Unmasking Content Creator Price List: A Comprehensive Guide For Confused Brands

Updated: August 23, 2024 7 min read

Tom Slipkus

Editor

Influencer pricing can be confusing because it isn’t always clear to brands whether they are getting value for money from the transaction. It often seems like there is a real reason for the collaboration, but it can sometimes fail to generate results.

Fortunately, this guide is here to help. We review the factors affecting content creator pricing and how much you can expect to pay. Then, we explore examples of pricing across popular social media networks, followed by negotiation tips (to secure a better deal).

What Factors Influence Influencer Pricing And Why?

Various factors can affect influencer pricing. As such, building an overview of them can help determine how much you should pay for any individual media personality’s services.

The Platform

First, how much you pay Influencers depends on the platform you want to use. Some are more costly than others (because the number of personalities with high follower counts is scarcer).

Instagram, known for its high engagement rates and strong visual appeal is among the most expensive. Successful influencers can charge more money than similar platforms, like TikTok (for personalities with the same follower counts).

YouTube is even pricier. Creators charge more because of the platform’s legendary engagement (and the challenges in making great content).

Working with Twitter/X-based influencers is less expensive because of the platform’s short-form style. However, some niche influencers can command high engagement, pushing up prices.

You can also use influencers on LinkedIn. However, these are primarily B2B, so there aren’t as many. Furthermore, they can be challenging to find and charge more when you discover a suitable person.

TikTok influencers have a range of pricing (from ultra-affordable to extremely pricey). However, the platform makes it straightforward to communicate with a younger audience, so it might be worth spending extra on someone with more reach.

Lastly, Snapchat has variable prices but lets you find more niche influencers. Some personalities may not expect anyone to show interest in them, which can also push fees lower temporarily.

Audience Size

Audience size also plays a role in pricing. And as you might expect, the larger it is, the more influencers can charge.

Influencers break down into the following categories:

Nano-influencers – influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers
Micro-influencers – 10,000 to 50,000 followers
Mid-tier influencers – 50,000 to 200,000 followers
Macro-influencers – 200,000 to 1,000,000 followers
Mega-influencers – over 1,000,000 followers

Interestingly, the biggest influencers aren’t always the best choice for your brand. A mega-influencer might be able to reach more people, but their audience could have nothing to do with yours.

For this reason, most niche brands reach out to nano- and micro-influencers first. Then, they move onto the bigger names if they have a product with mass appeal.

Campaign Type

Campaign type is another factor that drives the pricing. The more you want your influencer to do, the more you pay.

Content without posting is usually the cheapest. If you want them to post and create ads on top, you will pay more.

Engagement Rates

Lastly, influencer fees vary according to engagement rates. The more engaged audiences are, the more social media personalities expect brands to pay.

Engagement rates vary by platform, so you should compare any specific influencer against the average:

Instagram: 1.46%
YouTube: 2%
Facebook: 0.72%
X: 0.79%
LinkedIn: 1.07%
TikTok: 0.36%

An influencer with above-average engagement rates will usually charge more. However, you can sometimes negotiate them down.

The following table shows influencer pricing costs for content only, posting, and content with posting. Note that the included figures are estimates for a single piece of content (with or without posting) and don’t necessarily reflect what influencers will charge. Prices could be higher or lower, depending on your relationship and their unique characteristics (such as engagement level).

Table of pricing per video across platforms (based on follower count and campaign type)

Platform	Influencer Tier	Content Only	Posting
Instagram	Nano	$50 – $150	$100 – $250
	Micro	$150 – $500	$300 – $800
	Mid-tier	$500 – $2,000	$1,000 – $4,000
	Macro	$2,000 – $10,000	$4,000 – $20,000
	Mega	$10,000 – $50,000	$20,000 – $100,000
YouTube	Nano	$100 – $300	$250 – $500
	Micro	$300 – $1,000	$600 – $1,500
	Mid-tier	$1,000 – $5,000	$2,000 – $10,000
	Macro	$5,000 – $20,000	$10,000 – $40,000
	Mega	$20,000 – $100,000	$40,000 – $200,000
X	Nano	$50 – $150	$100 – $250
	Micro	$150 – $500	$300 – $800
	Mid-tier	$500 – $2,000	$1,000 – $4,000
	Macro	$2,000 – $10,000	$4,000 – $20,000
	Mega	$10,000 – $50,000	$20,000 – $100,000
TikTok	Nano	$50 – $200	$100 – $300
	Micro	$200 – $800	$400 – $1,000
	Mid-tier	$800 – $3,000	$1,500 – $6,000
	Macro	$3,000 – $12,000	$6,000 – $24,000
	Mega	$12,000 – $50,000	$24,000 – $100,000

Influencer Pricing Structures: How They Charge For Their Services

Influencers can charge based on the assumptions listed above. However, they can also base their fees on other criteria.

