Want to learn how to make money with Instagram? Here are the best strategies you can use to earn income on Instagram.
Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms with over one billion active users. The platform has evolved from a photo-sharing platform to a marketing tool that you can use to reach your audience.
According to statistics gotten from Instagram Business, 60 percent of people use Instagram to find new products, 80 percent follow at least one brand, 66 percent of profile visits are from non-followers, while 200 million accounts visit a business profile every day.
Just like Facebook and Google, Instagram is a platform where potential customers can be found. You need the right business model to make money with Instagram.
In this article, I will shed light on the best strategies you can use to start earning from Instagram.
Quick Review
Here are the strategies you can use to make money on Instagram:
- Promote affiliate links
- Sell physical and digital products
- Publish sponsored posts
- Become a brand ambassador
- Sell visual content
- Print photos
Detailed Guide
In this guide, I will explain each of the strategies above so that you will have a better understanding of how you can use them to make money on Instagram.
1. Promote Affiliate Links
If you want to make money with affiliate marketing, you need to sign up for high-paying affiliate networks. This will allow you to add affiliate links to your Instagram and earn commissions when you generate sales.
Affiliate links can earn you lots of money if you do it right.
To get started, consider joining affiliate programs like Clickbank, Shareasale, Impact, and Awin. Apart from these networks, you can also sign up for individual affiliate programs of different companies. You can find these programs by searching for ‘Company + affiliate program’ on Google.
Since Instagram has a huge base of engaged users, it is the best place to promote affiliate links. Irrespective of the number of followers you have, you can insert an affiliate link in your Instagram bio.
Instagram followers focus on Instagram posts, so you can use captions to talk about your affiliate marketing links to grab your followers’ attention.
Since all links inserted in Instagram posts cannot be clicked, it is not ideal to add a URL because readers will have to copy the link manually from the text.
The best thing to do is to write a call to action. This will direct your followers to click on the clickable link in your bio. However, ensure you inform your followers that the links are affiliate links.
SEE: How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
2. Sell Physical and Digital Products
Instagram has become a strong platform that e-commerce brands use to generate sales.
Since people use Instagram to find and buy products, they released more business account features such as the shop button, in-app checkout, shoppable stickers, and product tags to make the shopping process hassle-free.
Also, you can use an e-commerce platform or website builder to build an e-commerce site, and then use Instagram as the marketing channel.
If you are a beginner, you can start a dropshipping business. This is a business model where you don’t have to bother about shipping products or handling returns.
Furthermore, you can sell on Amazon and promote the products on Instagram.
Irrespective of the option you choose, ensure you add links to your content in your Instagram account. You must also write a call-to-action (with a website link) that will take your followers to where they can know more about the offer.
SEE: Proven Ways to Make Money on Amazon
3. Publish Sponsored Posts
Influencer marketing is becoming more popular.
In a nutshell, people look for their peers’ recommendations. That is why more brands contact influencers to help them promote their brands. Since users want transparency on Instagram, influencers must disclose sponsored posts in line with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines.
The best part is that you don’t need to have lots of followers before you can start making money with sponsored posts. Brands usually consider the engagement rate when they want to choose an influencer.
If you want to make money as an influencer on Instagram, you need to have in-person interactions with most of your subscribers. This will allow you to deliver great results, which implies that you can get offers even if your followers are less than 1,000.
4. Become a Brand Ambassador
A brand ambassador is someone that promotes a brand and its products to his or her audience to increase awareness and boosting sales.
But what is the difference between a brand ambassador and sponsored posts?
Brand ambassadors always speak about a product while sponsored posts are a one-time deal. Brands are always enticed to work with an influencer and have them promote their products to their followers.
As a result, many brands are interested in working with brand ambassadors. They are also willing to offer good pay for the ambassadors’ services. According to studies, the standard salary of a brand ambassador is between $40,000 and $50,000 per year.
If you want to become a brand ambassador, focus on choosing a brand in your niche; the niche must align with your brand. For example, if you post real estate videos, you can align yourself with a real estate brand.
Although human beings are multi-faceted, don’t forget that your audience is reading the content you’re uploading. It will be difficult to build a following if you keep talking about things that do not align with your brand and your audience’s interest.
5. Sell Visual Content
Instagram users upload more than 100 million photos and videos every day. So it makes sense to sell visual content on the platform.
If you want to use this strategy to make money with Instagram, ensure the visual content is authentic.
There are lots of brands that upload professional images on Instagram. However, uploading professional images will not make the brands to be unique. Such brands need to provide their audience with user-generated content if they want to get consumers’ attention.
