One of the best influencer posts we ever ran at Cal AI wasn't on TikTok.
It was on X with a fitness creator from Argentina and it CRUSHED.
And what we paid for it made no sense, in the best way possible.
Almost every consulting call I take, I end up getting asked this same question:
Where should my influencer budget go, and what platforms should I prioritize?
So here's my actual tier list for influencer distribution, S to F, with the reasoning.
S tier: TikTok. Still the deepest pool of creators and the best distribution for consumer apps. This is the default and the best place to be.
A tier: X. This is the one people don't believe when I tell them.
There are almost no lifestyle creators on X.
It's most founders talking to other founders, which might sound like a reason to skip it.
But because there are so few real creators who prioritize their presence on this platform, nobody is competing for them.
Every app founder is bidding against every other app founder for the same TikTok creators, and the prices reflect it.
On X, it’s basically a blue ocean opportunity.
The results from that Argentina post weren't the most insane numbers we ever saw.
What we paid for those results is what made it insane.
The catch: going viral on X is difficult.
There's no established playbook, the outreach is different, and a lot of these creators have never done a brand deal.
That friction is exactly why it's still cheap. If it were easy, it would be priced like TikTok.
B tier: Instagram. Reliable, massive creator pool, works for almost any niche. But everyone knows that, and the pricing shows it.
B tier, with an asterisk: Snapchat. For influencer-posted content only.
Snapchat creators have cult followings. Their audience shows up for them specifically, and that loyalty converts.
But this is entirely dependent on the creator. And if you're running UGC-style content where the creator's name isn't attached, Snapchat drops all the way to an F.
The audience is there for the person, not the content.
C tier: Facebook and LinkedIn. Deals can work here, but they will not be the reason your app wins.
If you’re trying to get funding for an app, LinkedIn has the highest percentage of potential investors so keep that in mind.
D tier: YouTube Shorts.
Here's the pattern underneath the whole list: platforms get priced by how many buyers are fighting over them, not by how good the audience actually is.
So if your costs keep creeping up, the answer usually isn't negotiating harder on TikTok.
It's looking at one platform down the list, where the audience is real.
Thank me later.
- Jake