Influencer marketing costs and how to reduce them

Launching an influencer marketing campaign can feel like a high-risk, high-reward strategy. Best-case scenario, the influencer creates a stunning piece of content highlighting your product, which leads to a boost in sales that offsets the cost of the influencer partnership fees.

But not all campaigns run this smoothly, and if you’re new to influencer marketing, launching your first partnership can come with plenty of uncertainty. Do influencer fees even fit into my budget? Will influencer posts actually drive sales? How do I find the right influencers for my brand?

To answer these questions and help you navigate the social media market, let’s break down average influencer rates and explore strategies you can use for more cost-effective influencer marketing.

Costs of working with influencers in 2025

The exact cost of an influencer collaboration can vary based on a number of factors, including:

• Follower count: Mega-influencers come with a high price tag due to their large audience size and potential reach.

• Type of content: A complex product demonstration video usually costs more than a simple brand mention.

• Engagement rate: Many micro-influencers have very active followings with consistently high engagement levels, which allows them to charge premium rates.

• Exclusivity: In an exclusive partnership, the influencer is not allowed to work with competitor brands. This arrangement can come with a high price tag.

• Content ownership: Some influencers prefer to retain ownership of all content they create. This results in higher long-term costs for brands, as you will need to negotiate usage rights if you want to repurpose the content for future campaigns.

Here are some benchmark prices to keep in mind as you budget for influencer partnerships, broken down by influencer type and platform.

Cost by influencer type

Influencers are often categorized by the number of followers they have, which has a big impact on their pricing. Here’s a look at the average cost for a collaboration with each type of influencer.

Influencers with a large following can significantly boost your brand awareness with a single post, which is why they charge higher rates. However, these large-scale influencer collabs aren’t always realistic for brands with a limited social media budget. Working with a “smaller” influencer is a more cost-effective alternative and can still generate a great return on investment (ROI).

Cost by social media platform

Influencer pricing also varies by social media platform. While these are the average costs for sponsored posts on today’s top platforms, keep in mind that these costs can vary significantly based on the influencer’s audience size.

Many macro-influencers will adjust their pricing to reflect the complexity of the content they’re creating. For example, they might charge more for a long-form YouTube video than a YouTube short, even though both pieces of content are on the same platform. This is because of the amount of filming and editing necessary for each type of content.

Other influencer partnership costs to consider

The cost of influencer marketing goes beyond just paying the influencer’s fee. There are also time and material costs to consider when planning your digital marketing budget. For example, gifting free products is essential for many influencer partnerships, as the influencer needs to be able to test the product and feature it in their content.

On top of that, you’ll need to consider the time and energy necessary to plan the campaign. That includes finding and pitching influencers, developing a campaign strategy based on current social media trends, and creating briefs with content guidelines for each post. Once the campaign is launched, you’ll need to track performance metrics and follow up with new sales leads.

This process requires support from marketing, customer service, and sales professionals. Depending on the size of your team, you might need to outsource some tasks to get your influencer marketing campaign off the ground. Make sure you consider all these factors before getting started to avoid unexpected disruptions and expenses.

Are influencers worth the investment?

Working with influencers can be a powerful marketing strategy, but there’s no way to guarantee that your brand will see results. Ultimately, you’ll need to consider whether these campaigns make sense for your product and your target demographics.

The biggest benefit of sponsored influencer content is that it introduces your brand to a whole new audience, potentially leading to an increase in sales. In fact, 69% of people are more likely to trust recommendations from friends, family, or influencers than direct brand recommendations. 

But influencer campaigns also come with several possible drawbacks. These campaigns often have high upfront costs, and you may never get the returns you’re looking for. Negotiations can also get complicated, as you’ll need to clarify usage rights, exclusivity, and other key terms.

On top of that, many consumers are growing distrustful of traditional influencer and affiliate marketing. These audiences know that celebrity influencers are paid to feature products in their content. As a result, they may approach recommendations from these accounts with skepticism.

Finally, working with influencers often means giving up some creative control, especially if you’re working with macro, mega, or celebrity influencers. These influencers often want to take the reins when it comes to content creation. So you might get content that doesn’t quite align with your vision or your brand identity.

What are the alternatives?

Traditional influencer marketing isn’t the only way to promote your products online. Some brands opt to forgo social media marketing altogether, using other forms of content marketing like blogs, podcasts, or newsletters. While this can be an effective way to reach niche audiences, you’re still missing out on the undeniable reach that social media platforms have.

There are also ways to build your social media presence without working with influencers. For example, you can repurpose existing user-generated content (UGC) that features your products, collaborate with other brands, or launch product giveaways. 

These are all creative and cost-effective ways to generate engagement, but they just don’t give you the same reach and impact as a great influencer partnership. Fortunately, you can leverage influencer marketing without breaking the bank. 

