Last Updated on March 6, 2023
Two years ago, we surveyed our network of influencers to gain better insights into compensation preferences. The result was the 2021 Intellifluence Influencer Compensation Report featured in Business Insider, PRWeek, and Social Media Today. Previously, there had been little to no elaborate public reporting focused on influencer compensation, leaving many markers having to resort to the “penny per follower” approach to compensation, which doesn’t translate well across social platforms.
Since that report, inflation has taken off and the economy continues to become more volatile. With layoffs in tech and threats of a recession, we want to revisit the topic to see how things have changed in terms of how influencers are looking to be compensated.
Joe’s Take: The last 2 years have been wild for a variety of reasons, but 2022 in particular was quite unusual with the world trying to recover from a pandemic, a war in Europe, runaway inflation, and now big tech layoffs.
As a business, we noticed massive swings in brand demand, oscillating from wanting to deploy a quarter’s worth of budget in a two week period and then needing to freeze budgets for half a year, and the back to full spending shortly thereafter. If brands can be viewed as the demand of the market, influencers are the supply, therefore the whiplash across the MarTech and AdTech world is certainly reflective as we look at influencer responses.
The psychology might best be described as the temporary trading of higher worth for quick cash in the face of economic uncertainty.
While we love creating fancy bar graphs and infographics with the data, we don’t stop there. Last summer, we implemented a new feature based on the data we received from influencers mixed with internal transaction data: Intellifluence Pricing Guidance. Now, brands have a starting point when setting up their campaign and wondering how much cash to offer influencers. Similarly, when pitching an influencer we will show you an estimated compensation amount. Obviously, there are a lot of variables to consider when coming up with a compensation strategy, but we feel like our Pricing Guidance tool and periodic Influencer Compensation Reports will put you ahead of the game when it comes to what you offer influencers.
Without further ado, here is the 2023 report!
Contents
Methodology and Social Channel Focus
Blogs
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
TikTok
YouTube
Conclusion
Methodology and Social Channel Focus
The following report contains the results of a compensation questionnaire we sent out to our Influencers based in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom towards the end of 2022. 1,700 Influencers completed the questionnaire, and the graphs show the mean compensation expectations, grouped by follower/subscriber counts.
In this edition of the Compensation Report, we went beyond simply asking what influencers think they’re worth today. We were curious how compensation expectations change in the minds of influencers as they grow their following and become more prominent within different social networks. To that end, we asked influencers on each network what they think they would charge as they grew their followings.
What we found was brands representative and digital marketers aren’t the only ones struggling to establish influencer pricing – influencers find it challenging as well! We see this in the fact that influencers with smaller audiences tend to hypothesize that they would charge a lot more for a post if they had a larger following than the influencers who are actually at those levels. In other words, aspirations run into reality as audiences grow. Furthermore, the survey results for compensation amounts aren’t always linear relative to audience size. When there are inconsistencies, we will point them out.
Joe’s Take: We were asked after our 2021 report why we chose to do it this way. For instance, what not survey high end aspirational influencers over 50 million in audience? The short answer is their time is pretty valuable so a lot of requests that aren’t tied by string to a $1000 bill are generally ignored; thankfully we’re able to make good inferences with the data we do have.
Why don’t we send the survey to [insert country here]? This is primarily for ease and repeatability. We want to be consistent, but also US, UK, and Canada represent the largest markets. In the future we may break out different markets if there’s enough need for it.
Why didn’t you survey [insert social network here]? Similar to geographic focus, our major markets within Intellifluence are reflected by which social networks we surveyed…sorry to those looking for data on the shooting star that was BeReal.
For 2023, we polled bloggers as well as influencers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. Let’s kick it off with bloggers!
Blogs
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Intellifluence was created by a team with a deep knowledge and background in search engine optimization (SEO), so it is only natural that the platform includes bloggers. In fact, Intellifluence is now home to over 16,000 trusted bloggers from all over the world and across 57 unique product/service categories.
While some are dedicated bloggers, others are social media creators who also manage blogs, blurring the lines between bloggers and influencers. This is why one of our slogans is: Influencers Drive SEO. There are many ways you can utilize bloggers and blogger influencers to elevate your marketing campaigns. For example, a YouTuber with a blog can create a custom video for you then embed it in a blog post that they write.
