How Much To Charge For A Sponsored Instagram Post (Rate Calculator) (2024)

Has anyone else noticed that there are NO INDUSTRY STANDARDS WHEN IT COMES TO THE INFLUENCER WORLD? This is especially true regarding how much to charge for a sponsored Instagram post!

If you’re landing on my blog after googling something like, “How much do influencers charge per post” or “Instagram influencer rates,” I’m guessing you’re either an aspiring influencer or already a full-time influencer looking for some extra guidance.

I can’t tell you how much money I’ve left on the table with brand deals because I had no idea what to charge. That stops here!

In this blog, we will break down all the components to create your price for sponsored content.

Plus, you’ll get to access a free influencer rate calculator to help you determine what to charge!

All the pricing recommendations I make have been tested by me and my Instagram influencer course students.

They’ve come from expert recommendations that I modified to fit my needs over time.

This is how I price my content when I’m negotiating 4 and 5 figure brand deals, so I know they’ll work for you too!

When you’re done, consider reading one of my other influencer guides:

• How to Beat the Instagram Algorithm
• How to Land a Paid Instagram Sponsorship
• How to Make Money as a Content Creator Regardless of Follower Count

No more chit-chat. Let’s jump right into the juice, starting with the easy stuff!

Need the calculator right now?

by Influencer Coach Dani The Explorer

The Big Money Secret

But wanna know a BIG DJ Khalid major key about your Instagram post price?

YOUR WORK IS WORTH WHAT YOU BELIEVE IT’S WORTH.

While this may not make sense right now because you need some sort of guidance with influencer rates, I promise that as you gain more experience in this industry, you’re going to want to keep this secret in your back pocket.

It has helped me gain the confidence I needed to get comfortable with charging more and valuing my work as “worthy” of earning me more money.

So without further ado, let’s start by discussing the basics.

These same concepts apply when determining how much do micro influencers charge too.

1% Formula for How Much to Charge for Instagram Posts

When deciding how much to charge for a sponsored Instagram post, ALWAYS start with this simple formula:

Charge $10 for every THOUSAND followers you have.

Here is an example for someone who has 10,000 followers:

(10,000 Followers /1,000 = 10, 10 x $10 = $100 Rate)

In other words, charge 1% per thousand followers.The 1% Formula: 10,000 Followers x (.01) = $100 Rate

Your Followers x 1% = $Your Rate

Now, that’s just where to start.

The Problem with The 1% Rule

This familiar influencer rate formula is problematic for a few reasons:

1. It doesn’t take into account your quality of work
2. It doesn’t take into account your engagement rate or other metrics
3. It basically screws anyone who isn’t a macro-influencer (100,000+ followers)

That is why it is a starting point.

Never, never, ever price your sponsored Instagram content under this threshold.

Why?

Because at the very least, when you promote a product directly on your feed, 1% of your followers will see the content, giving your sponsor 1% exposure to their target audience.

Don’t worry, we’re going to keep discussing how much to charge for an Instagram post and how to charge MORE.

Truth be told, there are various factors for determining your Instagram influencer rates. Here are some of the most common:

1. Deliverables
2. Time
3. Expenses
4. Licensing
5. Whitelisting
6. Exclusivity

#1 Deliverables

Deliverables can be defined as what work you’ll provide for the brand. For example, will you be doing 1 Instagram post and 2 Instagram story slides?

Will you be writing one blog and posting one viral Reel to your feed? When you post deliverables, do you get a high amount of engagement and reach too?

#2 Time

Time refers to your time to create said content. While I don’t believe that the time it takes to create a piece of content should be the final factor in determining how much to charge for an Instagram post, I think that successful entrepreneurs are masters at valuing and safeguarding their time.

Time can also refer to the deadline involved with the brand deal. If a brand needs a quick turnaround time for deliverables, you should charge more!

When considering YOUR time for creating the content, I suggest figuring out an hourly rate for yourself. You can then tack this onto your pricing. If the brand needs a quick turnaround, consider adding some sort of speedy delivery or rush fee to your pricing.

