Today, it is hard to imagine a social media marketing strategy that does not involve influencers at least in some capacity. They help brands – both small and large – reach their target audience and increase conversions, playing a crucial role in their digital marketing strategy. 

To help digital marketers and creators be aware of influencer rates as well as emerging trends in the Creator Economy, IZEA releases the Influencer Earnings Report annually. This lets brands know how much collaborating with an influencer costs, while also encouraging content creators to charge reasonable rates on par with the industry for their services. 

State Of Influencer Earnings 2023: Report By IZEA

About IZEA 

IZEA Worldwide Inc. is a Nasdaq-traded company that launched the first marketing technology platform in 2006. The company helps content creators and influencers monetize their creativity and influence by helping them connect with brands. Influencers can use their platform to find and pitch brands they like. Conversely, brands can find influencers to hire from the creator marketplace. IZEA also offers full-service teams that help you upscale your influencer marketing efforts by taking care of everything for you. 

Survey Methodology and Goals 

This report was compiled using the data from IZEA’s own creator marketplace after analyzing over $70 million in influencer payments over the past 8 years. The data used involves negotiated rates between all types of influencers and brands across multiple platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitch. 

Here are the goals that the report seeks to attain:

• Educate marketers and creators alike about the trends in the influencer marketing industry.
• Push the industry into offering reasonable pay for all content creators. 
• Help creators set competitive prices for their services by understanding the value they provide to brands. 

Key Statistics from The Influencer Earnings Report 2023 

Cost Per Post by Platform: 

In 2022, the average cost paid per post per platform among influencers of all sizes ranged from $642 to a whopping $4373. Facebook influencers charged the lowest for a single post, while Twitch influencers charged the most expensive rates. 

Twitter and YouTube fell in the middle, costing $1643 and $2102 for a single post respectively. A Twitch stream, an Instagram story, and a TikTok video grabbed the top 3 spots by garnering the highest costs per post. 

A surprising statistic was that Pinterest influencers charged higher for a single sponsored post ($1450) when compared to a Facebook post or an Instagram photo. 

This data shows that influencers charged higher rates for video-based platforms. 

The report also found that when combined with another post on a different platform, influencers of all sizes could earn up to 3.9% more per activation, especially for video content across two or more platforms. 

For example, the average cost per Facebook post alone was $642, while the cost per Instagram photo alone was $1311. However, the cost for the both of them combined was reported to be $3101. So, by offering combined multiplatform content services, influencers can earn more. 

Cost Per Post by Influencer Tier:

From 2021 to 2022, the cost per post of nano, micro, and mid-tier influencers saw an increase, while that of macro influencers remained largely unchanged. These smaller influencers also hit an all-time high in 2022 in terms of price charged per post. However, the cost per post of mega influencers and celebrities (i.e. those with larger audiences) saw a steep decline. 

When compared with influencer earnings data from 2015, it was seen that the cost per post of influencers of all types have risen dramatically over the years. The cost per post of nano influencers saw the most change in the past 8 hours – an amazing 4320% increase from $25 to $1105 per post. Micro influencers came in second with an increase of 1436% from $109 to $1674 per post. Mid-tier influencers saw a 606% increase in prices, while macro and mega influencers saw an increase of 426% and 224% respectively. Among all types of influencers, web celebrities saw the least increase in prices – a mere 95%. 

Below is the average cost per post for the years 2021 and 2022 across all platforms for different types of influencers:

You can check out the full report on IZEA’s website by clicking here. 

What Does The Report Say About The Influencer Marketing Industry? 

According to the data from the report, it can be inferred that more and more brands are preferring to work with nano, micro, and mid-tier influencers. This could be due to the fact that influencers with smaller audiences tend to have a specific niche, which means a hyper-targeted and loyal audience. By working with such influencers, brands get to target exactly the group of people they want, which results in higher conversions. 

Think of it this way. Marketing your book to 10 people who love books is better than marketing it to an audience of 100 that may or may not contain any book lovers. 

Our Prediction #1: More and more brands will want to tap into the niche audience potential, so we can expect more marketers to prefer working with nano, micro, and mid-tier influencers in the upcoming years.

By comparing the average cost per post for influencer content across all platforms, IZEA’s report found that sponsored TikTok videos, Instagram stories, and Twitch streams were the most expensive. This shows that video content costs more than other types of content. Moreover, longer video content (such as Twitch streams) cost almost double that of shorter video content (TikTok videos).

This is most likely due to the fact that users tend to engage more with video than other types of content. Creating videos also takes up more time, energy, and resources, which invite a higher cost. 

Our Prediction #2: Audio-visual content is gaining more popularity compared to other types of content, so we can expect more brands to invest more in video content. Simply put, the future lies in audio-visual content, and influencers who specialize in this are more likely to be in demand in the near future.

Final Thoughts 

If you are an influencer, start offering video creation services. If you are a brand looking to work with influencers, start putting out audio-visual content across your social media platforms.