While one may think celebs sharing glimpses from their day-to-day lives on social media is just for the love of their fans, the reality goes beyond that. Did you know celebs and influencers earn huge amounts for every activity they do on social media? Case in point: cricketer Virat Kohli, who reached the 250-million-followers mark on Instagram recently, charges about Rs. 3.5 to Rs. 5 crores for one post on Instagram.

A source says that the fee varies for different elements on the social media platform: “A story is cheaper than a post, because a post stays forever. A story with a link to the brand’s page is expensive. Even a post with a link is pricey. The most expensive is when a celebrity’s page does a collab with a brand’s page.”

CEO and co-founder of White Rivers Media, Shrenik Gandhi has worked with many Indian and international talents on the digital space. He says, “Social media contributes a lot to a celeb’s finances. Since social media is a two-way medium, it acts as a validation for a brand. About 20% to 30% of a celeb’s annual revenue comes from social media deals now.”

An insider says that it is not necessary for a celeb to be a brand ambassador to share a post: “Audi (automotive brand) had done a campaign featuring Virat, (actors) Kareena Kapoor Khan and Hrithik Roshan.”

And such is the impact of social media that sometimes, brands prefer to shoot less ads with the celeb, but ask for more social media posts. The source says, “Brands tell us that they’d need four social media posts in a year that should range across Insta, Twitter and Facebook.”

Manish Kumar, founder of Digi Osmosis, explains how celebs help in boosting a brand’s value: “Let’s take Virat’s athleisure brand or Hrithik’s apparel brand, for instance. If Hrithik wears stuff from his brand and is also seen donning the same on Insta, his fans will surely buy it. Aryan Khan (actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son) launched a clothing brand and everything was sold out on day one, thanks to Shah Rukh’s posts.”

250 million followers

Earnings per post: Rs. 3.5 to Rs. 5 crore

72.8 million followers

Earnings per post: Rs. 1 crore

87.7 million followers

Earnings per post: Rs. 2 crores

Shraddha Kapoor: 80.8 million followers; Earnings per post: Rs. 1.5 crore

Alia Bhatt: 77.4 million followers; Earnings per post: Rs. 1.5 to Rs. 2 crore

Deepika Padukone: 74.1 million followers; Earnings per post Rs. 2 crore