From just a photo-sharing app to one of the most used social media platforms, Instagram has become a huge empire. More than one billion people use Instagram every month.
Every day, 63% of Instagram users log into Instagram and spend over thirty minutes there. The pandemic has profoundly increased this time, and it has opened huge opportunities for everyone.
You know what the point is- Instagram is a gold mine of opportunities for people like you who want to make money from Instagram.
No matter if you have a thousand followers or a million, if you want to earn money from Instagram, you need to read this article and know about the most tried and true ways that influencers use, through which you can earn a lot of money.
Before going any further, you should know the pre-requisites. Earning money on Instagram can be easy if you have a well-managed account with a high engagement rate. A good engagement rate is around 4%-6%.
Brands look for accounts with high engagement rates. How can you achieve a good engagement rate so that you reach more audiences and brands approach you?
How to Grow Your Instagram Account?
Growing an Instagram account is not a big deal if you have a logical approach towards it. Here is how you can grow your Instagram account in no time and make money as well as achieve fame.
Decide your niche
A niche is a specific topic or theme that your account follows. If you want to make it big on Instagram, select a niche and stick to it. The most popular niches on Instagram include travel, beauty, fashion, lifestyle, etc.
Consistency
If you don’t post consistently on your account, it will reach fewer people over time. People who post at least one post or story per day have better exposure.
Brands collaborate with active influencers, so if you want to be an influencer, you have to keep posting relevant content almost every day to reach your target audience.
Interact with your audience
No one wants to follow an unresponsive and ignorant account. You are what you are because of your audience. Therefore, reply to their DMs or comments.
Ignore the hate messages or comments, but always respond to people who want to know about you and your account.
When in doubt, always remember this quote by Maya Angelou-
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Post relevant content
This is a no-brainer. People will follow you only if you post content with which they can relate. Your content should be oriented towards your niche and should influence your audience.
You should follow this strategy all the time. By posting relevant content, you can build a strong personal brand.
Use the right hashtags
The right use of hashtags in a post is a subtle art. Not all people know how to use hashtags; what they do is copy and paste from other people’s posts, and they’re done.
You should use hashtags wisely. Use Instagram to research the relevant hashtags for your posts.
Pro tip – Research highly popular, popular, and moderately popular hashtags. Use the highly popular hashtags in your stories and the popular/moderately popular ones in your posts.
You can also find the hashtags relevant to your niche here.
Table of Contents
14 Ways to Make/Earn Money from Instagram?
Now that you know how to create an Instagram account with a high engagement rate, it’s time to know how to use your account and make money from it.
Are you ready?
Also Read: 3 Ways to Earn Money from Google Online Jobs
And 10 Easy Ways to Make Money from Facebook
1. Post Sponsored Content
Have you seen the posts of celebrities that promote a particular product? For example, Selena Gomez promoting Puma and Justin Bieber promoting Calvin Klein.
Brands are highly active on Instagram because of a huge audience. Brands these days prefer to work with micro-influencers.
Micro-influencers have anywhere between 1000 to 100,000 followers. They have a high engagement rate, and therefore, brands prefer to work with them.
If you have more than 1000 followers and you consistently post in your niche, brands will likely approach you.
You can also write emails to different brands if you want to work with them. And if they find you relevant enough, they will respond. You can charge accordingly for your sponsored posts. Sometimes, the brands send you their products instead of giving you money.
If you are unable to find relevant brands or you are facing difficulties, it is best to sign up for influencer marketing platforms that connect you with smaller yet relevant brands.
Some of the most popular influencer marketing platforms include
As of 2023, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most-paid Instagram influencer, making $2.4 million per post.
2. Affiliate Marketing
With the ever-increasing e-commerce sector, affiliate marketing is booming, and Instagram is the perfect place for affiliate marketing.
In affiliate marketing, you get a unique link from a brand for a product. When you promote the product in your account, and users purchase from it, you earn a commission.
One of the perfect examples of this is the Amazon Influencers Program.
For affiliate marketing, you can check an individual company’s website and see if they have an affiliate marketing program. You can also check VCommission Rakuten Marketing, Impact, etc.
With affiliate marketing, you can easily earn a lot of money each month.
3. Selling shoutouts
Believe it or not, giving shoutouts is a proven way of marketing. For this very reason, there is a whole market out there where you can sell your shoutouts.
You just have to post a story and get money in return. Isn’t it amazing?
Thousands of influencers make money this way. You can be that person, too. Sell shoutouts and earn decent cash with websites like-
- Shoutify
- ShoutCart
- Or, check Influencer Marketing Hub for various resources on influencer shoutouts.
Use these platforms to monetize your Instagram account and start earning money.
4. Create your online store
If you are a fashion influencer or want to become one, this is a perfect option for you.
You might have seen influencers like Selena Gomez and Kylie Jenner have their online makeup and beauty collections.
Statistics show that 90% of the accounts follow a business account.
Most influencers, after they get enough popularity, launch their online stores and make money by selling their customized products.
You can also do it because it just requires creativity and proper marketing. In the beginning, you can spend some money on promoting your brand, and people can approach you.
