As many of you may know, my goal is to help people better understand the world of social media. There are so many questions that pop up in everyone’s mind when they join these platforms. One question that people constantly have is how influencers get paid. I have had this question for a while and finally got the chance to sit down with a few friends in the industry to find out.
The first thing I wanted to know was how long it takes influencers to get paid when working with brands? It took my friend Izzy almost 2 years after his campaign before he got paid from one of the larger companies (more on that later). Another person I spoke with, who requested to remain anonymous, said that it could take up to 3 months for their company to get paid. Another person I interviewed told me it took them about a month to get paid.
How much do influencers get paid?
The average rate is around $1-$10 per like and depending on your engagement and how many followers you have that could go up to $20 per like. Some people I interviewed said that they got paid as little as $0.01-$0.03 per like and others were getting as much as $1+ per like. But keep in mind, if an influencer is getting around 100-200 likes per post on average, those rates can go up to as much as $20-30 per like.
Brands normally pay the influencer after the campaign has been finalized and depending on what contract they got signed it could take a few months before you get paid. Usually, if someone is getting paid a decent rate, brands try to pay them within a month or at least before the campaign is finalized.
How do you get paid by brands?
If an influencer is just getting started and they’re working with smaller companies, then it’s likely that they will be asked to pay for their own travel, accommodations and other costs during the campaign. If an influencer gets paid $500 per social media post, they might have to pay $300-$400 of that back in travel costs. This is where negotiating comes into play when starting out because you’ll be able to negotiate your expenses down to get paid more.
If a brand doesn’t ask for a specific influencer and they do a general call for submissions, then the number of submissions usually decides who will get the job. It’s like applying for a job where you send in your resume and then wait to hear back from the company if they’re interested or not. If you apply for a specific campaign, it’s more likely that you’ll get selected because companies often don’t reach out to people unless they’ve heard of them before and liked their content.
How do you end up working with brands?
You usually have to go through an agent or a company that manages influencers and talent. While there are a lot of ways to get discovered, it’s more likely that you’ll need someone who can help manage this for you if you want to reach the next level as an influencer. Agents typically get between 10-25% of an influencers pay and they’re normally the ones that negotiate deals with you and the brand at the table.
Social networks like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat are the most common platforms that brands work with. You can also reach out to companies specializing in influencer marketing to help you get deals with multiple companies simultaneously. However, Instagram follower count is the most important metric that brands use when they’re looking to work with someone. Brands need influencers that have a high follower count in order to get the hype going and reach a large audience.
