Seven ways to pay influencers today and tomorrow

Influencer marketing is resilient and growing. With rapid growth of influencer marketing comes further challenges for marketers. But there are always ways to overcome those obstacles, even for newbies. In this ebook, read about: *The true cost of influencer marketing *7 ways to pay different types of influencers *Yesterday’s influencer payments vs. today’s influencer payments In this guide, you’ll discover the top seven ways you can pay influencers so that whether you’re working with the Kylie Jenners of the world or smaller influencers, you can develop a relationship that is mutually beneficial and effective.

The true cost of influencer marketing

Yesterday’s influencer payments

Today’s influencer payments

7 ways to pay influencers

It’s not just the thought that counts, it’s the customization

Influencer marketing is resilient and growing. The influencer marketing industry will be worth up to $15 billion by 2022¹, and for good reason. Influencer marketing is an effective channel that’s worth the cost. Even during uncertain times, 96% of US and UK consumers engaged with influencers more during the pandemic, and brands are expected to spend $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022.² This is great news for the industry, but with rapid growth, there are always challenges and adaptations to make it work for your company. The true cost of influencer marketing CHAPTER 1

If there’s one thing marketers agree on, it’s that influencer marketing is expensive

Popular macro and mega-influencers come with a huge price tag, with Kylie Jenner commanding a whopping $1 million per sponsored Instagram post, it’s no wonder that marketers cited the rising costs of influencers as a top challenge in 2019.³ With rapid growth of influencer marketing comes further challenges for marketers. Even though many now diversify their influencer partner portfolio to include more affordable micro- and nano-influencers, many marketers don’t have the capability to customize payments and incentives to suit a diverse portfolio.

¹ “Influencer marketing: social media influencer market stats and research for 2021.” Business Insider, January 6, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-marketing-report?r=USandIR.

² ibid. ³ ibid.

With the money, you need a process

Furthermore, 86% of marketers don’t know how to calculate influencer fees and more than one in every seven influencer campaigns have payment processing issues, whether that’s how creators are paid or determining their rate of pay.¹ To adapt and even thrive during the rapid growth of influencer marketing, brands need to not just diversify the types of influencers they work with, they need to pay them differently too.

In this guide you’ll discover the top seven ways you can pay influencers so that whether you’re working with the Kylie Jenners of the world or the smaller, more accessible influencers who will often work for a nominal fee or in exchange for a free product,² you can develop a relationship that is mutually beneficial and effective.

¹ Sapna Maheshwari, “Are you ready for the nanoinfluencers?,” The New York Times, November 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/business/media/nanoinfluencers-instagram-influencers.html ² Ibid.

Yesterday’s influencer payments CHAPTER 2

To fully understand what’s happening today and predict how these payments may look in the future, let’s first look back at how the Influencer Marketing industry has adapted since the dawn of social media and the first sponsored and gifted posts hit our screens.

2004: MySpace launched the singing / fashion design / makeup career of Jeffree Star, who became the platform’s most followed user. Brands rewarded influencers with money or gifts to feature its products in their videos. Pay, contracts, and comped attendance at events became common as influencer payment options. 2006: The pay-per-post model was in full swing by 2006, the first marketplace to pay bloggers to create content for brands was launched.

2010-2013: Influencers could charge a fee to merely “check in” at a location. Sponsored posts took off. In 2010 Chris Batty, VP of sales for Gawker, proclaimed: “the majority of our advertising revenue will be in sponsored posts.” Not long after, Forbes and Associated Press jumped on the bandwagon. Even the early creator critics like Mashable started selling sponsored content to different enterprises. Brands began sending gifts to influencers solely to see them unboxed online. 2014-2018: Still, only 39% of marketers planned to grow their influencer marketing budget in 2018.¹ Brands began to offer store credit and rebating rewards for their partners to get around new ASA ruling and make posts appear more authentic. The ASA's guide for influencers (UK)² and FTC Compliance (U.S.) ³ requires direct specification for sponsored posts, adverts or including gifted items (marked by #sponsored #ad or #gifted respectively).

