Setting Your Influencer Budget — Here’s Everything I Learned About Working With Influencers

As a content marketer, I‘ve always been ready to team up to boost a brand’s vibe and reach. When one of my freelance clients needed some brand growth on a budget, I was pumped to jump into the influencer marketing game.

Who hasn't seen or read about the hype around influencer power, right? I mean, the data shows that “nearly 50 percent of millennials worldwide find influencers’ recommendations more engaging than regular advertisements.”

However, I hit a wall as it was time to take the following steps to work with influencers. I had little idea how influencer pricing works and how to budget for it.

To find my footing, I went all in: I deep-dived into pricing data, looked up different partnership options, and got tips from people who’ve been there and done that.

This blog details the full rundown of what I learned. Let’s get into the real side of influencer pricing and budgeting, shall we?

Table of Contents

How much do influencers cost? The Different Types of Influencer Partnerships and How Much They Cost How To Set Your Influencer Budget Best Practices for Setting the Right Budget

How much do influencers cost?

The short answer is the same old phrase from every marketer’s playbook: “It depends.” In other words, if you aim to pin down a magic number for influencer pricing at the onset, you’ll navigate a labyrinth.

Does this mean there’s no data or benchmarks to follow? Thankfully not. When I looked into the research available, I found some overall industry benchmarks as a starting point.

According to a 2024 Statista survey:

22.4 percent of marketing agencies and brands invest 10 to 20 percent of their marketing budget into influencer marketing. Interestingly, 26 percent are leaning into it by devoting more than 40 percent of their budget to this digital marketing activity.

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This got me curious: what do these budgets look like in dollars? After all, marketing budgets vary.

That’s when I searched further and stumbled upon this data from Influencer Marketing Hub, which shows the wide range of brand spend regarding influencer budgets.

While almost half (47%) of brands in 2024 spend less than $10K, anywhere from roughly 8-20% of brands also spent anywhere between $11K and $500K!

I know, there’s a ton of variation out here. Lost? I was, too. So, I dug deeper to get more specific about how much influencers cost, how to choose from them, and arrive at a budget.

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The Different Types of Influencer Partnerships and How Much They Cost

I’ve figured that influencer pricing depends on several factors, such as:

The social platform you want to use them on. The type of influencer (based on follower count). The kind of partnership or exchange you enter into with them.

Other factors, such as the industry or niche, influencers' engagement rates, and content format, also play a role here.

A lot goes on simultaneously, and while being excellent in any of these aspects is positively correlated to influencer pricing rates, it doesn’t always work linearly. More on this later.

(Feel like you need a quick refresher on influencer marketing at this point? Check out our free influencer marketing guide.)

What are the popular social platforms for influencer marketing?

According to The State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2024, the top five social media platforms for pursuing influencer marketing include:

TikTok (68.8 percent) Instagram (46.7 percent) YouTube (33.1 percent) Facebook (27.5 percent) X (formerly Twitter) (9.9 percent)

Their data suggests that YouTube is the most expensive platform from this list, followed by Instagram and TikTok. This makes sense, too, as YouTube is video-dominated, requiring more investment in producing videos.

Does that mean YouTube will give you less ROI? Nope.

Depending on where your ideal customers hang out and their preferred content, your goal should be to shortlist the platform(s) you want to use. That’s what’s going to work for you.

The next thing to decide is which influencer type you wish to pursue.

What are the different follower-count-based influencer tiers?

There are five follower-count-based tiers to choose from. (And no, the highest followers may not always mean the best.)

I’ve discussed the available options and some reasons to pick or drop each below:

Nano Influencers (Influencers with 1K—10K followers)

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Although these influencers' relatively smaller audience may mean lower overall reach, I recommend not treating it as a red flag.

Nano-influencers often have higher engagement rates and more personal connections with their followers, which can be fabulous.

Micro-Influencers (Influencers with 10K - 100K followers)

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At large, micro-influencers tend to have a niche focus. This can make them particularly effective if you’re keen on running laser-targeted campaigns.

Mid-Tier Influencers (Influencers with 100K - 1M followers)

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These influencers are popular for offering a balance of reach and engagement. They can be a fantastic choice if you’re looking to scale your influencer campaigns.

Macro Influencers (Influencers with 1M - 10M followers)

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This group has a substantial reach, and using their help can quickly boost your brand visibility. However, it’s important to note that this group may lack the personal touch of smaller influencers.

Mega Influencers (Influencers with 10M+ followers)

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These influencers are the big fish in the industry. While they offer the broadest reach, their engagement rates may not be as high as those of smaller influencers.

So, how do you pick from the possibilities?

First, narrow down on the ones in your domain. Next, look at their “personality.”

This is the advice I got from Emir Atli, HocketStack's CRO.

Emir pinpointed, “While you do look at follower counts, the most crucial factor in choosing influencers for your B2B influencer campaign is their personality. They must fit into your brand's voice to make the partnership successful.”

