If you’re not on Instagram yet, now is the time to sign up. The photo-sharing app has exploded in popularity over recent years, and it’s only getting bigger.
That means an immense opportunity for people who want to start a business and make money from Instagram or build their brand online because social media marketing has just gone a notch higher.
With features like stories, live video streaming, and IGTV (a new feature that allows brands of all sizes greater reach), your audience will have even less reason never to check out what you’ve got going on.
According to the most recent Instagram stats, the platform now boasts a global user base of 1.704 billion. Though it debuted as a photo-sharing app, it has evolved into a business platform.
From service providers, charities, and dropshipping eCommerce business owners, thousands of entrepreneurs leverage its selling prospects.
You may be wondering how people make money on Instagram. Is it possible for me to execute it on my own?
What differentiates selling on Instagram from other forms of eCommerce?
In this post, we’ll examine a few strategies you may implement immediately to enter the ranks of successful Instagram entrepreneurs.
Is It Possible to Make Money on Instagram?
Indeed, as long as you have some visually appealing and innovative images to use, you may capture millions of Instagram users’ attention.
You could be thinking: Well, I get that it is feasible, but how do I start?
Instagram is an excellent platform for selling visually appealing products.
For starters, here are several ways to make money on your Instagram account:
- Concentrate on sponsored posts from brands looking to reach your audience, making you the ideal vehicle for doing so.
- Offer to work as an Instagram influencer’s virtual assistant. Many of them are looking for assistance to alleviate their issues.
- On Instagram, sell your products. You can sell physical or digital goods, as well as services.
- Create captions for businesses that lack in-house content creation resources.
- Make money as an affiliate by selling other brands’ products.
Sell your photography on Instagram.
Instagram enthusiasts are continuously on the lookout for new strategies to make money on the platform.
Not to worry, we’ll walk you through the entire process of detail-making money from Instagram, including some Instagram success stories.
How to Make Money on Instagram
Instagram is an excellent platform for selling visually appealing products.
If you possess photography abilities, you will have a significant advantage on the platform. Bonus points if you are naturally photogenic and wish to infuse your product photography with additional vitality.
Have you forgotten to bring your camera?
With our product photography course, you’ll learn how to snap great images with your smartphone. Nothing will prevent you from profiting from the photo and video sharing applications.
The following are 7-profitable business models for making money on Instagram:
Make money from sponsored posts by becoming an influencer.
Make money through sponsored posts by becoming an influencer.
If you achieve the desired influencer designation, you can utilize your Instagram profile to promote various products from various brands.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, an influencer is someone who has established a reputation and a loyal following through consistent social media sharing. They have a sizable following and are adept at persuading their followers to follow trends and buy specific products.
They possess this authority due to the time and effort in developing trust and relationships with their audience.
Brands frequently collaborate with influencers to create sponsored posts that promote their products. To reach this point, you must first increase your Instagram following and consistently create posts that produce a high level of engagement.
Influential influencers make thousands of dollars for each sponsored post. Bear in mind that reaching this point requires a significant amount of time, effort, and talent. It is possible, but you must control your expectations appropriately if you take this route.
It’s imperative to understand your audience as an influencer. You must first have an understanding of those individuals-their motivations, values, needs, and desires.
This way, you’ll be able to determine which brands are most appropriate for them. If you’ve upgraded to an Instagram business account, you can conduct more audience research using Instagram Insights.
If you’ve established an impressive internet presence, major brands are likely to reach you. However, as you construct, you discover brands that you believe best reflect your personality and values.
Reach an attempt to negotiate a deal with them directly (through Instagram or their websites). Additionally, you can list with an influencer marketplace to improve your chances of discovering a large company.
Additionally, take money not to jeopardize your existing audience’s confidence in the process of monetizing sponsored posts. It’s usually a good idea to include an Instagram hashtag indicating that the post is sponsored (something straightforward like # sponsored or # commercial).
Make money being an affiliate by selling other people’s products.
