One of the most influential marketing trends worldwide is Influencer Marketing. With this kind of marketing, companies can expect as much as 960% return on investment, as reported in a survey cited by CampaignLive. Marketing professionals also found out that, the most effective way to reach out to potential buyers in this century would be through the people these buyers follow and trust on social platforms like Instagram. It’s simple really: A lot of people trust the recommendations of real people, other than those of advertisers. As time passes by, technology has created more ways for people to disable and block advertisements. Further forcing companies to reach out to influencers to get their products and brand in front of their potential buyers.
But the problem a lot of influencers have is knowing how much they should charge their clients. Many lack the needed information and desperately need to know if they are under or overcharging their clients.
MEASURING YOUR MARKET VALUE
Almost everyone on Instagram is well aware of how easy it is for accounts to buy fake followers. Therefore the value of an account must be proven. The value of an account is measured not only by the total number of followers but also by a number of other equally important factors.
FACTORS AFFECTING INFLUENCERS PRICE LISTING ON INSTAGRAM
- Engagement Rate
- Follower Growth Rate
- Sponsored Post Promotion Rate
1. ENGAGEMENT RATE
Engagement rate in influencer marketing is used to measure the level of interaction an influencer typically receives on their content. Simply put, it is the percentage of the influencer’s audience that responds to their content.
WHAT CAN WE CLASSIFY AS ENGAGEMENT?
Here are some instances of what we can call engagements (or interactions):
- Comments
- Views
- Post Likes or Reactions
- Shares
WHY IS YOUR ENGAGEMENT RATE SO IMPORTANT?
As an influencer, your engagement rate is crucial, if not the most important of them all. It can assist buyers in determining which influencers they should work with, based on how their content does across various platforms. Your engagement rate can also aid a buyer to know if you will deliver a return on investment (R.O.I).
Your engagement rate can also be used by a potential buyer as a benchmark to determine the success or failure of your campaign. Let us take, for example, if you as an Instagram Influencer have a significantly higher level of engagement than usual, this could indicate that your campaign would be very successful. Whereas, if they are substantially lower than usual, this could mean you will have an imminent problem with the final result of your campaign.
Let’s look at an example of Instagram Influencer Rates:
A buyer decides to run a campaign and contacts you. You have 200,000 followers, and in turn, you charged that buyer EUR€2,000 per post. Your engagement rate stands at 1.5%, which means your buyer would receive approximately 3,000 interactions per post at the cost of €0.67 per engagement.
Whereas, another buyer contacted another influencer. This influencer has only 10,000 followers, and charges EUR€750 per post but has an engagement level of 18.5%. An approximate of 1,850 interactions at an average cost of only €0.40 per engagement should be expected.
With the example stated above, it would be significantly more cost-effective and potentially better to work with influencers who have less reach, but better engagement, to make a stronger impact on your type of audience. So your engagement is very vital in securing buyers.
HOW TO MEASURE YOUR ENGAGEMENT
The rate of engagement is measured by determining the percentage of followers who interact and engage regularly with content, i.e. likes, comments & shares.
Numerous tools online can also perform this task, and these tools are being used by savvy marketing firms when planning on hiring influencers. They can calculate your current engagement level and give you an estimate of what to charge.
2. FOLLOWER GROWTH RATE
If engagement stands as the key factor when listing your price to a potential buyer, does your follower count also matter? Most definitely, it does. Your follower count shows your potential reach and commitment over time. Size is needed to get your attention from big brands. You need to show them your:
- Longevity
- Commitment
- Reach
- Engagement
- And steady growth.
Yes, excitement expressed through engagement, (i.e., likes, comments, and shares) has the tendency to decline over time. This is why your growth rate as an influencer is also essential. True, as an influencer, your focus should be quality not quantity, but you do need to keep growing. Why? In order to have real value and attract companies and sponsorship, you need to prove that you are currently and continually relevant to future potential buyers.
So a steady, and positive growth rate is an essential component in your value equation. Big brands and companies want to know that apart from your loyal and long-standing followers, you can also provide them with new prospects. Brands always want to attract new potential customers, and your growth rate promises to deliver on this crucial aspect. No room to rest in this fast-paced social media world!
HOW TO DETERMINING YOUR GROWTH RATE
To Calculate: To find your follower growth rate, take the difference in the total number of followers you have today minus the total number of followers you had a month ago. Divide that number by the total number of followers you had a month ago.
E.G, if your current follower number is 173,000, then let us say you had 163,500 a month ago. If you equate that, you will get 10,000. 10,000 divided by your last month followers would give you a little over 6%.
Is this good or bad? Well, the industry standard of steady growth on Instagram would be:
- 0 – VERY POOR
- 0 to 2.5% – POOR
- 2.5–5% – AVERAGE
- 5–7.5% – ABOVE AVERAGE
- 7.5% and above – EXCELLENT
If you fall within the 2.5% – 7.5% threshold, you can sit back and relax but if your percentage falls under 0% – 2.5%, more work is needed.
3.SPONSORED POST PROMOTION RATE
Instagram sponsored posts which are sometimes used to refer “promoted” posts are organic posts on-platform you pay to promote. With every sponsored post you pay for, they diminish the value of your next sponsored post. So, if you are featuring sponsored posts (ads) every day, all day, you are definitely lowering your sponsored post value and also your account value. So weigh your option and protect what you have created. Stick to your niche and audience, and be sure not to overflood your feeds with them.
CONCLUSION
Influencer marketing is still very new, and everything is changing at break-neck speed, but there are several reliable tools you can use to determine your Instagram Influencer Rates.
Helpful Tools
Social Blue Book
The first tool you can use is called Social Blue Book. This site provides some useful stats regarding your feeds as well as the price range for posts. This tool is free and easy to use. It also enables you to send an evaluation directly to a potential sponsor.
Social Blade
Another way to understand your value is by using a helpful tool called SocialBlade. You can view a quick summary of where you stand currently when you make use of this tool. A detailed view of your previous 30 days stat can also be seen. Additionally, you can see a forecast based on current trends, and where you will be in 3-month increments for the next five years!
Instafamous
Being an influencer is very lucrative! We have influencers who earn very big like Selena Gomez (said to be the highest paid Instagram influencer with over 122 million followers on her Instagram account). Her Instagram sponsored posts cost brands €550,000 per post!
So, if your stats are less than you hope for, let this motivate you on where you need to improve. Let It drive you to increase your efforts on Instagram to achieve your goals. And, if your stat looks amazing, you can send potential sponsor companies to SocialBlade and show them your stellar marketing power. You can make use of this information to negotiate your pricing.
Remember, you need to keep growing, keep proving yourself, and keep the engagement coming in. Generally speaking, you get approximately €100 for every 10,000 followers on IG. So, stick to your guns, know your value, and understand what you’re worth. You will get no’s, but that’s okay. This would only give you more room and time to build your value and work smarter.