South African “influencers” earn between R500 and R10,000 from a single Instagram post, says Clerissa Visser, digital content strategist at Cape Town digital consultancy Platinum Seed.
“[And] the influencer market in South Africa is just getting started, compared to more developed countries in the West,” Visser tells Business Insider South Africa.
“One can get paid even more [than R10,000] if you’re working with celebrity influencers.”
Influencers marketing – the use of social media personalities to sell products – reached an estimated $2 billion in 2017.
By 2022, influencer ad spend is poised to hit between $5 and $10 billion.
Visser, who has worked with brands such Rocking the Daisies, Vodacom, and Glenfiddich, says brands spend on influencers based on who their following is and not necessarily the size of that following.
“You may find yourself at 2,000 to 5,000 followers and already making a small-but-steady cash-flow with a brand that values the people you speak to and your skill at speaking to them,” she says.
“However, you will generally find that bigger brands in more competitive industries, such as fashion, for example, where almost every second Capetonian has an on-again, off-again fashion blog, only really start to take notice when you have upwards of 10,000 followers.”
Advertising agencies such as Platinum Seed reach out to influencer either by contacting them directly (through DM’s and emails) or digital tools such as Continuon which identify influencers, Visser says.
She suggests aspiring influencers build their audience by producing consistent high-quality content instead of buying followers from bot-sites.
Bigger brands tend to only stick with “quality profiles” to avoid risk.
“Being false will generally only last you so long as your follower count may grow, but your actual influence within a given community will not,” Visser explains.
