Social media has had profound and wide-reaching effects on many parts of society. And while we can forever marvel at the strange meaning behind Kanye West's tweets or the reasons why some people see social media as a free pass for cyberbullying, one of the more positive effects has been the increased level of entrepreneurship it's produced in some unlikely places.
The Rise of the Social Influencer
Have you heard of social media influencers? While the term may not be familiar, you most certainly have interacted with a couple of them online at one point or another. Social influencers tend to be average people who have a knack for accumulating large amounts of followers and moving them to action around a particular topic or niche. They are especially popular on Twitter and Instagram, where there's a high level of interaction between users.
What constitutes a social influencer isn't always crystal clear. Generally speaking, a social influencer has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of followers and possesses a magnetic personality, innate marketing skills, and a knack for understanding the audience.
Because these people have built large audiences that are highly engaged and responsive to the influencer's posts, they're in a unique position to work with big brands and get paid for occasionally delivering what are known as sponsored posts.
But just how much are they making?
What Are Influencers Getting Paid?
Well, depending on who you ask, you'll get different answers. How much social media influencers get paid depends on a variety of factors, including the social media platform, the number of followers, the type of sponsored post, and their method of connecting with brands.
According to The Economist, having between 100K-500K followers will land you an average of $12,500 per post on YouTube, $6,250 on Facebook, $5,000 on Instagram, $5,000 on Snapchat, and $2,000 on Twitter.
Once an influencer gets over the 1 million-follower threshold, those numbers skyrocket. Users with 1-3 million followers command an average of $125,000 per post on YouTube, $62,500 on Facebook, $50,000 on Instagram, $50,000 on Snapchat, and $30,000 on Twitter. Exceed seven million followers and you're talking six figures per post on most platforms.
"They're the new rock stars with a bigger audience than old Hollywood ever had a chance to access," Paul Cazers, a digital talent agent in Hollywood tells 60 Minutes. "If you take someone like [influencer] Logan [Paul], he's got over five billion video views across all his platforms. I mean, it's a staggering number."
While we're finally learning more about how much influencers get paid, there's still a lot to be learned about the science behind becoming a social media influencer. There are billions of people on various social media platforms and only a very small fraction are ever able to build up large enough audiences to benefit from this growing online trend.
The interesting thing about your average social media influencer is they'll often say they were just in the right place at the right time. While there's something that attracts people to them, a significant part of it has to do with being likable. And for brands who thrive on likability, this is all they need.
What's Next for Social Influencers?
What will be interesting to watch in the coming years is what social influencers will do for an encore act. As today's social media platforms naturally become replaced, will we see these influencers switch platforms or pursue other careers altogether?
This is new territory for everyone, so only time will tell.