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The fact that there's no transparency around ad rates is such a big problem in the influencer/content creator world. This became really noticeable in 2017 during peak IG meme days 1/ https://twitter.com/glamdemon2004/status/1329480611225067520
Dropshipping stores (often run by other teens) would become big overnight by paying middle/high schoolers $3-$5 on PayPayl for ads on their meme pages. These kids w/ hundreds of thousands of followers + the ability to drive real sales, almost never know their worth, would take it
Even now, startups and other companies get scale by spamming thousands of young creators with automated messages offering them "brand deals" aka very small $ in exchange for posts. There's so many kids on the internet that some portion of them take the $ https://twitter.com/itsmyoreads/status/1289018421762502658
The other issue (I've written abt this) is that brand deals are seen as aspirational among young ppl. So some brands pay top youtubers a lot of $$ to advertise, then pay smaller creators crazy low rates b/c they know the kids want to advertise the same product as the big YTers do
Scams are rampant right now too b/c suddenly in the past 9 mo the influencer world has gone totally mainstream in a new way, and more kids than ever have online followings b/c of TikTok. To a 14 year old a $10 brand deal seems like a lot of money, but they're getting exploited
This is part of the reason coverage from people like @arperelli at Business Insider, which has been at the forefront of covering the biz side of the creator industry, is so necessary. BI regularly does price breakdowns on sponcon etc, it's often the only info kids can find
There is SOME transparency on YouTube and more creators are being open about their finances, as more people enter the business the more they realize how unstructured it is. But regulation (!!!!) and transparency is desperately needed
Yes, I think groups like this are so necessary. When I flipped my first IG acct on Kik in like 2013 I remember discussing how much to sell it for and the only reliable info was from other ppl who had done it too basically https://twitter.com/jeremiahjw/status/1329519864134844417
Yes, true. I focused on kids b/c it's most egregious but this is absolutely a problem for creators at any age https://twitter.com/RealAdamRose/status/1329521205250912256
Good to see more ppl trying to add transparency to the space https://twitter.com/rachren1/status/1329536522350161922
These types of resources are invaluable for small and up and coming creators https://twitter.com/arperelli/status/1329523104100577281
Also, Influencer Pay Gap has done enormous work in shining a light on pay disparities between white influencers and POC.
They have whole ad rate breakdowns on their highlights. Their account is a must follow for any creator seeking fairer pay https://www.instagram.com/influencerpaygap/
They have whole ad rate breakdowns on their highlights. Their account is a must follow for any creator seeking fairer pay https://www.instagram.com/influencerpaygap/