You can earn a commission by reselling other people’s products. Numerous individuals make money with affiliate networks on Instagram.
The distinction between an influencer and an affiliate is that an affiliate works in exchange for a commission to generate sales for the partnered brand.
The influencer, on the other hand, is primarily interested in raising awareness. (If you’re merely interested in gaining exposure for your brand, you may want to review these brand awareness strategies to help you get started.)
Affiliates earn commissions via a trackable link or promo code, which enables you to track precisely which sales originated from your posts.
Create engaging posts that allow you to promote products without being obnoxious. Given that your Instagram bio is limited to one link, you may wish to associate your affiliate link with a landing page. Make sure to include a link to your product in each post that directs visitors to your bio. Additionally, develop a lighthearted Instagram caption to soften the tone.
While it may appear to be a challenging game at first, affiliate marketing has a lot of promise for growth. You can strengthen your presence by adding a website and additional marketing or social media outlets.
Take inspiration from our list of visually appealing Instagram post ideas from successful brands.
Sale of poster photos & other virtual products.
Instagram is a visual-first platform. That is why visually appealing products and photos will result in increased sales.
You can sell photos, paintings, drawings, animations, and videos, as well as other image and video-based virtual products. Include an engaging caption with each post and direct readers to your bio link. This is another typical stream for Instagram users to earn money.
If you believe you can take high-quality photographs, you may be able to earn money for them. Once you’ve captured some incredible shots, utilize the best photo editing apps for phones to maximize the value of your photos.
When photographing, attempt to be unique, creative, and enjoyable. These will garner significantly more attention than uninteresting ones.
Using relevant Instagram hashtags, you can use Instagram to promote your photography portfolio.
Virtual Assistant to an Influencer
Consider working as an assistant to an Instagram influencer if you like to work behind the scenes.
Numerous influencers require assistance with various tasks, including reviewing sponsorship requests, running advertisements, and identifying fraudulent followers. You can offer to serve as their virtual assistant and charge by the hour.
As an Instagram influencer VA, you’ll be responsible for various things, including monitoring direct messages (DMs), scheduling posts, and responding to comments. Additionally, the influencer may request content suggestions to help them expand their brand.
Therefore, if you’ve ever desired to practice your Instagram marketing skills in a non-public setting, this is an excellent place to start.
Instagram caption services.
They offer captioning services for Instagram photos.
While many small business owners use Instagram to promote their products and services, only a select handful have the tools or expertise necessary to write compelling Instagram captions. If you’re skilled at creating clever Instagram captions, you may sell these businesses your services. Bear in mind that they will assess your ability to write compelling short-form copy.
Write and post some captions on your account to attract the attention of business owners. Then add to your portfolio the ones that get the greatest engagement. Chances are, if a business hires you to write their Instagram copy, they will request to view your work. As a result, ensure that you have some samples available to them immediately.
How much should Instagram captions be charged? Whatever you believe you are worth in terms of pricing. It may cost as little as $600 for ten captions or as much as $1,000 for twenty. The critical point is to bill for your expertise, not your time or your content.
Sell dropshipped products.
Promote dropshipped products.
Dropshipping is a business model that enables you to operate your store entirely without ever holding inventory.
Once you’ve completed a sale, your supplier will ship your products directly to your customer from their warehouse. You won’t have to worry about storing, packaging, or shipping your products ever again. Phew.
This is similar to our previous suggestion of earning money by selling products on Instagram. The only difference is that you will not require inventory storage. Dropshipping enables you to experiment with niche products to determine which ones will sell well without wasting startup capital.
With Shopify’s eCommerce platform (free for 14 days), alongside Oberlo’s free Explorer plan, you can quickly set up a dropshipping store.
Sell physical products
You can sell any physical product, whether you make it yourself or buy it from suppliers. This type of traditional eCommerce retail typically requires inventory, which means you’ll need some initial funds to buy your products.