¹ Erica Sweeney, “Study: 39% of marketers will increase influencer marketing budgets in 2018,” Marketing Dive, December 4, 2017. https://www.marketingdive.com/news/study-39-of-marketers-will-increase-influencer-marketing-budgets-in-2018/512178/

² “New guidance launched for social influencers,” CAP News. September 28, 2017. https://www.asa.org.uk/news/new-guidance-launched-for-social-influencers.html ³ Federal Trade Commission, “FTC tips media and advertising.” https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/advertising-and-marketing

Today’s influencer payments CHAPTER 3

Cost and value

11-25% of marketers planned to spend over 40% of their digital marketing budgets on influencer marketing in 2020, while almost 20% said that they would devote 26-50% of their digital marketing spend.¹ 74% of US marketers surveyed in May 2020 said they planned to use influencer marketing the same amount or more once quarantines were lifted.²

In 2021, influencer marketing can still cost $100 to $1 million per post. Pay-per-post dominates, and engagement is by far the most common metric used for measuring influencer marketing success, measured by 75% of influencer marketers. The pressure is on to prove ROI, so influencers are increasingly paid a fixed rate with a performance bonus, and even performance-only payments have become more popular. These types of payments also offset issues from those with paid followers or low quality engagement, which can be difficult for brands to detect and lead to lower impact and ROI.

¹ Julian Zeng, “Influencer marketing budgets grow up in 2020,” American Marketing Association, February 25, 2020. https://www.ama.org/marketing-news/influencer-marketing-grows-up-in-2020/ ² Jasmine Enberg, “Influencer marketing in the age of COVID-19: How brands and creators are adapting to a ‘new normal.” Insider Intelligence, August 24, 2020. https://content-na2.emarketer.com/influencer-marketing-in-the-age-of-covid-19

Tools make the process smooth

Advanced tools and technology have been a game changer for the influencer marketing industry. In addition to data analytics reports and tracking tools, now brands can leverage robust SaaS platforms that manage the entire influencer partnership lifecycle. With a full view of the customer journey from that first click to conversion, marketers can finally build a picture to prove their influencer partnerships’ ROI. In fact, 89% of marketers now say that the ROI from any influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels. Marketers who invested in the channel earned an average of $5.78 back in media value for every $1 spent.

Average influencer costs

These benefits more than pay for the demands of influencers with regard to payments,¹ which average:

followers for Instagram influencers

in 24 hours for Snapchat influencers

followers for YouTube influencers

Approximately $2,000 per 100,000

$1,000 per 100,000

$500+ per campaign

¹ John E. Lincoln, “How much does social media influencer marketing cost.” Ignite Visibility, April 18, 2020. https://ignitevisibility.com/much-social-media-influencer-marketing-cost/

Tomorrow’s influencer payments

To get the best out of your influencer program today and tomorrow, marketers need to expand their view of influencer payments and use the evolved technologies to help them partner at scale.

Paying influencers by follower count once made sense, but we know more and have better technology to move past this “one size fits all” payment system. After twenty years of crucial developments, influencer marketing is moving further under the umbrella of

“partnerships” with a full lifecycle strategic approach that includes customized contracts and payments alongside automated personalization across a segmented influencer market. By looking at the influencer world systematically, companies can manage and nurture influencer partnerships, large and small, to optimize influencer programs.

