Instagram is one of those platforms that can make you a lot of money. But still many people have doubts is really possible to earn money through Instagram. Yes, it is possible, as long as you have some wonderful and creative images to post, you can easily grab Instagram’s millions of users’ attention. Let’s have a look at this guide that will reveal to you how to make money from Instagram.
But before we move forward and learn about how to make money from Instagram, it is important to know what makes it a money-making platform. Check out some amazing stats here:
- 1 billion active users every month. That’s nearly 3x of the US population.
- 500 million active users every day.
- In 2017, over 70% of US businesses (21 million) use Instagram.
- Around 50% of Instagram users (500 million people) follow at least one business account.
- There are around 2 million advertisers on Instagram every month.
- Time spent on Instagram rises by 80 percent every year.
- 500 million puts Instagram accounts Stories daily.
- Instagram users by gender:
Female: 38 percent
Male: 26 percent
Other: 36 percent
- Instagram users by age:
18 to 29 years old: 59 percent
30 to 49 years old: 33 percent
50 to 64 years old: 18 percent
64+ years old: 8 percent
- Instagram posts that have location tags receive 79 percent more engagement.
- Photos with faces get 38 percent more likes.
How to Make Money from Instagram?
Instagram is a perfect platform for selling products that photograph well. If you have any photography skills, you’ll have a huge benefit from the platform, and if you’re photogenic, it will bring some extra life to your product photography.
Earn money from Instagram through these five effective methods.
1. Become an affiliate and make money by marketing other people’s products.
It’s another great method in the guide of how to make money from Instagram. You can market other people’s products and get some share. There are many people who earn money from Instagram through affiliate programs.
The major difference between an influencer and an affiliate is that an affiliate works towards getting sales for the partnering brand in exchange for a commission. On the other round, the influencer intends to generate awareness.
Affiliates obtain money by using the trackable link or a promo code to make sure that you recognize which sales are coming straight from your posts.
Create engaging posts to sell the products without being pushy. Since Instagram allows only one link that too in your Instagram bio, you might need to connect a landing page to your affiliate link, in every post, make sure you add a caption that shows people they can purchase the product via the link in your bio.
Initially, you will be facing some challenges, but affiliate marketing has a lot of potential if you constantly make efforts. You can extend your presence by adding a website and/or other marketing or social media channels.
2. Become an influencer and earn money from sponsored posts.
If you reach up to the coveted influencer status, you can handle your Instagram profile to sell all kinds of products from all brands. If you are not aware of it, an influencer is someone who has developed a reputation and strong following by constantly sharing useful things on their social accounts. They own a huge fan following and can influence their audiences to purchase certain products.
They have become influential because they’ve spent plenty of time developing trust and connections with their audience. Brands tie up with these influencers to do sponsored posts that further spread the word about their goods.
To earn money through this method, you need to have a huge base and reach of your Instagram account. Apart from that, posting regularly leads to strong engagement from your followers.
As an influencer, your primary goal is to understand your audience. You need to know who those people are – their concerns, preferences, requirements, and wants. Once you get to know them, you will find which brands would be the best fit for them.
In case if you have switched your account into an Instagram business account, then you can check your audience stats a little more through your Instagram Analytics report.
Once you have developed a notable online presence, the odds are big brands will reach out to you. Even when you start growing, you also discover brands that match your personality and values the best.
Make sure that you reach out to them quickly (through Instagram or their websites) to try to settle a deal. You can further list yourself on an influencer marketplace to improve your chances of being discovered by a prominent brand.
Keep in mind that in the process of making money from sponsored posts, be mindful not to lose the support of your existing audience. It is always a great idea to apply an Instagram hashtag to tell them that it is a sponsored ad.
Today, top Instagram influencers are making thousands of dollars per sponsored post. This process will be lengthy, and thus demands patience, a lot of hard work, and the ability to get to make it. This method is attainable for sure, but ensure that you succeed in your expectations if you take this route.
3. Sell your physical products.
Instagram is not only useful for virtuals, but you can also sell a physical product that you make yourself or purchase from suppliers. It is a conventional eCommerce retailing that requires stocking some inventory, implying you’d need to employ some startup money to purchase your products.
You’ll also need a place where you can store the products, like an extra room at a house or a rented storage space. This is particularly true if you plan on keeping money by purchasing products in bulk. You’ll require a place to keep everything before they’re ordered and delivered to customers.
4. Sell poster photos and other virtual products.
We all know that Instagram is all about visuals. That’s why eye-catching products and photos generate more sales.
You can easily sell poster photos, paintings, drawings, animations, videos, and other image or video-based virtual products. On every post, indicate to readers to visit the link in your bio. This is another common way that people earn money from Instagram.
If you are a good photographer, there’s a chance that you get paid for it. Once you click some amazing shots, use the best phone’s picture editing apps to make the most out of the photos you took.
Be authentic, creative, and entertaining when you’re taking pictures as they will grab more attention than boring ones. Even you can promote your photography skills and portfolio by using relevant Instagram hashtags.
5. Sell dropshipped products.
Dropshipping is a business model you can apply to run your store without ever handling any inventory. Once you’ve made a sale, your supplier will dispatch your products from their warehouse directly to your customer’s doorstep.
You’ll never require to worry about storing, packaging, or shipping your products. It works as selling products on Instagram to earn money. The only exception is that you won’t have to store any inventory. With drop shipping, you can try to find niche products that would market well without wasting startup capital.
You can simply set up a dropshipping store with Shopify’s eCommerce platform (which is free for 14 days).
Get started with Instagram
Regardless of your business model, you have to promote it yourself. It will help if you use strategic and proven strategies to earn money. Employ compelling photos and videos produced professionally and practice your favorite filters and tools.
Let your Instagram account integrate with your eCommerce store to have a positive and consistent experience. If you sell physical products, try using the drop-shipping model – it’s useful and cost-effective. I hope this guide on how to make money from Instagram helps you out.
