Every creator eventually Googles "how much should I charge for a sponsored post" and finds either a vague rate card that went stale six months ago or an influencer agency's lowball suggestion designed to protect their margin. Neither helps you.
The honest answer is that there is no fixed correct number — and that's actually good news. Rates are negotiated, not looked up. What you need isn't a price list; you need a framework that lets you calculate a defensible number and adjust it based on what the brand actually wants. This guide walks through that framework: the variables that move your rate, how to build a deliverable bundle, when to charge for usage rights, and how to avoid the most common mispricing mistakes.
Why Rate Cards Are Mostly Useless
Published influencer rate cards rely on averages, and averages in creator pricing are nearly meaningless. An Instagram post from a micro-creator with 15k hyper-engaged followers in a specific fitness niche can be worth more to the right brand than a post from a generalist account with 200k lukewarm followers. Platform, niche, engagement rate, audience quality, deliverable format, exclusivity, and campaign timing all affect the number.
Rate cards also don't account for what you're actually selling. A single static post is a different product from a three-post bundle with story support, first-comment placement, and 30 days of usage rights. Once you understand the variables, you can price any deliverable — not just the ones someone else listed.
The Foundation: Per-Follower Baseline
Many creators start with a per-follower baseline because it's simple and defensible. At the time of writing, rough industry thinking often starts around €0.01–€0.03 per follower for a single feed post on Instagram or TikTok for micro-creators (roughly 10k–100k followers), scaling down on a per-follower basis as accounts get larger.
These aren't magic numbers — they're a conversation starting point. The real work happens in the multipliers.
Important caveat: don't quote a per-follower rate to a brand. Run the math yourself, arrive at a number, and present the final figure. "I charge €0.02 per follower" invites negotiation on the wrong variable.
The Engagement Multiplier
A follower count with no engagement context is a vanity metric. Engagement rate — interactions divided by reach or followers — is the signal that shows whether your audience actually pays attention.
Use the engagement rate calculator to get your current number. Then apply a multiplier to your baseline:
| Engagement rate (Instagram/TikTok) | Multiplier to apply |
|---|---|
| Below 1% | 0.7× (discount the base) |
| 1–3% | 1.0× (standard base) |
| 3–6% | 1.3× |
| 6–10% | 1.6× |
| Above 10% | 1.8–2.0× |
So a creator with 25,000 followers and a 7% engagement rate might calculate: 25,000 × €0.02 × 1.6 = €800 for a single post. That's a starting number to negotiate from, not a floor you can't move.
Format and Deliverable Pricing
Not all deliverables are equal. A 90-second TikTok with original audio takes significantly more production effort than a static Instagram carousel. Price the deliverable, not just the platform slot.
Rough effort-based tiering
- Static image post — baseline
- Carousel (5–10 slides) — 1.2–1.5× static baseline
- Story set (3–5 frames) — 0.4–0.6× of a feed post (supporting role)
- Short-form video (< 60 seconds) — 1.5–2× static
- Long-form video (> 60 seconds, scripted) — 2–3× static
- Thread or newsletter mention — negotiate separately based on your list/readership
Brands often ask for "a post and some stories." That's a bundle, and bundles should be priced as bundles — not just a post fee plus a token story add-on. Price the bundle at roughly 1.4–1.6× the lead deliverable alone to reflect the additional reach and effort.
Usage Rights: The Multiplier Brands Forget to Mention
One of the most overlooked parts of creator pricing is usage rights. When a brand pays for a sponsored post, they're paying for your organic distribution. When they want to reuse that content — in paid ads, on their website, in email campaigns — that's a separate license.
Branded content usage rights are typically priced as a percentage of your base fee:
| Usage type | Additional fee |
|---|---|
| Organic repurposing (brand reshares your post) | €0 — typically included |
| Paid advertising (brand uses your content in ads) | +30–100% of base, per month |
| Whitelist / allowlisting (ads run from your handle) | +50–100% of base |
| Exclusive rights (you cannot post for competitors) | +20–40% of base, per exclusivity period |
| Perpetual license | Negotiate case by case (significant premium) |
If a brand sends a brief that mentions "the content may be used across paid channels," flag it immediately. Most first-time brand deal creators sign away usage rights without realising it. Add a usage clause to your rate discussion before deliverables are locked.
CPM as a Cross-Check
Cost per engagement and CPM (cost per thousand impressions) are how brands think about media buying. Once you've calculated your rate, it's worth cross-checking it against the implied CPM to see whether you're pricing yourself out of the market or leaving money on the table.
