One of the more bizarre phenomena that has sprung out of the social media industry’s rise is that of “influencers” or people who have enough pull on a platform to command serious revenue to endorse products, places, people, and companies.
It’s quite insane, really, and a thoroughly modern concept. People who amass huge, dedicated followings on Instagram are called influencers and they can command hefty sums of money to promote whatever is thrown their way.
Some of them make so much money, in fact, that becoming a star on Instagram is a very real aspiration for some of the platform’s users. And, while only a very few rise to the top, they do get treated like celebrities in every sense of the word.
Self-made to a point, Instagram influencers are often tapped by marketers because they convey a level of authenticity about a product that is often difficult for a commercial to achieve. Instagram scheduling tool Hopper HQ did an analysis of the most lucrative accounts on Instagram and found that, at number 1, Kylie Jenner can command $1 million a post. Her sister Kendall rounds out the top 10 with an estimated per post value of $500k.
That’s more than a lot of people make in their lifetimes and that’s just to post a single image to Instagram. Other influencers in the top 10 include musician Beyonce, football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and Hollywood actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
With such huge sums of money coming their way, these stars perhaps can command such money because of their reach across multiple media formats but that’s not to say that stars born and raised solely on Instagram aren’t making a killing as well. In their analysis, Hopper HQ broke down influencers by industry and category as well as estimated their earnings.
Let’s just say making it big on Instagram pays big bucks but most of us should probably keep our day job.
