How much should you charge for a sponsored post?

If you've ever stared at a brand's "what's your rate?" email with absolutely no idea what to type back — you're not alone. Pricing is the part of being a creator nobody teaches you, and getting it wrong costs you real money.

Here's how to actually think about it.

Start with the "penny per follower" baseline

The oldest rule of thumb is $100 per 10,000 followers for a single sponsored post — roughly one cent per follower. It's crude, but it's a starting point:

• 5,000 followers → ~$50–100
• 25,000 followers → ~$250
• 100,000 followers → ~$1,000

Treat this as your floor for a basic in-feed post, not your ceiling. It ignores everything that actually makes you valuable.

Then adjust for the things that matter more than follower count

Follower count is the least interesting number to a smart brand. These move your rate up:

Engagement rate

A creator with 10k followers and 8% engagement is worth more than one with 50k and 1%. If your audience actually comments, saves, and shares, charge for it.

Niche

A finance, tech, or B2B audience is worth far more per follower than general lifestyle — the customers behind those follows are worth more to advertisers.

Deliverables

"One TikTok" and "one TikTok + 3 stories + usage rights + a whitelisted ad" are wildly different jobs. Price each piece:

• Add ~25–50% if they want to run your content as a paid ad (whitelisting / usage rights).
• Add for exclusivity (you can't work with competitors for X months).
• Add for extra platforms, extra edits, and rush timelines.

A simple formula to sanity-check yourself

Base rate (penny-per-follower, adjusted for engagement & niche) + usage rights + exclusivity + extra deliverables = your quote.

Then round up. Brands expect to negotiate down, so never lead with your rock-bottom number.

What to actually say in the email

Don't apologize, don't over-explain. Something like:

"Thanks for reaching out! For one in-feed Reel plus two story frames, my rate is $X. That includes one round of revisions. Usage rights and whitelisting are available as add-ons — happy to send a full rate card."

Track every deal so you learn your real rate

The fastest way to get pricing right is to see your own history — what you charged, what closed, what got ghosted. That's exactly the kind of thing Vantr keeps in one place, so your next quote is based on data instead of a guess.

The one universal truth of creator pricing: you're almost certainly charging too little. Raise it on the next one.