Use the CPM calculator to run the math: if you charge €600 for a post that typically reaches 20,000 people, your implied CPM is €30. For a highly engaged niche audience, that's competitive. For a broad lifestyle account with average engagement, a brand might compare it to paid social CPMs and push back.
Understanding the brand's perspective — not just your own costs — makes you a stronger negotiator.
Niche and Audience Quality Adjustments
All of the above assumes a "typical" audience. Several factors can justify a meaningful premium above your baseline calculation:
High-purchase-intent niches. Finance, software, travel, and home goods audiences tend to convert better for direct-response campaigns. Creators in these niches often command 20–40% above lifestyle equivalents.
Tight demographic match. If a brand's ideal customer is 25–34, female, in the UK, and your audience is 80% that demographic, you're worth more than a creator with the same numbers but a diffuse audience.
Proven conversion history. If you have case studies or affiliate performance data showing your audience actually buys things, use it. Concrete conversion data is the strongest negotiating asset you have.
Platform-specific premium. LinkedIn audiences, at the time of writing, command a premium over Instagram for B2B campaigns because the professional context is harder to replicate at scale.
What to Say When a Brand Asks for Your Rate Card
Most brands will email you and ask "can you send us your rates?" Some creators freeze here. The better approach is to reply with qualifying questions before quoting:
- What platform(s) and deliverables do you need?
- What's the campaign timeline?
- Will the content be used in paid ads or solely organic?
- Are there exclusivity requirements?
Once you have those answers, you're pricing a specific product — not an abstract "sponsored post." It also signals professionalism, which matters if the brand is comparing multiple creators.
Common Underpricing Mistakes
Charging one-post rates for multi-post campaigns. A three-post campaign deserves a campaign rate, not three separate post rates. Volume doesn't automatically mean a discount — the planning, relationship management, and creative brief alignment have overhead.
Ignoring the time cost. Creating a 60-second TikTok with a hook script, B-roll, caption, and first-comment hashtags might take 4–6 hours. Your hourly cost should factor into the floor of what you'll accept.
Accepting gifted-only as "exposure." For micro-creators just building a portfolio, gifted products can sometimes justify a reduced rate. At a point — and that point is earlier than most creators think — you're subsidising the brand's marketing budget. Know your break-even.
Saying yes without a contract. Even informal brand deals benefit from a simple scope-of-work document: deliverables, revision rounds, due dates, kill fee, payment terms, and usage rights. It protects both sides.
Revision Policy and Kill Fees
Brands will often request revisions. The question is how many, and at what cost. Standard practice in the creator industry at the time of writing tends to allow one to two rounds of revisions before the scope-of-work is considered complete. Anything beyond that — particularly if a brand keeps changing the brief — eats into your time and should be billable.
A kill fee protects you when a brand cancels a campaign after you've already done the work. A typical kill fee structure:
- Before creative work begins: 25% of the total fee
- After first draft delivered: 50–75% of the total fee
- After final approval (but not yet published): 100% of the total fee
Brands that take issue with a kill fee in the contract are often the same brands who cancel without warning. A fair kill fee clause actually builds trust by showing you're a professional, not a freelancer who disappears when things get complicated.
Bundling for Annual Retainers
As you build brand relationships, consider pitching annual or quarterly retainers rather than one-off posts. Brands value predictability; you get income stability and less time spent on outreach and negotiation.
A retainer might look like: two posts per month + one story set + 30 days of usage rights per post, billed quarterly. Price it at 10–15% below what the same deliverables would cost individually — brands see the discount, you see the pipeline security.
A Quick Reference: Building Your Rate Calculation
- Start with the follower baseline (e.g., 20k followers × €0.02 = €400)
- Apply the engagement multiplier (7% engagement × 1.6 = €640)
- Add the format premium (video × 1.75 = €1,120)
- Add usage rights if applicable (+50% for paid ads = €1,680)
- Adjust for niche, exclusivity, or turnaround (±10–25%)
- Present the final number — round to a clean figure (€1,700)
This isn't a formula to quote to a brand. It's a framework to calculate your own floor before you walk into the negotiation.
Conclusion
Sponsored post pricing is a skill you develop through repetition. The first few deals you undercharge; the first few times you push back, you learn what brands will actually pay. The framework here — follower baseline, engagement multiplier, deliverable format, usage rights, and cross-check against CPM — gives you a principled starting point so you're not pulling numbers from thin air.
As your posting output grows, tools like SocialKit help you keep campaign deliverables on schedule across platforms, so the operational side of a brand deal doesn't become its own full-time job.