If you’re a content creator wondering how much to charge for a sponsored Instagram post, this blog is for you.

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If you’re a content creator who’s trying to figure out how much to charge for brand partnerships, then you’re in luck! I’m putting together the ultimate video series for you. 

I don’t know why… but in every video that I’ve seen on this topic, creators always say,  “there’s no set standard, you really just have to pick a number and go with it.” But I’d like to know… why is there no industry standard? 

There are 27 million paid creators in the United States alone. The global influencer market is valued at $21.1 billion, but you’re telling me that we haven’t figured out a way to standardize how much creators are paid? 

Let’s change that. 

How Much to Charge for a Sponsored Instagram Post

This is the first post in my new series of breaking down how much you can actually get paid as a content creator in 2024. Today we’re talking about how much you can charge for a sponsored Instagram post. (In future posts I’ll break down how much to charge for both YouTube and TikTok collaborations.)

A ‘Sponsored Instagram Post’ is a post that a brand pays you to create and share with your audience on Instagram. 

Here is the breakdown of what we’re going to be covering today:

1. Build an understanding of current Industry Standards
2. Learn the formula that you can use to calculate your rates (for in-feed posts, stories and reels)
3. Bonus: I’ll share my current rates for transparency

First things first, let’s talk about industry standards. Because while a lot of creators say there isn’t an Industry Standard, I’m going to charge that narrative and set some!

Industry Standards for Sponsored Instagram Posts

Industry Standard #1

The first Industry Standard that we’re going to set today is that as a creator, you should be getting paid. If that’s not already an Industry Standard, let’s make sure it is moving forward. 

You deserve to be paid for your work, your platform, your image, your gear and everything else that goes into the content you’re creating. 

Of course, if you have 0 experience and you’re just getting started building your audience, you can do a few free collaborations to create your portfolio and gain that initial experience. But if you’re at the point where you feel like you should be paid for your work, then you’re ready to be paid. 

Industry Standard #2

Right now, most people give two pieces of advice for Sponsored Instagram Rates: 

• The penny method: charging $0.01 per follower
• Or the $100 per 10,000 followers approach (In other words, 1% per thousand followers)

The problem with this advice is that it’s only taking into account the number of followers that you have. The value that you provide when doing brand collaborations is so much more than a follower amount.

In other words, You are more than your followers. 👏🏻👏🏻

Otherwise, brands would simply send you premade videos and ask you to share those with your audience. 

In reality, a brand is paying for: 

• your experience
• your expertise
• your image/likeness
• the trust that you’ve already built with your followers
• the time that it takes to create a post
• gear that you’ve invested in
• and so much more!

So how do you calculate all of that into your rates? 

Here’s what I teach: 

Take your follower number * your average impact level + the contract terms = how much you should charge for each post.

Keep reading, we’ll go over this in much more detail! 

Disclaimer: This formula is a guideline. Like I said before, there is no industry standard yet. I don’t think this formula is perfect, but it has worked well for my business and for my students. 

I hope this gives you a better understanding of how much you can charge for a sponsored Instagram post and I really hope it opens up the conversation around setting rates for content creators. Now, let’s use this formula to set some example rates.

How to Calculate Your Rates for a Sponsored Instagram Post

Now that I’ve shared my magic formula with you, let’s go over how to use it for your Instagram. 

The first step is easy, you just need to plug in how many followers you have. The second step is a bit harder, we have to calculate your average impact level. Here is an example of how I would calculate your average impact level. 

Average Impact Level

1. Measures your platform engagement
2. Collaboration experience 
3. Industry impact (how well known you are in your industry)
4. Overall expertise in your niche or topic

By the way, if you’d like to see me go over an example of calculating your average impact level, watch the video above and skip ahead to 5:50. 

You might be asking yourself, “But Millie, how do I calculate my engagement rate?” That’s easy, follow this formula 👇🏼

How to Calculate Your Engagement Rate

You can calculate your engagement rate using your last 5-10 posts on Instagram. 

The last piece of our formula is contract terms. 

