Fashion Bloggers earn more than you

Some months ago the news of an Instagram star confessing the dark side of her online life caused quite a stir. The girl in question was Essena O'Neill, a well-known Australian Instagramer and model. She told her public that her Instagram account was a hoax in which all the pictures were fake and she was paid for publicizing the brands in her photos. 

First thing I thought: are you all stupid? I thought it was clear that many Instagram profiles (but also Twitter, etc...) are just advertising windows which try to sell us something. But I was wrong because this news caused a scandal, to my surprise. 

Second thing I thought: how much money does social media pay? In particular, how much money do fashion bloggers make?

If you think that your favourite fashion blogger takes a picture of her shoes just because she loves them, you're greatly mistaken. In short, she's selling you a product. And she does it very well because maybe you haven't noticed it. On Instagram as well as on their blogs, bloggers have monetized every activities they do, even on social media. 

To make a long story short: the more followers you have the more you get brands contacting you for publicizing their products on your account; it could be an occasional or long-term collaboration, and in return you will receive the agreed sum of money. And so on.

According to an article on Harper's Bazaar, collaborations between bloggers and brands are about six, all remunerated of course. We start from affiliate links which connect the brand's website to the blogger's content where the sponsored product appears, to actual fashion shoots. There are also exclusive brand-blogger projects, content sponsored by brands and even marketing campaigns with famous bloggers as testimonial.

Finally, there are aven tutorials in which bloggers, talking about their specialities, use the brands they are sponsoring (in particular beauty and food bloggers).

Bloggers's cachet depends on the number of followers they have. Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of Dash Hudson, says one post on Instagram could be paid 100.000 dollars for an account with 6 millions. Generally, a successful blogger can earn between 5.000$ to 15.000$ for a single picture. But let's speak with some known names.  

In 2010 Bryan Grey Yambao (Bryanboy) has earned more than 100.000 dollars with his activities, Song of Style's Aimee Song, in the same year, in one month, has reached more than 2 millions views on her blog and has collaborated with brands like Levi's, Macy's, True Religion, etc... Everything she did was paid, obviously, from a few thousand dollars for stopping at a brand's store to 50.000 dollars for a collaboration with a brand.

In Italy? Money is still a taboo here. The only numbers we know are the ones of It blogger Chiara Ferragni, who has made between 6 to 8 million dollars in 2014. However, rumours say that Italian fashion bloggers are paid about a thousand euros for a single post. 

This phenomenon includes also influencers, It Girls and models, of course. Think about the three most powerful girls on Instagram: Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevingne and Gigi Hadid. They are valued between 125.000$ to 300.00$ per post, while Lucky Blue Smith is the model with the highest mediatic value and brands use his account like an advertising channel.

The lucky partnership blogger-brand works well because both sides profit from it. The former receives products and luxury items which enrich his public image, increasing the quality level of his profile greatly. The latter obteins a more continued publicity which captures audience loyalty in a stronger way.

Now tell the truth, fashion bloggers don't seem so stupid as you thought anymore, right?