¹ John E. Lincoln, “How much does social media influencer marketing cost.” Ignite Visibility, April 18, 2020. https://ignitevisibility.com/much-social-media-influencer-marketing-cost/

The right contracts and payouts for influencers

Today and tomorrow, influencers need appropriate contracts and payments depending on a variety of factors, from follower size, brand relationship, channel affinity, content quality, engagement, performance, and overall ROI — and marketers need to take a more individualized approach across their network of influencer partners. Partners today and tomorrow can’t just be stuck with the same “influencer” banner. Contracts and payments have categories and each one needs to be treated right for their partnership. ● Celebrities and Cewebrities (>1M followers): Famous beyond social media, i.e. movie, TV, music or sports stars. Cewebrities made their fame online, but now are recognized universally. They charge per post. ● Macro-influencers (10K - 1M followers): Became popular on social media. Some will charge per post, but others may be open to other payment types. ● Micro-influencers (<10K followers): Everyday people with a decent following and influence. Micro-influencers are often undervalued and underused, these smaller influencers need a customized approach. Most don’t expect “pay-per-post,” particularly with large brands. They are more likely to work on a performance basis. ● Organic influencers (any size): These influencers represent your true earned media. They may not have many followers, but if they have a strong affinity for your brand then they continually say good things about your brand. 10

The influencer ecosystem can be further broken down by type of content creator:

●

Personalities: Influencers who produce their social presence like a reality show; you know what they ate for breakfast, who their best friends are, and what their favorite candle is. Audiences really feel that they know these creators– and put as much trust in their recommendations as they would their own friends’. Visual informants: Your standard social influencer; they’ve got a following based on who they are, who they know,

●

● “Creativists”: Old school visual talents, generally coming from artistic background; they’ll post a beautiful picture of a coffee mug and, while that content may not convert well, it can be really successfully deployed by a brand across their owned and paid channels. or what they’ve worked on. Because their platforms are built on popularity and good taste, visual informants can lend positive brand sentiment and influence buying decisions just by being seen or associated with a product.

7 ways to pay influencers CHAPTER 4

There are many right ways to pay influencers Here are the key methods of payment for influencer campaigns worth exploring.

Gifting and rewards

Comped event or trip

Store credit and rebating

Content licensing fee

Pay per post

Performance-only

Fixed rate plus performance bonus

Payment method

1. Gifting

The savviest of influencers know gifting can be a vital part of growing their business, which is why even top-level influencer partners still seek out gift-only collaborations. Gifting allows influencers to try out new products and review them, sometimes before their competitors, which draws audiences that want to see someone they trust try a product before they buy. Influencers also recognize the power of gift rewards as a gateway to future work with brands. From an influencer perspective, gift-only collaborations can:

● ●

Make them more valuable to their followers

Provide simple-yet-effective content for their channels Give them a low-commitment test run of working with a brand

●

● ●

Build their reputation and portfolio

Lead to long-term partnerships

A marketer’s perspective on gifting

Getting a product or brand into the mass market can be both difficult and expensive . . . but so is gifting when you consider the sale value and postage to influencers with no guaranteed conversions.¹ That said, when you factor in the value of influencer generated content and consider the value beyond the sale (with robust cross-channel tracking), gifting is still an effective payment model, especially for brands with less budget. Anyone can gift as payment, from beauty and fashion companies to restaurants. By bringing gift rewards into your partnership payment model, even smaller brands or those with minimal marketing budgets can see their ROAS (return on ad spend) boosted by 2000%. In addition, luxury brands often use gifting as a way to introduce their product to a bigger audience range, which they achieve by targeting a variety of different bloggers or influencers who are key figures for a particular demographic.

For what types of businesses is gifting ideal? Small to mid-level businesses in almost any sphere with lower budgets. Nano- or micro-influencers.

¹Sarah Donawerth, “The real cost of gifting influencers,” notification by carro. https://getcarro.com/blog/the-real-cost-of-influencer-gifting/

Payment method

2. Comped event or trip attendance

In the travel world, offering free trips in exchange for coverage or first-hand knowledge of a destination is hardly new. Offering a free stay to the select few who can make a product more marketable, or admission to an event for a celebrity face or endorsement, has always been a draw used to help bring in sales.