Local influencers provide the perfect middle-ground option for social media marketing. For these influencers, social media isn’t a full-time job. Instead, it’s a hobby they’re passionate about.

Local influencers don’t charge high collaboration fees, so they’re a more affordable way for brands to spread the word about their products on social media. They have small but highly engaged audiences of their friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors who trust their product recommendations.

Working with local influencers lowers costs

Collaborating with micro- or nano-influencers can sound affordable on paper, but costs quickly add up. Many influencers in this category charge several hundred dollars per post due to their content quality and high engagement rates. As you scale your campaigns, these fees can quickly grow beyond your budget.

Through Hummingbirds, you can partner with local influencers at a more affordable price point. Instead of charging hefty collaboration fees, our hummingbirds post in exchange for perks like free products or gift cards. This makes it easy for up-and-coming brands to launch successful social media campaigns while keeping their influencer marketing budgets in check. 

You’ll also be able to collaborate with more influencers at the same time, expanding your reach and generating more engagement. While exact fees vary, you’ll likely be able to partner with 3–5 hummingbirds for the same cost as one micro-influencer.

Ready to get started? Take our quiz to match with hummingbirds in your area.

5 other benefits of partnering with local influencers

Cost savings aren’t the only benefit of working with local influencers. A local influencer campaign can help you reach targeted audience demographics and boost your brand image. Here are five reasons to consider local influencers for your social media marketing campaigns.

1. Authenticity drives sales

Today’s consumers seek out online accounts that post authentic content. They want to know that they’re getting genuine recommendations and reviews, rather than advertising in disguise.

Since local influencers aren’t professional content creators, their posts often feel more authentic than what a celebrity influencer would post. They’re not posting to make money—they’re sharing products and services that actually resonate with them. Authentic social media posts reflect positively on your brand image, which can help boost sales. 

To ensure the best possible results, choose local influencers who already align with your brand’s values and goals. In other words, look for people who have posted about similar products in the past or who match your ideal customer profile (ICP).

2. Relatability builds lasting relationships

In addition to authenticity, many people look for social media influencers they can relate to. However, the influencers with the biggest followings can feel a bit out of touch with the realities of everyday life. Many of these large influencers have a full team of assistants to support them and are often executing brand deals worth thousands of dollars.

While their content may be polished, it loses some of its charm, making it difficult for followers to truly connect with it. On top of that, only 8% of consumers believe that influencers are being completely transparent about their pay, which hurts trust in both their content and your brand.

Local influencers, on the other hand, tend to post content that’s more relatable and realistic. As a result, they build stronger, more meaningful relationships with their followers. When you partner with these influencers, your brand becomes part of this relationship.

3. Community-oriented content boosts engagement

Local influencers tend to have a more community-oriented approach than large-scale influencers. Rather than promoting large-scale ecommerce brands, they’re sharing what’s happening in their local areas and their day-to-day lives.

This approach generates meaningful engagement from followers, who may even know the influencer personally as a friend, neighbor, or coworker. When a local influencer promotes your products, it will get people talking about your brand in the comments section.

4. Repurpose UGC to support future campaigns

An often-overlooked benefit of working with local influencers is the ability to repurpose content for future marketing campaigns.

Professional influencers often want to retain ownership of the content they create. This means they charge extra if you want to use their photos, Reels, or other content in your own marketing, outside the original scope of the agreement.

However, local influencers are typically less concerned with retaining ownership of their content. This makes it easier to repurpose your best influencer content for future use. The Hummingbirds platform makes this process simple, helping you collect and organize posts from every campaign you conduct.

5. Connect with audiences in geo-targeted markets

Local influencers are uniquely positioned to connect with audiences in their city, state, or region. Their followers are primarily based in the same location, and they often post about local shops, restaurants, and events that are part of their day-to-day lives.

In contrast, larger micro- or macro-influencers tend to have reach beyond their physical location and focus on interests that aren’t location-specific. So, if you’re looking to connect with audiences in a specific geographic market, local influencers are a very effective way to do so. 

At Hummingbirds, we help brands launch effective geo-targeted influencer marketing campaigns. In fact, tourism departments in Iowa City, Grand Rapids, Madison, and other cities across the Midwest have partnered with our hummingbirds to showcase amazing local attractions. We’ve also partnered with restaurants and boutiques to create location-specific social media campaigns.

Partner with local content creators for your next campaign

If standard influencer fees are out of your budget, don’t worry—you can still commission high-quality UGC by working with local influencers. These avid social media users can help you generate engagement and brand loyalty without breaking the bank. You can also repurpose content from these campaigns to support your future marketing efforts.

Hummingbirds is the only influencer platform that focuses on local creator partnerships and campaigns. We simplify the process by helping you find quality local influencers in your market. You’ll plan and execute the entire campaign in our user-friendly portal, making influencer marketing effortless.

Ready to launch your local influencer campaign? Book a call today to get started!