Posting Pics, Making Rent

According to a new report, the states where social media influencers must post the least in order to cover their rent are West Virginia, Arkansas, and South Dakota. In these states, social media influencers with even fewer than 10,000 followers must only post nine sponsored content pieces a month to cover rental costs.

The findings are part of the report’s wider analysis of influencers’ earned revenues per post in relation to average rent and mortgage costs. The analysis evaluated the number of posts required to offset housing costs for three different “levels'' of social media influencers: micro-influencers (under 10,000 followers), medium influencers (under 100,000 followers), and mega-influencers (1,000,000+ followers), and compared averages across all influencer post earnings to average workers in 50 states and Washington, D.C.

It makes sense that West Virginia, Arkansas, and South Dakota would be among the states where the required total of posts per rent payment is the lowest. After all, according to the U.S Census rankings, West Virginia and Arkansas are among the top ten states for affordable housing, with South Dakota close behind. The study also noted that in terms of the states with the lowest required total of posts per mortgage payment, Indiana replaced South Dakota in the top three. Perhaps this is due to higher rent costs in cities like Indianapolis that stray from lower mortgage costs.

It is interesting to consider how the results of the study may translate into reality. For instance, while it may be quite easy for a micro-influencer to post nine sponsored posts a month and cover their rent in a place like West Virginia, but it may be a lot harder for West Virginia influencers to gain followers in an influencer landscape full of Los Angeles models and New York fashionistas. Still, the unique content and perspectives that an influencer from Middle America has may be just what followers are looking for.

Of course, the most shocking statistics come from the total number of posts required from mega-influencers. In even the most expensive localities like Washington, D.C., Hawaii, and California, mega-influencers must only share three or fewer sponsored posts every month to make rent. For interesting people who moonlight as influencers, the temptation of posting a few pieces of content a month as a way to cover rent must be hard to resist. And, yes, the phenomenon of working as an influencer on the side has become a popular practice. Different employees like teachers, health care workers, and artists have even gained impressive followings by sharing behind-the-scenes content of their work lives, resulting in a number of lucrative sponsored posts.

After reviewing the number of times that influencers have to post to cover housing costs in each state, the study reported the states where average employees must work for the longest and shortest amount of time in order to cover housing costs. In states like Hawaii and California, with especially high costs of living, average workers need to work over 70 hours to earn enough money to pay for their housing. Compare that to the number of posts required for even micro-influencers to cover rent and mortgage, around 30 posts for the month. You can see that an influencer would only need to post sponsored content once a day to cover a month’s rent as compared to working for nearly two weeks at a 9-5.

As the influencer field transforms with new technology and more competition, it will be interesting to follow how post sponsorships and salaries evolve. For now, you can see the full results of the report here