Last Updated 3 months by Emily Standley-Allard

The world of marketing has certainly been disrupted by the emergence of social influencers. Considered a more authentic way of marketing products brands and companies have flocked to ‘every day’ folks as social media influencers to help them boost their products and services. Here’s how you can become a top paid Social Media Influencer in the top 10%!

What is a social media influencer?

Social media influencer marketing is a type of marketing where the focus is placed on influential people who have generally built up huge followings on social media and therefore hold a certain influence over potential customers.

These influencers have been shown to have the ability to orient a customer’s buying decisions and activities.

Being a top Influencer on Instagram for instance can and has lead to some very lucrative careers for some bloggers who have made quite a decent living with their posts.

Being a social media influencer is a real career and it takes consistent work. Here is what it takes to become a top social media influencer.

Scroll below to view the TOP 17 social media influencer platforms for bloggers and brands to work with. Join my social community on influence.co!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read our disclosure.

Social media influencers are usually ordinary people (versus celebrities) who have established credibility in a certain industry and gained a large following online thanks to their lifestyle or proving to be an expert/authority in a particular niche whether it’s beauty, fashion, travel, food, parenting or any subject really.

social media influencer
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Social media influencers have access to a huge audience simply because their followers listen to every word they say.

Most influencers eventually enter partnerships with various brands and get paid to subtly promote their products or services.

This is how social media influencers earn top dollar on Instagram or YouTube and you can too.

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Reasons Brands want to work with social media influencers 

  • The top reason is that today influencers generate more sales. Many brands are jumping on hiring social media influencers due to a growing desire to produce authentic content. People are tired of sales-like ads and commercials.
  • Brands don’t have to pay social influencers the massive amount that celebrities command.
  • Social influencers have authority and influence. They’ve built it up with a following and an audience.
  • They build relationships with others between their followers and your brand.
  • They’re expert communicators.
  • Influencers live in the digital world, so they’ve built a knack for digital communication.
  • They are totally engaged. Their whole job is to connect with their followers and interact with them. This is really important to brands more than how many people actually like them. It shows how many people are actually interacting with the influencers when they talk about the actual brand and is a better indicator of reach and overall impressions.
  • Social media influencers have authority and influence! Influencers aren’t influencers for nothing. They know their stuff. 9 out of 10 people make a purchase after reading a review about a product or services and make a judgement call on it from that social media statement or blog post.
  • Influencers are creative. There are millions of influencers across the web. In order to stand out you’ve got to not only produce large volumes of content, but it’s got to be unique and stand out!
  • They know their audience. Influencers have a good idea of who their target audience is and how to best engage with them.
  • They’re a great value for the money. Especially working with micro influencers who have a smaller following but still a decent one, companies are making a quick profit on their campaigns with their help.
  • Influencers start the interest in your brand! They start the conversation. Rather than a company doing it themselves and sounding too ‘salesy’ and tooting their own horn, it sounds so much more flattering coming from a third party like an influencer.
  • They drive more traffic. Influencers drive traffic to a company’s website and store, so you have more business! That’s the bottom line – they help you convert more leads and drive more sales.
  • They give brands access to their target market. Since influencers have a very targeted following, they will have a loyal following of consumers interested in the topic which is your market.
  • They improve your SEO. Influencers drive traffic to your site and social channels, and they also help improve your organic ranking and backlink profile.
  • They grow your social following, so your platforms receive some attention therefore driving traffic back to your site hence improving your traffic and conversions.
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What Does it Mean to be a Social Media Influencer?

  • To be an influencer requires a lot of responsibility, time and commitment. You have to connect with your audience on a regular consistent basis. Not just when you feel like it. But the plus side is you get to help people achieve their goals or solve problems and receive positive feedback but perhaps at times negative feedback for your work as well.  It helps to have a tough skin because remember you will be in the public eye.
  • You get paid to promote things on social media either monetarily or in goods and services. Sometimes you can get paid quite a large sum of money if it is a truly major brand.
  • The job of a social media influencer is rather flexible: you schedule posts according to the campaign outlines. It’s important to adhere to the rules though.

