If you’re still not sure about this, maybe seeing how Instagram influencers make hundreds and even thousands per post will help motivate you. Sprout Social’s research also shows that because Instagram has the highest engagement rates, many established brands like actively collaborate with Instagram users to provide them really good Instagram Followers.
There’s no doubt that Instagram is powerful. It has grown to over 1 billion users in just 8 years!
This photo-sharing platform has managed to cement itself as one of the defining social media channels of our times.
And the best part about it is that you don’t need to have mega-celebrity status to take advantage of the opportunities on Instagram. Sure, being Kylie Jenner and making over 1 million dollars per post sounds great, but we’ve seen plenty of influencers with just a few thousand followers also make a decent income. The best part is that it costs nothing or very minimal financial investment to get started.
How do they do it? What are their strategies?
In this post, you’ll find out how some of your favorite Instagram influencers are managing to make money on the platform. We’ll highlight the top 11 strategies and give you details on how to make money on Instagram.
Here are our top 11 ways to make money on Instagram. Let’s dive right in.
- 1. Publish Sponsored Posts
- 2. Become a Brand Ambassador
- 3. Promote Affiliate Links
- 4. Sell Physical Products
- 5. Sell Digital Products
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Publish Sponsored Posts
This is one of the most popular ways to make money on Instagram. If you’re a huge fan of the platform, then you’ve probably come across #sponsored or #ad before. And if you want to Get the Technology Write for us to submit a post on bcglobalnews.com.
But how does it all work?
Well, firstly, you need to be an influencer. This word is thrown around so much these days. It can be difficult to understand what it actually means. In a nutshell, influencers are people who have built a following online by posting relevant content for their audiences. Their audiences also respect their views and opinions on certain topics.
Good influencers establish themselves as authority figures in certain industries, and the more valuable content they share with their audience, the more trust they earn from them. As you already know, whether it’s in your personal or professional life, trust is something that takes time to earn, and brands know this. So, they partner up with influencers who have a good connection with their audiences, and whose content connects with their brands, and sponsor their posts.
A sponsored post is when an Influencer creates content around a specific product from a brand. Since honesty and transparency are important, especially online, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that influencers should indicate that the post is sponsored, which is why we often see the #ad on sponsored posts.
For you to make good money from sponsored posts on Instagram, you need to have a decent following. Research has shown that influencers with over 1 million followers earn thousands of dollars per post. If you’re a micro-influencer, that’s okay too. Your 20,000 or even 10,000 followers are still valuable to brands.
What’s important to brands is to ensure that your audience engages with your content, which includes liking, commenting, and sharing the content.
A great example of an Influencer who’s managed to make good money from Instagram is Anthony Carboni. He owns over 30 Instagram accounts and earns around $20,000 to $25,000 per month from the platform. But if you’re just getting started, you can aim to make $0.25 – $0.50 for every “like” and $1.00 for every comment on a sponsored post.
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Become a Brand Ambassador
A brand ambassador is “someone who promotes a brand and its products to their network with the objective of increasing brand awareness and helping drive sales.”
So, how exactly does it differ from sponsored posts?
The main difference is that brand ambassadors regularly speak about a product, while sponsored posts can be a once-off deal. The opportunity to work long-term with an influencer and have them often talk positively about their products to their followers is understandably, very appealing to brands.
Because of this, many brands are looking for brand ambassadors, and they’re also willing to pay good money for it. Studies have shown that the standard salary of a brand ambassador is in the range of $40-50,000 per year.
When looking to become a brand ambassador, we believe that the key is to choose a brand in your niche and a brand that aligns with your brand. For instance, if you regularly post workout videos, it makes sense to align yourself with a fitness brand. Of course, human beings are multi-faceted, and we can be more than one thing. However, it’s important to remember that your audience is paying close attention to the content you upload. It will be challenging to build a loyal following if you’re talking about the importance of eating organic food one week and then aligning yourself with a fast-food brand the next.
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Promote Affiliate Links
Affiliate links have become a popular way to make money on Instagram, and getting started is also simple.
Firstly, you need to identify a brand with an affiliate program that you’re interested in working with.
Secondly, you register for their affiliate program. After registering, you become an affiliate partner and get your unique, trackable link or promo code.
Thirdly, you promote the product in your Instagram account and include the link or promo code when doing so. If any of your followers follow the link and purchase, you earn a commission from the sale.
Teami Blends is a popular detox tea brand with an affiliate program. Although they’ve worked with many celebrities, like the Kardashian-Jenner sisters, they also work with micro-influencers from all over the world.
For instance, Dr. Raga is a General Surgery resident in Dubai. She is also a YouTuber and Instagrammer and recently joined their program.
It’s not enough just to include the affiliate links. As shown from the image above, it’s also important to talk a bit about the product, why you love it, and some of its benefits.
The money you earn on an affiliate program is based on commission. If this is the route, you’d like to follow to make money on Instagram, make sure that whatever brand you choose has an excellent reputation and is relevant for your audience so that you have a better chance of making those sales.
There are so many companies and brands that have affiliate programs where you can easily sign up. You can also look into RewardStyle, ClickBank, and Amazon Associates, which also offer affiliate programs.
Must Read: Most Effective Link Building Strategies in 2022? 15x Incredible Links
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Sell Physical Products
Making money on Instagram is not all about promoting other brands. If you’re a creator or entrepreneur and want to grow your brand and promote your products, you can also sell your physical products through your Instagram business account.
One account that’s doing a great job of this is Moon Magic. They sell gemstone jewelry and regularly showcase their products on their Instagram account.
The best part about this option is that you don’t have to worry about posting messages from other brands or remembering to include the right promo code. You can just focus on your brand and products and promote them to your audience.
A great strategy you can use when selling physical products on Instagram (and online in general) is to sell products with a print-on-demand service. So, if you’re selling t-shirts, coffee mugs, pillows, or any other physical product, these will only get printed and shipped once the order comes through.
One of the great tools you can use to sell products via Instagram is Square Online.
This platform automatically transforms posts from your Instagram feed into an ecommerce store. The setup is super simple and can be broken down into 3 simple steps:
- Connect Square to your Instagram account
- Tag items in your Instagram posts you want to sell
- Click “Publish” and launch your own shoppable page
While Instagram is great for gathering your fanbase in one place, it’s tough to sell products online from Instagram alone. Therefore, creating a separate website might be a great idea and it seems that the new offering from Square makes the whole process super quick and simple.
Initially you can get started with Square Online for free. That way your only cost will be transaction fees once someone actually makes the purchase. Once you’re seeing that your Instagram business is growing, you can upgrade to a paid plan that allows you to build a website with your own custom domain.
If you’re looking for more advanced shopping tools, you can consider choosing an ecommerce platform or website builder to launch a fully scalable ecommerce store and then use Instagram as one of your key marketing channels.
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Sell Digital Products
This one shouldn’t come as a surprise because, if you can sell physical products on your Instagram account, then you can also sell digital products.
What kind of products are we talking about here? Anything.
Instagram has become such a powerful selling machine. Do you have an eBook you recently finished writing? An online course? Are you a graphic designer with great design templates? You can sell these products and so much more on Instagram.
The business account has helpful features such as the shop button, in-app check-out, and product tags to make it easy for your customers to purchase your products.
Although it’s much more affordable to advertise your products and sell on Instagram, it can be challenging to drive sales.
Big brands will often have their online stores on platforms like Shopify and then use Instagram to promote their products. This strategy works well because, as highlighted earlier, Instagram has a lot of users.
