South Korea's 2025 Snapchat Influencer Promotion Pricing for US Brands
Snapchat is like that quiet kid in the back of the class who excels in everything but doesn’t raise their hand to speak.
It’s been the go-to place for South Korea’s Gen Z and millennials for years, even while TikTok has been on an explosion trajectory. That means Snapchat influencers in South Korea have an audience that far exceeds the typical American influencer.
For U.S. brands looking to break into the South Korean market, using Snapchat influencers is an excellent way to go—and they won’t break the bank.
💵 Pricing for Snap Influencers in 2025
In South Korea, Snapchat influencer promotions cost anywhere from around 50,000 to 200,000 KRW, which is about $37 to $150 USD, depending on their engagement rates and follower count.
A December 2021 report from Dagens Næringsliv stated that South Korean influencers usually charge 50% to 85% less than their American counterparts.
In the world of U.S. influencers, it’s common to charge by the post—whether that’s on Instagram or Snapchat. But in South Korea, it’s more common to charge for a set of three stories.
“Korean influencers are more focused on complete story sets rather than single posts, and rates vary from KRW 50,000 to KRW 200,000 per story,” the report adds.
For U.S. brands that have no clue about social media marketing in South Korea, that means they can get a three-story promotion with an influencer in South Korea for a budget that is laughable by American standards.
So for less than the price of a meal at a mid-scale American restaurant, a U.S. brand can promote its products and services to the Korean public with the help of a local influencer. That’s some serious bang for your buck!
📣 The Backstory on Snapchat in South Korea
Since launching in 2011, Snapchat has always been popular with younger generations, especially in markets like Europe and South Korea.
While Snapchat currently has 347 million daily active users globally, more than 70% of them fall in the coveted 13 to 34 target age bracket that brands want to connect with.
Ever since Snapchat first launched its service in South Korea in 2014, its DAU has been steadily increasing, growing 24% year over year as of December 2021 to 9 million South Koreans, according to Statista.
“Snapchat is the most popular messaging app at age 25 in South Korea,” said Felix Kjellberg, who goes by the name PewDiePie and boasts 104 million followers on Instagram.
“No other age group reports that Snapchat is their most popular app.”
It is that 25-year-old mark that is critical for brands, especially U.S.-based ones, to consider.
South Korea has a much younger population than most Western countries, and its workforce ranks at the top of the global productivity list.
According to the OECD, South Korea ranked first in productivity among its member countries in 2016 for every hour worked, producing $40.79 per hour.
That means young South Koreans wield a lot of spending power, and that’s where Snapchat comes in.
📊 What Korean Americans Are Saying
Korean Americans are seeing a disconnect between how much money American brands should spend to promote their products to South Koreans who live in Korea and how much they actually do spend.
“Korean consumers typically expect a higher level of service than their peers elsewhere, including the U.S., and American firms need to recognize that to be successful in Korea,” said Andrew Lee, who runs a consultancy for U.S. brands looking to enter South Korea.
Lee has extensive experience in the field, having helped numerous businesses improve their sales customer service in South Korea.
“Due to marketing miscalculations, many American companies do not realize how much service Korean consumers expect and desire,” Lee added.
This is particularly important for U.S. brands that primarily sell online, as many Americans mistakenly believe that online shopping has leveled the playing ground.
U.S. brands might have great success selling products to their own people, but that doesn’t mean their service and quality will suffice in a different culture, especially one like South Korea where customer service is king.
“Korean consumer tastes are distinct from those in the U.S., and companies that rely on marketing strategies developed for American consumers will struggle to win sales in Korea,” Lee warned.
When it comes to using Snapchat influencers to promote your products in Korea, it’s wise to go with a local firm that understands those cultural differences.
💼 Go Local with Your Influencer Marketing
If you’re looking to locally based Korean influencers in South Korea for promotions on Snapchat and not American influencers, you’ll have a greater chance of success.
The reasons for this are two-fold:
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Korean influencers know their audience much better than American ones. That means they’ll be able to create much more engaging and culturally relevant promotions than an American influencer can.
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Korean influencers use Korean payment systems. Korean influencers and creatives often charge for their services through South Korean payment systems like Kakao and Naver Pay.
American brands don’t have Kakao or Naver Pay accounts and won’t know how to set them up. These payment systems also require registering a bank account with a South Korean bank.
That means using a Korea-based influencer marketing agency will save you time, hassle, and possibly even money.
🔍 Sneak Peek into Korean Influencer Rates
Below is a list of Korean influencers from an article on The Korea Herald about how much they charge in various social media channels, including Snapchat.
- 4.1 million followers - KRW 1.5 million per post or KRW 2 million for a story set
- 1 million followers - KRW 600,000 per post or KRW 1 million for a story set
- 700,000 followers - KRW 300,000 per post or KRW 700,000 for a story set
TikTok
- 4.5 million followers - KRW 2 million per post or KRW 3 million for a video set
- 1.5 million followers - KRW 600,000 per post or KRW 1 million for a video set
- 1 million followers - KRW 500,000 per post or KRW 800,000 for a video set
YouTube
- 1 million followers - KRW 2 million per video
- 700,000 followers - KRW 1 million per video
- 500,000 followers - KRW 500,000 per video
💻 Top Korean Influencer Marketing Platforms
While many international influencer marketing platforms handle influencer marketing across multiple countries, there are a few that specialize in South Korea.
K Influencer
K Influencer is the top influencer marketing platform in South Korea, boasting over 21,000 influencers including over 8,000 YouTubers and more than 6,000 Instagram influencers.
K Influencer has influencers in numerous other platforms as well including BJ, Blogs, Kakaotalk, and more.
TIKITOK
TIKITOK features a wide array of Korean influencers across various platforms, including Snapchat.
While TIKITOK doesn’t mention how many Korean influencers they currently have, they do state that they have over 500,000 influencers across multiple platforms worldwide.
StarInfluence
StarInfluence also has a solid stable of Korean influencers for Snapchat and other platforms, as well as a few NJ-based influencers to cater to the Korean market in the U.S.
💰 Who Pays for What
In South Korea, the brand pays for everything including sponsorships and travel.
That’s a huge difference from America where brands expect influencers to cover their own travel expenses—even to events where that’s the whole point.
When arranging for a Korean influencer to promote your U.S. brand on Snapchat, you should expect to cover all logistics for the influencer and any crew that might accompany them.
📝 2025 Proposals for U.S. Brands
The South Korean influencer marketing industry has grown exponentially over the years, and they are no longer the bargain they once were as their popularity has grown.
But compared to pricing for U.S. influencers, South Korean pricing is still significantly lower.
For example, on average, an Instagram influencer in the U.S. with 1 million followers charges anywhere from $670 to $1,400 per post.
That’s nearly 2.5 to 5.0 times the average pricing for their counterparts in Korea!
So while U.S. brands can expect to see some increases over the next couple of years, they can still expect to see huge savings when switching to Korean influencers.
📢 Stay Up to Date
BaoLiba will continue to update U.S. influencer marketing trends, so stay tuned!