Inviting influencers on a trip or to an event offers reciprocal benefit. Travel brands can offer influencers higher value in-kind items, such as a holiday package, than the influencer would usually charge for a series of posts — and often to destinations or resorts that would be out of their reach. Events, premium product launches, and awards ceremonies have the same effect on audiences, as they can give the impression that influencers have authority in their field — at least, enough to warrant an invitation. If audiences

see someone they respect or admire enjoy themselves on holiday or at an event, they might just want to engage directly any way they can. For influencers, comped trips and events can also widen access to other opportunities and partnerships as well. For this reason, it’s rare for influencers to additionally push for cash payments on top of comped travel or an event opportunity they’ve already been afforded.

A marketer’s perspective on comped events or trips Comped event or trip attendance is a great solution for marketers keen to save on influencer fees, especially if they don’t have robust attribution modeling in place to truly understand the influencers driving conversions. While other industries are increasingly seeing the value in using influencers in their campaigns, it’s difficult for travel marketers in particular to track ROI due to consumer habits of booking holidays often six months to a year past the campaign date. Influencers can offer premium content and access to their follower-base. By taking their own unique photos of their experience, influencers’ content surrounding a comped trip or event will be more authentic and exciting for their audience as they can give live insights and exclusive access through their Stories, Reels or other posts. For what types of businesses are comped events or trips ideal? Larger companies and organizations in travel or entertainment, who have a high-value product to offer. This payment performs best as a non-cash alternative for macro and mega influencers.

Payment method

3. Store credit and rebates

Store credit and rebating works similarly to gifting — it tends to target the same influencers and yields similar results — but with some key additional benefits for the brand. Unlike gifting, where influencers must disclose these partnerships to their followers (usually by adding the hashtags #ad or #gifting) in accordance with the CAP Code, rebating through store credit requires no such disclosure. Influencers can find non-cash alternatives to payment disrespectful — but they’re much more likely to accept store credit/rebate-based partnerships if the store stocks high-value items or addresses a personal need of that person. Referral fees are a way to monetize content and take a step beyond gifting. Seek “authentic” influencers for store credit and rebates — and there’s no better place to start than your own customers and fans of your brand.

A marketer’s perspective on store credits and rebates You may have some powerful influencers sitting on your client roster or already talking about your product in their Stories. And these, the people that would (and do!) scoop up your wares for free, would readily amplify their efforts for store credits and/or rebates. That’s where a referral program comes in. If an influencer (or customer with influence) wants to increase their income, they can opt in for 10% commission paid in cash through your referral program. A referral program is a win-win scenario for influencers and marketers alike. The influencer shows off your clothes on her beauty and lifestyle blog and monetizes her content with her unique Kickbooster referral link.¹ Meanwhile, marketers can reach more potential customers. This is a great way to target hyper-specific buying centers and learn more about your addressable market. Let organic fans lead you to others like them, and you just might gain watershed insights into who your buyers are and can be – all while keeping your margins trim. For what types of businesses are store credits and rebates ideal? Larger companies and organizations in travel or entertainment, who have a high-value product to offer. This payment performs best as a non-cash alternative for macro and mega influencers.

¹ Shelby Olsen, “Pay your affiliates with store credit using Kickbooster,” Bold, April 22, 2019. https://blog.boldcommerce.com/store-credit-commission-for-affiliates

Payment method

4. Content licensing fees

User generated content (UGC) is a powerful marketing tool for any business. No matter how professional or on point professional product photos and editorial shoots are, customers wearing or using your product will get the clicks. In fact, 87% of brands take advantage of the authentic power of UGC, 1 and 72% say it helps with engagement.

of brands take advantage of the authentic power of UGC, 1

87%

72%

say it helps with engagement.

¹ Ranvir Gurjal, “Key stats and best practices on millennials and user generated content,” Social Media Week, June 6, 2016. https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2016/06/key-stats-best-practices-millennials-user-ge nerated-content/

When you want to build up content for your website or social channels, paying influencers a content licensing fee could be an easy win for you, and a great way for influencers to increase their income. You can do this using a third-party platform 4 or integrate content licensing as a payment model in your influencer partnership platform. When you agree to a license fee, you will also agree where it can be used; across your website and social media channels or in marketing literature and how long you are able to use it, whether that is a set period or in perpetuity.

