How was the Influencer Earning Survey conducted?

IZEA, an influencer marketing agency, has published its 2022 edition of The State of Influencer Earnings. The report based on a survey of over $60 million in influencer payments aims to help creators and brands interested in learning more about influencer marketing. Ultimately, the report aims to help brands understand what competitive rates are for different social media platforms and help creators understand the value they bring to a brand through their content. Here’s how much did influencers earn last 2021 ft. IZEA Insights: The State of Influencer Earnings

Video is King

Based on Izea’s report, video is crucial in how much an influencer is paid for a sponsored post and the financial reward a company can expect from the post. 

“Posts on TikTok and YouTube earn 2-4 times more than almost all other platforms.” 

The report also noted that a combination of posting YouTube videos and Instagram stories was two to four times more rewarding than a TikTok and Instagram story combination. 

So, if your brand is looking to hire influencers, consider asking for a combination of Instagram stories and YouTube videos for the most financial rewards. On average, this combination earned $13,035 in financial returns among influencers of all sizes, while the Instagram story and TikTok video earned an average of $5,432. Facebook and Instagram photos were the weakest combinations, with an average return of $2,208. 

In addition, YouTube videos have more longevity when compared to other types of social media posts, like Instagram stories or posts, which have diminishing returns over time. 

In contrast, YouTube videos can continue to bring financial returns for a brand for many years. 

As a creator, it’s essential to price sponsored evergreen content, like YouTube videos, at a higher rate because of this increased value.

Cost Per Post by Influencer Size 

Regardless of influencer size, creators saw larger than average payments as more and more companies continue to invest more money into influencer marketing. This is terrific news for both the brands and the influencers because creators are getting paid more, and brands are reaping the many benefits of influencer marketing. 

Cost Per Post Based on Size: 

• Nano-Influencers (1,000 to 9,999 followers): On average, nano-influencers were paid $901 per post, which is 36 times more than they were paid in 2015. 
• Micro-Influencers (10,000 to 49,999 followers): In 2021, micro-influencers were paid $1,516 per post on average, a significant 13.9x more than they were paid in 2015. 
• Mid-tier influencers (50,000 to 199,999 followers): On average, mid-tier influencers received $3,087 per sponsored post in 2021, which is 6.4 times higher than sponsored posts in 2015 for influencers of this size. 
• Macro-Influencers (200,000 to 499,999 followers): In 2021, macro-influencers were paid an average of $5,043 per post, which is up significantly from 2020’s $3,608 per post average. This figure is also up 5.3 times from 2015.  
• Mega-Influencers (500,000 to 999.999 followers): Mega-Influencers saw an impressive $6,786 per sponsored post average in 2021, up over $2500 from 2020. $6,786 per post is also up four times what mega-influencers were paid per post in 2015. 
• Web Celebrity (1,000,000+ followers): On average, web celebrities were paid $6,488 per post in 2021, which is down approximately $1,300 from 2020. Web celebrity influencers were the only influencer size that went down in average earnings per post. 

One of the most interesting takeaways from this study is that web celebrities were paid substantially less per sponsored post in 2021 than in 2020. 

Web celebrities lost nearly $1,300 on average per post and were only up 2.1 times compared to their 2015 average sponsored post rate. This is a staggeringly low increase compared to nano and micro-influencers, who saws increased rates of 36 and 13.9 times the average paid post in 2015.

Average Cost Paid Per Post Per Platform

So, we’ve already established that video content, such as Tiktoks and YouTube videos, performs the best for brands in terms of financial rewards and tends to pay well for creators too. 

Now, let’s look at the specific average cost paid per post. Each of the following numbers is for a single post on one platform and is the average for influencers of all sizes. 

• Twitter: $284 per post 
• Facebook: $833 per post
• Instagram Story: $906 per post
• Instagram Photo: $1,170 per post 
• Pinterest: $2,114 per post
• TikTok: $3,514 per post
• YouTube: $4,491 per post

Looking over these numbers, we found it interesting that Instagram stories cost less on average than Instagram posts. Since videos seem to outperform other types of social media content, this may be a missed opportunity for brands and creators. 

If you’re a brand, consider using more sponsored video posts as part of your influencer marketing strategy for higher returns, especially TikTok and YouTube videos. If you’re a creator, use this information to price yourself more competitively and point out the ROI companies often see from video content. 

What are the experts saying?

We reached out to several marketers to ask about how much they’ve invested in influencer marketing over the last year. Their answers, not surprisingly were quote varied:

Between $100 and $200 Per Post – Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing & Outreach Manager, US Visa Photo

I typically pay influencers between $100 and $200 per post, depending on the platform and the reach of their audience. 

For example, if I’m working with an influencer who has a large following on Instagram, I may pay them a bit more than someone with a smaller following on Twitter. I also factor in things like engagement rate and the quality of their content when determining how much to pay. 

Ultimately, I want to make sure that I’m getting a good return on investment, so I’m willing to pay a fair price for quality work.

