If you’re seeking opportunities to generate income online, you might be curious about the workings of Instagram. Instagram is a popular, free app for sharing photos and videos, enabling you to upload and distribute content among your friends and followers.
By amassing a substantial following and fostering active engagement, it’s possible to earn anywhere from several hundred to thousands of dollars per month on Instagram. However, it’s important to note that making money on Instagram requires dedication and effort, whether you aim to establish a side hustle for passive income or pursue it as a full-time occupation. To assist you in getting started, here are five methods to initiate your journey toward monetizing your Instagram account.
Five ways to make money on Instagram:
- Collaborate with brands
Working with brands as an influencer is an excellent way for smaller Instagram accounts to monetize their platform. Brands are not solely interested in influencers with millions of followers; they often seek out smaller influencers with high engagement rates and affordable fees. Collaborations can range from a single post to a series of posts, stories, or reels that showcase the brand’s offerings. In exchange for promoting the brand, influencers can receive free products, services, exposure to the brand’s followers, or a combination of these benefits.
Influencers are typically categorized into five tiers based on audience size:
- Nano: 1,000 to 10,000 followers ($10 to $100 per post)
- Micro: 10,000 to 50,000 followers ($100 to $500 per post)
- Mid-tier: 50,000 to 500,000 followers ($500 to $5,000 per post)
- Macro: 500,000 to one million followers ($5,000 to $10,000 per post)
- Mega: More than one million followers ($10,000 to $1 million+ per post)
The more followers an influencer has and the higher their engagement rate, the more brands are willing to pay for sponsored content. Influencers can either wait for brands to reach out to them or proactively join Instagram’s creator marketplace or use influencer marketing platforms to find partnership opportunities that align with their niche and values.
- Promote affiliate offers
Another way to earn money on Instagram is by promoting affiliate offers. As an affiliate, influencers can earn a commission on sales generated through product tags in their posts, stories, and reels. Instead of being paid for brand awareness, influencers receive a percentage or flat rate per sale when their followers click on trackable links or use promo codes to make purchases.
Brands may approach influencers directly to discuss affiliate partnerships, or influencers can actively seek out merchants offering affiliate programs. While mega-influencers have the potential to earn the most as affiliates, smaller influencers with dedicated followings can still generate modest returns through these commission-based programs.
- Enable badges
Instagram badges provide an opportunity for influencers to earn money during live videos if they have at least 10,000 followers and a business or creator account. Badges allow followers to show appreciation and support by purchasing them during live videos, similar to giving tips. Once badges are enabled on an influencer’s Instagram profile, they will be available for purchase during live videos. Influencers can see hearts next to the usernames of users who buy badges.
Badges can be purchased in increments of $0.99, $1.99, and $4.99. Influencers can express gratitude to badge purchasers by giving shout-outs during live videos and using “thank you” stickers in their stories afterward.
Instagram states that creators receive 100% of the revenue from badge purchases during live videos, excluding taxes, fees, and the 30% share taken by Google and Apple for in-app purchases.
- Sell your merch
If influencers have their own products or merchandise to sell, they can open an Instagram shop and generate income from direct sales. Opening a shop requires a business or creator account, and once set up, shoppers can browse the influencer’s catalog, check prices, learn about products, and make purchases directly on Instagram or by visiting the influencer’s website.
To promote the shop, influencers can tag their products in reels, add shopping stickers to their stories, and collaborate with other creators who can tag their products, exposing them to new audiences.
- Enable ads on reels
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, announced the expansion of “Ads on Reels,” a performance-based monetization program available on Instagram and Facebook. Creators participating in the program earn revenue based on the number of plays their reels receive, rather than the ad revenue generated. The more successful the reels, the higher the earnings. The program is currently being tested and invitation-only, with Meta selecting creators to participate.
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Earnings on Instagram can vary based on several factors. These factors include:
- Follower count: Generally, the more followers you have, the higher your earnings potential. However, having a high engagement rate is also important to brands. According to HypeAuditor, influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers earn an average of $1,420 per month, while those with over one million followers can earn around $15,356.
- Engagement rate: Engagement refers to how people interact with your content through likes, comments, shares, and saves. Even if you have a smaller audience, if your engagement rate is high, you can earn more than someone with a large audience but low engagement. An engagement rate between 1% and 5% is considered good, according to Hootsuite.
- Niche: The niche you operate in can also impact your earnings potential. According to Sellfy, the most profitable niches on Instagram in 2023 were travel, beauty, fashion, health and fitness, lifestyle, parenting, business, music, photography, food, and animals. Targeting one of these niches can help you build a larger audience and attract sponsored posts.
- Reputation: While having a large following on Instagram can help increase your earnings potential, brands also work with influencers who have offline reputations, such as famous athletes or subject matter experts, regardless of their online follower count.
It’s worth noting that Instagram’s monetization options have evolved over time. The Reels Play bonus program, which paid content creators based on views, was discontinued. Instagram is testing a new Ads on Reels program, but it’s not widely available yet. Creators can now earn money through monetization tools like badges, branded content, gifts, and subscriptions.
Links:
https://help.instagram.com/217939383051653/?helpref=related_articles