4 “How to license your best performing content in three steps,” Tribe, accessed June 17, 2021. https://www.tribegroup.co/blog/how-to-license-your-best-performing-creator-content

A marketer’s perspective on content licensing fees Consumers are consuming content faster than ever. When you consider how fast content expires across content platforms, it’s no wonder marketers are under pressure to constantly generate new content. Not only that, it needs to stand out, get noticed and lead to clicks and brand awareness or engagement. In fact, when you consider the expiry window on a visual platform like Instagram, marketers need to create and share new content every single day. A content licensing payment model is an easy win for marketers keen to get more content that they can share across their social media channels and on their website.

How long does content last?

Blog

18 minutes

5 Hours

21 Hours

24 Hours

20+ Days

4 Months

2 Years

For what types of businesses are content licensing fees ideal? Brands that know their products need to be seen worn or used authentically to drive engagement. Travel and consumer goods brands would also benefit from licensing user-generated content to increase engagement and reinforce brand values by using influencers that will resonate with their target audience.

Payment method

5. Pay-per-post and sponsored posts

In 2017, research indicated some brands in the UK were willing to fork out as much as £75,000 for a single post on Facebook from a celebrity. They’d pay £67,000 for an identical sponsored video on YouTube. In 2020, celebrity influencers could fetch as much as $1 million per post on Instagram. These large sums contrast starkly with the average cost per post for smaller scale influencers who often offer higher engagement rates and greater reach to more targeted audiences. Ultimately, when it comes to sponsored posts, there is a significant price range, which depends on a variety of factors such as follower count, audience engagement, type of content, and more.

But, how do influencers even begin to calculate what their posts are worth? The largest celebrities with the biggest, most engaged followings can command the most, with Kylie Jenner (196M followers) and Christiano Ronaldo (238M followers) both reported to have a set fee of $1million for a sponsored post. But the good news is: not every sponsored post has to be as expensive as it does for the Ronaldos and the Jenners of the world. Pay-per-post, and its impact, is also achievable for those who simply can’t splash out seven figures on one post. It’s just about selecting the most relevant and effective influencers for your product. for the nano, micro- and macro-influencer s of the world. Here are some benchmarks on pay per post costs in 2020: 5 ● Facebook: influencers on the platform charge an average of $25 per post, per 1000 followers ● Instagram: a cost-effective channel with an average price of $10 a post, per 1000 followers ● Twitter: At $2 per post, per 1000 followers, Twitter offers the lowest influencer marketing prices ● YouTube: on average influencers charge $20 a video, per 1000 subscribers ● Snapchat: influencers on Snapchat charge $10 per post, per 1000 followers ● Blog: influencers charge around $60 per post, per 1000 unique visitors for this service

5 “Influencer marketing pricing, how much does it cost in 2021?,” WebFX, accessed June 17, 2021. https://www.webfx.com/influencer-marketing-pricing.html

A marketer’s perspective on pay-per-post and sponsored posts Pay-per-post can be a great asset to any influencer partnership campaign. It can also give marketers a better idea of the process of the campaign, and help shape future planning. If you pay an influencer, you have the leverage to negotiate access to the most precious marketing commodity of them all: data. Prioritize direct response activations and establish

the tracking and attribution infrastructure to understand a creator’s contributions to your business goals, even if you’re not paying them on performance.

Depending on platform andmedium, you can ask influencers to include swipe up links, unique promo codes, links in their bios/descriptions, or directions to a unique landing page. You can even attribute credit based onpoint of sale (POS) surveys, where a customerself-designates if an influencer pushed them to convert. Baking this data into your strategy will help you be better informed for future campaigns in terms of expectation vs. delivery. By analyzing influencers’ performance, you can refine and reshape your campaigns — and improve your ROI over time.