$0.50/hour and $2.50/viewer on Twitch – Daniel Close, CEO & Founder, We Buy Houses in Kentucky

Every brand tries to find an influencer who has a good following. They expect them to engage a larger audience for their brand, but that is not the case at all. 

Sometimes an influencer with a small fan following can double your customers and sales. Because there is a famous saying that, “quality always wins over quantity.” So you should try to find influencers who have a good ability to engage the audience.

When I started my business, my budget was not big enough to hire an influencer to promote my brand on various social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. So, I hired an influencer to promote my brand on Twitch. 

Twitch essentially allows small businesses to partner with influencers at a low cost. We negotiated $0.50 per hour and $2.50 per viewer. This helped our business to get good traffic in the initial days. It was also fantastic for our business growth.

$200-$700, Depending on Following, Experience, and Platform – Seth Newman, Director, SportingSmiles 

Our brand has worked with many influencers, and it always seems the best ones to work with are the ones that reach out to us because they genuinely want our products. 

We craft teeth retainers and teeth whitening and, as an influencer, most have great teeth. We had one girl who had over one million Instagram followers and one million TikTok followers ask us if she could post about our products and receive them for free. It was a great deal for us, and she continues to be an all-star influencer for us. 

Most influencers don’t post for free and when that’s the case, we pay for the size of their audience and experience. It’s easy to see who has a good setup for taking photos vs. those who are just getting started. Depending on the medium and platform, we’ll pay anywhere from $200-$700.

$300,000/year for Promoting the Brand On Tiktok – Joe Troyer, Chief Marketing Officer, ReviewGrower

As the days go by, every influencer is demanding a higher price to promote your brand, products, or services. But these criteria depend on the influencer’s fan following—that is, how many people they can spread your brand to. 

Some time ago, we hired an influencer to promote our brand on TikTok. Actually, TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms that play a great role in promoting your brand, products, or services. 

We made a deal with him and paid him $300k/year. He was a popular star on TikTok with 5M followers. At first, it seemed like a huge amount, but we got 5 times the profit from this promotion, which, of course, we did not expect from this promotion.

$2,000-$5,000 for a 60-second Video On Instagram – Robert Warner, Head of Marketing, Virtual Valley

Spreading your products or services around the world is not as easy as it seems. This requires you to hire a good influencer. But finding them and convincing them to work with you is another hard task. 

When I started my business, I found three influencers on Instagram. Well, three influencers mean three different categories, like post promotion, story promotion, and ad promotion.

Luckily, they were all working in the same team, so it was easy to deal with them. We paid $1,000 per post, $200 per story, and $2,000-$5,000 per 60-second video. All of them had around 100-500k followers. By doing deals with them, we got good traffic around the brand, which significantly increased our sales and potential customers.

$1,000-$3,000 per 5,000-9,999 Story Views – Mark Valderrama, Founder & CEO, Aquarium Store Depot

Of course, increasing sales is not a simple task. Most brands spend a good amount of money on increasing sales, but sometimes they get nothing in return. To increase sales, it is better to hire an influencer.

A while ago, our brand hired an influencer on Snapchat to post stories about our brand. He was a famous icon, and of course, his pay rate was high. But we successfully convinced him to pay $1,000-$3,000 per 5,000-9,999 story views. 

Remember that Snapchat, like other popular social media platforms, is a platform for engaging more users. By doing this, our sales went to the next level and people started trusting our brand.

$5-$15 Per 1,000 Followers – Luciano Colos, Founder & CEO, PitchGrade

I’ve worked with several Instagram influencers over the years and have always paid them by the post. This means that we agree upon a certain number of posts (usually between two and five) and agree upon payment based on the followers they have. This is usually somewhere between $5-$15 per 1,000 followers.

I’ve found this to be the best way to go about it because it allows both parties to be flexible. If the influencer gets more followers, they can post more times and make more money. If I need more posts, I can ask for more posts and the price remains the same. It’s a win-win situation!

$5,000 Per Post On Pinterest – Zephyr Chan, Founder & Growth Marketer, Living The Good Life

Of course, every brand wants every online visitor to buy something from their brand, but attracting them to your brand is quite difficult. To engage customers, many brands hire influencers, create marketing campaigns, and more.

I always considered influencers at the top of all these strategies to attract customers. Many brands pay influencers huge to double their site traffic and sales. Therefore, to increase our site traffic, we hired an influencer to promote our brand on Pinterest. 

Pinterest is a popular platform for promoting brands through posts. He had almost 1M followers, and we agreed to pay him $5,000 per post. The price was high, but seeing the double traffic, we didn’t mind.

Final Thoughts 

Knowledge is power. Knowing what kind of content performs best can only help you if you’re a brand. If you’re a creator, know essential statistics, such as your average views, engagement, likes, etc., and use this to charge more competitively. 

Statistics from the Izea report can help you charge and pay appropriate amounts for sponsored content. We recommend bookmarking this post and the Izea report for future reference throughout the year. Comment below sharing what 2021 rates you’ve seen for influencer marketing sponsored content.