#3 Expenses

Expenses refer to what, if any, expenses you will be incurring for the sponsored job. For example, will you have to travel?

What about accommodations, gas, and food? Did you need to hire an assistant or buy photo props?

I suggest adding up the total expenses you will incur and adding that to your pricing when determining how much to charge for an Instagram post.

#4 Licensing

Licensing refers to what permissions you’re going to grant a company, if any, to use the content you create. For example, does the brand you’re working for want to repost your content on their feed?

Yep! You can charge brands for reposting your content.

Does the brand want to use your content as an ad? Yep! You charge for that.

Think of licensing like charge rent to use your content.

Video and image licensing is a complete beast in itself and truthfully deserves its own spotlight. If this is a topic you’re interested in, I suggest using a resource like Getty Images to help you get some benchmarks.

For now, I just want you to keep in mind that you can charge for these things.

A simple rule of thumb for digital rights and licensing is to charge a 20% fee for every 30 day period.

As an example, let’s say you agree to post a static post for $1,000, but the brand says they would like organic social media rights (the right to repost your content on their social channels) for 3 months. That would look like this:

• $1,000 for Static Post x 20% = $200 Licensing Fee for 30 days (about 1 month or 1, 30-day period)
• $200 Licensing Fee x 3 Months = $600 Licensing Fee for 3 Months
• $1,000 Static Post + $600 Licensing Fee = $1,600 COLLAB TOTAL

#5 Whitelisting

Whitelisting (or boosting) is when a brand puts money behind your content. Typically, these are ad manager permissions you will grant the brand on your Instagram/ Facebook account backend.

The brand will then literally make your content a paid ad coming from YOUR page.

Think of whitelisting like you’re a celebrity endorser for a product.

Brands benefit from your name and likeness, and you should 100% get paid for that. The rates for whitelisting and boosting rights range from an additional 50 to 100% fee for every 30 day period.

Let’s say, for example, Pepsi wants to pay you $1,000 for a static post, and they’d also like to whitelist/boost your content for 2 months. You decide to charge them a 100% additional fee as a part of your Instagram influencer rates.

That would look like this:

• $1,000 for Static Post x 100% = $1,000 Boosting Fee for 30 days (about 1 month)
• $1,000 Boosting Fee x 2 Months = $2,000 Boosting Fee for 2 Months
• $1,000 Static Post + $2,000 Boosting Fee = $3,000 COLLAB TOTAL

Additionally, you can instead ask the company what their total ad spend would be on the boosted content.

You can then charge an additional fee based on a percentage of ad spend.

Let’s say you decide to charge 5% of ad spend. Pepsi agrees to pay you $1,000 for a static post, and they tell you that the total ad spend for the boosted content is $25,000. That might look like:

• $25,000 Ad Spend x 5% = $1,250 Ad Spend Fee
• $1,000 for Static Post = $1,250 Ad Spend Fee = $2,250 COLLAB TOTAL

Ultimately, you will have to determine which method would work best for you!

#6 Exclusivity

Exclusivity is, in simple terms, when a brand says you cannot work with their competitors throughout your contract.

When determining your pricing for exclusivity, consider the loss of potential income you will experience from having an exclusivity clause. Charge for that loss.

Of course, you cannot always predict when a competitor will come around with more money, but you can use your best judgment based on how many/ what kind of brand deals you typically get.

So let’s say that you sign a contract with Gucci to promote their fragrances for $1,000 with 3 months exclusivity.

This means that for the next 3 months, you cannot promote any competitors.

Now let’s say that a month after your Gucci post, Marc Jacobs fragrances come around and pay you $15,000…

Too bad, boo! You have two more months to go on your Gucci contract before you can even think about Marc Jacobs. And as with all influencer jobs, they go fast.

So yes, that means you’ll be leaving $15,000 on the table, and all you got was $1,000.

