If working hard and making money is the American dream, then not working hard and making money is the Instagram dream. But earning serious income through social media requires a serious strategy. Whether you are a creator or a business, you will be most successful at making money on Instagram if you do your research.
Keep reading to get inspired by thirteen examples from creators and brands, and find tips on how to make money on Instagram that will work for everyone.
Can you make money on Instagram?
Hell yes. In fact, helping creators make a living on the platform is a top priority for Instagram, especially with increased competition from TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.
“Our goal is to be the best platform for creators like you to make a living,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the company’s first-ever Creativity Week in June 2021.
In 2021, Instagram was the second most downloaded app in the world. It is the 7th most visited website in the world, the 4th most popular social media platform and has 1.22 billion users every month. All this suggests that this is a huge potential audience. With a huge and diverse pool of people who can potentially be exposed to your content, there are plenty of earning opportunities.
Want more proof? Grab some popcorn and watch this video.
(If you’re looking for more Instagram stats – you know, to chat at parties and impress your friends – you can find 35 of them here.)
How much money can you make on Instagram?
The numbers are tricky because creators and brands have been known to hide how much money they make. On top of that, calculating Instagram revenue is tricky: if you sing a song on a video, the sound goes viral, and you get a record deal thanks to that internet fame, then tens of thousands of people buy tickets to your concert, right? count as earnings on Instagram? What if you post a food video and then provide a link to your recipe blog and run ads on your blog that make you money?
It sounds strange, but this is how most successful authors go. How much money you can make on Instagram depends on your credentials, audience size, engagement, strategy, fuss, and a little bit of luck.
Here’s how much some authors and celebrities have reportedly earned:
$901: The average amount of money an Instagram influencer with 1,000-10,000 followers per post can earn, according to Business Insider.
$100 to $1,500: How much a creator can be paid to show ads on their Instagram stories, according to Brian Hanley, CEO of Bullish Studio (an influencer talent agency)
$983,100: The amount Kylie Jenner reportedly earns from advertising or posting sponsored content .
$1,604,000: The amount Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly earns per post
In 2021, Hype Auditor polled nearly 2,000 influencers (most of them based in the US) about how much money they make. Here’s what they found:
- The average influencer earns $2,970 per month. “Average”numbers are not the best, as there are so many differences between highs and lows, as indicated by the following statistic!
- Micro-influencers (accounts with 1,000 to 10,000 followers earn an average of $1,420 per month, while mega-influencers (accounts with over a million followers) earn around $15,356 per month.
Top 5 Earn Money on Instagram in 2022
Obviously, celebrities have a bad reputation and when they sign up for Instagram, they automatically get thousands of followers. While it’s not the same for all of us, it’s inspiring to see how much someone can earn by being an influencer on a social media platform. Here are the top 5 earnings on Instagram today:
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 475 million followers with an average cost per post of $1,604,000.
- Dwayne “The Rock”Johnson – 334 million followers with an average cost per post of $1,523,000.
- Ariana Grande – 328 million followers with an average cost per post of $1,510,000.
- Kylie Jenner – 365 million followers with an average cost per post of $1,494,000.
- Selena Gomez – 341 million followers with an average cost per post of $1,468,000.
How to make money on Instagram as a business
Being present, active, and engaging on Instagram (and keeping up with trends) is one of the best ways to succeed in business on the platform in 2022. Here’s how to do it.
1.Promote Special Offers
Online audiences like a lot (and Instagram users love to buy things: 44% of Instagram users say they use the shopping app on a weekly basis).
Use Instagram to showcase all the fun stuff about your company, especially any time you have a sale. Posting your sale, promo code, or special offer on Instagram not only advertises the sale to your followers, but also makes sharing easier.
This holiday sale post from clothing brand @smashtess has tons of comments where people just tag their friends. This is a great way to promote a sale as well as spread the word organically.
2.Set up a countdown to new launches
You can use Instagram to give your followers information about new releases, launches, or product lines, and with the Countdown or Reminder features, you can provide an easy way for potential customers to mark when these new products are available. Available for sale. This will create buzz around your offering, and as soon as the release happens, users will get a notification reminding them to check it out (and hopefully check it out).
3.Set up an Instagram store
Ins t agram stores are a direct way to make money on the application. Users can purchase products using the platform’s native e-commerce tools, and it’s easy to set up a store.
Instagram stores are the impulsive shopper’s best friend (or worst nightmare, depending on how you look at it). Your purchasable products or services will appear in your subscribers’ newsfeeds along with regular posts.
Hosting an Instagram store is also a great way to provide fast customer service for people who use social media (mostly everyone – 75% of the world’s population over 13). Customers can DM you or comment on posts to learn more about your brand. (Hint: If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your private messages, consider using a chatbot to support your customer service team.)
When you post something with a purchasable item, a small shop icon will appear in the post, letting viewers know it’s available for purchase.
The home improvement store @ the.modern.shop uses the “purchasable”tags in many of its posts.
4. Set up a chatbot
An easy way to provide great customer service and make sales through direct messaging is to set up an Instagram chatbot. The chatbot is integrated directly into your Instagram account and website and can answer any of your followers’ frequently asked questions. If a question is too complex for a conversational AI chatbot, it will automatically pass the request on to a real member of your team.
And how can a chatbot help you make money on Instagram? Simple!
The Instagram chatbot can recommend products in your store directly to your customers via chat, resulting in faster and smarter sales.
If a customer asks what base color you have in stock, the chatbot can offer three different options that the user can quickly add to their cart without leaving the platform.
