How to budget influencer marketing

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It is important to ensure that the brand has a well-rounded understanding of all the costs that go into an influencer campaign so that their budget is managed accordingly. If you are an agency, brand or if you are using an agency, these are likely the key line items and costs to consider.

Campaign strategy

It is important to note the time needed to think about the message, the medium and the audience. How that all comes together in a considered strategy is vital. So allocate time to those factors in your campaign strategy line item.

Influencer media

This is a media spend is like buying space on television or a billboard, so this will be the biggest chunk of the budget allocation as it accounts for the production and the audience dissemination. Influencer fees are what the influencers get paid at the end of the campaign. Influencers set their own rates based on various performance factors reach and engagement. However, if your brand works with a creator, there can be production costs to consider too. You can approach the influencer budget two ways. Firstly, decide on a maximum figure you can spend on influencers, then reach out to influencers and find out what they can offer a set rate. Secondly, you could approach influencers and ask them what they typically charge and then use that to inform your budget and size of the campaign.

Event attendance

Does your influencer charge a special fee to attend events?

Campaign management

If you are an agency who is offering influencer marketing to brands then you should charge a campaign management fee to cover your time. The guiding rate for campaign management is 20% of the influencer fees.

Reporting

Reporting is also something that you should either charge for, if it is something you are offering to clients as you will likely spend lots of time creating your own report, or you will pay for reporting from a third-party service provider.

Paid media influencer content

Promoting the influencers posts is a great way to ensure the brand gets a high reach. Choosing which channels the brand is going to promote content on and how much will be put these posts is important to the planning process.

Software automation

If the brand chooses to use an influencer marketing platform or software as a service, then considering if the platform has a subscription fee and/or a booking fee is important.

Source: The Webfluential Influencer Academy.

Now that we understand the costs associated with carrying endorsements to millions of people, it’s time to break that figure down. Please note this formula above is flexible depending on the campaign but it’s a great starting tool to include in your strategy.

You’ll notice the addition of paid media into the chart above as it is something that every influencer marketing campaign needs.

With social media becoming more of a pay-to-play environment, results are further secured by boosting influencer content to new audiences. Paid media guarantees prime real estate positioning of your branded endorsements, ensuring that each influencer content gets enough opportunity to spark those valuable conversations.