A marketer’s perspective (cont.) Whereas in the past brands could get away with more gifting and cashless incentives when paying these kinds of partners, most influencers now expect compensation in the same way marketers would pay any other resource. In fact, a lot of influencers are seeking longevity in their partnerships, and are looking for long-term contracts rather than one-off payments. Specialist influencers who have taken a long time to develop and get to know their audience know the value of that when it comes to marketing.

For what types of businesses are pay-per-posts and sponsored posts ideal? Larger companies and organizations in travel or entertainment, who have a high-value product to offer. This payment performs best as a non-cash alternative for macro and mega influencers.

Payment method

6. Performance-based partnerships

Performance-based partnerships are popular for both influencers and marketers alike for the simplicity of execution and trackability. Whether these partnerships are for specific campaigns or products, to increase sales, or as a stand-alone payment model for influencer partner segments more suited to performance-based payments, they are clear and flexible. For example, they work for influencers with a huge follower base or micro- or nano-influencers with fewer followers that tend to have really high audience engagement.

Under a performance-based payment model, influencer partners either post on their feed or stories as they usually would to recommend a product, and brands only pay them when a user converts or triggers a “success event.” Possible actions that could trigger a performance-bonus for influencer partners include: ● Purchase: The user buys the merchant's product. ● Subscription: The user signs up for a program or monthly subscription. ● Booking: The user books a hotel stay or flight on the website. ● Inquiry: The user becomes a qualified lead and gets in touch with the merchant. ● Download: The user enters their details to download something of value. ● Account funded: On a fintech website a user signs up and adds money to their account ● Registry created: The user registers for a wedding or baby registry to produce a list. ● Newsletter signup: Visitors provide their details to receive email newsletters ● Account created: The user registers for a given service, account, or joins a community. ● Reservation: An airline purchase, car rental, or hotel stay is put on hold to book within 24 hours.

A marketer’s perspective on performance-based partnerships The influencer knows that what they earn depends entirely on the actions users take after clicking their link, which places the onus on the influencer to convince their followers to convert their posts into sales. This gives them an incentive to put more effort into creating quality content that sells. Often arrangements between marketers and influencers are percentage-based, with a commission falling between 5 and 30% on average. For reference, professional bloggers can earn between $1,500 and $8,000 per month through affiliate marketing relationships.

To manage performance-based payments for influencers at scale you need partnership technology and automation that allows you to customize contracts and payouts and effectively track performance, but there are some alternative tools that can help.

For example, affiliate links can be effective when using the ‘swipe up’ option on Instagram’s Stories — available to influencers with more than 10,000 followers. Influencers can easily reference a product in their stories, and then link to the product via an affiliate link — all the customer has to do is swipe up, and an affiliate program automatically tracks conversion.

A marketer’s perspective (cont.) Those with fewer than 10,000 followers, or who include entire outfits in a single post on their feed, may prefer to use platforms such as LikeToKnowIt, where they can display all affiliated products individually with cataloged affiliate links. Promo codes and unique landing page shoutouts are other effective tools for tracking and influencer’s contributions. Youtube makes it easy for creators to include as many links as they want in their video descriptions. Tracking and measurement options evolve with social platforms, so it’s important to partner closely and directly with your creators to ensure you’re always leading the market. For what types of businesses are performance-based partnerships ideal? High-engagement, growing creators open to direct response activations. Requires pre-determined measurements of performance and terms to be properly laid out prior to campaign going live.

7. Fixed rate plus performance bonus

A hybrid fixed rate + percent-of-sale approach brings together the best of both pay-per-post and performance-based payment, and benefits both influencers and marketers equally. This payment sees a higher return on investment generally yielding a higher bonus for the influencer, but with a fixed pay ‘cushion’ to cover the influencer’s upfront work.