Wa, wa, waaaaaaaaa. That’s why exclusivity is an essential factor to consider when determining how much to charge for an Instagram post.

Free Influencer Rate Calculator

Okay, so before we continue, I want to introduce you to my free influencer rate calculator.

This calculator takes into consideration everything we just covered up until this point.

Before you go all crazy, here are a few tips for using the calculator:

1. Remember, this is JUST an estimate. If you’re charging more than the calculator’s output, great! Keep charging more.
2. This is primarily for campaigns with Static Posts and Reels. In the next sections, we dive DEEP into specific content types, though.
3. The calculator is for a single piece of content, so if you have multiple posts, multiply your rate accordingly.
4. You’ll get 2 outputs:
   1. Starting Post Rate—Treat this like the BARE MINIMUM you should be charging
   2. Campaign Rate—What you should be charging based on what a brand is asking for
5. And finally, when you use the calculator, you’ll automatically get subscribed to my weekly newsletter, where I’ll share all my juicy influencer tips—woohoo! But, of course, you can unsubscribe at any time :).

Enjoy!

I’ll be updating this calculator as time goes on, but I hope you find it helpful!

Everything is Negotiable

OMG, did you like what the calculator told you?

Well remember, the best part about all of these pricing factors is that they are 100% negotiable. For example, you can always negotiate down the exclusivity clause, or ask companies to remove deliverables.

And hey, I get it—negotiating is tricky! If you’re like, “Dani, I wouldn’t even know where to START with asking for that much money,” then you’ll love this tool:

>>Click here to get my brand pitch and negotiation email templates!<<

Your new negotiating bestie, The Pitch Vault, is full of fill-in-the-blank templates my clients use to land 4 and 5-figure deals with their dream brands. Selling yourself is already overwhelming—you shouldn’t have to DIY it.

No more guessing what to say to brands!

The Types of Instagram Posts to Charge for

• Static Post
• Carousel Post
• Video Post
• Instagram Reels
• Instagram Stories
• IGTV Posts
• Link in Bio
• Instagram Lives
• Sponsored Giveaway

Believe it or not, there is more than one type of sponsored Instagram post out there. As a rule of thumb, I charge for just about everything I can, lol.

Your Instagram profile is your platform and your business (if you want it to be), so here is your permission to start earning what you’re worth, boo.

Static Post

A static sponsored post on Instagram is the most common type of sponsored content you will see. A static post is the OG type of Instagram post—AKA a picture + a caption.

When sponsored, they usually include one picture showcasing the product you are advertising. The product is typically tagged in the image and the post caption.

And now, with the “Collab Post” feature on Instagram, you can easily give brands a little mention while also offering them more exposure than a standard post might get them.

Carousel Post

I love doing sponsored carousel posts because they’re an excellent way for my audience to engage more with a brand.

For example, I can use a lifestyle image for the first slide and include a video or a beautiful product image in the following slides.

Video & IGTV Posts

Sponsored video posts are becoming more and more common on Instagram.

That’s because brands are starting to realize that videos help tell a better story than a static post would!

IGTV posts also fall into the realm of video posts. However, they are typically longer and require more editing than a simple iPhone video might!

*I know this might be kind of confusing by Instagram literally has a profile tab for videos and another one for Reels. That’s why I’ve separated them!

Instagram Reels

Instagram is so confusing these days with how they have videos, IGTV, and Reels. Whatever. We’ll put Reels in their own category until they have it sorted.

Because of the reach a single Instagram Reel can get in a day, week, even over a month, charging for them is extremely important.

We’ll talk more about how much to charge for Reels in the next section.

Instagram Stories

Sponsored story posts are another way to get paid for sponsored Instagram content.

Stories can include Links and fun stickers like polls are quizzes that can help your audience connect with a brand.

I love selling brands on sponsored Stories because they’re easy to create! Stories can also be saved as a Highlight, which can get you money and help you increase your Instagram influencer rates.

Link in Bio

Typically, a brand will ask you to update your bio’s current link to one of their choosing.

