Mikel Galicia
Audio By Carbonatix
Does your grandmother needle you about attending medical or law school? Well, you can look forward to her adding one more profession to her list, pop star, when she hears about the huge load of cash Selena Gomez is drawing in — without even using her pipes.
The “Come and Get It” singer and Grand Prairie native makes over half a million dollars for a single Instagram post, according to Hopper HQ, a site that allows users to schedule posts to the photo-sharing app.
At $550,000 per sponsored post, Gomez is the highest earner on Instagram, which launched in 2010 and has over 700 million users.
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“In the last couple of years, influencers and celebrities have really caught on to the fact that endorsing brands on Instagram pays off,” Mike Bandar, co-founder of HopperHQ says.
One in 7 people on Instagram follows Selena Gomez.
Part of the reason Gomez earns so much — more, even, than Kim Kardashian West, who was second on Hopper’s list — is that she also has the most Instagram followers, with 123 million. That means that one 1 in 7 people on Instagram follows Selena Gomez.
West, who has 101 million followers, earns an even half a million.
You’d think with that much money on the table for just a few minutes of work, stars like Gomez would be making sponsored Instagram posts all the time.
What’s surprising is that we spent a good five minutes trolling Gomez’s Instagram before finding an endorsement. The short video taken during the Toronto stop of her Revival tour on May 25 of last year shows Gomez flipping her hair and using hair spray with the hashtag #Pantene.
For the most part, Gomez uses her account to share personal pictures with fans and to promote her own projects, like the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, which she executive produced; her new music video for “Bad Liar;” and the fall 2017 Coach campaign. (Gomez was recently named the face of the brand.)
But this strategy of infrequent endorsements may be serving Gomez well. The more authentic her Instagram is, the more followers she’ll attract and retain, and her massive fanbase is what’s making Gomez rich.
