Instagram's Superbowl
Coming up on the three-year anniversary of Kim Kardashian breaking the internet with that controversial Paper Magazine cover, Kris Jenner is breaking the internet in her own way - by disclosing some great details on what everyone wants to know… what her daughters really charge for a social media post. They're the Superbowl of influencer marketing so it's no surprise that this question is always on the top of everyone's list.
As an agency that offers influencer marketing, we get this question often, and while we have insight from facilitating similar deals, the Kardashian-Jenner clan has never revealed as much about this as momager, Kris Jenner, did on CBS This Morning. In this blog, Hollywood Branded will re-examine just how much the Kardashians are making on their sponsored posts.
So Just How Much Are They Charging?
“Definitely six figures,” says Kris Jenner in the April 2019 interview. She didn’t go into specifics of the price, but she confirmed that all conversations start at six figures and go up from there. A static post differs from an IG story which differs from a Facebook post… all based on a particular posting schedule. She did also confirm that each sister has a different fee as well. With Kim Kardashian currently sitting at 134 million Instagram followers compared to Kourtney’s 76.2 million followers, there should be some discrepancy with the fee. And we know from experience that Kris Jenner is saying six figures relatively as the prices really do range throughout those six figures (and sometimes more). We know from the famous Fyre Festival documentary that Kendall Jenner received $300k for posting about one of the world’s more infamous train wrecks. In addition to which sister, there are other factors that effect the price as well.
It Changes Based On The Brand
Something not typically thought of by brands, but popular in practice, and now confirmed to be true to the Kardashian-Jenner’s, is that certain brand categories cost more than others. Because of FDA regulations, categories like pharmaceuticals require a lot of side effects warnings. We see this daily on our TV when getting warned that a Rheumatoid Arthritis product might give you things like an upset stomach or cancer. These disclosures are no different when the brand is paying to advertise on social media. As a result, the influencer, or in this case Kim Kardashian, is also required to post all of the negative side effects. This causes the verbiage to be longer than she traditionally would post, and it arguably can be an eyesore to her very curated content.
We also know that these products are ripe for backlash. Who remembers when Mrs. Kardashian West posted the infamous appetite suppressant lollipops? If you do remember, it’s because it did not go over too well for her. She was bombarded with nay-sayers who argued that she was promoting unhealthy body expectations.
Something similar recently happened to Khloe Kardashian when she was promoting a detox tea and actress Jameela Jamil commented on the post, ripping Khloe to shreds over the negative impression these endorsements give women. Jamil referred to Khloe as, “a terrible and toxic influence on young girls."
As a result, it was no surprise to us when Kris Jenner revealed that these brand categories require more money. She added that if the partnership was with, "a pharmaceutical product, if it's something that you're going to drink, or ingest, or put on your body," the starting fee immediately goes up. They require more service and more potential backlash. It’s a bigger risk for these women who earn a living based on their reputation.
Conflicts With Their Own Brands
As the Kar-Jenner sisters break out with their own brands and lines of merchandise, nobody is shocked to see less and less endorsements for competing brands. Yes, the women will post an Instagram story supporting a friend’s makeup line, but the days of Kylie Jenner entertaining a Dior Makeup endorsement are long gone thanks to her billion-dollar Kylie Cosmetics empire. This will only continue as the ladies branch out into more and more fields.
Kim revealed in an interview that a fast fashion brand offered her one million dollars for a single post. This fee is up there, even for her. The problem is that this brand (whose name she didn’t disclose, but our guess is that is rhymes with Nashion Fova) consistently rips off her husband’s Yeezy clothing line, taking his looks and offering cheaper versions at a fraction of the price hours after their release. So while many of us would post just about anything on Instagram for a million dollars, Kim declined the offer… must be nice!
Is It Worth It?
One of more popular questions we get as an agency. Is paying this family six figures for them to post a picture really worth it? Is the ROI there? While the answer is very relative to the brand, our suggestion is that if you comfortably have the budget and the inventory to support a partnership like this, it is worth it.
We know this because you see the same brands going back to them for more and more posts. It’s certainly not for every category, but an endorsement from these sisters has changed company’s lives (brands like Sugar Bear Hair Care), and as their popularity only grows, we envision their fees doing the same.
Want to learn more about our influencer marketing? Check out some similar blogs below!
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Celebrity Influencers: Celebrities Don't Write Their Own Social Media Posts
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