Rate card dilemma for content creators

Until last weekend, content creator Eli Mwenda had gotten tired of rejections from brands that shunned him whenever he sent them his rate card.

Frustrated, Mwenda who creates content around lifestyle and fashion, sought to find out how much fellow content creators charge brands for their services. He ended up stirring a huge conversation around rate cards.

“Rejections happened a few times but the most crucial moment for me came when we were at a meeting in the Mara as content creators in February. Just after having dinner, one of us had a campaign running and he was asked how much he was charging. Everyone started floating their rates; it was mind-blowing realising the discrepancies in the rates despite people having a similar following,” he tells Saturday Nation.

From the meeting, Mwenda realised the discrepancy in rates was his major undoing.

 “I found out that my rates were a bit higher. The brands would say I am expensive and a few weeks later, they would inform me they chose to work with someone else.”

In a country where the majority of content creators are secretive with their rate cards, Mwenda set out to harmonise the rates and encourage transparency amongst creatives.

 Last Sunday, he turned to Instagram and wrote: “Let us discuss rate cards and transparency. No one really knows how much their peers are charging unless it’s your close friends. Often it brings a very large range of meaning. You may go to a campaign without knowing if you are charging too much or too little.”

The 30-year-old created an anonymous link and rallied content creators to share their rate cards for Insta Stories content, static posts and Reels, pegged on their number of followers.

Over 200 content creators took part in Mwenda’s survey, revealing Reels was the highest earning segment.

From what was shared, content creators with a following of between 100,000 to a million followers charge between Sh30,000 to Sh150,000 for a Reel. The same cluster charges between Sh10,000 to Sh100,000 per static post while demanding between Sh10,000 to Sh50,000 per Instagram Story.

Content creators

With the revelations, Mwenda says he discovered he isn’t expensive but the problem was the varying rates occasioned by the majority of content creators, who appeared not to be charging what is commensurate to their services.

 “I had this conversation after I put up the Insta Stories with a few creators with similar rates as mine and we asked ourselves, ‘are we expensive or is everyone else just cheap?’ And we realised that similar industries in the US and UK where content creators have the same audience were earning better.”

Mwenda, who relocated to the United Kingdom when he was two years, and returned as an adult said his sister who lives in the UK earns better from the same job.

 “My sister is a content creator with even less following than mine but earns more. I have nearly three times her audience on social platforms but she makes double what I make; it’s really weird. On Reels, which is the most valuable content tool on Instagram where I have a following of 60,000 followers versus hers of 15,000, she gets paid between Sh90,000 to Sh200,000 for similar content compared to me Sh80,000 to Sh120,000.”

Whereas Mwenda acknowledges the fact that her sister practices her craft in a first world country, he believes the existence of content management agencies in the UK play a critical role in harmonising rate cards.

“When she got signed by the management, she was informed what pay to expect based on the same spectrum with other content creators with similar audiences as hers. Unfortunately, in Kenya we don’t have such agencies.”

In his wisdom, Mwenda’s advice to creators is, “Every time you reach a milestone like 5k or 10k followers, your rate card should consistently be going up. Consistency and with your audience growing, your value will always increase as your work keeps getting better. Your rates should align with that because your audience trusts you more and that means your conversion is also multiplying.”

Mwenda is satisfied with the conversation, which he believes will help put the right money in the pockets of content creators and help those starting out.

“The vision is, rather than always having fluffy conversations where we talk about rate cards but don’t put figures, it would be good to involve all of us and create some sort of database.”

Huge interest

With the debate attracting huge interest, a number of content creators applauded him. “I just want to tell everyone how happy I am about the Eli Mwenda stories. I love the transparency of things because it means finally there is a chance that creators will get a streamlined payment that sticks. ,” Anita Nderu, a former radio and TV presenter said.

Nderu has been known to be overly vocal when it comes to the acknowledgement of content creation as an actual job and has been at the forefront calling out brands for just sending PR packages instead of paying creators.

“Agencies and companies are exploiting content creators and artists these days. Looking booked, busy and being given free products isn’t the same as getting paid for your value,” she vented.

Nderu also hit out at the undercutting culture amongst themselves.

“More often than not the budget is there, but we are settling for less or nothing. The sooner we stop undercutting each other for pennies and agreeing to be exploited so we look busy, the better our bottom line will be.”

Mwenda believes this is the beginning of a process to streamline an industry that is grappling with lack of transparency, undercutting and gatekeepers.

“The very basics of this conversation is, when you do a rate card, you consider three tiers; low, median and high meaning if you are a nano–influencer (100-20,000 followers), a micro–influencer (21,000-100,00) or a macro (101,000 to 1M+), this is the average amount you should be charging. We want to create a database where we are all looking at the same numbers and a range.”

 For journalist Ciru Muriuki, Mwenda is doing the ‘Lord’s work’ ,.

“I am so glad this conversation is happening. This is how the industry becomes streamlined and people begin to know how to charge what they are worth. No more secrecy.”

 From the data gathered, Mwenda reveals what he says is a good rate card.

“For those with 20k followers and below, a story should cost Sh5,000 on average. When it comes to a post, it should range between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000 and if it’s the Reel, one should be hitting Sh60,000 to Sh75,000.”

However, Mwenda advises if a content creator has specialised in a particular niche and attracts a brand targeting it, then he or she should charge more.

“If you are known for let’s say makeup and you have 20k followers and a make-up brand approaches you, then you should charge more than one with Sh2.1 million because your conversion and engagement would be higher. ”

[email protected]