Influencer marketing: This is how expensive it actually is

In the last few years influencer marketing has become more and more important for companies because it reaches the target group in a particularly convincing way. But for many marketers, it 's still a mystery as to what prices are appropriate for influencers: How much does the reach of a social media ambassador cost? Can followers and likes be converted into euros? We reveal how influencer marketing costs are calculated and how high they can be.

Why use Influencer marketing? Paid vs. unpaid collaborations Influencer marketing pricing models Costs per post Influencing factors 5 tips for better prices Conclusion on influencer costs

Why even consider influencer marketing?

Social media has long been an integral part of the marketing mix for many companies - and the importance of and as a result the demand for influencer marketing is growing. Budgets for advertising with high-reach social media faces are increasing year after year - and not without a reason.

Influencer marketing offers great advantages for brands. The following five points are particularly important with regard to influencer marketing costs:

Influencer advertising comes across as more credible and convincing due to the personality of the creators. Followers are more likely to perceive the message as a personal recommendation.
An influencer's message is remembered by the target group for longer than conventional advertising.

Influencers are experts in the social media business and know their followers very well. By interacting directly with the community, influencer marketing can be more efficient than traditional advertising.
Influencers usually produce their content themselves, so there is hardly any additional work for companies.
Influencer marketing allows your company accounts to grow and increases the visibility of your brand.

Paid vs. unpaid marketing: Is it possible to not spend money?

Unpaid collaborations were particularly common in the early days of influencer marketing. Although this has since changed, it can still be an option for small companies and start-ups.

Unpaid cooperations

In an unpaid collaboration, companies usually offer an agreed service in return for a review or blog post, such as free PR samples. Barter deals for services or content are also possible. Although there are no direct influencer marketing costs, there are also some disadvantages: Sometimes you may have less influence on the implementation and the result of the content.

Paid collaborations

Paid collaborations, on the other hand, promise that your desired message will reach your target group. However, the cost of a sponsored post from an influencer with 500,000 followers can quickly rise to €2,500 or more. These prices seem very high at first. However, the expenditure must be offset against the customers reached in order to assess whether the collaboration was worthwhile.

Here's how you can calculate influencer fees and costs

As freelancers, influencers are free to set their own prices. However, this does not mean that you cannot determine appropriate influencer costs. The following pricing models can give you guidance and help you estimate the costs of your future influencer marketing:

CPM - thousand-contact price

CPM stands for ‘price per thousand contacts’ and is known in English as ‘cost per mile’, or CPM for short. This key figure indicates how much money you invest in a marketing measure to reach a thousand views of a specific target group. The CPM is constantly changing and depends on factors such as the size of the influencer, their subject area and their competition. It is therefore not a fixed benchmark. You can calculate the CPM using the following formula

Price of the post / subscribers x 1000 = CPM

In words: You divide the total budget spent by the gross reach (followers) times 1,000.

CPE – Cost-Per-Engagement

In addition to reach, the influencer's relationship with their community is another aspect that determines their value and therefore their price.

Smaller influencers can score points above all through a closer, more personal relationship with their followers. They interact more with their community, making them appear particularly approachable, authentic and convincing. This value can be measured based on interactions such as likes, shares, comments, saves and link clicks.

For example, influencers with millions of followers tend to have a low level of engagement. This engagement is indicated by the engagement rate or interaction rate in percent and is calculated as follows:

Number of interactions / number of followers = engagement rate

With 2,000 interactions and a reach of 200,000 users, this results in a rather poor interaction rate of one percent.

Basically, the more followers an influencer has, the lower the interaction rate, as these average values show:

-> Over 1 million followers = 1.7 % engagement rate

-> Under 1,000 followers = 8.0 % engagement rate

The higher the engagement rate, the better, as it indicates a more intensive relationship between the influencer and their community. This is particularly important for the success of direct response campaigns and increases the so-called CPE (cost per engagement) - i.e. the cost per interaction:

Desired actions / media budget spent = CPE

The formula shows that you can only calculate the exact costs with the CPE once the cooperation has been finalised and interaction figures are available. However, a rough calculation is possible in advance.

Affiliate marketing

A third option is the affiliate model on a commission basis. Here, the influencer receives a fixed commission on the sales of a linked product as soon as a customer clicks on the link or buys the product. The influencer costs are therefore dependent on the link clicks or conversions. The success of the campaign is determined via personalised tracking links. This makes it possible to track exactly how many customers came to the shop via the link and completed a purchase. With this pricing model, it is particularly important that the influencer himself is convinced of the product or your brand.

What are the costs per post on different social media platforms?

How much a single post costs depends, among other things, on the social media platform. In turn, the social network is also closely linked to the reach of the influencer.

This overview of the industry-standard CPM (thousand-contact price) in Germany reveals the prices you should expect to pay on the most popular platforms:

Twitter: 1 - 3 Euros
Facebook Post: 6 -15 Euros
Facebook Story: around 25 Euros

Instagram Post: 7 - 15 Euros
Instagram Story: around 25 Euros
LinkedIn: 15 - 30 Euros

TikTok: 7 - 15 Euros
YouTube: 12 - 25 Euros
Eigener Blog: 30 - 90 Euros

Do some campaign pre-testing with UGC

Different factors that can impact your influencer marketing costs

The question of how high influencer costs are per post, campaign or cooperation depends on various factors. When calculating your budget, you should consider the following:

Platform

Producing a video takes significantly more time than creating photos or text. This is why YouTube and TikTok influencers can charge higher prices than Instagram, Facebook or Twitter influencers.

