You must have come across stories of Instagram influencers cashing in stunning sums of money from the pictures or videos they snap and post on Instagram every day. Or perhaps, you have a friend who is always indoors but is ever cashing out big, and when asked, he is always referring to Instagram. This is no magic. People nowadays are making real money through Instagram— and we’re talking about five, six, or seven figures here.
Can I make money on Instagram? Yes! In short, here are the most typical examples of how to make money on Instagram:
Get paid for sponsored posts
Become an affiliate
Sell your E-commerce products
Sell your services on Instagram
Promote and sell dropshipping products
Below we review each of the cases how you can earn extra income through Instagram.
Instagram has proved to be indisputably a powerful tool of our times. A platform that first started as a photo-sharing app and later transitioned to a business platform has managed to deeply root itself as one of the most defining social media channels in contemporary society. With more than one billion users every month, Instagram holds a massive potential that’s waiting to be tapped. Moreover, the platform boasts of being the 6th-most visited website in 2020 and the 9th most popular Google query succeeding Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Amazon. Instagram has the 4th-most users of any mobile phone app, coming after Facebook, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.
Did you also know that Instagram users spent an average of 30 minutes per day on the platform in 2020? During those 30 minutes spent on the platform, about 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile every day. Of the over one billion Instagram users, 81% use the platform to help research products and services.
And finally, 130 million Instagram users click on shopping posts every month.
The above stats are not just a bunch of fun facts but rather real numbers to show you how much potential the platform holds. This brings us to the question: how can you take advantage of this platform? Millions of other Instagram users are already making a fortune from the platform. Why not you? 2021 should be your year to take advantage of the vast selling power offered by Instagram. If you’re wondering how you can make money from Instagram, here is how you can do it:
1. Get paid for sponsored posts.
Publishing sponsored posts is among the most popular ways of making money on Instagram. If you’re an Instagram user, you must have come across posts with the #sponsored on them. A sponsored post is where an influencer creates content around a particular product from a brand. When you see this next time, remember someone is earning a fortune from it. But how do you do this?
Well, first, you have to be an influencer. As an Instagram user also, you must have heard this word more than often. What does it mean? Technically, an influencer is a person who has built a reputation and a good following on Instagram by constantly posting relevant content for their audience.
Also, audiences respect the views and opinions of influencers on specific topics.
Becoming an influencer is never a walk in the park. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication. When you listen to stories of popular Instagram influencers, certain things are common. They spent a lot of time building trust and relationships with their audience.
To become a good influencer, you must establish yourself as authority figures in specific industries and be consistent in sharing valuable content with your audience to earn their trust. To earn trust, you’ll need to know and understand your audience— their interests, values, needs, and wants. So as an influencer, it would be best if you chose a niche that will form the basis of your content, preferably a hobby or something you’re passionate about.
Brands are always on the lookout to partner and sponsor posts of influencers whose content connect with their brand and have a good connection with their audiences.
If you have a not-so-large following and probably wondering whether brands can sponsor your post, we have news for you. Yes, they can— they’re even more likely to reach out to you first. But first, you have to create a noteworthy online presence and an excellent relationship with your followers.
2. Become an affiliate.
Becoming an affiliate means selling other people’s products via your Instagram account to earn a commission. There are millions of people who make good money on Instagram through the various affiliate programs.
You might be wondering, is there a difference between an affiliate and an influencer? The answer is yes. An affiliate marketer works to generate sales for the partnering brand to earn a commission, while an influencer is more often focuses on creating awareness for the partnering brand.
How do you become an affiliate? First, you need to find the right affiliate programs if you want to be successful in affiliate marketing. You can join a suitable affiliate network from popular networks such as ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, ClickBank, Amazon Associates, etc. or find a product you want to promote and reach out to the brand directly asking if they host an affiliate program.
After joining a suitable affiliate program, the next thing is to promote products on your Instagram account while including the links in Bio or using promo codes in a post through which your audience can purchase the product. Once they purchase the product through your affiliate link or coupon code, you automatically earn a commission.
Moreover, promoting a product involves more than just posting them on your posts or stories. Ensure your posts are engaging to attract more attention from your audience. Also, ensure you talk a bit about the product— why you like it and its benefits to the buyer.
3. Sell your E-commerce products.
This option is more advance and works for those who already run an E-commerce store. Instagram is a perfect platform to promote your online store's products. Setting up an Instagram account for your E-commerce store is an excellent method to increase awareness of the products you’re offering.
Before you get into it, you first need to create a good relationship with your audience. Without this, promoting your products on Instagram will bear no fruits.
To promote your E-commerce products well on Instagram, you can post nice and attractive images with people or yourself showcasing your products. Alternatively, you can make a nice background to make your products appealing and unique. It is quite important to invest in a good camera to take good pictures of your products for display.
You may promote sales and flash sales in your Instagram posts. Remember to advertise your new items whenever available. Using emojis helps catch the attention of the user easily :) Lastly, do not forget to update your stories with your products to create more awareness.