Nowadays, the most popular online stores comprise makeup, showpieces, clothing, aesthetics, etc.
5. Create online resources
If you have a deep knowledge of your niche, you can write a book, create a course, or make a guide for beginners.
Those who want to learn more about the skills will buy your resources, and you will earn money.
You have to spend some money on advertising in the beginning. Gradually, you will get customers and make money easily.
To make money this way, you have to have a thorough knowledge of your niche. Otherwise, people won’t buy it.
6. Selling your Instagram account
I know this isn’t your first option, but you can sell your Instagram account and earn money. It depends on your followers.
You can also create multiple accounts and grow them organically for a few months, and when you gain enough reach and followers, you can sell it.
It is an alternative method for those who want to earn money from Instagram but not long-term fame.
You can sell your account on places like-
7. Sell your products
You can also use Instagram to sell your unique products. Thousands of people sell their products every day because people are interested in buying new and unique stuff.
If you are unique enough, you can make your own product and promote it through your posts.
You can sell products like customized t-shirts, customized shoes, posters, handicrafts, etc. to your audience.
You can create your website and create a marketplace for your products. Use Instagram to promote your products and earn a steady income.
Check out this article by Hubspot to know all about selling your products on Instagram.
8. Sell your photos
Travel is one of the most popular niches on Instagram. If you are a photographer and take amazing pictures of places and people around you, you can sell them and make a decent amount of money.
Many amateur photographers use Instagram to share their perfect clicks and people buy those pictures.
If you have a knack for taking photographs, use your talent to make great side earnings.
Know more about selling pictures on Instagram here.
9. Get freelancing gigs
If you think Instagram is not for freelancers, think again! Many freelancers use Instagram to get clients. If you are into freelancing or want to become a freelancer, Instagram is the perfect place to look for clients.
Your profile serves as your portfolio. You don’t need to create your website to show your resume and testimonials, your Instagram profile is enough for the clients to get an idea of your skillset.
You can use relevant hashtags for the clients to find you. This way, you can make a lot of money and quit your day job to become a full-time freelancer.
If you haven’t started looking for clients on Instagram yet, you can go through this blog and know everything you need to know.
10. Give dropshipping a try
Do you know what dropshipping is? Well, it is similar to creating an online store, but you don’t have to worry about the shipping.
Here, you contact a wholesaler and make a deal with him. You act as the middleman and take orders from people around the internet via social media sites like Instagram.
After receiving the orders, you have to forward them to the wholesaler, and he will take care of the shipping part.
It is an amazing opportunity for those who don’t want to take the burden of shipping and delivering.
11. Try online consulting
Online consulting means answering questions and giving advice to people in need. The first thing you need to have is the deep expertise of your niche. After that, you have to advertise yourself and what you do to your potential customers.
People experienced in digital marketing and freelancing also make a decent amount of money by consulting people.
Many people do online consulting on a regular basis and make excellent money.
People like Digital Pratik, Pritam Nagrale, etc. consult people on digital marketing and making money online, respectively.
If you want to start online consulting, you should definitely check their profiles.
12. Become a brand ambassador
Ever dreamed of representing a brand? It sounds fancy, and most people think only celebrities can do that. But, this is not entirely true. There are thousands of smaller brands looking for an adept brand ambassador like you.
You can try it out if you have a great audience and you like to collaborate with brands that come under your niche.
Just use proper hashtags and send your proposal to smaller brands. If you’re discoverable enough, the brands will approach you on their own.
13. Write captions for other accounts
Do you have a knack for writing? If yes, then there is a brilliant opportunity for you. You can write captions for other accounts and get paid. Many writers on Instagram offer this service and get a good sum of money.
Make an attractive Instagram profile and mention that you can write captions for others. The interested clients can reach out to you.
Make sure that the services you offer are unique and commendable. Keep posting awesome, meaningful, precise, and to-the-point captions. The type of caption depends on the individual.
Always keep in mind that on the internet, making money is an art, and half of it depends on your talent, and the rest depends on how you market yourself.
14. Make a brand new Instagram filter
I bet you enjoy taking pictures on Instagram using the latest and viral filters. Have you ever asked yourself how people make them? The answer is- people use Spark AR Studio to make those effects.
You can make it too. You have to learn programming languages for that. If you know it already, it’s even better.
Just download Spark AR Studio to make your unique filter.
There aren’t many people who know how to make a filter. You can make filters for other people and get paid.
Trust me, it is very interesting, and you can make money easily by spending a few hours.
In conclusion
Making money on Instagram is not as hard as you might think. There are hundreds of different ways to get fame and make money altogether. I have mentioned some of the legitimate ways in this article. You can try any one of them and make money in no time.
All you need is a different approach towards anything that you do, and you will get anything you want. Instagram is one such platform where billions of people come together and consume content daily.
Where there are people, there is money. Therefore, you should find ways to harbour that money towards you.
Gain some skills, and money won’t be far away from your grip. As Joker correctly said, “If you're good at something, never do it for free.”
