t be afraid to increase your influencer rates when you feel it’s time to bring your fees up to match the quality of service you’re providing. It may be time to increase your influencer rates if you’re experiencing any of the following:
- Your audience size has grown significantly within your tier level or you’ve advanced to a higher tier.
- Your engagement rates have improved.
- The quality of your content has improved in ways that you can document, either by the level of professionalism or the type of content you create.
- You’ve added more social media platforms to your portfolio and cross-promote to each of them regularly.
- Your content has consistently met a brand’s marketing campaign goals, making you a clear asset to the company’s success.