Contract Terms

When doing any partnership, whether it’s free or paid, you’ll need to sign a contract. It’s extremely important to read that contract and understand what you’re signing. This is where you’ll be able to make more money for your partnerships. 

Here are a few things to look for in your contracts:  

Deliverables

The quantity and type of content that is being asked of you to produce for a brand.

Ex. how many Stories they want, do they want you to use a link in your stories, how many photos will be in the carousel, how long is the Reel going to be, when you post it, is it going to be a collaborative post with their account?

Usage rights

Usage rights is a term commonly found in contracts that states who owns the deliverables and what they are allowed to do with it while they own them.

There are typically 4 types of usage rights: Organic, Paid, Full & Perpetual

Organic: the brand can repurpose your content on their organic media channels with no ad spend being put behind your content. Industry-standard: 1-3 months of organic usages rights are included in price.

Paid: the brand can use your content to run paid ads like whitelisting, blacklisting, and general ads. 

How to charge? An additional 10-20% for every month the ad will be running (per deliverable).

• $262.50 reel
• 20% of that is $52.50. Each month charge: $52.50. 
• 3 months of paid usage 52.50 * 3 =  $157.50 + $262.50 = $420

Full:  the brand can use your content anywhere and everywhere: their website, social media platforms, in their app, blog, emails, newsletters etc. This one is rare so i’m just going to skip pricing here.

Perpetuity/perpetual usage: you release your rights to own your content FOREVER. The brand can do what they want to your content, when they want, till the end of time.

Pro Tip: Try to negotiate this term OUT of your contract, instead offer 6-12 months full usage rights

Exclusivity

You are promising not to work with any of their competitors for X amount of time. 

So if you work with Crest for a toothpaste partnership. They will probably be like, alright well you can’t work with Colgate. Right? Ideally, brands list specifically who their competitors are IN THE CONTRACT. You can ask them if you don’t see it.

Industry-standard: 1 month/30 days for no additional charge.

How to charge: for each additional month of exclusivity charge your standard partnership rates.

Example: 262.50 reel

• 1 month exclusivity included
• 3 months exclusivity means charge for the extra two months
• $262.50 x 2 = 525
• 525+reel = $787.50 pr $780
  

Calculating Stories and Reels

Calculating stories and reels from your ‘base rate’ for an in-feed post is simple! 

• Stories x 50%
• Reels x 150%

So for example, if your in-feed base rate is $175, you’ll times that by 0.5 which is $87.50 for 3 slides. Then for an Instagram reel, you’ll take $175 and times that by 1.5 which gives you $262.5 for one reel. 

What I Currently Charge

At the end of the day, you’re the business owner. You can set your own rates and charge whatever you want. If you’re unsure of what to charge, or this formula doesn’t calculate the number you want to see, you can do what a lot of creators do and just pick a random number and go from there. 

For full transparency, this is how much I would charge for a sponsored Instagram post. 

MY RATES:

• 1 x IG Post = $2,000 USD
• 1 x IG Reel = $4,000 USD
• 1 x IG Story (3-5 Frames) = $1,000 USD

(At the moment I am taking a break from Instagram, but when I go back these would be my rates based on the formula that we went over today.)
(At the moment I am taking a break from Instagram, but when I go back these would be my rates based on the formula that we went over today.)

Now that you’re ready to start working with brands, your next step is to start pitching! Yes, you absolutely can pitch directly to your dream brands. If you want to steal my perfect pitch, watch this video next. 

The BSP Model

If you’re someone who is serious about being a full-time content creator and you love trainings like this, I want to invite you to join The Build. Scale. Profit. Method. The BSP Model is a bundle of courses structured in a Proven 3 Part Framework teaching you how to build an unforgettable brand, harness the power of organic social media and make money while doing it. 

I can confidently say that there is nothing else out there like the BSP Model, because it is exactly what I wish I had when I was starting my own journey. And it’s laid out in the order of the steps I wish I took. 

With BSP I’ve helped students land $10,000 brand deals, get featured on shelves in their local grocery stores and work with countless dream brands. 

Learn more about The BSP Model here.