Instagram influencer Pricing 2022: Influencer Rates and Cost Per Post for Instagram

Instagram influencer pricing can vary wildly based on a whole load of different factors.

Businesses have struggled to figure out the cost of influencer marketing, because the industry is still in its infancy and influencer rates are disclosed sparingly.

If you're looking to hire an Instagram influencer for your business marketing, their rates can range from nothing at all to thousands of dollars per post.

In this article, you'll learn:

The definition of an Instagram influencer
The three main types of Instagram influencer
The benefits of influencer marketing on Instagram
How much Instagram influencers charge per post
Where to find Instagram influencers
What kind of conversion rate to expect from Instagram influencers
How to reach out to an Instagram influencer (and a free DM template)
and more!

Ready? Let's go!

Show

The huge growth of Influencers (Influencer Statistics)

An ever-growing number of businesses are turning to influencer marketing to build their brands, promote their products, and engage with their target audience.

Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, reports Business Insider.

96% of marketers consider Instagram their preferred platform for influencer partnerships, says Social Media Today. So, you're in the right ball park!
And according to the Drum, 17% of companies spent over half their marketing budget on working with content creators in 2020.

While this last percentage is modest, it demonstrates how pivotal influencer marketing has become for certain companies, especially those in e-commerce, fashion and beauty, gaming, travel and lifestyle.

And all of this underpins the value that an Instagram influencer can deliver to your brand compared to other types of marketing spend, like paid social media ads.

What is an Instagram influencer? (Instagram Influencer marketing defined)

Instagram influencers are people who have built a large following on their reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a distinct topic.

They make regular posts about their topic of expertise on Instagram - posts that inform, inside and entertain their followers, who are highly engaged with their content.

Instagram influencers have the clout to start social conversations, drive engagement, and set trends amongst a captive audience.

What are the benefits of an Instagram influencer for business?

Wondering how to use an Instagram influencer for your business?

Brands love working with Instagram influencers because they have the power to affect others' purchasing decisions because of their authority and knowledge about a particular topic and the close relationship they have with their audience.

When an influencer recommends a product or service on Instagram, it can come across as a trusted recommendation from a friend - not forced upon them like a paid advert.

For businesses, Instagram influencers provide easy access to a ready-made, engaged audience that is going to be interested in buying your product.

In short, influencers have the sway to encourage their followers to buy the products they promote.

The most successful partnerships between a business and Instagram influencer happen when both you and the influencer have similar values, audiences, and expectations from the collaboration.

The 5 main types of Instagram influencers

If you can think of a topic or community, chances are there will be an influencer within it - everything from fashion and food, to unicycles and unicorns. And the size of their audience is just as varied, ranging from a small following of a few thousand to millions of people.

Each influencer tier has their own advantages and disadvantages for businesses depending on your goals.

To help you decide broadly which Instagram influencer to approach to help you with your marketing, we can categorise them into three main types.

Nano influencers

Nano influencers are people who have a follower count of between 1,000 and 10,000: They are generally new to the influencer game, but often have high engagement rates, which is a big positive from a marketing perspective, as it can help to drive sales.

Micro influencers

Micro influencers are people who have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers: Many businesses find that micro influencers are a good place to start hunting for an influencer to work with, since they are popular enough to guarantee increased brand awareness and their engagement rates are often good too.

Mid-tier influencers

Mid-tier influencers are people who have between 50,000 and 500,000 followers: This tier is where the audience numbers and prices start to increase significantly.

Macro influencers

Macro influencers are people who have between 500,000 and 1 million followers: Like mid-tier influencers, the rates keep going up here. But as the audience grows, engagement rates begin to fall.

Mega influencers

Mega influencers are people who have over 1 million followers: It’s here where you’ll find the most popular influencers and mainstream celebrities, many of whom have rates that are astronomical.

Macro influencers have huge reach, meaning one single post can drive a ton of web traffic, user-generated content, and sales. Many macro influencers on Instagram are celebrities in their own right.

9 factors that influence Instagram influencers rates

When looking at how much Instagram influencer rates, there are a number of variables to keep in mind, including:

Size of following: The size of the influencer's following: the more followers, the more it's going to cost you.

Engagament rates: How much engagement does the influencer generate on organic versus sponsored content?

Influencer category: Popular topics such as fitness or beauty tend to have more influencers to choose from and will be cheaper, while more niche areas of expertise may mean an increase in price.

Content format: Based on the format of the sponsored content (shoutout, feed post, story, Reel, etc.), it will take your Instagram influencer a different amount of time to create. The more time and resources used to produce the content, the more expensive it will usually be.

Amount of content: Determine how much content you want your Instagram influencer to create. Will it be a one-off grid post or a series of stories over a longer period of time. The longer the campaign, the pricier it will be.

Demand and seasonality: If your Instagram influencer of choice is being targeted by several brands, they are in a position to increase their prices. And if you're wanting to work with them at a time of year where demand is greatest (e.g. around Christmas), then this will also push the cost up.

Reuse and licensing rights: If you plan to re-purpose or re-share the influencer's content, some influencers will charge more.

Exclusivity: If you want the Instagram influencer to agree to not promote any competitors for a set period of time after working with you, then this will increase their rates because they are essentially eliminating any other income-generating opportunities for a set period.

Production cost: If an Instagram influencer is expected to produce a high-quality video and editing versus a quick and easy stories video, then expect the influencer rate to rise if they need to invest in delivering exactly what you want.

