Our world today is dominated by technology and, unfortunately, social media. The global connectivity we see today has vastly and permanently changed many aspects of our once-simpler lives. It almost seems like an eternity ago that MySpace was leading the charge in what would ultimately become a revolution in how we interact with each other. Then Facebook exploded onto the scene, and many others were to come in the years that followed. The rest, as they say, is history. Fast-forward to today and we’ve got so many different forms of social media, it makes your Tweeting head spin.
It becomes a somewhat tedious task just to keep up with all the different accounts. Why are we so obsessed with what everyone else is doing? Why do we care that someone has posted a picture of their breakfast, or their most recent bowel movement? Okay, that last one’s actually kinda funny…but you get the point. And why, in the name of anything decent, do people keep posting duck-face selfies?
These are obviously just rhetorical questions, because regardless of the answers that may occur to you, the fact is that no matter how boring, stupid or ridiculous the majority of social media posts are, there’s really nothing that’s going to change this current trend of silly narcissism. And the reason is because there seems to be something inherent today in people constantly wanting more of this kind of stuff. Was this thirst for a window into others’ lives always a part of us? Perhaps. Or have we just been conditioned to constantly want more of it in the modern age of social media? For some, it’s literally an addiction.
Of course, there are lots of positive aspects of social media, as well. Anyone who is an entrepreneur or a business owner knows the value of reaching thousands or even millions of followers, friends and potential customers or clients with a single post. In this sense, it can be an incredibly powerful tool to grow a business, advertise a product or pitch an idea. There are a vast array of ways to monetize different social media accounts, and you’d probably be surprised just how much money some people rake in from posting on them. Ah, now we’re getting to the good stuff! Money!
Let’s take Instagram, for example. In simple terms, Instagram is just a way for people to post their pictures to the world. Most people are aware of what it is, but how many actually make money at it? How can you make money doing this? Surely you’d have to be a celebrity of some sort, right? Well…not necessarily. Naturally, celebrity power can certainly make it easier to monetize an Instagram account (since many celebrities or athletes obviously already have millions of followers), but it’s not imperative that you have massive celebrity status in order to make an eye-popping amount of money with your posts.
Some of the biggest Instagram “influencers,” as they are known, are making five figures for their sponsored posts and didn’t start out as famous celebs or athletes, although many could now be considered “famous” since their popularity has exploded into millions of followers.
And this, obviously, is the key to getting a fat stack of cold, hard cash for your posts. It’s all about the sponsors. It’s a simple equation, really. Companies are looking to reach as large of an audience as possible to promote their products, and if you’ve got millions of followers watching every post, it’s a no-brainer for any company trying to market a product that relates to your post. Some companies are willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to sponsor your posts, knowing that you’ve got a massive army of followers who are potentially hanging on your every post.
A company called Hopper HQ offers a course on how to get started, and they also have a tool to track monetization of accounts. Apparently, 1 in every 20 Instagram users currently monetize their posts and sponsored content has ballooned by more than a third on Instagram since 2015.
Here we have a list of the top 18 Instagram influencers that are paid 4-5 figures per sponsored post. Drumroll, please…
1. Huda Kattan
Huda is a beautiful 34-year-old American makeup artist and blogger, born in Oklahoma, but of Iraqi descent, who currently has more than 20.5 million Instagram followers and makes a whopping $18,000 per sponsored post. She posts about beauty tips, cosmetics and everything glamorous.
Her Instagram says she is a “blogger turned business woman,” and at $18,000 per post, it would appear that her business is, in fact, doing quite well. Naturally, she has her own cosmetics line called Huda Beauty, and was boosted into cosmetics fame when Kim Kardashian famously wore Huda’s brand of false eyelashes.
Before she started her own blog and cosmetic line, and the subsequent success she’s seen since then, she was a makeup artist for Revlon. She moved to Dubai with her husband in 2006, but it wasn’t until 2013 that she launched the Huda Beauty line of cosmetics. She is currently the Middle East’s biggest and most-followed beauty blogger.
Who knew that posting about makeup and beauty tips would pay so much? Her blog, also called Huda Beauty, is a comprehensive guide to anyone wanting tips or advice on the latest beauty or makeup products.
Not exactly rocket science, and she hasn’t re-invented the wheel, either. But clearly, she is an expert in the field and has found a way to make a mind-blowing amount of money from something she has an obvious passion and talent for. She even got on the list of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential people on the internet.