Why a 1 million follower influencer got me only 24 sales
Anaita shares a real story from her brand Olivia & Co, where she paid $2,500 for a post from a million-follower influencer and got only 24 followers, versus a 50,000-follower niche parenting influencer whose organic story drove 400 followers and sold out her product. The takeaway is that engagement rate and audience niche matter far more than follower count when choosing influencers.
The lessons
Don't pay for influencers based on follower count alone, check their real engagement rate first.
Find influencers whose audience niche actually matches your product.
A smaller, engaged, niche audience will outperform a massive disengaged one.
Let organic product seeding to relevant creators prove itself before spending big on sponsored posts.
Questions people ask
Should I choose an influencer based on their follower count?
No, follower count alone doesn't guarantee sales. Anaita paid $2,500 for a post from a million-follower influencer and only got 24 followers, costing $105 per follower. A niche influencer with just 50,000 followers who genuinely used the product drove 400 followers and sold out her stock.
Transcript
Okay, you guys are going to love this. This is an Instagram influencer story. So I had a business, it's called Olivia & Co, and it was for personalized accessories. I saved up enough money to pay for an influencer who cost me $2,500.
That's $2,500. She had a million followers, so I thought it was worth it. Anyway, she did the post. Do you want to know how many followers I got?
24. Yep, that cost me $105 per follower. In the same week, there was an influencer who actually bought products from me without me knowing, and she had 50,000 followers. She had a niche.
It was parenting. She did one story on the product that she received, and I got 400 followers. 400 followers, and I sold out of the product that she had bought, which is a baby bag. So if you want to invest in influencer marketing, look for someone that actually influences engagement rate and niche.
