You may have read about Kylie Jenner getting an estimated $1.25 million for a single social media post, but you’ve also probably guessed that this isn’t the case for all influencers. Celebrities with huge followings are an anomaly and aren’t an accurate representation of the wider influencing community. But how much money do influencers make on social media?

Ultimately, there’s no way to provide a universal answer for this question because it all depends on what you define as an ‘influencer’. Here are some of the types that have developed in recent years:

• Nano-Influencers – Up to 10,000 followers
• Micro-Influencers – Between 10,000 and 50,000 followers
• Mid-Tier Influencers – Between 50,000 and 500,000 followers
• Macro-Influencers – Between 500,000 and 1 million followers
• Mega-Influencers – Over 1 million followers

Be aware, this is just one model to describe the different types of influencers and you’re likely to find others. This being said, it’s a good place to start to understand how the niche is segmented.

Do influencers make money on social media? With over one million followers, mega-influencers are always in demand by multinational corporations. Therefore, you might think that all mega-influencers get lots of money for their posts. However, this isn’t always the case. For example, engagement rates often fall as you climb the influencer ladder. Somebody following Kylie Jenner, for instance, may not pay attention to the advertising posts because they know how much she’s earning for mentioning it.

With this in mind, there’s a delicate balance for businesses between choosing an influencer with a strong following and engagement. The last thing businesses want after spending hundreds of thousands on a celebrity is a poor engagement rate. Naturally, there’s also a relationship between follower count and engagement. While the engagement rate might fall for mega-influencers, the number of people engaging might still exceed a larger engagement rate for a smaller influencer.

Consequently, the influencer market is constantly evolving and is almost a living organism. A business could earn a better ROI from a nano-influencer with high engagement than a micro-influencer with low engagement. If businesses aren’t careful, they could end up wasting resources unnecessarily. Thankfully, advanced agencies like King Kong help in this area.

Back to influencers, here are the biggest factors that can affect how much they get paid:

• Following
• Reach
• Platform
• Industry
• Engagement
• Usage Rights
• Exclusivity
• Reputation

Just because somebody has millions of followers, this doesn’t mean that they make lots of money. They could be on the wrong platform for the industry; for example, a fashion influencer on Reddit won’t get as much attention as a fashion influencer on Instagram because this is where businesses want to be present. Elsewhere, the influencer could have a poor reputation, poor engagement rates, or they might not offer exclusivity. In other words, they may advertise any brand that offers money (not a positive trait for companies).

How do influencers make money? For the influencers who have mastered the system, they make money in different ways. While some charge a simple price per post, others run competitions alongside businesses or create special product lines with the business. Using the example of a fashion brand again, many influencers have partnered with brands to create their own line.

The amount influencers make depends on their reputation, following, engagement, industry, and platform. For example, a nano-influencer may earn just $25 for a TikTok post but up to $200 for a YouTube video. It depends on the quality of their content, the time they need to invest in the post, and more.

While nano-influencers see income as more of a supplement, those higher up the influencer ladder are more inclined to make a living from the practice!