And yes, you should charge for this.

In addition, the link will usually have tracking info attached to it so they can track conversions.

Instagram Lives

Instagram Lives is a great way to drive engagement and promote products.

Expect to see this form of sponsored content become more popular in the next few years! I mean, have you seen what Amazon has been doing with Lives? Influencers on there are killing it!

While giveaways might get you more followers, you should still charge for them!

Giveaways are an excellent way for a brand to get more of your followers to follow their page or collect emails from your audience.

While the sponsored posts above are the most common types of sponsored posts on Instagram to get paid for, I’ve also listed some additional services you can offer your clients.

We won’t discuss these in the next section, but I just want you to be aware of them!

• Sponsored blog post
• Commercial images
• Sponsored email to your list
• Modeling
• Event attendance

How Much to Charge by Post Type

“How much should I charge for an Instagram post?

Do rates vary per post type? They do!

So now we know the various sponsored posts on Instagram, let’s go into how much to charge for them.

You already know this rule. A sponsored static post on Instagram should cost 1% of your following (at minimum).

I’ll paste the formula again for you to reference!

Your Followers x 1% = $Your Rate

Example:

10,000 Followers x 1% = $100 for a Sponsored Instagram Post

I recommend thinking more along the lines of charging 2 to 5% (5% being on the high end) of your following if you have high engagement and create high-quality content.

That formula would then look like this:

Your Followers x 5% = $Your Rate

Example:

10,000 Followers x 5% = $500 for a Sponsored Instagram Post

These percentages are entirely up to your discretion. I always say don’t be afraid to charge more.

Carousel posts have a few things going for them:

• They’re more engaging than a standard static post
• They give you the ability to mix and match content (video + images, or vice versa)
• The brand gets more content pieces showcasing their product or service

I typically like to start with my standard rate and add money based on these items above.

Then, I suggest having a rate you can tack on per additional slide a company wants in your sponsored carousel post.

From my experience, there are a couple of ways you can determine how much to charge for an Instagram story:

• Charge a flat fee per story slide
• Charge 1% of your average Story views

As with everything else, your Story price will change based on various factors. But I find that using a mix of both points above is a good starting point.

Video can be a complicated beast. My go-to for videos has always been to double my photo post rate.

For example, if you charged $500 for a static photo post, a video post could be $1,000.

However, there are other factors that you should consider with your video Instagram post price:

• Length of video
• Video quality
• Licensing
• Editing time

If needed, do research on video standards and licensing to know how much to charge.All the same, the rules apply to IGTV posts.

For sponsored Reels, you can certainly follow the same guidelines as listed above; however, there are other ways you can charge for Reels.

One of them is a tiered pricing method.

This means that you would be paid based on the number of views your Reel gets in a specific amount of time. For example, I’ve seen folks suggest that TikTok pays around 4 cents per 1,000 views.

Considering everything we just discussed regarding Instagram influencer rates, I believe that’s WAY too low.

I would suggest thinking of your tiers like our 1% rule instead. Therefore, you’d charge 1% of the total views.

A tier for our influencer with 10,000 might look like:

• 1,000 to 5,000 views = $50
• 5,001 to 10,000 views = $100
• 10,001 to 50,000 views = $500
• 50,001 to 100,000 = $1,000
• 100,001 to 500,000 = $5,000
• 500,000 to 1,000,000 = $10,000

You can totally omit this and simply charge a flat rate for your Reel instead.

It’s ultimately up to you.

However, I would consider adding a clause in your partnership contract stating you will be paid $XYZ more if your Reel generates a certain number of views.

Can you imagine getting paid $500 for a Reel, which turns into a viral Reel at 20 million+ views? You’d be losing out on a lot of income while that brand got tons of exposure!

As Instagram Lives change, the way we charge for them may change. Badges, for example, were only added within the last year!

For Instagram Lives, I suggest determining an hourly rate for yourself and using that to determine the overall price of the Live.

For example, if you charged $100 per hour, a 30min Live may cost $50.

