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Playbook · Vet creators · 20 min

Cut influencer costs without cutting reach

Teams whose creator costs rose faster than their budget.

Short answer

Every insight report gives a fair price range and the CPM at the centre price. Line up the creators you are considering on CPM, not on follower count: a mega account at a $25 CPM and a set of micro creators at a $9 CPM deliver the same views for a third of the spend, and the micro set usually over-delivers on reach versus usual. Then open each negotiation at the fair-price centre with a performance bonus instead of accepting the quoted rate. Two moves, both from numbers already on the report.

You need

  • Insight reports on the creators under consideration
  • The reach you need, in views

Step by step in Zaver

  1. 1

    Collect fair price and CPM

    Run insight reports; note price centre and CPM at centre for each creator.

  2. 2

    Buy views, not followers

    Sort by CPM. Build the mix that hits your target views at the lowest blended CPM. Micro and mid usually win.

  3. 3

    Open at the centre

    Offer the fair-price centre; add a bonus if the post beats the creator's average reel views by 30%.

  4. 4

    Use the basis line

    When a creator quotes above the high end, the basis tells you whether engagement or audience geography justifies it. Often it does not.

  5. 5

    Re-check after the campaign

    Cost per view from the refreshed metrics confirms or corrects the plan for next time.

Or ask it in ChatGPT or Claude

With Zaver connected as an MCP server, the whole job is one message. Your assistant calls get_creator_insights behind the scenes.

compare @big***fit with these 6 micro creators on fair price, CPM at centre and average reel views, and build a mix that reaches 500k views at the lowest cost

Not connected yet? Set it up in about a minute.

Where it is in Google Sheets

The menu path, step by step. Labels match the Zaver.one add-on.

  1. Creator insights page with a list of reports showing health, followers, engagement rate, authenticity and fair price
    1 Radar → Insights: one row per report with health, engagement rate, authenticity and the fair price.

What you get

Input: target 500K views

OptionCreatorsBlended CPMSpend for 500K views
One mega@big***fit$25.00$12,500
Six micro@glow***na + 5$9.20$4,600

Same reach, 63% lower spend, and six creators means six audiences rather than one.

Illustrative sample. Handles are masked; numbers show the shape of a real result, not a specific account.

Cost

Included in the insight report: 10 credits on Starter, 8 on Growth and Scale.

Plans and credits

Limits

  • CPM at centre is a planning number; actual views vary
  • USD, benchmarked on a US and high-value audience

Questions

Will micro creators have the same credibility?

Often more. Engagement rates fall as follower counts rise, and the insight report shows the engagement versus tier benchmark for each creator so you are not guessing.

Related playbooks

Work out what to pay an influencerNegotiate when a creator quotes above the fair rangeBuild a rate card for your category from 20 reportsFair price estimatesAll playbooks