What are the possible influencer partnership types?

All influencer partnerships are not equal. Most of them share a press kit with different options, and here’s a breakdown of the most common options.

1. Sponsored Content

This is the most straightforward arrangement: Influencers create posts. These could be anything from text, visuals, videos, or podcasts featuring your brand's product or service.

The costs can vary depending on the type of content involved and factors like the influencer’s reach and engagement. (I’ve shared more details in the upcoming sections.)

2. Affiliate Marketing

In this model, the influencers promote your brand's products and earn a percentage commission on the sales generated through their unique affiliate links.

This approach often requires less upfront investment, so it could be an excellent option to minimize risk and boost conversions. As a ballpark, the average affiliate commission rate varies between 5 and 30 percent (wide, I know).

3. Product Seeding

Another approach to influencer partnerships is sending products for free in exchange for honest reviews (hopefully positive).

While this arrangement may work for nano or micro-influencers, those with more significant followings may not be up for it, so bear that in mind.

Also, while this may seem like a low-budget option, consider the potential costs of the products you’re gifting.

4. Takeovers

You can also partner with influencers for social media takeovers. In these, the influencer manages your brand‘s account for a set period.

The costs for this type of partnership depend on factors like the influencer’s reach and the duration of the takeover.

5. Events and Experiences

Another popular influencer partnership type is hosting them at events or experiences. This helps to generate a lot of buzz and content.

The costs would vary based on the event‘s scale and include travel, accommodation, and other compensation for the influencer’s time.

6. Long-Term Partnerships

Last but not least, long-term relationships with influencers are another option.

These could yield overall better results due to continued authenticity. However, these partnerships will require more significant commitments.

While all this is the much-required background theory, I know you’ll need numbers to make concrete decisions. (I was in the same boat.)

What does influencer pricing look like?

Here’s suggestive influencer pricing estimated, sorted by platform and influencer type, for sponsored content partnership types compiled by Influencer Marketing Hub.

Nano-Influencers

TikTok (per post): $5-$25 Instagram (per post): $10-$100 YouTube (per video): $20-$200 Facebook (per post): $25-$250 X (per post): $2-$20

Micro-Influencers

TikTok (per post): $25-$125 Instagram (per post): $100-$500 YouTube (per video): $200-$1,000 Facebook (per post): $250-$1,250 X (per post): $20-$100

Mid-Tier Influencers

TikTok (per post): $125-$1,250 Instagram (per post): $500-$5,000 YouTube (per video): $1,000-$10,000 Facebook (per post): $1,250-$12,500 X (per post): $100-$1,000

Macro-Influencers

TikTok (per post): $1,250-$2,500 Instagram (per post): $5,000-$10,000 YouTube (per video): $10,000-$20,000 Facebook (per post): $12,500-$25,000 X (per post): $1,000-$2,000

Mega or Celebrity Influencers

TikTok (per post): $2,500+ Instagram (per post): $10,000+ YouTube (per video): $20,000+ Facebook (per post): $25,000+ X (per post): $2,000+

I’d say treat this table as your influencer pricing 101 lessons. With that, let’s move on to a structured approach to setting your influencer budget.

How To Set Your Influencer Budget

Here’s a step-by-step guide you can follow.

Step 1: Define your marketing goals.

Start by clarifying what you want to achieve with influencer marketing. This will help you decide which influencers to work with, which personalities to look for, which campaigns to prioritize, and how much to budget.

Suppose you’re looking at brand awareness. Then, maybe work with influencers with more significant followings and look at sponsored content.

If your focus is sales, go for influencers with high interaction rates and a preference for affiliate marketing. There’s no one-size-fits-all; it depends on what you need influencers’ help with.

Step 2: Recall your overall marketing budget.

Next, recall your overall marketing budget. After all, your influencer marketing will be a specific portion of this, right?

Although industry benchmarks suggest that most spend less than 10 or over 40 percent of the marketing budget on influencers, you should be specific about your priorities.

I learned this after talking with Mina Kozman, the director of marketing at Speakap. He explained, "A successful influencer campaign integrates smoothly into your overall marketing strategy (not the other way around).”

Thus, budgeting needs to be a balancing act of boosting your brand without compromising on measurable gains. In that vein, it helps to allocate that percentage to influencer budgeting that appears meaningful to meet financial and strategic targets.

Kozman says, “If you can't find any, then maybe your business should focus on channels with proven ROI that are both predictable and scalable."

Step 3: Start estimating costs.

Once the goals, ICP, influencer pricing benchmarks, and overall budget are sorted, you must shortlist people and partnerships and estimate costs.

Using tools like Upfluence, BuzzSumo, and Influencer.co can help you identify influencers based on engagement rates, audience demographics, and past performance easily. Once you create your shortlist, start collating quotations to estimate costs.

