You can’t scroll through your Instagram feed these days without seeing some account trying to sell you protein powder/supplements, hats, shirts, or some other type of apparel. Once marketers realized they could go straight to the source and pay the ‘influencers’ who run sizable accounts for sponsored posts all hell broke loose on Instagram.
We’ve all heard stories of ‘Instagram models’ or people who are ‘Instagram famous’ living the high life, and how they are making a fortune without having to do any real work. But, until now, it’s been relatively unclear how much these social media influencers are getting paid for their sponsored posts. We know how much celebrities and athletes get paid, but what about Betty with the Booty who has 112K followers but seems to live like she’s a goddamn millionaire?
TRIBE is a conglomerate that connects influencers to marketers. TRIBE founder Georgie Cavanagh says someone needs at least 3,000 followers on Instagram before they can start getting paid. He also spoke with Husskie and gave specifics on how much influencers get paid per post:
At TRIBE, we say someone with 3K or 4K followers should ask for around $75 and someone with 100K followers should ask for around $500. An example rate card is listed below. However, beyond follower numbers, brands are now realising that an influencer’s engagement is a vital prerequisite. On average, a TRIBE influencer earns about $200 per post and our top earners are now making over $1000 a week through the platform.
3K-10K = $75 – $150
10K-25K = $150 – $220
25K-50K = $220 – $350
50K-100K = $350 – $500
100K+ = $500+
This is strictly talking about Instagram, not Twitter or Facebook. Social media influencers with huge follower counts across multiple social networks can ask for a lot more $$$$$ when they’re reaching wide audiences on multiple platforms. I’ll be honest, $500 for someone with 100,000+ Instagram followers seems like a steal. If a brand wanted to pay straight up for an audience that size on Facebook they’d end up shelling out more…But the influencers don’t know this, and if they do, they don’t care because it’s an easy $500 in their pocket for something that takes them about 30 seconds to post on Instagram…Must be nice.