Source: Rise
5. Collaborate with creators
Influencer marketing allows you to share your company with the creator’s audience (and the creator gets your audience’s attention as well – it’s a win-win).
When you’re looking for people to partner with, make sure you pay attention to their content and values: you want to pick someone whose goals align with yours so that the partnership makes sense to customers and doesn’t feel weird. marketing scheme.
For example, it makes sense for a plant-based bakery to partner with a vegan influencer (more sense than Bill Nye’s partnership with Coca-Cola, that’s for sure).
Try partnering with creators who are most likely to try and/or like your products. For example, dancer @maddieziegler has been collaborating with sportswear brand @fabletics for a long time. You can offer the creator money, merchandise, or an affiliate deal (more on that in the “Join an Affiliate Program”section of this post just above!) in exchange for getting your company featured.
6.Collaborate with other companies
Like partnerships with creators, partnerships with other companies give people on both sides of the deal the opportunity to interact with a broader consumer base. Try reaching out to other companies like yours and running a contest or giveaway is a great way to gain followers and engage new audiences.
This giveaway from @chosenfoods and @barebonesbroth requires members to like and save the post, follow both companies, and tag a friend in the comments. Both brands create their own audience – followers who are just waiting to turn into consumers.
7.Direct Advertising
Hey, the basics still work. Instagram ads are one way to make money on the platform and actually track your progress. You can turn any post into an ad by upvoting it, and your Instagram analytics will tell you how much of a boost it was.
How to make money on Instagram as an author
Even if you don’t have a “business”in the conventional sense, there are plenty of ways to use Instagram to make money as an individual. With a solid audience and a clear niche, you have influence – and you can become one.
1.Brand partnerships
Brand partnerships are probably the most well-known way creators can make money on Instagram. Find a small or big brand that matches your values (this part is important – partnering with a brand that has nothing to do with your regular content or even directly contradicts your regular content will make you fake).
Brand partnerships can take many forms: you can get paid to post on Instagram about a particular product, or you can offer free products in exchange for content. To get started, try posting a few posts for free that talk about your favorite things – restaurants, skin care products, etc. You can then point to these posts as examples when you reach out to brands.
Many makeup and beauty influencers are involved in brand deals like this. Here is an example of a paid affiliate post from @mexicanbutjapanese creator for Nordstrom.
Tip: When you’re in a paid partnership or sponsored post, be transparent. Use hashtags, tag the post as sponsored, and clearly state the partnership in your captions. Failing to follow the branded content guidelines on Instagram can result in posts being removed, and it’s sketchy.
2.Join the affiliate program
This is related to brand partnerships as joining an affiliate program still requires you to connect with a business that sells certain products or experiences. Affiliate programs essentially pay you to promote other people’s products (again, you want to make sure the products you highlight are in line with your values). If your followers buy something from a brand through you—usually through a specific link or discount code—you get paid.
This manicurist is an affiliate marketer for a nail polish brand—when subscribers use her discount code to purchase nail polish, the creator makes money.
3. Enable live icons
For US creators, live Instagram badges are a way to earn money directly through the app. During the live stream, viewers can purchase badges (worth between $0.99 and $4.99) to show their support.
To enable Live Badges, go to your profile and tap Professional Dashboard. Then turn on monetization. Once approved, you’ll see a “Customize Icons”button. Click on it and you’re done!
Source: Instagram
If you have enabled Live Badges, be sure to mention it when you go live (remind your followers that if they want to show their support with money, it’s easy to do so!) and express gratitude when someone buys a badge. Expressing gratitude goes a long way and is likely to encourage other people to get involved.
4. Sell your merch
Using Instagram as a marketing tool for other sources of income is a great money making strategy. If you’ve curated your personal brand enough to have a certain look, logo, catchphrase, or something else that recognizes you, consider selling products that are adorned with that extra sparkle (you’re the brand). You can make money from sales and also get free publicity when your followers start walking around with your name on their sweatpants.
Drag queen extraordinaire Trixie Mattel sells branded merchandise and uses Instagram as an advertising platform.
5.Link to your blog or vlog
Selling ad space on your own website or making money on Youtube can be very lucrative and you can use Instagram to direct your followers to that external site (hint: use a link tree to make the most of that link in your Instagram bio.).
Here are some quick examples:
- Gourmets who post pictures of the food they have cooked and also blog where they post the full recipes.
- Youtubers who post highlights of their vlog on Reels and then provide a link to their Youtube channel to watch the full video.
- Fashion influencers who post their outfits on Instagram and link to their website where they reveal where the clothes come from.
- Outdoor adventurers who post great scenery and link to their blog where they detail the best travel routes.
Food blogger @tiffy.cooks posts videos of her cooking on her blog and links to detailed recipes in her bio. The recipes live on her blog, which also hosts posts with affiliate links.
6.Offer paid lessons or workshops
It’s like linking to a blog or vlog, but instead of earning indirect income (through company ads on your page or Youtube ads), your subscribers directly pay you for the service you provide.
If you have a specific area of expertise, you can offer an online workshop that requires a paid ticket. This method of making money is common among fitness influencers who can post short workouts for free and then link to a full workout program that you need to pay to access.
Film colorist @theqazman offers quick tips on Instagram and also runs ticket workshops. So his content still attracts a wide (free) audience, but people who are serious about learning ropes will pay him for a full lesson.
You can also offer tutorials or workshops for free and simply ask your followers to tip you if they have the means, a technique used by the @iamlshauntay athlete. Her bio link directs subscribers to ways in which they can pay her for her work if they are able to do so. This is a good method to use if you’re looking for maximum accessibility: There are no financial barriers to your content, but your audience still has a clear way to pay you if they choose to.
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