In this year’s survey, we asked bloggers what they currently expect to receive on a per-engagement basis (a typical 500-800 word blog post), along with what they expect to receive 12 months from now, to account for perceived growth and current economic realities. Rather than organizing by follower/subscriber count, as we do with most social platforms, blogger groups are organized by Domain Authority.
Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs).
Joe’s Take: Blogs are near and dear to our hearts as the makers of Intellifluence were longtime SEOs. What really jumps out to me is what I alluded to in the introduction — 2022 and even now in 2023 is a time of uncertainty.
While bloggers are potentially viewing the worth of their efforts as higher than in the past (and rightfully so if they’ve put work into their assets), they are accepting work for underneath their stated minimums. Viewed in a vacuum this wouldn’t make sense, however when juxtaposed against the macro climate it does.
For brands, this represents an opportunity; if you have work that involves hiring bloggers, now is the time to do it.
How much cash do you expect to be paid currently for a 500-800 word blog post? Organized by Domain Authority (DA)
DA 1-10: $161.35
DA 11-24: $250.20
DA 25-49: $193.04
DA 50+: $260.15
How much cash do you expect to be paid next year for a 500-800 word blog post? Organized by Domain Authority (DA)
DA 1-10: $250.20
DA 11-24: $269.02
DA 25-49: $292.10
DA 50+: $387.76
Key Point: On average, bloggers expect to charge 40.6% more to create and publish blog posts in 12 months compared to what they currently charge.
Most bloggers expect to charge close to 50% more for their work next year, but those who have blogs between DA 11-24 only expect to charge around 10% more.
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We are home to nearly 75,000 Instagram influencers, narrowly edging out Facebook influencers. While TikTok has made great gains in short-form video, Instagram continues to boast a loyal audience and is the 8th most visited website in the world with 4.25 billion total visits per month, according to Hootsuite.
Joe’s Take: Andrew found something particularly funny in the data, which jumped out the most with Instagram. Smaller peer level influencers had a significantly higher perceived value of what their rates would be if at 1 million followers than those influencers at 1 million actually charge.
The analogy I’d like to offer here is that of a new entrant to the workforce in a large company imagining the embarrassment of riches that much exist for mid-level management. While yes, those incomes are higher, there’s a perspective mistake in how much higher they actually are.
The demand curve we noticed in 2021 still exists which shows why celebrity influencers make so, so much more, but as a milestone 1 million is not what it once was.
The following are the compensation expectations of our Instagram influencers:
Less than 1000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $89.41
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign if you had 1,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $251.76
… if you had 10,000 followers? $1318.79
… if you had 100,000 followers? $7119.29
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $19,950.26
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $497,545.18
1000-9,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $134.69
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign if you had 10,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $491.98
… if you had 100,000 followers? $2424.55
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $13,100.88
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $93,691.29
10,000-99,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $404.41
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign if you had 100,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $2076.70
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $13,591.35
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $82,065.35
100,000-1,000,000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $1022.22
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign if you had 1,000,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $7222.22
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $16,666.67
Key Point: Instagram influencers with smaller followings would hypothetically charge much more for a post if they had one million followers than influencers who actually have a million followers.
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Trailing just behind Instagram (in terms of popularity) on our platform is Facebook. While it is safe to say that Facebook has lost a little allure with younger people in recent years, the fact remains that 81% of adults in the U.S. have a Facebook profile, according to SocialPilot. Furthermore, Americans use Facebook for 33 minutes per day on average, which puts it ahead of Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, according to Sprout Social.
Joe’s Take: Ah, the other Meta property we cover. Similar to Instagram there’s a mistaken perspective amongst the smallest influencers on what they’d earn if their audience was 1 million, so I’d like to take the opportunity to soften my criticism by helping to explain why this perspective may exist. Peer influencers tend to have far more focused followers whom engage as friends, family, or otherwise known acquaintances.
It’s only natural to assume this stellar engagement would carry forward and act as a force multiplier at 1 million in audience size. What I’d probably tell such an influencer is that while that force multiplier does exist in terms of engagement rabidity, it’s actually further out. At 10 million, 25 million, or especially 50 million+ in audience size there’s definitely such a demand given the congregation of highly engaging fans and thus the high corresponding rates could be set.