Charging for a sponsored giveaway post typically follows the same rules as a sponsored static post.

However, the price increase comes with what type of giveaway you’re doing!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Will your followers have to follow the brand’s page to enter the giveaway?
• Will the brand be cross-promoting the giveaway so you can also get some followers from them?
• Is the brand asking you to collect emails, and will you access these emails too?

Once you figure out these terms, you can better understand whether you should charge the same as a static post or more to drive traffic to the brand’s social platforms.

Should You Have an Influencer Rate Card?

Sure thing! Having an influencer rate card is a great idea!

However, please save your influencer rate cards for the negotiation process! I’ll explain what I mean.

A rate card is a PDF that displays how much you charge for content creator services. It’s a super useful tool to have, ESPECIALLY if you want to upsell brands for more money!

For example, let’s say Nordstrom reaches out to you and says they want to hire you for 1 Sponsored Instagram Post and maybe a Sponsored Blog post. “What are your rates?” they ask.

You can send them your rate card with the pricing for 1 Sponsored Post and 1 Blog. Ideally, your rate card will match your influencer media kit branding, so when you send it over to the Nordstrom team to review, it looks all branded.

After you send your rate card, you will negotiate your final pricing.

What Shouldn’t Be in a Rate Card

Please note, I did NOT say that a rate card is a menu of ALL your pricing. Avoid this at all costs!

Rate cards are very curated. They’re a professional way to send brands your rates and can help you upsell for more!

This is where a lot of influencers get it wrong. If you aren’t careful about how you set up your rate card, you can quickly diminish your negotiating power and miss out on getting more money!

“Ugh. Why can’t this stuff be easy?”

That’s what I’m here for!

If you need a rate card that can help you upsell brands for more $$$, I have influencer rate card templates (click here to buy) for that.

You deserve to get paid as much as possible, and simple tools like this can help!

Click here to get your rate card template!

WOW. Talk about a ton of math, huh.

So now, let’s discuss a few of my top tips for charging for sponsored Instagram content.

Never Take the First Offer

I don’t care what anyone tells you. When a brand reaches out, never take the first offer!

No matter who the brand is, they’re going to be offering you the least amount possible, most likely. NEGOTIATE. Ask for more money and come to a mutual agreement.

The worst thing that can happen is a brand says no, and you agree on the original offer. At least you tried!

Grow Your Instagram Following

While your Instagram following doesn’t determine how much money you can make, having a larger and more engaged Instagram community can help put you in a high-earning tier.

I have a blog on how to organically gain Instagram followers you can read for help!

Build a Website

Some folks might disagree with me on this, but building a website is crucial to your success, in my opinion! If you want to charge for sponsored Instagram posts, you’re going to have to start treating your Instagram like a business.

A website is a great way to level up.

Your site can also get you discovered on search engines like Pinterest and Google.

Anyways, by no means do you need to blog, but it can make you more money!

Get a Media Kit

A media kit is like a resume that lists out who you are.

I can honestly say a good media kit is essential for getting ready to charge for sponsored Instagram posts because it gives brands an idea of who you are and what your numbers look like.

Brands want to know that their ad dollars are being spent as effectively as possible. So in a recession, they’ll be super picky with who they work with.

If want to show brands that you mean business and that you’re the results-driven influencer they need, a professional media kit is the way to go. Get started with my secret weapon:

Click here to download your free media kit checklist!

Your Next Steps

Please make sure you ALWAYS stick up for yourself and know your worth with sponsored content!

Content creation is a real job, and you should be compensated fairly regarding your Instagram influencer rates.

When one brand says no, please know that another company is willing to pay your rates. Never give up!

To keep upping your Instagram game, read these influencer guides next:

• How to Beat the Instagram Algorithm
• How to Land a Paid Instagram Sponsorship
• Create an Influencer Media Kit That Gets You Brand Deals
• Guide to Becoming an Instagram Influencer
• How to Make Money as a Content Creator Regardless of Follower Count