Most influencers face a huge challenge in pricing their work. The industry is so new that there really isn't any real pay standardization. This makes it challenging to come up with a real rate because who do you really go to learn monetization of your content.
Let me just say this, you should be paid fairly by brands for your value and creative energy.
You should be paid fairly by brands for your value and creative energy.
Because you are pricing based on value and creative energy, there is no one way to price. So, take the seat of a boutique marketing agency approach. Prices based on project or hourly commitment.
Bundling my services has been the ultimate hack in negotiating my prices with brands. Figuring out if I go based on the project model or the hourly model made it easier for me to reply back and have rates readily available.
Here's a bit of my background. My professional trade is digital and social media marketing for small business, mid size businesses, enterprises, and state/government entities. On my spare time, I am a lifestyle creator with specialties in local travel, beauty, and style.
For reference on my numbers:
18K on Instagram
10K on Facebook
55K on TikTok
A blog, Haitians Who Blog, reaching 80K people across social platforms.
I create sponsored content and make sure when I approach rates I account and charge for these four main buckets.
Once I determine the bucket the brand selects to share their story with, I move into where the bulk of my rates come from: TIME.
Prior to becoming a professional creator, I took on several projects to truly understand and track the average amount of time it took me to produce content.
Time: What I learned over the years is how much I undercharged for the work I put into creating a video, reel, or even a photo. So what I did for three months was track the average amount of time it took me to produce one reel. That should include the time to review contracts, the time to test, and the time for pre/production/post work, email time, etc. Add that up and then establish a competitive hourly rate. For me, I start at $200 per hour. So if I know it takes us 6 hours on average to make a reel then I know my rate is as follows: start at $200 X 6 = $1200. If I expect a longer amount of time or more complicated editing, I add more time and account for that in the price.
Expenses: I make sure I charge for any expenses associated with producing the content. Make up, hair, and materials cost. Then, I consider that quarterly or annually, I have to pay taxes, there is a portion of my equipment that I account (cameras/computer/software/phone/etc), and while much of that from a tax standpoint may be depreciated it’s still a cost. I, also, pass on any cost for talent fees, or outsourcing of any kind and add on a 20% load. If I know I need a Haitian translator or transcription done, I charge the client $150 for the resource. The average cost for a reel is typically $1200. So now we’re at $2,200.
Reach per platform – I charge the client for the reach I may anticipate. If the client wants a single platform reel on Instagram and we know we have 20K followers with an average post reach (not views) of 3,000, I consider that in my fixed rate. In this case, for reaching what is 15% of my audience, I charge $500. If they wanted the post shared on TikTok where my reach is much higher then I add on the additional fee for that reach as well. I do not subscribe to the idea that the rate should be 1% of your follower count. It should be based on reach. So now we are at $2,700 for one Instagram reel, and if they want it added to TikTok we add an additional fee.
Brand Specific Asks – The most common asks we get are whitelisting and unlimited rights to use the content. We do not give unlimited rights, if we did we charge 5 figures and act more like an ad agency. Since I started my influencer career, I've only had two clients say yes. For whitelisting I make sure we ask for how long they want the ability for whitelisting and we make sure that in the contract it’s in writing. I include a flat fee for the timeframe with additional language that if they want to extend it at a rate of XXX per month. I charge $300 per platform for whitelisting and $300 per additional month. No need to include this into pricing because there is information needed per platform for usage.
The more deliverables the brand asks for the more I charge. Stories, a cover photo, Instagram Live, link in bio, discount codes, a long form video versus reel, etc. Each asks means you have to edit and create that ask or outsource it. This is why I am sure each brand knows you are only allotted one edit and will be charge an additional fee for each edit. My standard rate is $150 per hour for each round of work.
Incentives: Bundling is often an extra push to get a yes from my client. So, I will throw in story sets to entice my offerings.
Need more support in your creator journey?
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Final price for one Instagram Post with 20K followers: $2,700 - $3,500
Pricing yourself is not just about getting paid, its about equity. It is important to account for and deliver the rate that is equitable for you. Sometimes that is taking into consideration your niche or more time, or even hiring or outsourcing additional talent.
If there is anything you learn from pricing yourself as a social media influencer in 2024, it is to expect NO! If you see yes to 100% of your quotes you are undercharging.
If you see yes to 100% of your quotes you are undercharging.
I know it’s tough to be ghosted or even hear the no, but it means they can’t afford you. Move on to your monetized content or the next branded opportunity. Over time you’ll get a yes. And yes it's scare to send out a quote. I've done this myself for 5 years and still ask - Did I ask for much? But then, when someone say yes and the work shows, VALIDATION! It shows that waiting was the right approach.
For those of you who are approached to do work for free/product exchange or perhaps for a flat rate of $200 – consider asking yourself why it makes sense to do that when you think about how much energy you put into your content creation. Brands are all over the map in how well they know how to interact with us. And some hope they can get us FREE/CHEAP/INEXPENSIVE. Is it worth doing something for free? It’s really up to you – maybe it’s a $10,000 make-up or skincare products and it’s worth it to you. But if it’s a $20 product exchange worth the ask for a bunch of deliverables. Can $200 truly make up for what you need and the time you need to step away from your everyday operations?
See if you are still reading, it means you agree, YOU NEED TO VALUE YOUR WORTH BEFORE THESE BRANDS EVEN CONSIDER IT. There are a million and one successful ways to price yourself, use the comments to share yours.
Need more support in your creator journey, I'm holding a workshop on April 17 on Crafting a Media Kit to Leverage Your Online Influence. Join me!