Additionally, you’ll need a place to store the products, such as a spare room or rented storage space. This is especially true if you intend to save money by purchasing in bulk. You’ll require a place to store everything before customer and delivery.
Beginning in July 2020, you will be able to sell products directly on Instagram by setting up an Instagram Shop. Simply include product tags in your Instagram images, and you can direct your followers directly to your product pages, where they can purchase your goods.
Can One Make Money from Instagram?
Instagram’s figures are mind-boggling, and the platform is rapidly catching up with Facebook’s growth.
While Facebook currently has 2.80 billion monthly active users, Instagram has grown to 1 billion users in less than nine years from its 2010 launch.
With Instagram’s popularity constantly expanding, it’s not surprising that Instagrammers have developed into an unstoppable force. They’ve discovered ways to monetize their Instagram accounts and the photos they take.
If you’re interested in monetizing your Instagram account, consider the following staggering stats:
With 71% of Instagram users under 35, the site is great for brands looking to reach young adults.
Every month, 1 billion users log in. This is nearly three times the population of the United States of America.
71% of firms in the United States (big and small) utilize Instagram for branding and marketing.
- Brands receive four times the amount of engagement on Instagram as they do on Facebook.
- Instagram users spend an average of 80 percent of their time on the platform each year.
- Every day, 500 million users post a tale. It is about twice the size of the United States.
- Approximately 80% of Instagram users make a purchasing choice while using the app.
- 50% (500 million) of Instagram users follow at least one business account.
- Each month, Instagram has more than 2 million advertisements.
Requirements to Make Money on Instagram
With apps, adhering to the do’s & don’ts list, employing unique filters, and advertising strategies are all critical components of business success. However, it would be best to remain alert to emerging trends and rules to make money on Instagram.
Consider a few examples.
Master Instagram for Business
Instagram accounts are classified as personal or business accounts. In July 2016, we saw the launch of the business account. You can study by using this instructional video that walks you through the process of setting one up. Additionally, Shopify offers comprehensive instruction on how to sell on Instagram.
Launch an Instagram Shop
An Instagram shop enables you to connect your product catalog to your Instagram profile seamlessly. This allows you to directly promote your products to Instagram users via posts, stories, the Explore tab, and a dedicated Shop tab on your profile.
Our team compiled the definitive guide to setting up an Instagram shop. Make a look if you’re looking for some pointers on how to check money with an Instagram shop.
Master Instagram Ecommerce Shopping Apps Integration
Instagram’s shoppability is limited, which means that it will require some ingenuity to make it work for business. However, the eCommerce shopping feature can be integrated seamlessly with Shopify-specific apps.
Try a few apps to determine which ones allow you to publish products with their associated pricing and specifications on separate pages.
This way, shoppers believe they are still on your Instagram pages even though they have already arrived at the eCommerce-ready shopping app pages.
I recommend Shopify because it comes pre-integrated with a plethora of Instagram-compatible apps. Many apps are completely free to try, so there is no risk if they do not work for you.
Master Instagram Do’s and Don’ts
Instagram has detailed rules regarding how you should post, the types of images or videos you should post, and the number of times you can post per day.
Additionally, it restricts the number of hashtags that can be included, thus curtailing you from spamming the Instagram account with more than 30 hashtags that have nothing to do with the post’s content. There will be no fraud!
Adhering to these rules will significantly increase your chances of earning money from Instagram. According to CoSchedule, it’s recommended to post between one and two times per day to avoid overwhelming your followers. This also gives you time to make interesting and unique posts. Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 a.m. would be the optimal time to post.
Instagram captions ought to be between 138 and 150 characters in length, according to Sprout Social. Limit yourself to 125 characters for advertisement captions. Although more than ten is acceptable but not recommended, the optimal number of hashtags is five and ten.
If your posts include more than 20 hashtags, Instagram may “shadow ban” them. The term “shadow banning” refers to the process by which your posts are removed from search results for specific hashtags.