User-generated content refers to content (such as text, images, videos, and reviews) that is created by people and not brands. This is the type of content that is authentic.
The Starbucks #RedCupContest is an example of user-generated content. Starbucks encourages customers to upload photos of their coffees every December to win a prize.
This can be applied to different industries, such as the travel industry, where consumers can be rewarded by staying at a particular chain of hotels for free. Consumers in the beauty industries can also be rewarded by delivering the latest beauty products at their doorsteps.
It is not easy to determine the specific amount that you can earn from this option since the reward can be in form of a gift card, cash, or loyalty points.
6. Print Photos
Another way to make money with Instagram is to print photos. People usually upload their pictures on their social media profiles.
These photos can be saved on a memory card or in the cloud. But since we are always busy, it is not easy to turn back the hands of time and relive those moments.
As a result, you can make money on Instagram by printing photos and creating photo books.
A brand that does this well is Chatbooks. Customers get in touch with them and they convert their Instagram posts to photo books.
These can be used as gifts for wedding anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, or other special occasions. You can charge between $10 and $15 (apart from shipping fees) to create each photo book.
If you want to start offering this service, target the upcoming holidays. Create awareness for your services before the holiday, and you will receive many orders in your DM.
SEE: Make Money with 3D Printing
7. Offer Social Media Marketing Services
Instagram is a powerful platform that is effective for marketing. You don’t need to have a huge budget before you can market or promote your brand on the platform.
Social media platforms, like Instagram, have allowed startups and small businesses to connect with their target audience and experience mind-blowing growth. Despite how powerful brands know Instagram to be, about 49 percent of companies don’t have an effective social media strategy.
Although such companies might have some social media accounts, they do not have a plan on how they can leverage social media to create awareness and drive sales.
If you are adept at social media marketing, you can use this skill to make money with Instagram. You can earn between $16 per hour and $75 per hour depending on how experienced you are.
To start making money with this option, you must understand how Instagram marketing works. You need to understand important strategies such as how often to post and the right use of hashtags.
Once you understand how Instagram marketing works, you can then proceed to building a strong portfolio and marketing your service to your audience. If you are a beginner, you can contact local businesses and NGOs and help them manage their Instagram accounts.
You can then create case studies about how you helped these NGOs and local businesses drive more sales through your service.
As a social media marketer, you can be involved in content creation, account setup, account management, and account promotion.
SEE: Best Social Media Management Tools, Apps, and Software
How Much Can You Make on Instagram?
Your earnings on Instagram are determined by who you are and what you use the platform for. Celebrities make a lot of money from posting on the platform. The highest-paid influencers earn between $8,400 and $1.2 million per post.
In a nutshell, your income will be determined by your reputation, your followers, and your ability to grow your Instagram account with time.
You need to calculate your engagement rate while calculating your estimated earnings from your Instagram account. This is because the engagement rate shows how active your audience is; this explains why influencer prices are determined by this metric.
Why You Should Make Money with Instagram
Instagram is not just a platform for connecting users with their friends and loved ones. When you use it correctly, it can help you generate sales and make money. The platform has a great engagement rate which makes it one of the best factors for brands that want to promote their products.
FAQs
Do Instagram users get paid?
You can get paid on Instagram in many ways depending on you’re the type of Instagram content you publish, your audience, and how committed you are.
How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?
You need to have between 1,000 and 1 million Instagram followers. However, you also need high engagement rates. It won’t make any sense when you make a post and your Instagram followers are not interacting with it.
Can you sell products on Instagram?
Yes, you can sell products on Instagram. You can use Shoppable Posts for this purpose. However, the best approach is to use an e-commerce platform together with your Instagram account to boost sales.
Conclusion
As shown in this article, Instagram is a fast-growing social media platform with the highest engagement rate. This makes it easy to earn income from the platform if used properly.
From posting affiliate links to offering social media marketing services, there are different strategies you can use to make money with Instagram.
Putting in the right amount of time and effort into building your presence on Instagram is a great investment that yields the desired results over time. More so, it is not late to start making money from your Instagram account.
To get started, I recommend selling physical and digital products. I love this option because they are scalable and your earning has no limit.
If you don’t want to get involved with the hassle associated with selling physical and digital products, then you can promote affiliate links. With this strategy, you don’t need to bother about stocking products or handling customers’ complaints.
Simply promote affiliate products and earn commissions for the sales you generate.
If you want to learn more about how to make money from promoting affiliate links, check this post. Thanks for reading.
Ready to make money with Instagram? Click the link below to get started.