Taylor Swift is a fantastic example of a massive audience with rabid engagement — never mess with the Swifties.
The following are the compensation expectations of our Facebook influencers:
Less than 1000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Facebook campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $109.78
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Facebook campaign if you had 1,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $170.52
… if you had 10,000 followers? $977.40
… if you had 100,000 followers? $1605.67
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $15,189.97
1000-9,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Facebook campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $117.07
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Facebook campaign if you had 10,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $257.24
… if you had 100,000 followers? $1508.12
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $9489.29
10,000-99,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Facebook campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $229.74
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Facebook campaign if you had 100,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $789.74
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $7460.52
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $69015.79
Key Point: Facebook influencers with smaller audiences rival Instagram influencers in terms of how much they are looking to be paid, but those with larger audiences charge far less than their Instagram counterparts.
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You’ve probably been following the news about Twitter over the last year and a half or so. Despite the noise and opinions surrounding this network, one quarter of American adults use it, according to Hootsuite. When it comes to getting a message or piece of content out quickly, few networks can rival Twitter. Recent changes have expanded capabilities for influencers that subscribe to the service, including 4,000-character limit that far surpasses the 280 limit for regular users (I am old enough to remember when it was 140!).
Joe’s Take: Hi Elon. Please don’t ban us because we think this is still the best network to amplify content from other network types, especially YouTube and blogs. From the data Twitter is still also the least expensive option for brands, which when coinciding with arguably the worst ad targeting means that there’s still quite a bit of room in the influencer industry for Twitter.
We still see a lot of micro transactions (i.e. $5) occurring on the platform for quick Twitter shares, despite the stated compensation expectations. For a lot of brands, that’s worth it. For influencers that don’t have anything scheduled, it’s probably worth it for the 30 seconds of work.
The following are the compensation expectations of our Twitter influencers:
Less than 1000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Twitter campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $61.30
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Twitter campaign if you had 1,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $142.42
… if you had 10,000 followers? $564.75
… if you had 100,000 followers? $3009.12
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $27,555.35
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $2,151,232.86
1000-9,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Twitter campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $78.40
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Twitter campaign if you had 10,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $393.04
… if you had 100,000 followers? $1503.16
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $22,430.00
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $1,648,295.64
10,000-99,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Twitter campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $131.53
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Twitter campaign if you had 100,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $403.64
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $6,107.88
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $41,487.27
100,000-1,000,000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $425.00
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical Instagram campaign if you had 1,000,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $2,433.33
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $10,166.67
Key Point: We have seen a noticeable rise since 2021 in terms of what influencers estimate their Tweets/Retweets are worth.
TikTok
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Ah, TikTok. The social network that confounds elder Millennials such as myself, and continues to make headlines, sometimes for the wrong reasons. In the last year and a half, Intellifluence has more than doubled it’s network size of TikTok influencers. When it comes to engagement and time spent on the app – TikTok is hard to beat. According to Sprout Social, the average user spends 95 minutes each day watching TikTok videos. Furthermore, these videos have an average engagement rate of 7.11%, which is 6 times higher than Instagram Reels, according to Socialinsider.
Many brands have found that TikTok to be a network that demands more thought and creativity, to avoid coming across as too formal or salesy. As marketer Neal Schaffer points out, Chipotle is a great example of a brand that is using TikTok to generate sales in a natural manner: “Chipotle does not bombard TikTok users with countless professional video ads, designed to make your mouth water for Chipotle products. Instead, Chipotle places a focus on being relatable and friendly, featuring fan content, and employing humor to engage with followers and people of all ages and backgrounds.”
Joe’s Take: No network has more uncertainty as to its future in the U.S. than TikTok… and yes I’m including Twitter in that assessment.
Just in the past few weeks before publishing we’ve seen U.S, Canadian, and UK governments issue bans on the app on official phones. Does that get extended further? Is it a temporary overreaction due to escalating geopolitical friction with China? You tell me. What I’ll tell you though is that similar to other networks, the larger the actual audience, the lower the expected payment per post on the 100,000,000 audience range.
Where Tiktokers need some slack cut is it’s the fastest growing of our tracked markets and home to the most first-time influencers, so there’s a bit of a learning curve. Does the expected average ~$94 payment per post match up with the actual average payment per post? No. This may have more to do with cash-in-hand cashflow mechanics than anything else, where idle time doesn’t pay for newer influencers.
