What To Charge For Sponsored Content as an Influencer
Okay, this has officially become the number one most-asked question in my Instagram DM’s so let’s dish! How much should you be charging for sponsored content as an influencer?
Short answer: influencer rates in 2023 are probably higher than you think.
But also, it’s complicated.
I will never forget the first brand collaboration I did. It was in 2013, one year after launching my blog and an online shop owner offered me 10% of my order in exchange for a blog post. Oh how times have changed!
In my eight years as a digital content creator, I’ve done multiple four-figure brand deals with some major fashion and beauty brands and I want to help other creators understand their worth and give them the tools to ask for what they deserve to be paid.
If you came here looking for a straight up price list based on follower size or how many years you’ve been actively creating, I’m sorry to disappoint you. But as I’ve talked about on YouTube and on my Instagram, it’s pretty much impossible for me to tell you EXACTLY how much to charge for a specific campaign unless I’m privy to pretty much every little detail about your account.
Case in point: in 2020 I did brand deals that ranged from $150 to $2,000+ and that’s because the deliverables, timelines, and content types were all totally different, even though it was still me creating the content. And I’ll add that both the $150 deal and the $2,000 deal felt fair to me given what was required of me from a creation standpoint as well as based on the size of my platforms at the time.
Let’s get into more specifics about what to charge as an influencer including:
Calculating a base rate
Campaign-specific factors that can impact your rate
Creator-specific factors that can impact your rate
How to find industry standard pricing for influencers
Pricing one-off campaigns vs long-term partnerships
Calculating a base rate
Have you ever heard the baseline “$100 for every 10,000 followers”? This is a common phrase used in influencer marketing and some people take it at face value.
I will say I think the absolute minimum that anyone, even a nano influencer, should accept for creating sponsored content in 2023 is $250 for written/photo content, and $500 for video content. But in many cases that’s exactly what this is—a starting point.
Some influencers have a set price list or rate card where they list out prices for campaigns. I have one of these for my own private use (meaning I don’t share it with brands because I like to try to gauge their budget first if I can) but that list is really a list of base rates.
A base rate is the starting rate for a project or campaign that is the rate that just covers the cost of the content creation.
So there are two ways you can determine your base rate. The first is to use the $100 for every 10,000 followers as a baseline if you truly don’t know where to start.
However, you can also create an hourly rate for yourself and think about how long it will take you from start to finish to produce the content. Before you think “okay so maybe an hour for me to shoot these photos,” remember that the whole process could include the time you spend emailing with the brand, deciding on a shoot location, sourcing props, hiring a photographer, creating the content, editing it, writing a caption/copy, and revisions from the brand.
I did some quick research (feel free to dig deeper than I did!) and it seems like freelance social media coordinators with less than 5 years of experience charge anywhere between $20-40 an hour for content creation and management, so maybe starting there is an approach that makes more sense for you than the follower baseline.
I think the absolute minimum that anyone, even a nano influencer, should accept for creating sponsored content in 2023 is $250.
Campaign-specific factors That can raise your rate
Let’s review 10 campaign-specific details that can raise your rate and increase the price on top of the base rate:
Engagement - the percentage of your audience that interacts with your posts
Usage rights - if the brand wants to use your content in paid marketing
Exclusivity - if the brand wants you to refrain from working with competitors
Content type - video costs more than images
Scope of work - the complete set of deliverables that the brand wants to receive
Sensitive topics - talking about products or issues that may need deeper explanation
Expertise - if your content aligns perfectly with the category or niche of the brand
Timeline - what is the turnaround of the project?
Revisions - if the brand wants you to reshoot your content for any reason
Time of year - a busy season like the holidays or back to school for a mom blogger warrants a higher rate
Creator-specific factors that can impact your rate
In addition to that, there are a few creator-specific factors that may impact your rate. Notice I said impact and not raise here? That’s because these could either raise or lower your rate.
Your previous work experience
I believe my previous work experience as a magazine editor and as a content director for a tech startup warrants higher rates than someone with a similar following to me without that experience because I come with professional skills and knowledge that sets me apart from other creators. However if you’re a college student creating as a side gig, you may charge a slightly lower rate as you’re still building your portfolio.
Relationship with brand
If you already have a great relationship with a brand, they may be ready to pay your full rate every single time or you may give them a discount because you love working with them and they make it super easy to do your job.
Equipment / photography
If you shoot content on your iPhone (which many creators do!) you may charge a certain rate, but if you have a drone or a super intense DSLR camera, you should factor that into your rate and charge more for it since you’re able to give something extra to the brand. Or maybe you need to factor in the cost of hiring a photographer to help you create content.
Understand industry standard rates
Since the influencer industry is still pretty new, there aren’t really standard rates but you can get a sense of what your peers are charging for sponsored content.
Check out articles written in Business Insider and HuffPost about what creators charge for different types of sponsored content (you may even recognize the byline in these HuffPost stories).
Another great resource is Facebook groups! Some Facebook groups where creators have started threads about rates that you can search through include rewardStyle Bloggers, the InfluenceHer Collective, Hermana Agency, and Freelancing Females. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you could also always start your own thread!
Understanding industry standards is helpful to make sure you’re being paid a fair rate, and it’s also good to know if a brand pushes back and says you’re asking for too much to have a number to point back to and say, “actually, here’s someone else who charged this amount for a similar project.”
One-off vs long-term partnerships
This is the last thing I wanted to chat through in this blog post because as you can probably guess, pricing a one-off post is much easier than pricing a long-term brand deal.
If a brand just wants to hire you for one post or campaign you can use your current insights and analytics to inform what you should charge. But what if they want to book you for a campaign that lasts for several months?
Lock in the brand at your normal rate for the length of the project and let them know they’re getting a good deal because if you grow over time they’re getting you at your current rate.
If you’ve been growing at a steady pace, use that growth trend to predict how much you’ll have grown by the end of the campaign flight and present that info to the brand when you tell them your rate.
If you haven’t been growing organically, I’d go with option one. But if you’re creating higher quality content and consistently gaining followers month after month, you can present brands with a higher price tier to account for this.
I know that was a lot of information! If you got to the bottom of this post and you’re thinking “ugh, I really thought she’d throw out more specific numbers about how much influencer charge per post at SOME point in this essay!” I will mention that I also do 1:1 consulting sessions where I do deeper dives with creators and get into bio audits, content strategy and, yes, pricing, so if you do want to book a session with me you can learn more about that here.
I hope you found this helpful! If you have any questions for me please leave them in the comments or DM me on Instagram.
yours,
Austen
Photos by Karya Schanilec