Instagram Posts, priced by audience size
A feed post — a single image or a multi-image carousel — is priced at the highest rate band on Instagram, because it buys something a Reel does not: a permanent placement on the creator's profile grid rather than a post the algorithm stops surfacing after a few days. That permanence is also why Lumanu's data shows a lower average settled payment for feed posts ($1,013) than for Reels ($3,618) even at a richer per-view rate — a feed post typically pulls fewer total views than a Reel that gets algorithmic reach to non-followers, so the higher rate offsets a smaller audience rather than multiplying a bigger one. Price a feed post from your average views for that exact format, not your Reels average; the two products get different levels of distribution and should never share a rate. A carousel with a strong save rate — the platform's clearest buying-intent signal — justifies the top of the range on its own.
Negotiating at 250,000 followers
250,000 followers is the entry point of the Macro tier — 250,000 to 1,000,000 followers, with Reels views typically running 100,000 to 800,000 — where Lumanu's annual figures jump sharply from mid-tier's $185,000 average, though the spread inside this band is enormous: a 250,000-follower account and a 900,000-follower account are both "macro" and can be worth very different numbers on the same brief. At this size, expect brands to negotiate through a manager or agency more often, expect usage-rights and exclusivity asks to be the largest line items on the quote rather than an afterthought, and expect perpetual-usage requests — which our rate guide prices at a 200% floor, not a fair price — to show up more frequently than at any smaller tier. Decline perpetual rights or price them at that floor; a brand large enough to be at this stage of the conversation has the budget to pay for a long fixed term instead, and offering one protects your ability to work with a category competitor later.