A recent report by Favikon reveals that pricing for B2B influencers cannot be solely predicted by their follower count. The study frequently found nano-influencers with smaller audiences charging higher rates than micro-influencers with more followers. Significant price discrepancies were also observed among accounts of similar size, prompting a reevaluation of traditional B2B influencer marketing strategies that rely primarily on follower numbers for pricing.
The Weak Correlation Between Follower Count and Pricing
Favikon's report, based on a survey of 136 LinkedIn influencers and data from 149 brand collaborations, highlights this trend. While the median price approximately triples for influencers with over 100,000 followers, the direct correlation between follower count and price significantly weakens below that threshold. Notably, many nano-influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers are high-level specialists in specific fields, such as CEOs, founders, or B2B experts. These individuals were often found to command higher prices than influencers with larger followings. For instance, one SaaS customer success expert with just 851 followers charged $2,400 per post.
This suggests that an influencer's true impact is not solely determined by their follower count. Factors such as engagement, authenticity, specialized expertise and authority within a specific domain, and content format appear to exert a greater influence on pricing.
Real-World Examples of Price Discrepancies
The discrepancy between follower count and pricing is evident in various market examples. The Head of Influencer Marketing at Wix, for instance, recounted receiving quotes of $2,700 from an Instagram creator with 160,000 followers and $12,000 from another with 600,000 followers for the same campaign brief, showcasing a significant disparity.
Benjamin Fredj, CEO of YouTuber agency Kāst, shared a striking comparison: two creators within the 100,000 to 500,000 follower range charged vastly different rates across 50 campaigns. One requested $700 per video for an average of 335,000 views, while the other asked for $15,000 per video for an average of just 6,650 views. This translated to a cost-per-thousand-views (CPM) difference of over a thousand times, at $2 versus $2,256 respectively.
Furthermore, an analysis of approximately 200 B2B LinkedIn collaborations revealed that the 250,000-500,000 follower segment was the most expensive, averaging £2,178 per post. Interestingly, the 500,000+ follower segment showed a lower average of £1,247. The report attributed this to a potential dilution in audience quality once follower counts exceed a certain scale.
Factors Driving Value: Engagement, Expertise, and Format
The Favikon report identifies engagement rate, authenticity, audience authority, and suitability for specific niche markets as primary factors influencing influencer pricing. Notably, creators in the technology sector tend to command 60% higher prices than those in other niches, irrespective of their follower size. This premium is largely attributed to the higher purchasing power of their audience.
Content format also significantly affects pricing. Carousel posts typically fetch 20-35% more than standard text posts, while videos can command 40-80% higher rates. Featuring content in a newsletter can even range from 1.5 to 3 times the cost of a standard post.
Practical Advice for B2B Influencer Marketing
The report advises companies to shift away from follower-count-based pricing when developing B2B influencer marketing strategies. Instead, it recommends calculating the cost-per-thousand-views (CPM) based on actual average viewership. The report also stresses the importance of obtaining and comparing quotes from several influencers within a specific niche, as pricing can vary significantly even among accounts of similar size, rendering follower count an unreliable basis for budgeting.
In essence, effective B2B influencer marketing requires a more sophisticated evaluation criteria, prioritizing qualitative metrics such as engagement, expertise, audience quality, and content format over purely quantitative indicators like follower numbers.