How much Instagram influencers charge per post (price list)

As a general rule of thumb, you can use the size of an Instagram influencer's following to estimate their price range. It's not an exact science by any means, but it will give you a general idea of what kind of cost you can expect to pay.

Nano-influencers: $10–$100 per post or free gifts.
Many “newbie” influencers will be happy to promote your business in exchange for you sending them a free product.
Micro-influencers: $100–$500 per post
Mid-tier influencers: $500–$5,000 per post.
A rate of $1,000 appears to be the average price per single Instagram post says Dummies, while the cost for other promotions like takeovers, Instagram Stories, Reels, IGTV videos, etc. varies more).
Macro-influencers: $5,000–$10,000 per post
Mega-influencers: $10,000+ per post

And as I discussed above, these amounts are changeable based on many different factors.

To make sure that an influencer you're eyeing up is requesting a fair rate, ask to see how they have performed in partnership with brands similar to yours in the past.

And if you're able to, look back to see exactly what they posted and how it performed for yourself. Does it look like the kind of content you want to share with your audience?

Instagram Influencer Pricing Calculator (Cost For UK, US, EUR)

The best way to figure out an Instagram influencer's rates is to ask them directly, as campaign requirements will differ from brand to brand.

But if you're just after a super quick estimate, an Instagram influencer calculator will give you a general idea, including this one from Inzpire.

Simply enter the Instagram influencer's username, choose how many posts and stories you want them to create for you, and hit Calculate.

The calculator will return an estimated price, which is based on the influencer's reach, impressions, and engagement rate on Instagram.

What is a good engagement rate for an Instagram influencer?

When an influencer has a high engagement rate, it means their followers are paying attention and taking action on their content.

That's why engagement rate is used by a lot of businesses to quickly judge whether a particular Instagram influencer is worth working with.

In general, an engagement rate of 2-3% on influencers’ posts is what you want to look for, says Later. Anything up to 4% is great, and anything higher than 6% is fantastic.

To calculate an influencer’s engagement rate on Instagram, divide the average number of likes and comments they get on their posts by their follower count, and then multiply by 100 to get a percentage.

“Engagement Rate = (Likes + Comments) / Followers x 100”

Bear in mind that the 2-3% engagement rate target is for organic, non-sponsored posts. It can often be a bit less for sponsored posts (some people just don't like engaging with sponsored posts period), so use fair judgement.

What is a good conversion rate for an Instagram influencer?

Some influencers will only accept flat rates of pay, while others will charge based on the number of sales or leads they create for your business.

The conversion rate of an Instagram influencer's post is tied closely to their engagement rate and affected by a whole host of factors. As suggested by Kamal Ganwani on Quora, they include:

type of post (feed, stories, IGTV, Reels, etc.)
effectiveness of the messaging
product type.
product demand.
product audience
audience region
audience purchasing power

You will know the conversion rate of your industry better than I do, but if you're getting a conversion rate of anywhere near 3% or above, I'd say you're doing remarkably well.

How to Pay Instagram Influencers (4 Main Ways)

Depending on the size of their following, there are four main ways that you'll find yourself paying an Instagram influencer:

Direct: Many influencers are happy to negotiate payment with businesses directly, especially those with smaller followings.

Agency: Influencer marketing agencies work with lots of influencers all at once, and have existing relationships and negotiated rates with top-performing influencers, who might otherwise be hard to reach.

Multi-channel networks: Often shortened to MCNs, multi-channel netowkrs represent a number of select influencers within a closed network.

Platform: Similar to MCNs, influencer marketing platforms work within a closed network and charge a monthly subscription fee for access to influencers.

Where to find Instagram Influencers

Simply searching with relevant keywords on the Instagram app is one of the easiest ways to discover influencers you might be interested in working with, especially if they will be nano influencers within your local area.

Instagram Influencer Search Tool

If you’re looking for a super simple and structured way to find influencers and also have a bigger budget, you’ll have the easiest time comparing influencers on platforms, such as GRIN

From fielding applicants to communicating with your influencers, GRIN provides all the tools you need to nurture authentic brand relationships at every stage of your influencer marketing campaign, including tailored email sequences and the ability to track opens, clicks, and replies.

Learn more about grin

Does Instagram influencer marketing work?

If the popularity of influencer marketing on Instagram is anything to go by, then the answer is yes!

More and more businesses are seeing the value in working alongside Instagram influencers - especially those with a smaller following (and cheaper rates), but a high engagement rate.

In its State of Instagram Influencer Marketing Report in partnership with Fohr, Later found that influencers with 0-25k followers had higher engagement rates regardless of their genre, target audience or topics.

And according to a report by Influencer Marketing Hub, nano-influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers normally generate an engagement rate of 7.2% on Instagram, which is a lot bigger than the average of 1.1% engagement rate of accounts with over 100K followers.

So rather than spending a lot of money on one post, small businesses could benefit more from building longevity and trust amongst the audience of a smaller influencer as they continue to grow.

Instagram Influencer Pricing: Your Turn

What are your thoughts on using an Instagram influencer to promote your brand and its products? Since the sector is growing so much, now seems like a great time to jumb aboard.

Let me know in the comments below!

And if your Instagram strategy hashtag needs a boost, check out my full guide to finding the best Instagram hashtags for business.

Andrew Macarthy is a social media consultant and the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips.

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Instagram Influencer Pricing 2022: Influencer Rates and Cost Per Post for Instagram

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