As you can probably guess, anything that contains the word “ban” is terrible, so avoid it whenever possible. It will have a detrimental effect on your ability to make money.
Acquire Expertise in Instagram Filters and Photography
Canva surveyed the mainstream Instagram filters in America. They are Clarendon, Gingham, Juno, and Lark in order of rank. But Clarendon, Juno, Valencia, Gingham, and Lark are the world’s favorite filters.
The mainstream filters for fashion:
- Nashville
- Valencia
- Kelvin
The mainstream filters for nature:
- Valencia
- Brooklyn,
- Normal
The mainstream selfie filters are:
- Normal
- Slumber
- Skyline
Leverage tools, like the example of Picodash, to determine photos’ performance. You want to create successful accounts while still cultivating your unique content and personality. Empower yourself by learning new stuff daily to make money from Instagram.
The mainstream filters for food:
- Normal
- Skyline
- Helena
Create Posts Animated by Trending Stories
Incorporate viral stories into your Instagram account’s feed alongside product photos & videos. You can easily execute this by harnessing tools such as Stencil, PromoRepublic, and Be Funky.
Build a Vibrant Following on Instagram
How do you build a following to make money on Instagram?
Could you then create an Instagram following before or after you start selling?
The response is rather easy, both before and after you start selling.
Presumably, you should already have a few hundred followers before launching to sell. This way, you will avoid posting product photos to an account that is not active. Naturally, you’ll have to start from scratch at some point – try building a base first before going after the sales.
Still, how do you go about growing a considerable following on Instagram? Incorporate the 10+ tips highlighted below to continue growing your following. A massive following is a key to making money on Instagram.
Augment your Instagram profile.
Make sure that your username is fewer than 30 characters long. In an ideal world, the name would be searchable via a keyword. Additionally, it should be consistent with your usernames on other social media platforms.
Your bio should contain no more than 150 characters. Adding a clickable link to your website is an excellent idea. This is the only location on Instagram where you may put a clickable link, so it’s critical for account optimization.
Create & promote a particular hashtag.
If your handle is Jennie’s Candies, try creating the hashtag # jenniescandies. You can check the hashtag whenever you want to check conversations about your brand.
Additionally, you can promote this hashtag wherever you go and on various other channels, both online and offline.
Creative hashtags that relate to your niche.
While Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, this could work against you. It is recommended to use five to ten popular hashtags relevant to your niche and your products.
Engage in conversations about your niche.
Check out other accounts that are using the same hashtags. Sustain interest in them and participate in their talks. This will increase your following.
Employ persuasive Instagram captions.
An Instagram caption is a text that you add to the bottom of your Instagram posts to give them a bit more juice and appeal. The greatest Instagram captions create an invitation for your followers to join the conversation and like your posts.
Run & promote contests.
Run a contest with a photo inviting participants and display the prizes. Make sure to create a unique hashtag for the contest as well. Determine how the winners will be settled on and post the guidelines.
For instance, you can take unique photos for the contest. And anyone who uses the hashtag in a photo automatically enters the competition. Make sure that you are adhering to Instagram’s contest regulations.
Be creative with the contest so that contestants can earn money from Instagram as well, if possible. You can invite them to participate in a prize-based affiliate scheme.
Use Instagram Stories and Instagram Live Videos to promote your business.
Instagram Stories have become a significant part of the platform, and their popularity continues to grow. You can leverage Instagram Stories to build your audience like a pro.
There are numerous ways to manipulate the content on Instagram Stories, including adding geotags, selfie stickers, moving text, color overlays, text, and face filters (similar to Snapchat).
Incorporate originality into the delivery of your message. It ought to be fun.
How to build a strong Instagram following
Schedule regular posting.
The key is to be consistent and to ensure that each of your posts reflects your unique style. This way, your followers will be able to identify your posts and know they are from your brand. You can also schedule Instagram posts using third-party social media software applications such as Hootsuite, SocialFlow, and Sprout Social.
Liaise with influencers & accounts with common interests.