How To Create an Epic Social Media Strategy for Your New Website

5 Steps to Become a Social Media Influencer

  • Find your niche – a field that you’re good at. Whether it’s travelling, beauty, parenthood, cooking, or crafts, your blog needs to have a clear direction. Make sure you choose a niche where you are an expert – only then your blog will have value.
  • Create a content strategy for your profile. What exactly do people want to see in your blog? How often will you post? Who are the readers of your posts? Answering these questions will allow you to create a content strategy for up to 3 months.
  • Remember to post regularly. If you make people wait for days between your posts, soon your followers will turn their attention to bloggers who regularly deliver new content. Even if you can’t be online 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, you can always schedule your posts.
  • Engage with your audience. People love Instagram bloggers who are easy to reach. Of course, when you have hundreds of thousands of followers, answering every comment and direct message is hardly possible. But when you’re only getting there, it’s best to be open to your audience.
  • Promote your blog. You will not get any lucrative deals with brands and other bloggers if no one knows who you are. In addition to working on growing your audience, you also need to get your blog out there for brands and other influencers to see you. Participate in forums, group events, themed internet communities, and comment other people’s posts to get yourself noticed.

How much do social media influencers get paid?

Blogging and publishing content across social channels can be a hobby for some, and a full-time career for others.

Most bloggers and influencers have discovered that there are various ways to monetize their passion and turn it into a profession.

For complete details on how they do this get my guide:


Mastering the Art of social media – Scale, Grow and Monetize Your Business!

The amount bloggers and influencers get paid for influencer marketing in particular depends on several factors, including but not limited to the influencer’s “going rate,” the ask in terms of scope of work, the platform on which the influencer is publishing, the influencer’s vertical (category or niche), and the influencer’s reach (how many people follow or visit the influencer’s site or platform).

Here are some average estimate earnings for bloggers, Instagram influencers, and video bloggers (vloggers) broken down by their potential reach:

  • Bloggers: $50 to $5,000+ per post with amplification on social channels (re-posting the content across other social platforms). Here are the going rates based on the blogger’s number of monthly impressions:

    • 10,000 to 50,000 monthly blog impressions: $175 to $250 per post

    • 50,000 to 100,000 monthly blog impressions: $250 to $500 per post

    • 100,000 to 500,000 monthly blog impressions: $500 to $1,000 per post

    • 500,000+ monthly blog impressions: $1,000 to $5,000+ per post

  • Instagram influencers: $75 to $3,000+ per image. Here are the going rates based on the influencer’s number of followers:

    • 2,000 to 10,000 Instagram followers: $75 to $250 per image

    • 10,000 to 50,000 Instagram followers: $250 to $500 per image

    • 50,000 to 100,000 Instagram followers: $500 to $1,000 per image

    • 100,000 to 500,000 Instagram followers: $1,000 to $3,000 per image

    • 500,000+ Instagram followers: $3,000+ per image

  • Video influencers: $500 to $5,000+ per video. Here are the going rates based on the influencer’s number of followers on YouTube:

    • 50,000 to 100,000 channel subscribers: $500 to $1,000 per video

    • 100,000 to 500,000 channel subscribers $1,000 to $3,000 per video

    • 500,000+ channel subscribers: $3,000 to 5,000+ per video

17 of the Top Social Media Influencer Platforms

If you’re looking to be an influencer or looking for the perfect influencer for your brand look no further than these companies!

All have different requirements so check out the ones that are the best fit for your niche, style and # of followers:

Order the step-by-step guide on how to become a social media micro influencer even with a small following – it includes 4 emails so you know exactly how to communicate with brands for collaboration:


Ultimate Guide to Being a Paid Social Media Influencer

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