TikTok influencer Carly Joy (@killljoyyk) posted a candid (and probably NSFW) tutorial showing how she uses Eos’ shaving cream to get a bump-free shave. The video went viral, driving over 19 million views and 5 million likes
That’s the power of influencer marketing.
But how much is content like that actually worth? To understand that, you need to work out the influencer media value.
Keep reading to learn about how influencer media value works, why you need it, and how to calculate it. You can also skip ahead and download our handy template to calculate the influencer media value of your campaigns.
What is influencer media value?
Influencer media value (IMV) is a key metric that provides an estimation of an influencer’s value. You can work out the IMV for different content formats and channels, to get an idea of how much an influencer’s work is worth.
How to calculate Influencer Media Value (IMV)
To calculate the IMV, you need to know three key metrics:
- CPM: Cost of the collaboration / reach of the influencer * 1.000
- Reach factor: This tells you what percentage of Instagram followers see the post, e.g. a reach factor of 0.4 = 40% see the post.
- Followers: The size of the audience associated with the influencer’s account.
CPM is a popular metric not only in influencer marketing, but in almost all areas of paid advertising.
Check out our article How much does influencer marketing cost? to find out the average CPMs for Instagram stories, Instagram posts, TikTok reels, and more.
Got the CPM, reach factor, and follow account to hand? Good. Then, simply enter the values into our handy Influencer Media Value calculator.
Let’s take a look at these two simple examples comparing the Influencer Media Value of one niche influencer with 50000 followers, and one superstar with 3 million followers.
To keep things simple, we kept the same CPM and reach factor. In reality, you will need to ask the influencer for this information or use a tool like Storyclash to check the reach and engagement of their content.
As you can see, the media value of a story or post from the smaller account is significantly lower (€400). The larger account is worth much more (€24k!).
The total shows you the total for all your collaborations. This is handy if you work with several influencers as part of the same campaign.
Why is Influencer Media Value important?
Brands can use IMV to make better-informed decisions in their influencer marketing efforts. IMV has many benefits for brands. Here are a few of the main ones:
- Understand how much an influencer is worth
Influencer media value is an important metric because it helps brands understand how much a post or story from an influencer is actually worth.
- Don’t get fooled by bots and fake followers
Influencer media value considers how engaged an influencer’s audience is. So, brands can differentiate between influencers who are genuinely popular, and those using scammy tactics to build up their follower count.
- Improve budget allocation & ROI
Which collabs should your brand invest in? And how much should you spend? Understanding an influencer’s value empowers brands to plan and allocate their budgets more efficiently in order to achieve the best possible return on investment.
IMV of large vs. small accounts
In theory, you can work out an Influencer Media Value for anybody who posts on social media. Of course, someone who just posts for friends and family, and has 500 followers, will have a much lower IMV than someone like Christiano Ronaldo or Pamela Reif, with a significant, engaged following.
That said, you can’t necessarily assume that influencers with millions of followers have a greater IMV than micro-influencers.
Influencer Media Value tries to work out how much an influencer's output is worth.
And follower count is not the only factor that decides the actual level of influence.
This is because large accounts, like celebrities, are often followed by people who are only casually interested in what they have to say. Their audience tends to be less engaged.
Micro-influencers (with followings of between 10,000 and 100,000) are often closer to their audience. The level of loyalty makes them better positioned to influence their followers.
This means that although the IMV of a mega-influencer will probably still be higher than many micro-influencers, the difference in IMV will be much less than their difference in follower numbers.
Use Influencer Media Value to calculate the value of your campaigns
You can use IMV to analyze and compare the IMVs of the influencers you work with in your campaigns. Are some influencers performing better than others? Does the amount you are paying reflect their performance?
It’s helpful to compare the IMV after a campaign with their IMV from before your campaign. If their follower count goes up or down, or their audience becomes more or less engaged, this will influence the value of your collaboration. So it’s helpful to check this development over time so you can decide what you are willing to pay for future collabs.
Basically, an influencer’s IMV will increase when their content is more impactful (i.e. seen by more people). This makes sense. The higher the reach, the higher the amount you would have to pay for comparable reach with paid ads.
For instance, you might start working with an influencer that has 100,000 followers and a reach factor of 0.4. Their IMV is €800 per post. A year later, their follower account has increased to 150,000. If the reach factor has stayed the same (0.4), the IMV will now be €1,200 per post.
As a result, you will probably be more inclined to continue your collab with that influencer. You might even be willing to offer higher compensation for their efforts.
On the other hand, you might notice that an influencer’s IMV has actually decreased. Perhaps their audience is less engaged, and/or they lost followers. In that case, you might decide to reduce the compensation or even stop working with them altogether.
What about viral posts?
IMV isn’t totally foolproof. Let’s circle back to the EOS example where Carly Joy posted the viral shaving cream content. She has 2.6 million followers, but the video generated 19 million views.
Typically, you can expect a reach factor of 0.3 - 0.4, meaning about 30%-40% of an influencer’s audience will see their content. In Carly’s case, the number of views way surpasses the follower count. Meaning, the actual impact is much higher than the IMV projects.
IMV is essentially an estimation based on the expected value. It’s hard to predict what will go viral. So, if the content resonates much better (or worse!) than expected, then the true value might be different.
Nonetheless, it’s a useful metric for marketers looking to understand how much they should be paying an influencer, and how much the campaign is worth.
Grab your free Influencer Media Value template
Ready to start calculating the IMV of the influencers you collaborate with? Download our free Influencer Media Value template and let our simple 3-step spreadsheet work its magic.