With the fixed rate plus performance bonus model, everyone wins. The brand pays the influencer a base sum for the post, but sets sales targets and terms with the influencer that they must reach to receive bonus payments. From the influencer’s perspective, they’re rewarded for every sale they make. This gives the influencer two means of incentivization: first, the fixed rate demonstrates that the brand values their work, and second that the more sales their content generates, the more lucrative the partnership becomes. Brands can construct a bonus system in a number of ways, for example: ● Clicks ● Conversions ● Order value ● Specific product sales

If you’re looking to drive sales and engagement at scale with a payment system that rewards only genuine, quality results then this might be the best route for you.

A marketer’s perspective on fixed rate plus performance bonus payments A fixed rate plus performance bonus payment model is a great way to build trust with high-value partners. By making an upfront investment you are proving that you value their time and content creation, and influencers will put in more effort to benefit from the performance bonus. This creates opportunities for:

●

Amends and feedback: making sure you get the final product(s) just right

Content collaboration: influencers want their content to perform, so they will be keen to work together Review cycles: fewer delays and less pushback along the way to improve quality and performance for both parties

●

Future campaigns: influencers will be more engaged and ready to help on your next campaign

A marketer’s perspective (cont) As a marketer, a fixed rate and performance bonus payment model enables you to work with influencers who command fixed fees, and is economically advantageous for both you and your partners. Not only do influencers drive returns for you, they can earn more than they would have settling for a fixed fee. Both parties are motivated to work collaboratively across different campaigns and objectives, which means they are also likely to endure and reduce turnover on partnerships. By nurturing high-value influencer partnerships you will waste less time on onboarding and training up new influencers on your brand voice and style.

For what types of businesses is fixed rate plus performance bonus payments ideal? Bridging the gap between commission-only (more likely to be influencers with lower follower counts) and macro or mega influencers.

It’s not just the thought that counts, it’s the customization CHAPTER 5

Gone are the days when brands could rely on gifts as payment or promotional posts for exposure — influencers are more business-savvy and they know their worth now, more than ever. Marketers also know how much influencers impact their sales, so the benefit is mutual. Influencer payments have not only developed and changed over time, but there are also multiple ways to pay them, dependent on a number of factors: ● Expertise of the influencer ● Follower count ● Audience engagement ● Content quality ● Brand product value or brand size ● Brand budget ● Length of partnership (short term/long term)

“ You would be amazed how much photographers sometimes get paid to take a picture, but we value that; why do we not do the same for an influencer – because they are still delivering great creative in that way. I think more respect for the craft would help. ”

Cody Eastmond Senior UK Director The Communications Store

The single greatest thing you can do to ensure the efficacy of your influencer program is to take the time to analyze the different factors that come into play with your influencer partnership and choose wisely what kinds of payment structures work to create the optimal partnership for both parties. Influencer marketing is no longer a plug and play “hope for the best”channel and there is no one way to pay influencers, but there are two things you can do to get with the times on influencer payments: personalize and customize.

Beyond getting the best ROI for your organization, remember that influencers partnerships work best when they are beneficial to both sides. Influencers want to be paid fairly, on time and in a way that motivates them to produce, and share great content. Big brand or small, do what it takes to get with the influencer program

for today and tomorrow, so you can create a mutually beneficial relationship for both influencer and brand. The enduring partnerships that result will provide sustained value. After all, paying your influencers in the right way, will pay you right back.

About Partnership Cloud

Impact’s Partnership Cloud TM provides an integrated, end-to-end solution for managing all of an enterprise’s partnerships throughout the world. From discovery, recruitment, and contracting to tracking, protecting, and optimizing — through the entire partner life cycle — the Partnership Cloud helps you drive revenue growth from every type of partner, including traditional affiliates, influencers, strategic partners, app-to-app partners, premium publishers, and more. To learn more, please visit https://impact.com/partnership-cloud/ or contact grow@impact.com to schedule a free demo.

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