Per Post

Charging per post is one option. Here, influencers ask for a fixed fee (as above) to create the desired post. Nano influencers often have the highest engagement and charge more as a percentage of their followers than social media personalities with larger audiences. However, the absolute cost for macro and mega influencers will always be greater.

Per Campaign

Some influencers also charge you per campaign where they agree to work with you over several rounds of work for a fixed fee.

Because the amount of work involved is significantly greater, what you pay will be higher. For example, by our estimates, a nano influencer might charge $350 for a single round of content and posting. However, a sustained campaign lasting three months might cost as much as $10,000.

Per Engagement

Lastly, some influencers charge per engagement. This approach is the fairest and most reflects the value the social media personality is providing.

For example, suppose you choose an influencer that engages 100,000 users at $0.02 per engagement. The total cost of the deal with them would be $2,000.

Pricing Examples Across Platforms: How Much Are Influencers Really Charging?

So, what are influencers really charging across social networks? Let’s take a look:

YouTube – MrBeast

MrBeast is one of YouTube’s top influencers with over 300 million followers. Recently, he teamed up with developer Supercell to promote their Squid Game by recreating their levels in real life. To add excitement, there was also a prize pot of $456,000 for the lucky winner (the last real player on the set to survive).

Estimates suggest Supercell paid MrBeast an astonishing $3 million for his role in promoting the company’s products. That equates to less than half a cent per impression – pretty good value for the computer game maker who managed to get over 630 million impressions for their software on MrBeast’s YouTube channel.

Instagram – Jayde Powell

Jade Powell is a nano Instagram influencer with just under 9,000 at the time of writing. She covers all things social media-related and enjoys her life as a creator.

Recently, she did a creative day-long campaign for Adweek that saw her traveling to one of the organization’s conferences and giving a speech. The experience involved some backstage action, food, and other perks to sweeten the deal.

Given her content and posting role, and the fact that the campaign lasted a day, Adweek likely paid Jayde between $400 and $750 for her work.

Instagram – Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland is a professional soccer star and striker for one of Europe’s greatest clubs, Manchester City. Given his brilliance on the pitch, the sports legend has more than 38 million followers on Instagram.

Seeing the opportunity, sports label Nike began working with the living legend in 2022, hiring Erling as its ambassador on Instagram. The relationship sees the soccer star regularly promoting the company’s products across his various accounts, showing off new products when they arrive.

Reports in the media suggest Nike paid the footballer a £200 million sponsorship deal which is “career-long,” equating to approximately £20 million per year if he retires when he is 32. Did Nike overpay? Possibly. A calculation involving estimated brand impressions, followers, and reach suggests a figure in the range of £6 million would be appropriate for his Instagram account. However, Erling also provides Nike with other forms of value outside social media (such as wearing their products during live football matches).

TikTok – Owen Han

Owen Han is a well-known TikTok influencer with over 4.3 million followers. He recently collaborated with fast food chain Burger King to promote their new Whopper UGC where they want TikTokers to try to create their own online to win a prize.

We don’t know how much Owen Han got paid to form the partnership. However, HypeAuditor estimates his pay to be between $3,400 to $5,400 per post.

4 Professional Tips for Negotiating Social Media Influencer Prices

This guide listed some prices you can expect to pay for access to influencers in your niche. However, the amount you actually pay can vary significantly depending on your negotiating skills (and what you already know about the market).

So, what should you do to maximize the likelihood of a positive outcome?

Measure The Influencer’s Value

The first step is to measure the influencer’s value: how much are they worth? Knowing this number will give you a benchmark you can use during negotiations.

Some influencers are worth enormous sums of money because of their reach. Others aren’t.

Offer Additional Incentives

You can also offer additional incentives besides money, like product samples or exclusive behind-the-scenes access to your brands. These perks matter to influencers because it gives them material they can use for content for free.

Offering incentives is often low-cost to you too – far less than paying outright. Showing influencers backstage areas or handing them samples you aren’t going to use anyway is a boon.

Be Open About Your Budget And Expectations

Don’t tell influencers things just because you think they want to hear them. Instead, talk to them about your campaign, goals, and budget and see what they think. Some influencers will bite your hand off, while others will be glad you told them the information upfront so they can decide to walk away immediately.

When discussing your expectations, give influencers creative freedom and avoid micromanaging their output. Most successful social media personalities got to their enviable positions by knowing how to communicate with their audiences and sell products.

If you have concerns, look through their previous posts and see how they would reflect on your brand if they continued in the same vein. See if the influencer would represent you faithfully or cause issues that might upset your audience.

Set Out Detailed Contracts

Lastly, specifying detailed contracts can be an excellent way to improve negotiations with influencers. Setting out things like deliverables and timelines makes the entire process more professional. Always write out any payment terms (including when and under what conditions payment will occur) and whether anyone has exclusive rights to the content.

If you don’t know how to craft a document with the proper legal language, get an attorney to do it. Ensure you write everything in plain English and everyone agrees to your terms as stated.