Being an influencer seems like a dream job, a life full of travel, freebies and discounts. But there are many uncertainties around this up and coming career option, especially when it comes down to how much money influencers earn.
What is a Social Media Influencer?
A social media influencer is anyone on social media that has a significant audience following them, which they may influence. This could be anything from a few thousand to a few million followers across social media.
What type of Influencers are there?
There are many different influencers, but most start as a micro-influencer, someone with a follower count between 1,000 and 100,000. The other types of influencers include nano, macro and mega, and which one you are depends on your follower count.
Macro influencers have between 100,000 and 1,000,000 followers, whereas Mega influencers have more than 1,000,000 followers. If you have less than 1000 followers you are classed as a micro-influencer, but most people don’t really consider themselves an influencer at this level.
How much money do they make?
Most influencers don’t share their fees publicly, but generally they can charge anything from $10 to $25 per 1000 followers for a post. If an influencer had 100,000 followers, they could charge more than $1000 for a single post. However, these prices also depend on the type of post, the social media platform, and how much engagement an influencer generally gets from their followers.
Many influencers make additional money through partnerships, sponsorships and brand deals, where the influencers use their online presence to promote products. These are popular with influencers who enjoy the extra cash and in many cases, free products, as well as their audiences who prefer learning about new products from figures they trust rather than traditional forms of advertising.
Some well-known brand partnerships include former Love Island contestant Montana Brown and Protein World and Riverdale’s Madelaine Petch with Fabletics. Even huge celebrities get involved with brand deals, such as Khloe Kardashian and Sugar Bear Hair.
Do businesses actually want to work with Influencers?
Businesses like to work with influencers as it’s a way for them to better reach a specific audience. However, it can take a whole for influencers to gain enough followers to interest a business. Additionally, many businesses do not want to work with an influencer who has not yet built up a trustworthy and reliable reputation.
Who are the most paid Influencers?
Many celebrities rely on their social media influence to make some extra money, with many charging tens of thousands for a single post, if not hundreds of thousands. Christiano Ronaldo is rumoured to be the highest-paid Instagram influencer, charging between $450,000 and $770,000 per post. Meanwhile, Ariana Grande comes in as a close second, as it is estimated she charges between $390,00 and $650,000 per post.
How to become an Influencer?
If you want to join the glamorous world of being an influencer and let’s face it why wouldn’t you? Here are a few tips to help you get started.
Make a plan
The first thing you need to do is make a plan and choose which social media platforms you want to focus on. Most influencers choose two or three main platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Decide on your content
To be an influencer, you need to decide who your target audience is, such as students, single moms, gym-goers, etc. By discovering your niche, you will make better content to target them and increase your engagement.
Build your community
All influencers need an audience, and to grow your audience, you need to promote yourself. Encourage your friends and family to follow your accounts and like your content, as this will help boost your engagement. Once you get a substantial amount of followers, such as 1000, you may want to consider getting in touch with brands that like to work with influencers who are just starting.
Why do people want to become Influencers?
Many people want to become an influencer for the chance to earn some extra money and work with big brands. But at the same time, many people become influencers by accident, such as if they have appeared on a reality show that generally leads to individuals seeing a significant increase in followers. For example, past Love Island winner Amber Gill, a beauty therapist but now has almost 3 million followers on Instagram alone, no surprise she also has a few brand deals.
What are the cons of being an Influencer?
However, before you begin your quest to become an influencer, you must understand that some cons come with the job. Being an influencer means that you are promoting yourself publicly, and people may not like that.
It can also be hard to regularly post quality content and live under what feels like the public eye. It can also be stressful to get started, and building up a large following can seem like an impossible task, but all it takes is quality content, persistence, and a lot of patience.