While you’ll obviously add fees, keep provisions for factors like content creation expenses (if applicable), promotional expenses for boosting posts, measurement tools, and contract drafting charges.

Want a formula to pick and rank influencers scientifically based on costs? David Gaylord, former chief of staff at Shopify, put together an equation for average Cost Per Mile (CPM). You can use this to compare influencers based on costs.

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Step 4: Negotiate influencer terms and contracts.

Up next is the time to start negotiating and shaping your plans. Serial entrepreneur Srish Agrawal, who’s extensively used influencer help for his Wall Decore and Gifting D2C brand, gave me a great tip: When negotiating prices, align expectations and clearly define expected activity.

Srish explained: “This shouldn’t just be results like ‘sales worth X$’ since results can not be guaranteed.” Agrawal also stressed clarifying the content rights. In his words, these are necessary for “a seamless and peaceful transaction.” I couldn’t agree more!

Step 5: Test, track, and measure.

So far, so good? Now, you need to start the campaigns and also vigorously track success.

Kazzy Khazaal, founder and CEO at Dreamwell.ai, pointed out, “The biggest mystery in influencer marketing is: how much is an influencer worth for an ad?”

Khazaal explains, “Brands get overcharged left, right, and center and can’t detect it until it’s too late.” You don’t want to be late, so invest in diligent tracking to ensure you get value for your investment.

To start, use KPIs like engagement rate, click-through rate, or conversions to understand what’s working and what needs tweaking before scaling up. Tools like HubSpot Analytics, Google Analytics, Sprout Social, or BuzzSumo can be invaluable for analyzing influencer performance and refining your strategies.

Step 6: Adjust as needed.

Finally, remember that maintaining flexibility is vital while working on influencer budgeting.

“Think of your B2B influencer marketing budget as a dynamic blueprint rather than a fixed plan,” advised Vahbiz Cooper, digital marketing manager at Demandbase. She recommended allocating a core budget to cover essentials and simultaneously setting aside a “wildcard fund.”

In other words, keep a flexible portion reserved for seizing unexpected influencer collaborations or real-time trends that arise during the campaign.

This approach lets you stay agile, experiment with unconventional strategies, and capitalize on opportunities to drive outsized impact without sticking rigidly to initial budget assumptions.

Best Practices for Setting the Right Budget

While setting the proper budget is a part of the influencer pricing equation, make sure you remember these as well for holistic success.

1. Be transparent.

Transparency is crucial for building trust with influencers. Communicate expectations, budget limits, and campaign goals with influencers to set the stage for good budgeting and a successful partnership.

2. Align internally.

Before starting up, collaborate with other departments, such as sales and product teams. Factor in their inputs as you plan budgets and strategize influencer campaigns that resonate across the board.

3. Keep up with trends.

Influencer marketing is ever-evolving, So you must ensure you’re updated on industry trends.

I realized this when Eric Melchor, founder of B2B PodPros, pointed out how YouTube is now the top platform for podcast consumption.

If you are working with podcasters with a YouTube channel, you need to know that you have to request them to insert a video ad of your brand into their video episode.

“Otherwise, you are missing out on reaching new audiences,” explained Eric.

4. Observe to identify any malpractices.

The best approach is to keep everything crystal clear right from the start. Sometimes, influencers make inflated performance claims. They generate fake engagement by paying for followers who may not be real people.

Some signs of such malpractices include sudden follower growth spikes, inconsistent engagement and rates, or repetitive comments.

“Don’t take what’s quoted in their media kit at face value,” suggested Melchor. He gave this example: “If you are working with podcasters, ask for proof of their download number.

5. Consider Influencer Longevity

Building long-term relationships instead of one-off collaborations with influencers is another ideal approach in the long run.

Although this may require more commitment, it will help ensure a consistent brand message and create authenticity.

6. Don’t Underestimate Contingencies

Budget overruns may occur for various reasons, such as unexpected influencer fees or any last-minute additional content requirements. Always set aside some funds for unexpected expenses, ensuring flexibility should any challenges arise.

7. Avoid Obsessing About Clicks and Conversions

Tomasz Niezgoda, co-founder and CMO of SEO Surfer, gave me this final excellent tip. In his words, “Marketing is more than clicks and conversions.” After all, you might never know if an influencer campaign influenced someone who buys your product months later.

Niezgoda advised, “Trust your intuition, build relationships, and remember that lasting brand perception takes time. Play the long game, and don't expect overnight results.”

Start Your Influencer Marketing Budget

You’ve seen how setting an influencer budget isn’t a one-size-fits-all task. It’s about aligning your goals, understanding the market, and choosing partnerships that resonate with your brand.

With all the influencer pricing information and budgeting details I’ve shared, you should be ready to explore confidently. My two cents: Start sooner rather than later. After all, won’t you lose out on a massive opportunity otherwise?