The truth behind "influencers": what the business is like, how much they earn per post and why they are so sought after

What many might have considered a fad is today a business with solid foundations. Influencers, with their millions of followers and communities that cross borders, are increasingly sought after by brands to be the "visible faces" of their campaigns.

According to data provided by Hopper HQ:

Data provided to iProUP by Influencity show that 15% of Argentines purchased a product on the recommendation of a celebrity or influencer. In addition, the consultant highlights:

With all these numbers on the table, it is impossible not to contemplate the business that is on the networks, which bills millions and to which a large majority wants to belong.

How does the business work?

Federico Spitznagel, executive director of the Feedback agency, comments to iProUP that the influencer business, far from stagnating, grows year after year, both in Argentina and in the world.

"According to Influencer Marketing Hub, in 2020 the global investment in influencer marketing was at levels close to 10,000 million dollars, 50% more than the previous year," he says.

On the other hand, he adds that Argentina is among the five countries in the world with the highest use of social networks, both in terms of penetration and frequency. This becomes of interest to brands, which are constantly in search of the "references" of the moment.

"In recent years, there has been a shift towards working with micro and nano influencers. That is, those who have a smaller number of followers. Although there is a 'cost' in audience, what is sought is more affinity with the brand, that they are real users, and a higher level of credibility and engagement", he adds.

However, for Spitznagel this does not mean that those who have many followers are left out, but rather that a new, increasingly specific market began to be generated.

Now, how do you "work" as an influencer? The Argentine "influencer mom" Jose de Cabo, assures iProUP that this business is like any other job: order, planning and time are required to put together the contents in such a way that they are as professional as possible.

"Regarding revenue, there are different ways to monetize. Platforms like YouTube that monetize themselves (in this case by views) and others that work as a window for companies that want to use influencers as a vehicle to advertise their products or services. ", adds who has more than 114,000 followers on Instagram.

And he adds: "In general, the advertising agencies or the brand directly contact us with a promotional proposal and we adjust it as much as possible to our style and language of communication. That is where an exchange begins in which it is decided how and when the scheduled publications will be made, and the content is prepared and approved".

Once an agreement is reached, it is only then that the "interaction" part is published and begins, in which the audience has a fundamental role, since when targeting organic content the community is usually very participatory in its opinions about the content. content.

In tune with de Cabo, Juan Marenco, CEO of Be Influencers, assures iProUP: "This business in Argentina is similar to that of the rest of the world, with different monetization channels":

"There are three great concepts that are mixed: influencer, famous and content creator. Not all the accounts that we consider 'influencers' fill all the boxes," warns iProUP Facundo Tula, founder of Diacrítica Consultore.

For the executive, this term defines a person or account that has a significant number of followers and a good level of engagement with them. And for that they achieved some recognition.

However, Tula comments that if the account has more than 10,000 followers, the number, the relevance of that person and the connection with his audience come into play.

"It can range from $15,000 or $20,000 to start up to literally anything you can imagine: $60,000 for a story, $500,000 for a post and a few stories, and even a lot more," he details.

In this sense, the expert assures that an influencer with less than 10,000 followers takes the advertising to the exchange: the brand gives him the products in exchange for posts. In other words, there is no money involved". However, Tula affirms that there are no "standardized" values ​​for everyone. This depends on the agreement, the negotiation, whether there is an agency in the middle or not.

"An influencer cannot charge a lot to one firm and nothing to another. It is a market that is very unregulated, it moves freely and it also varies all the time because the platforms are constantly changing too," he adds.

On the other hand, he comments that soccer players Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Kün Aguero and singer Tini Stoessel are the Argentines with the largest number of followers worldwide. However, locally, there are many relevant people such as Darío Barassi, Pablo Granados, Migue Granados and Sol Pérez, to name a few.

"If we move away from the orbit of the famous, within the most outstanding creators, Merakio, Angie Velasco and Paulina Cocina appear. And just to stay within the world of Instagram, because if we add TikTok, Twitch and other platforms, we can find many other names," he says.

On the other hand, the influencer Jessica Jalife assures iProUP that she does not deal with a single rate when arranging her fees per publication, but that they vary depending on the project. In addition, she adds that as a manager of other influencers she also uses this system.

"In Argentina, the industry is quite strong: there are the clients, the media centers, the agencies, the representatives and the influencers themselves. However, who acts in relation to each company is very relative, depending on the size of the project and which it is the way in which it is decided to hire the profiles", adds Jalife.

Why are brands looking for them?

For Spitznagel, the interest of companies in influencers is based on several different reasons that depend –to a great extent– on the objectives that are set.

"Among the most common reasons we can identify that of 'gaining visibility', associating with profiles that are consistent with the brand and that transfer certain values ​​to it, being part of the conversation of a certain group of potential users and, as the ultimate goal, promoting preference or sales," he adds.

For her part, Tula assures that there are, broadly speaking, two "great reasons" for a company to choose one influencer or another, one bad and one good:

In addition, advertisers, who are aware of the entire "influencer universe" – its scope and potential – usually decide based on the second option, since the results are notoriously higher and the cost per result is significantly lower.

"In Argentina, there is a great growth in the use of influencers within the technology, fintech, beauty and retail sectors. These four areas are the ones that invest the most in this type of celebrity. Brands look for them because they managed to transfer their influence to their audiences. ", concludes the CEO of Be Influencers.