Brands pay them to review / promote products with varying levels of control and payment depending on how influential the influencer is. If you have over 10,000

Brands pay them to review / promote products with varying levels of control and payment depending on how influential the influencer is. If you have over 10,000 followers and are active people just send you hundreds of dollars of free product with no strings attached. They also give free stuff (and pay if you're important) in exchange for some specific amount of content, two instagram posts over X days and 1 blog post. They also hire an influencer to run a promo or booth as a brand ambassador. The why is obvious: it makes them more money than they pay.