The following are the compensation expectations of our TikTok influencers:
Less than 1000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $94.38
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign if you had 1,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $221.86
… if you had 10,000 followers? $884.01
… if you had 100,000 followers? $9513.02
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $42,421.28
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $217,324.40
1000-9,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $160.11
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign if you had 10,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $514.08
… if you had 100,000 followers? $3187.24
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $20,191.33
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $70,426.53
10,000-99,999 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $205.83
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign if you had 100,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $813.16
… if you had 1,000,000 followers? $4368.92
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $31,801.39
100,000-1,000,000 Followers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $1244.79
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical TikTok campaign if you had 1,000,000 followers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $4454.17
… if you had 100,000,000 followers? $21,250
Key Point: The expected compensation amount jumps exponentially after a TikToker surpasses 100,000 followers!
YouTube
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YouTube continues to dominate – in fact, it’s the second most visited website in the world, behind their parent company, Google. Almost one quarter of our influencers have a YouTube channel, and our brands continue having success acquiring quality video reviews of their products and services.
As we discussed in our last report, the reality is that YouTube content costs more. What’s interesting is this year we saw a dip in expected compensation for creators between 1,000 and 9,999 subscribers when compared to those with less than 1000 subscribers. Most of the feedback we received from YouTubers was reminding brands just how much effort and investment it takes for them to create quality video content for the network.
Joe’s Take: True story, I sometimes like to fall asleep listening to one of our influencer’s videos. Thanks John Michael Godier for easing me into slumber with Fermi’s Paradox content! 2023 should be an interesting year in gauging price per video because YouTube shorts are taking off, mostly due to how much YouTube keeps injecting them into the feed.
Shorter videos equals less production time equals less cost. At some point we’ll likely break them out as a sub product on the platform, but for now it’s just a matter of a detail in the pitch. Until then, top tier YouTube talent is going to be the priciest in real costs due to the extreme amount of effort to put together a top-notch video that converts for brands. I think the expectations from 10,000-1 million+ audience influencers really seem to understand that.
As a side note to brands, don’t forget to syndicate those videos into blog posts, on Twitter, and if B2B on LinkedIn.
The following are the compensation expectations of our YouTube influencers:
Less than 1000 Subscribers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical YouTube campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $202.37
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical YouTube campaign if you had 1,000 subscribers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $356.76
… if you had 10,000 subscribers? $1843.84
… if you had 100,000 subscribers? $6597.81
… if you had 1,000,000 subscribers? $45,117.11
… if you had 100,000,000 subscribers? $500,560.42
1000-9,999 Subscribers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical YouTube campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $169.40
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical YouTube campaign if you had 10,000 subscribers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $1235.95
… if you had 100,000 subscribers? $4626.05
… if you had 1,000,000 subscribers? $50,896.67
… if you had 100,000,000 subscribers? $158,171.74
10,000-99,999 Subscribers:
As of today, how much cash do you expect for a completing a typical YouTube campaign? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $555.56
Hypothetically, how much would you expect for a completing a typical YouTube campaign if you had 100,000 subscribers? (Enter an amount in US Dollars:) $3150.00
… if you had 1,000,000 subscribers? $12,000.00
… if you had 100,000,000 subscribers? $62,500.00
Key Point: Once again, we see influencers with smaller accounts estimate charging significantly more if they were ever to reach the 100,000,000 subscriber threshold than creators with larger subscriber bases.
Conclusion
We have presented you with a ton of influencer compensation data, which we believe will be very helpful, but you may be wondering what to do with it. How much an influencer wants to be paid is only one part of the process. Before pitching an influencer, you want to determine their true value, to ensure you get the most out of the collaboration. Below we provide more articles and resources that will help you as you create campaigns, pitch influencers, and grow your business. As always, we would love to hear what you think of this report, along with any feedback or things you would like to see in future studies!
Recommended Reading
How to determine the true influence of an influencer
How to view Influencer engagement statistics on Intellifluence?
How do I view Influencer follower demographics on Intellifluence?
How do I compensate Influencers on Intellifluence?
The Ultimate Guide to Using Influencer Marketing
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
