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Instagram is a social media platform for sharing photos, videos, and reels. Since its debut in 2011, it has continued to expand exponentially. Current statistics show that Instagram has close to 1 billion users worldwide. Though primarily used by teens and millennials, it now has a sizeable user base across all demographics and is a lucrative market for savvy advertisers. From entrepreneurs to service providers and influencers, many users take advantage of the selling power of the site to make money with Instagram. If you are among the many looking to earn passive income with Instagram, this article is for you.
Can You Make Money with Instagram?
In short, a resounding “Yes!” As long as you make wholesome and engaging content to attract and hold the attention of its vast user base, you can make money with Instagram. Here are a few ways in which you can make money with on the platform.
1. Selling Products via Instagram Shop
The past few years have been great for eCommerce brands and creators, with many social media platforms offering shopping features. Instagram’s own eCommerce store, Instagram Shop, is packed with features providing creators a chance to sell their products on the platform.
From curated collections to seasonal trends and new arrivals, ‘Instagram Shop’ acts like any other eCommerce store out there. You can include all relevant information, like product descriptions, pricing, and more for your catalogue items.
Other Instagram Shop features include shoppable ads, posts and stories, and Live shopping. Unfortunately, while setting up an Instagram Shop is free, you will be charged a fee for every successful sale you make from using the platform.
2. Selling Instagram Accounts
First off, Instagram doesn’t condone the selling of Instagram accounts and can even shut down accounts that are in violation. In saying that, selling Instagram accounts is a source of income for many people individuals and they actually make a decent amount of money from doing it, especially if they have a large following.
Rather than investing time and effort to grow their own Instagram account from stratch, many brands will pay a hefty sum for an already established account.
The going rate for an Instagram account is between $50 – $10,000, depending on the followers, engagement, industry, and Instagram handle. In most cases, a buyer/brand will approach Instagram users to purchase their accounts if they so desire. However, page owners can also list an Instagram account for sale on sites like Instatradia or Fameswap to get the ball rolling.
3. Charge Small Businesses for Promotions
Another popular way to make money with Instagram is by bringing attention to growing businesses. You may work with small businesses to advertise their items on your Instagram account for a small fee if you have a decent Instagram following and active followers. Most Instagram pages that do this usually have the phrase, “DM for Promotion or Shoutouts” written in the Bio section of the account to attract buyers or an advertisement placed in their Highlights with prices. It can be a one-off post or a series of posts for their new products or services. If you are successful in getting engagement for your promotions, you can attract new and repeat clients.
4. Market External Content like Merch & Digital Products
Utilizing Instagram as a promotional tool for other revenue sources, such as the sale of your products and services, is another method to profit from the platform. When you have a sizable number of Instagram followers, consider creating a brand with a logo, tagline, and selling “merch”.
Instead of selling your merch via the “Instagram Shop”, you can open your own eCommerce store on sites like Printify and Teespring. After that, promote the items on your Instagram feed so that your followers may visit your online store to make a purchase.
To avoid having to ship items to customers, you may instead choose to market digital goods instead of physical ones. Popular digital products include eBooks, online courses, printables, print-on-demand services, consulting services, inter alia.
5. Do Sponsored Posts
Another great way to make money with Instagram is through sponsored posts. For many influencers, it ranks among their top sources of income.
To spread the word about their products, several brands work with influencers on sponsored posts, reels, or stories. It can be a single post or an entire campaign for a set fee. Some brands also offer free products, shout-outs, services, or a combination of these in place of fees.
But how do you get started with sponsored posts? If you are an influencer with a large following, businesses will frequently find you on their own. If not, you may use a marketplace for influencers (such as CrowdTap, Fohr, or indaHash) to improve your chances of getting found.
6. Do Affiliate Marketing
Similar to sponsored articles, affiliate marketing pays you a fee for each sale of a product or service you promote. Typically, a special promo code or trackable link is used to do this in the user’s Instagram bio or stories.
You may choose between the following two strategies to earn money through affiliate marketing:
- Reach out to brands/companies offering affiliate marketing programs; or
- Explore online marketplaces like Amazon Associates, Clickbank, and LTK to kick-start your affiliate marketing business.
Conclusion
Instagram is a veritable goldmine for entrepreneurs looking to make money on the famous social media platform. What is, for many, a mere social networking platform can be a lucrative passive income stream for you. All it takes is a little creativity, patience, persistence, and entrepreneurial drive on your part.
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Suggested Readings
- How to Make Money from Home (Top 6 Websites that Pay You)
- How to Make Money on Fiverr (Top 6 Unique Gigs to Offer)
- How to Make Money While you Sleep (6 Best Strategies for Beginners)
- 9 Proven Methods to Grow Your Instagram Organically (Best Insights Out There)
- 5 Online Side Hustles To Earn Extra Money (Get Rich Without a 9-5)
This is so helpful! I enjoyed reading this post. Thank you so much for sharing!
This was very informative. I had no idea people made money from instagram other than sponsered posts and affiliate marketing. Thanks for sharing.
My Instagram account is still so small but i will look into this when it improves! Thank you
Lots of great pointers! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I’m just starting out and this was so helpful!! I will be checking out more of your work!!