How Much Does Influencer Marketing Cost?

One of our most requested workshops in the last 18 months has been centered around the topic of Influencer Marketing. We also work with dozens of clients on their Influencer Marketing Campaigns.

In this blog we thought we would answer one of the most common questions we get:
How much does Influencer Marketing actually cost?

Well, before we dive deeper, let me just clarify this upfront. There is no one size fits all number. There is no stagnant formula for calculating the cost. And every influencer for every industry is different.

Brands can pay influencers a few hundred dollars to several million (depending on the influencer).

So, there’s that.

However, when you have a strategy that is executed correctly, your return on investment can be exponential! Reports of anywhere from an average of $6.85-$11.00 per one dollar spent. That is significant.

As you know Influencer Marketing is one of the hottest marketing strategies right now. Consumers trust real people. And influencers can often come across as your digital BFF. I can’t tell you how many people have told me that I am like their “best friend in [their] head” or how I am like a the “big sister [they] never had.”

What we get from that is that everyday people, the ones you are trying to target with your products and services, really value the authenticity that an influencer brings to the table.

So, how do you calculate how much you should be spending on this kind of marketing campaign? Well, it will be determined by a few different factors.

1. Social Platform.
   The platform where which the influencer plans to post your stuff plays a big part. Curating an Instagram selfie may take all of 15 minutes. Creating a dedicated YouTube video could take all day to film, edit, etc. So pricing per influencer will depend on where you are asking them to showcase your product.

2. Their Following Numbers
   Probably goes without saying, but the more followers, the more costly it will be to hire them. Celebrities like Selena Gomez or Kylie Jenner can rack up to 7 figures for an Influencer Marketing Campaign. Your friendly, neighborhood college student may be cheaper, but will the ROI be the same? These are things you must consider.

3. The Technicalities.
   Since you are contracting influencers (and their platforms), you have to decide if you will allow a “non-compete” type of clause in your contract. Some companies want their influencers to forgo working with competitive brands during a particular campaign. If so, that will likely cost more – as this brand sponsorships are a huge part of an Influencers income.

Another thing to consider is the duration of the campaign and access to the content itself. Will you require perpetual use of all videos, images and copy? If so, they may decide to charge you extra for rights to the content after the initial campaign is over.

Lastly, you will also need to consider the activation campaign itself, and the costs for that. Finding qualified influencers is a tedious process. It requires a lot of time and effort to research and reach out to each of them. Do you plan on doing that yourself or do you plan on hiring an agency? If you desire to work with an agency (most people do), you will need to calculate that into your campaign budget as well.

And while there is no set formula for calculation, we do want to provide you with some basic guidelines.

Instagram
Because IG is a visual only kind of platform, without any linkability directly to the product from an Influencers feed, this will likely be the cheaper of options.
$10 per post per 1000 followers

Instagram Stories & Snapchat
Having the product on a 24-hour view platform may seem like it should cost less, but oftentimes the engagement is much higher. So, that will cost you.
$50 per 5 stories, per average of 100 views.

YouTube – more costly, but also more targeted and gives your product searchability
$20 per dedicated video per 1000 Subscribers

Of course, this can also depend on any agreements you make with the influencer regarding affiliate percentages, but the moral of the story is Influencer Marketing works!

Influencers have an audience that you likely never would have been able to reach and cultivate. And you want that. Influencers have worked very hard to build their brands and their communities. And they need to create content. Social audiences love finding new things from their favorite online personalities. So, as you can see Including Influencer Marketing as a part of your digital strategy can be a huge win for all parties involved.