How To Pay Influencers With Influencity

As social media becomes a bigger part of everyday life, more and more businesses are using influencers to make their marketing feel more personal and relatable. This trend of using real people to tell brand stories has changed how products and services are promoted. With this change comes a need for easy and clear ways on how to pay these influencers. Platforms like Influencity are now key because they help companies figure out how to pay influencers, follow international rules, and keep good relationships with them.

In today’s article, we are going to explain how to pay influencers using Influencity’s platform, helping you launch campaigns that enhance your brand’s presence in any market. So, get ready to:

• Explore different methods of paying influencers
• Learn the benefits of using Influencity’s platform
• Follow a step-by-step guide to paying influencers
• Understand legal and tax compliance

How to Pay Influencers: What Are My Options?

The first thing to consider is what payment method you are going to offer to collaborating social media content creators. There are a few options for this, regardless of the type of collaboration that you opt for. The right choice for your business will depend on the goals of your campaign, your marketing budget, and the preferences of the influencer that you are hoping to recruit.

With this in mind, here are the three most common influencer payment methods:

• Direct payments. This is where you negotiate a fixed fee for each post, video, or campaign period. This is a straightforward influencer marketing payment method that’s preferred by many influencers.
• Performance-based payments. This involves compensating influencers based on the engagement or sales that they generate. It's a good way to align the influencer's goals with your campaign's success.
• Influencer gifting. Finally, instead of money, you could offer products or services as payment. This method can work well when the product aligns closely with the influencer's lifestyle and audience interests.

The Benefits of Using Influencity’s Platform to Pay Influencers

Before we get to the heart of this post - how to pay influencers using Influencity’s platform - let’s take a quick look at some of the biggest benefits of using the platform:

• Save time. Automating the payment process with Influencity frees up a substantial amount of your time, enabling you to prioritize strategic planning over logistical tasks.
• Easy to navigate. The intuitive design of Influencity’s platform ensures that even those new to influencer marketing can easily navigate its features.
• Global reach. The ability to handle transactions in multiple currencies and comply with international laws makes Influencity a perfect payment tool for global campaigns.
• Financial compliance. Finally, with automated tax documentation and secure payment tracking, Influencity keeps your campaigns financially compliant and audit ready.

How To Pay Influencers with Influencity

So, how does the platform work, exactly? Is it really that easy to process payments?

In fact, Influencity streamlines the entire process, offering a robust and comprehensive solution that allows you to manage all your payments, national and international,  from a simple and intuitive dashboard. 

Here’s a detailed look at each step in the process.

Step 1: Create an Invoice

To begin, navigate to the Payments tab and click on "Create invoice." Enter a name for your invoice and select the currency. Ensure the selected currency matches the one you will use to pay your influencers. 

For instance, if you are paying in Euros, your payment to Influencity must also be in Euros. Optionally, add a description and a purchase order number to your invoice. Once done, click on "Create invoice." Note that the currency can only be changed while the invoice is in draft status.

Step 2: Add Influencers to the Invoice

Once you’ve searched for influencers and found a good match, the next step is to add them to your list of payees. Open your newly created invoice, which will initially be blank. Click on "Add influencers" and choose one of the two options: From Influencers or from Influencer lists.

From Influencers: Add influencers individually by ticking the box next to their name, or select all influencers by clicking the box in the top left corner. You can also search for influencers by name or filter them by social network, email, or date added. Note that influencers without an associated email cannot be added to your invoice.

From Influencer lists: Select influencers from the static lists in your IRM. For example, if you have a list named “Spring Campaign 2024,” you can add it directly to the invoice and process all these payments together.

Influencity allows you to group multiple payments into what are known as "payment pools." This makes it easier to manage payments collectively rather than individually, which is especially useful for campaigns involving several influencers. 

Step 3: Add Payment Details and Include Influencers in the Payment Pool

After adding influencers to your invoice, they will appear under the Payment tab. Next, add a description, country, and amount for each influencer.

For example, to add information for JC, hover over the Description field and enter details about the payment, such as “Samsung Spring Campaign.” Repeat this process for JC’s country of residence and the amount he will be paid for this activity.

If JC has participated in multiple campaigns, you can add multiple lines for each payment (e.g., “Samsung Spring Campaign,” “Samsung Holiday Campaign,” “Brand Ambassador Fee,” etc.). Use mass actions to fill in multiple cells at once. For instance, if all your influencers are located in the UK, go to Actions, select Add country to all, and choose “United Kingdom.” This is also useful when an influencer is part of an always-on campaign and will be paid multiple times throughout the year. Using this method, you can add them to the payment pool each time you want to make a partial payment towards the final annual invoice.

Once you’ve entered the description, amount, and currencies, start adding influencers to the payment pool. Click Add to the payment pool individually or use mass actions to add multiple influencers at once.

The number of influencers added will be shown in the button on the top right. To proceed, click X  influencers to the payment pool.

Step 4: Confirm Your Payment

You will be asked to confirm your payment. In the summary, you'll see an overview of all the influencers and their respective payment amounts.

The final amount to be transferred, including VAT, will be displayed under Total amount incl. VAT. Review this summary to ensure all details are correct before proceeding with the payment.

Step 5: Making Payments

After generating your receipts and adding influencers to your payment pools, you can start making payments. 

Note: Payments from the payment pools are "receipts," not invoices. It's important to differentiate because an invoice is not generated when you make a payment from the payment pool. The invoice is an aggregation of payments from the pools and is only generated when the invoice is closed with all payments processed.

Once the payment has been received, you will get an email confirming receipt. Influencity will then proceed to send the payments to each influencer as detailed.

Step 6: Track Status

To monitor your payments, go to the Payment Pools tab. Here, you'll find several columns in the table providing detailed information about each payment pool:

• Number: Unique ID for the payment pool.
• Status:
• Pending: Influencity has received the payment and is sending it to the influencers.
• Paid: All influencers have received payment.
• Error: Influencity will contact you with further details.
• Currency: Currency of the transaction.
• Total to Pay: Total amount to be paid by the client, including the Influencity fee.
• Created By: The member of your team who initiated the payment.
  
  

Return to the Payments tab for the status of each individual influencer’s payment. Once an influencer has been paid, their status will change to “Paid”.

The platform enables you to track these payments, providing details such as payment status and associated fees directly from your dashboard. You can monitor the status of each payment in the Payment Pools tab.

The invoice is generated once all the payment pools have been paid, and you'll have a single bill for all the influencer payments.  In other words, you have a single invoice generated from multiple payment pools.

Simplify Legal and Tax Compliance with Influencity

Finally, when you hire influencers to promote your brand, you also need to take care of the legal side of things. Influencity is designed to ease these complexities as it works with tax systems all around the world. This means the platform can manage all important tax documents to ensure that payments comply with local regulations across 180 countries.

Ultimately, by using Influencity to manage your influencer payments, you can rest assured that all financial transactions are handled securely, legally, and efficiently. This allows you to focus more on strategic aspects of your campaigns without worrying about compliance or financial errors.