Solicit exchanges and paid posts from influencers and like-minded accounts. For instance, if you have a sizable following, you could participate in post exchanges.
If you collaborate with Instagram influencers, you can create an affiliate program that pays a commission or per post, depending on the size of their following.
Make use of the location function.
Upload videos and stories to your account, then use relevant hashtags and geotags to ensure that your posts are easily discovered by people who live in or are interested in the area.
Invite others to engage with your content.
If you ask, you may receive assistance. There is nothing wrong with requesting; just make sure that your content is truly valuable and engaging. After all, this is the ultimate method for earning money on Instagram.
Ramp up your reach by leveraging Instagram Ads.
Ads on Instagram can help you reach more people who might not have found your posts otherwise. Instagram ads are a massive asset for brands looking to earn money on the platform, so take a look if you’re ready to take your brand to the next level.
Use Instagram to Promote Your Business
Whatever business model you choose, you will need to market it. Self-promotion entails more than a roughneck. More importantly, you’d need to be strategic and employ tried-and-true tactics to earn money.
When selling on Instagram, the majority of purchases are made on impulse. The key is to create a “wow” factor with your photos, videos, and captions, as well as a seamless shopping experience for your products.
Adapt compelling photos and videos that were professionally shot and edited using your preferred filters & tools.
Integrate your Instagram account to your eCommerce store to create a positive and consistent experience for your customers.
Read Also:
- 9 Niche Markets Examples For Finding Products To Sell (2021)
- How to Create Facebook Custom Audience In 2021
- Tips and Tricks To Making Dropshipping A Success in 2021
- 13 Best Online Selling Sites For Listing Products In 2021
- 30 Best Free Video Editing Software Programs In 2021
Partner with a big group of influencers. Choose influencers whose philosophy and audience are aligned with yours.
Make sound strategic decisions. Post a constant stream of content daily.
Create a consistent theme across all of your social media accounts, web pages, and blogs.
Conclusion: Make Money on Instagram
Instagram is a moneymaking machine for aspiring entrepreneurs. In being creative with your account, you can make money from Instagram, just like celebs do.
In sum, here are all of the ways you can employ to make money from Instagram:
- As an influencer, you can generate sponsored content for brands.
- You can affiliate and promote a variety of products.
- Assist an influencer working as a virtual assistant.
- Write captions for businesses
- Sell posters, photos, & other virtual items.
- Sell your physical goods
- Promote & sell dropshipped products
By publishing photos, live stories, and videos, you can sell physical products. Similarly, services such as influencer marketing can be sold. Consider using the dropshipping model if you sell physical products – it’s convenient and cost-effective.
How much money can an Instagram user make?
It is determined by the products you sell and the business strategies and marketing tactics you employ. If you’re just getting started, you’re likely to make only a few dollars. However, as your Instagram following grows and you improve your marketing skills, you’re likely to see an increase in your numbers.
How can one maximize earnings on Instagram?
Profit from the expertise of successful Instagrammers. Combine what you’ve learned from them with your marketing, photography, storytelling, and photo styling expertise.
Grow your following as much as possible, host contests, and create an active presence by posting new photos once or twice daily. Additionally, have a strong product and make sure that all of your customers are happy.
In 2021, Instagram counts to be the best way for businesses to make money. It’s already an excellent platform for influencers and content creators with millions of followers who can reach their audiences more effectively there than on other platforms.
If you want your business to thrive in 2021, it’s time to start thinking about how you will use Instagram as part of your marketing strategy.
This could happen in many ways – from sharing original video content on IGTV channels or running an ad campaign targeting specific demographics through ads manager-but; we would love to hear what you think!
It may take several weeks or months before you earn a sexy profit from Instagram, so plan before quitting your 9-to-5 job. However, if you’re willing to take the risk, many opportunities are waiting for you.
Get started now and keep an open mind to continue learning, growing, and crushing your financial goals.
Leave us a comment below and let us know which hacks resonate most with you so far.