4. Sell your services on Instagram.
What is your profession or hobby, what did you study at school or what are you good at? Maybe you're a photographer, an interior or graphic designer, an architect, an accountant, a make-up artist, or a stylist? The list goes on.
The idea here is that you can sell your services on Instagram.
Instagram is all about visuals. You can make a fortune from your knowledge or skills. There are more than 500 million daily Instagram users who could be interested in your work.
Posting content in your niche combining with the services your offer may a nice mix that will not only brings you extra income but also satisfaction from work you're doing.
How do you do this? It’s simple. You first need to have an Instagram account and slowly build your audience through constantly generating relevant content based on what you do. Whenever you post something, always refer your audience to the link on your bio.
When you’re beginning your journey to sell your services on Instagram and want to gain a bigger audience, there’s one trick you can use. Find accounts that offer services within the same niche as yours. Select those with a massive following, preferably 10,000 and above. Then follow as many of their followers as possible. There are high chances that this is the audience that will be interested in what you post! And if your content shows more creativity and authenticity, you’re likely to attract more followers, which you can monetize.
5. Sell dropshipping products.
Dropshipping is a business model similar to E-commerce, except you don’t hold inventory or ship any inventory. tHe company your partner with do this for you! When you sell a product, the supplier will ship the sold item directly to the customer's location without involving you— but you’ll earn a you cut from every sale generated. Imagine a business model where you sell products without spending any startup capital, stocking up inventory, packaging, or shipping. All you need is to be good at promoting. It almost sounds too good to be true.
How do you become a dropshipper?
First, pick your niche of products you'd like to sell.
Reach out to suppliers to ask if thy work on a dropshipping model.
Build a dropshipping store on a website building platform, such as Shopify or Wordpress Woocommerce.
Contact your preferred suppliers and make the agreement for dropshipping with your website. Ensure you understand all terms and conditions.
Start posting products on your Instagram account and stories with a clear call to action to direct your audience where to purchase the product. Remember, it is like selling your E-commerce products, you need to create a good relationship with your audience.
Can you make money on Instagram with a small audience (less than 10k)?
Having a large audience— 10k and above— is important if you’re looking to make good money on Instagram. But does that mean you can’t make money if you have a small audience of less than 10k? The answer is no.
Making money on Instagram with a small audience may sound challenging, but it's possible.
Instagram has more than 1 billion monthly users and more than 500 million daily users. That’s a lot of people waiting to find out about you and what you can offer. Therefore, you shouldn’t hesitate! Also, remember there is a lot of room for growth on the platform. It’s only a matter of time.
Moreover, always remember that you don’t always have to partner with big brands to make money on Instagram. Big brands prefer influencers with a massive following to spread more awareness of their products. However, there are thousands of startup businesses that are willing to pay influencers with a small following to market their products. Through this, you’re able to grow together and achieve more with time as long as you dedicate yourself to what you do.
Got TikTok? Link TikTok with your Instagram account.
Did you know that you can add your Instagram account to your TikTok? Linking TikTok to your Instagram account is an awesome way to capture the attention of a whole new audience while enabling you to post cross-post your content, thus maximizing your earnings from potential conversions. The most exciting thing about this is that linking the two apps is very straightforward.
Below are the simple steps to add your Instagram account to TikTok.
Open the TikTok app and tap on the “Me” icon on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Once the page is open, tap on “Edit Profile.”
Once your bio page is open, tap on the tab “Add Instagram” on the bottom-right side of the screen.
When you click on “Add Instagram,” the Instagram login page will load. Proceed to enter your Instagram username and password as required. Then tap on “Login.”
Once you login to your Instagram account, you’ll be required to authorize that you’ve logged in and give permission to add your Instagram to TikTok.
When you give permission, you’ll be redirected to your TikTok profile. When you go to your profile on TikTok, you’ll notice an Instagram icon next to the “Edit Profile” button. Bravo! You’ve done it.
Sharing a TikTok video on your Instagram account.
Once you’re done adding your Instagram account to your TikTok, how do you make sure your TikTok videos appear on your Instagram account too? Here is a simple way to do it.
Open your TikTok and tap on the “+” icon.
Record your video or upload one from your gallery and edit it.
Once done editing, tap on “Next.”
On the next step, you’ll be required to choose either “Public” or “Private” in the “Who can view this video” section.
Click on the Instagram icon and then tap on “Post.”
Once the video is posted on TikTok, the app will automatically redirect you to your Instagram account where you’ll be given two options: “Feed” and “Stories.”
Select where you want your video to appear and you’ll follow the normal steps of posting on Instagram including adding captions, hashtags, and filters.
Once through, tap on “Publish” and that’s it. Bravo! Now try it.
Conclusively, there is so much potential your Instagram account holds. Instagram is more than a mere social media platform for users to connect. When its potential is tapped, it can be a potent sales tool and a way to earn a living. Take full advantage of the opportunities presented by Instagram this year, and your life will never be the same again!