How I’ve Made Over $26,000 From Content Creation in The Past Few Months
I just want to ankowledge that it can feel taboo to talk or read about money, especially between peers. Might I even say awkward if you’re charging more or less.
I openly share my rates as often as I can because ultimately I know it helps women not undercharge. In this space, we can’t push people to charge their worth, but we can provide the information and resources if people want to engage.
Maybe the $26,000 figure is a bit of click bait too, considering I’ve booked in multiple ongoing packages (noted later in the write up)
There’s also no short cuts. I’ve been at this for almost half a decade, and I’ve had many learning lessons along the way! There isn’t a get rich quick scheme here.
For the hours I work, I’d still technically earn less than minimum wage- although I’m not complaining. I love my job, my creation, and what I’m building here.
I will also note that creators often charge more than $26,000 for x1 Reel with usage, haha, just to humble myself a bit in the grand scheme of things.
Why Brands Pay Creators
Working with creators and influencers is expensive.
There’s no sugar coating it. It’s often out of reach for smaller brands, or brands dipping their feet into influencer marketing might be very shocked with the process, rates and what their ROI looks like.
Brands happily pay for:
High quality content
Engaged audiences
High performing content
Genuine love
AD Usage
In my experience, align with brands that value you, and brands that you love their products. Don’t hard sell, and show your genuine love for their products that work for you.
Content creation and influencing is not a hard and fast process, It’s long term, just like the skin cycle, ha.
If your audience is seeing a product for the first time when it features in an AD, it doesn’t really come across as genuine.
Experienced creators understand a collaboration goes far beyond the paid content, and wait for that perfect “stars align” situation that typically is a beautiful mash of: A product you can’t stop using + a brand that’s wonderful to work with and engages you to do an AD on a product you adore!
It’s such a special feeling, and it’s why I always go above and beyond for these brands. It’s not transactional, my audience understands I’m ok with being broke (haha, and have been) rather than show stuff that doesn’t vibe with my skin, or morals.
I also prioritise locking in long term contracts, to save multiple contracts, emails etc, that’s a huge time sink in the creator sphere.
It works well for the brand, because they’ve locked in a price that’s consistent regardless of audience growth over the period. It’s a win/win!
Read: What Brands Consider When Engaging Content Creators & Influencers
Things I Have to Consider Before Working With a Brand:
Trail periods. Does this clash with any other trials I’m doing for another brand?
Is the content actually going to perform well? Are they asking me to follow a brief that is really far away from my style or what I’m comfortable doing?
Product price/ accessibility for my audience. We love pharmacy picks and anything innovative- but I’ve had to say no to products that are over $100 not on sale, because it’s just not going to resonate and it has to do a lot with my next point…
Would I actually purchase the product myself if I wasn’t sent it? There’s a huge responsibility being apart of a community that trust you with that special cash they have to spend on themselves. I don’t take it lightly (nor should you!)
How it works with my skin. I’ve had to pull out of a handful of campaigns because the products didn’t work for me or my skin type.
Is it fussy to make work? This is a big one for me, because although you can make everything work with the right tweaking, should you?
I know for a fact I myself want fuss free products, as do people that follow my reviews. I have an ick for the “just apply it in sections slowly every morning and it doesn’t pill! You’ll be fine!” Ok, I can promise you I can’t do that, nor can my forever running late babes that follow me. It’s not for us.Is this a long term relationship? Would I want to continue to work with this brand ongoing?
My Current Rates Are:
x1 Reel or x1 TikTok for $1000AUD
+ $650AUD for the same content to be cross posted on the alternate platform
I charge 30% of my rate weekly per platform for AD Usage rights
Story Sets are…A weird beast. They’re often x3 Reels mashed into one, with each x60 second slide having new brief. I price them as close to my reels as possible, and only to them with brands I’m doing other work with.
I also think they’re not the best ROI, and make sure to quote very specifically, eg: x3 static story slides w/ links or x3 Video slides 20seconds each, or else you might find yourself doing x3 60second slides (so pretty much x3 Reels worth of work), and then even more cheeky, the brand might repost all x3 of your slides to their socials, as if they were reels.UGC Content I only do with brands I have a strong relationship with, with products I genuinely use and love to avoid confusion with my audience when they see me in an AD or UGC content
Tip: Always over communicate with deliverables to avoid a big shock for the brand and yourself. Include things like seconds, if there’s any extra charge for travel, long trials, taboo topics or things like hair dying.
Everything I’ve Charged in The Last Few Months:
Note: I’ve raised my rates in the last few months, which may reflect in a few of the numbers below.
For my personal income, I have a handful of roles at Thedermreviews that also give me income- The below are from content creation only, before tax:
x5 Reels for $4,900
x1 Reel, reposted to TikTok + x1 AD Usage per content piece for $3,000
x4 Weeks AD Boosting for content piece on IG & TikTok, $1,500
x1 Reel, reposted to TikTok + x4 Weeks for the x1 Piece of content, $2,100
x3 Weeks AD Boosting on TikTok, $800
x1 TikTok, reposted to IG, $1,650
x1 IG Reel + x4 Weeks AD Boosting, $1,500
x1 Reel, reposted to TikTok + x2 Months boosting across both content pieces + bespoke usage for montage, $5,200
x2 UGC Reels + x1 Month AD Usage each, $3,000
x1 Reel + x4 Weeks AD Boosting, $1,800
x1 Story Set (x3 Frames), $1,100
PS: Want to add yours anonymously to help other creators? You can submit your rates here. It really helps, regardless if they’re more or less than what you see above.
Do you have any questions? You can comment below, I’ll do my best to answer them.
