Donald J. Trump, 45th president of the United States, is a prolific user of social media to communicate directly to his audiences
Donald J. Trump, whose current net worth is $5.2 billion, is the United States’ most influential billionaire on Instagram.
The former president of the United States could potentially earn a minimum of $224,975 per post, with a maximum potential earning of $304,378 per post. Mr. Trump currently has more than 26.1 million followers.
“Instagram allows billionaires to shape and control their public image, creating a personal brand that resonates with a broad audience,” said Matt Schwachofer, cofounder of The Casino Wizard, which produced a new study on the most influential billionaires on Instagram.
“While billionaires may internally promote their businesses, products and services, they can also be paid a lot for sponsored posts,” he said.
Mr. Trump is generally skilled at producing engaging content. His posts often include bold statements and controversial opinions which help generate high levels of engagement through likes, comments and shares.
While the president of the United States earns a salary of $400,000 per year, Trump would only have to publish two sponsored posts to earn more than the POTUS’ salary.
The Casino Wizard analyzed the top 50 highest-net-worth individuals from Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List that comprises more than 2,781 billionaires.
Each billionaire's Instagram account was manually reviewed, and an internal scraping tool was used to gather key earnings data, such as the number of followers, number of accounts followed, number of posts, average number of likes, average number of comments, total engagement rate, minimum potential earnings per post and maximum potential earnings per post.
The rankings were then compiled based on the amount each billionaire could earn for a sponsored post on Instagram.
Trumps others
Oprah Winfrey is the second most influential billionaire, with a net worth of $3 billion.
Ms. Winfrey, a trusted and influential media personality with a long career as a talk show host, producer, actress and philanthropist, has her Instagram likes data set to private and comments disabled.
Ms. Winfrey’s 22.6 million followers contribute to her potential earnings of between $192,733 and $260,757 per sponsored post.
Mark Zuckerberg is the third most influential billionaire on Instagram. His current net worth is $171.2 billion.
The Facebook cofounder’s posts have an average of 331,150 likes. He has an earning potential on sponsored posts of between $123,620 and $167,250.
Mr. Zuckerberg currently has 14.2 million Instagram followers and is the CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), the parent company of Instagram.
Bill Gates ranks fourth, with a current net worth of $129.8 billion. He is a prominent figure due to being the cofounder of Microsoft and a leading figure in the technology and business industries.
With an average of 124,891 likes per post, his earning potential from a single sponsored post is between $96,311 and $130,303.
Mr. Gates currently has 11.2 million Instagram followers and receives 124,891 likes per post, on average.
Taking the fifth position is Richard Branson, who has around 5 million Instagram followers. His net worth is currently $2.6 billion.
Mr. Branson has posted around 4,057 times and has a minimum potential earning of $42,159 per post and a maximum potential earning of $57,038 per post.
As the founder of the Virgin Group, Mr. Branson actively engages with his audience by responding to comments, sharing user-generated content, and involving his followers in discussions. His interactive approach helps to build a loyal and engaged community.
POSITIONS SIX THROUGH 10 include Mark Cuban, Sheryl Sandberg, Gautam Adani, Michael Bloomberg and Changpeng Zhao.
Despite being the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk does not have his own Instagram page and, therefore, has no potential for sponsored post earnings on the platform.
“Instagram offers a vast audience that billionaires can leverage to influence public opinion, promote their ventures, and reach potential customers, investors, and partners,” Mr. Schwachofer said in the statement.