Influencers are increasingly sought after, becoming an attractive profession

Influencers in Croatia earn up to 300 euros per post, and influencer marketing has become one of the most popular and effective forms of online marketing, leading to the emergence of pioneers in formal education for this increasingly sought-after profession.

If you open any social media application, you will encounter influencers or, in standard Croatian – influencers. In recent years, the popularity of influencers has significantly increased, and we are witnessing their successes and failures. Their role is becoming increasingly significant in marketing and sales, and their social influence is growing.

According to data from the Influencer Marketing Hub reported by the European Parliament, influencer marketing has become one of the most popular and effective forms of online marketing. Since 2019, its global market value has more than doubled, reaching 13.8 billion US dollars in 2021, and compared to 2016, this value has increased by 700 percent.

According to the same source, more than 50 percent of European companies use social media. In some countries, this share has reached nearly three-quarters of all companies.

Advertisers have realized that consumers trust recommendations from friends, acquaintances, and generally people more than advertisements they see in various media, so they have started engaging influencers, i.e., individuals who can influence business and other decisions due to their reputation, position, or connections, and whose opinions and actions carry weight.

According to the Bigcommerce portal, in 2018, 39 percent of advertisers planned to increase their budget for influencer marketing. The two most common budgets for influencer marketing were cited as between one thousand and ten thousand US dollars per year and between one hundred and five hundred thousand dollars.

Education and influencers

One can become an influencer in various ways, and this profession is slowly gaining a formal note, although it is not yet officially recognized.

From the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), they say that the National Classification of Occupations, according to which records of employed persons and job vacancies are kept, does not include the occupation of influencer.

– The Croatian Employment Service keeps records of unemployed persons and job vacancies by occupations according to the National Classification of Occupations, and the national classification of occupations currently in use does not include the occupation of influencer – they say at HZZ.

However, it is not the same everywhere, and as in other areas of business, the private sector is breaking the ice.

For example, the private Edward Bernays College in Zagreb launched the Influencer Academy program last year, lasting three months. The program offers content in the areas of personal branding and image, content planning and production, and digital project management.

Ivan Pakozid from Bernays College says that influencers are popular and sought after due to their ability to influence, not only in the context of promoting and selling goods and services but also in influencing the creation of attitudes and decision-making in various spheres of life.

– If we take into account the fact that social media is one of the main media for communication, promotion, and sales, it is clear that creators who create content on these channels need to be provided with permanent education and the acquisition of specialist knowledge so that they can become truly relevant participants in that public space, and not just another entertainer – says Pakozid.

The purpose of education, according to him, is not for influencers to become professionals just for themselves, for better self-promotion and their own sales, but to learn the business context in which they create publicly available content and to learn to be business responsible, capable of creating relevant and promotional-oriented content.

Pakozid says that content creation is not just about taking photos and posting content that will be entertaining to someone, just as being influential and popular in the digital world does not necessarily mean that the content creator will automatically know how to turn their talent and work into a sustainable or profitable business.

He emphasizes that knowledge and skills are needed for this just like in any other activity.

– First of all, one needs to know how to detect the needs of a client for some content, promote and sell their services, manage business administration and report on work results, so that partners and clients of the content creator have a clear picture of the benefits of such cooperation and connect them with sales or other business goals – he said.

– The whole concept of influencers is a slippery terrain. When we were little, we wanted to be doctors, pilots, and today’s children want to be influencers – said comedian Marina Orsag.

The influencer profession and ‘average salary’

Since there is no clearly defined law that pertains exclusively to influencers, a common choice is to determine the tax obligation for provided advertising services as income from self-employment or as other income, as published on the pages of Confida Croatia – Tax Audit Consulting.

Another option is to determine income according to the rules of income from self-employment. In that case, the influencer is obliged to register in the tax payer registry, record all income received in cash and in kind, keep tax books, but also record expenses that are directly related to the acquisition of income.

If not insured on another basis, the influencer is obliged to regulate pension and health insurance through self-employment and pay contributions on the prescribed monthly base.

They are also required to submit an annual income tax return, and after the first annual return, they are obliged to pay monthly advance income tax calculated based on income earned in the previous tax year.

Individuals can similarly earn income by posting certain content on social media if their headquarters are abroad.

It could be said that profit in this case depends on the number of views of that content, writes Confida Croatia. Based on the number of views, the internet service provider determines the compensation for the published content.

For example, up to 10,000 views, there is no compensation, from 10,000 to 50,000 views, the compensation amounts to a certain amount, from 50,000 to 100,000 a certain amount, and so on. The internet service provider then earns from the ads that it places alongside the published content, and a part of the earnings is given to the influencer whose content attracted visitors, they say at Confida Croatia.

Pakozid says that it is difficult to talk about the average salary and that it varies from person to person, depending on many factors, such as the type of posts or content being created, the industry average, the reach or number of followers the influencer has, and even the seasonality of certain topics in relation to the influencer’s specialization.

– At the level of Croatia, one can talk about averages from several hundred to two thousand kuna per post – said Pakozid.

– I believe that one can earn well and I believe that the Balkans are special in this regard – said Orsag, adding that our mentality is focused on profit.

– There are many examples where influencers have bought apartments and cars and who knows what else, but we must keep in mind that not everything published on social media is one hundred percent true – she added.

She adds that estimates of the total market value of influencing vary and that they are estimates based on data collected by marketing and PR agencies that use the services of content creators.

For more detailed information, we sent inquiries to influencers, but we did not receive responses.