Profile size & reach of the influencer

A distinction can be made between different types of creators depending on their reach and level of awareness:

-> Nano influencers: 1,000 to 10,000 followers

-> Micro influencers: 10,000 to 100,000 followers

-> Macro influencers: 100,000 to 1,000,000 followers

-> Mega influencers: over 1,000,000 followers

Basically, the more followers an influencer has, the more money they can charge. However, this is not always the case. As mentioned before, the number of interactions also affects the price. As the engagement rate is higher on average for smaller influencers, a content creator with 10,000 followers can sometimes cost more than an influencer with 100,000 subscribers.

Number and type of content

Various cooperation formats are possible with influencer marketing, such as Instagram Reels, TikTok or Facebook Stories. The specific type of content that is produced has an impact on the influencer costs, as does the desired number of posts. It is important that you agree the exact scope of services with the influencer in advance.

Content quality & engagement

How successful a post or video is depends largely on the quality of the content. Inspiring, original or funny and motivating content is usually shared, liked and commented on much more frequently by followers and more people become aware of your service or product.

Niche & credibility of the influencer

Finding the right influencer for your brand message is very important. If you opt for prominent influencers with a large community, your message can reach a lot of people in one fell swoop. This makes sense for products that are aimed at the commercial masses and serve popular industries such as fashion, fitness or travel.

For products that appeal to a more specialised interest, however, nano or micro influencers can make more sense. This is because they usually focus on a specific niche and are perceived by their target group as experts in their field. This expertise and the associated credibility also have an impact on the price. For topics where the circle of potential experts is small, influencer costs can rise because the creator can demand higher remuneration.

Duration and exclusivity of the collaboration

Another advantage with smaller influencers is that you can build up a long-term collaboration, which further strengthens credibility. However, a longer collaboration leads to higher costs. The keyword ‘exclusivity’ is also crucial: an influencer costs significantly more if they work exclusively with you for a certain period of time and cannot accept any other collaborations during this time.

Quantifying the impact of influencer marketing

Measuring return on investment (ROI) in influencer marketing is crucial to evaluate the success of campaigns and optimise future strategies. Companies should focus on tools and metrics that give them insights into reach, interactions and ultimately conversion rates. A sound understanding of measurability will allow you to manage your budgets more efficiently and maximise the value of your influencer partnerships.

Further factors that have an impact:

-> Influencer brand fit: Basically, it is very important that the influencer fits your brand. They can only sell your product authentically if their community believes that they are convinced of the product themselves.

-> Country of origin of the audience: If an influencer reaches a striking number of foreign subscribers, this lowers the price if this target group is less important for English-speaking companies.

-> Rights of use: If you want to secure the rights of use to the influencer's images or video material, you should factor in an additional charge.

Buyout rights increase influencer marketing costs - but can be worth it!

In addition to the pricing models described above, there is another option that has an impact on influencer costs: The so-called media buyout or content buyout.

Here, a creator sells the rights to their content in return for a fixed flat fee. Buyout rights can be purchased for a certain period of time or for a region, or completely unlimited. The latter is particularly expensive because the creator gives up all rights to their artistic work. This buyout can still be worthwhile for companies, because then you have a free hand over the influencer advertising, can use the content created for as long as you want and publish it on all your channels or adapt and change it - depending on which buyout rights are contractually agreed. With the buyout rights, you get the most out of the investment even after the official collaboration.

Influencer costs: 5 tips on how to negotiate better prices

✔ Set yourself a spending limit

Think about a maximum price that you are prepared to pay. Under no circumstances should you exceed this price.

✔ The first price estimate is your call

The first offer determines the negotiation process. Start with a deliberately low price.

✔ Offer a combination of benefits

Offer the influencer additional value - e.g. through a combined offer of payment and free product he/she can keep.

✔ Avoid influencers backed by a management

Management always takes a share, which results in higher influencer costs. A collaboration with a management is therefore only recommended for campaigns with a large budget.

✔ Gather numerous offers from several influencers

How much do other content creators charge that match your campaign? Different offers give you a feeling for what is appropriate.

Conclusion & an alternative to influencer advertisement: Saving money with UGC

As you can see, it is almost impossible to calculate the exact costs for influencers. What is certain is that influencer marketing can cost several thousand euros per year. Prices can fluctuate considerably depending on the profile and interests. Nevertheless, as a company, you are in a stronger negotiating position because you (usually) have the choice between a large number of influencers and content creators.

If the price of the cooperation is still too high for you, there is an effective alternative: video ads with user-generated content (UGC) can be at least as convincing and authentic as influencer advertising - but usually cost only a fraction of the price. At Speekly, we bring you together with creative content creators who fit your brand and get to the heart of your advertising message in a high-quality video!