Sammie Ellard-King
I’m Sammie, a money expert and business owner passionate about helping you take control of your wallet. My mission with Up the Gains is to create a safe space to help improve your finances, cut your costs and make you feel good while doing it.
Quickfire Roundup:
Instagram has opened up many lucrative opportunities for people looking to make money online.
These include sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, selling products, sponsored stories, advertisements, influencer marketing, and selling photography.
By leveraging these various strategies, users can tap into the platform’s massive audience and build a sustainable income stream.
With the right approach and focus, Instagram can be a powerful tool for anyone looking to monetize their creativity, skills, or expertise.
You may have thought about the best ways to make money on Instagram, and even in 2024 there are a few very protiable ways in which you can make money on the social media platform.
However, the methods that work for you will differ depending on your audience, your commitment levels and the type of content you are producing.Â
Instagram marketing is on the up and up! More creators and brands join everyday.
I’ve been a Marketing Director for many years and utilising Instagram for my businesses has been one of the biggest driver of revenue.
I’ve also built a personal brand up to over 30,000 followers before which was making £150,000 a year just from the channel.
So, in this guide, we have put together the 7 best ways you can make money on Instagram.Â
Table of Contents
Top earners on Instagram
- Cristiano Ronaldo – $2,397,000 per sponsored post
- Kylie Jenner – $1,835,000 per sponsored post
- Lionel Messi – $1,777,000 per sponsored post
- Selena Gomez – $1,735,000 per sponsored post
- Dwayne Johnson – $1,713,000 per sponsored post
- Kim Kardashian – $1,689,000 per sponsored post
Best Instagram Posting Practices 2024
These best Instagram posting practices have come directly from Instagram themselves. I will keep these updated should anything change.
- Instagram is currently favouring short-form video content (reels)
- They expect you to post at least once a day
- They want you to post 5-6 Instagram stories a day, once in the morning, lunch and evening
- You must engage with other creators on the platform
- If you mention click link in bio the AI will demote your content
- Instagram is now favouring 3-5 hyper targeted hashtags per post rather than the previous 10-15
Digital Products
The key to success lies in offering digital products like online courses, e-books, and templates that provide genuine value and solve real-world problems for your audience.Â
These products not only cater to the educational and practical needs of your followers, but also allow for creative expression through digital art and photography.Â
The beauty of these products is their convenience and scalability, as they can be sold repeatedly without the need for physical inventory or shipping logistics.
To effectively sell digital products, a strong content strategy is paramount. Instagram’s visual platform is ideal for showcasing the appeal of your products through compelling imagery and engaging reels.Â
The content should not only be eye-catching but also emotionally resonant, provoking an action, whether it’s a like, comment, or purchase. Regular engagement with your audience through Instagram Stories, polls, and Q&A sessions helps in building trust and a sense of community.Â
The utilisation of Instagram’s varied features, such as comment automation for direct marketing and collaborations with influencers for wider reach, can significantly amplify your sales strategy.Â
Incorporating Instagram Ads into the mix, with their advanced targeting capabilities, allows for scaling up and reaching potential customers beyond your organic followers.Â
While selling digital products on Instagram requires upfront effort in creating and marketing, the platform’s expansive reach and engaged user base make it an ideal space for digital entrepreneurs to thrive and generate substantial revenue.
Advertisements / Sponsorship
Advertising is one of the most popular ways to monetise your Instagram account. Brands can pay to display their advertisements to a targeted audience, which can help them reach new customers and generate sales.Â
Here are some ways you can use advertising on Instagram to make money:
Instagram Ads: The platform offers several types of ads, including photo, video, carousel, and story ads. Brands will pay you to run ads for them to your targeted audience base.
Sponsored Posts: You can work with brands to create sponsored posts like regular Instagram posts but include a paid promotion. You’ll need to disclose that it’s a sponsored post, but this is a great way to earn money while maintaining authenticity.
Influencer Marketing: Brands can partner with influencers to promote their products or services. This can include creating sponsored posts or ads; the influencer will typically receive a commission or flat fee for their work.
The good thing here is that brands don’t just focus on collaborating with people with the biggest audience reach or follower count. They also care about the engagement and trust your audience has with you.Â
A deal will be made with a brand for a certain amount or type of content. Normally, the deals are negotiable, but it is important to note this deal is not just about offering content but access to your audience and usage rights.
On average, an influencer who has around 100,000 Instagram followers, would charge £500 – £2,500 per every post for that brand.
Some brands may be willing to pay more, while others may pay less. It depends on how big the brand you are working with is.Â
Affiliate Marketing
To get started with affiliate marketing on Instagram, the first step is to find the right niche or nitch (if you’re American)!
You don’t want to end up promoting something you know nothing about, unless you want your followers to see through your fake enthusiasm like a wet T-shirt.Â
Next, join affiliate programs that offer high commissions and products or services that are relevant to your audience.Â
Some popular affiliate networks include Amazon Associates, Clickbank, and ShareASale.
Now, onto the fun part: creating engaging content! You don’t want to bore your followers to death with a generic product photo and a snooze-worthy caption.Â
Instead, think outside the box and create content that showcases the product in action, like a hilarious video or a witty meme. The key is to be creative and provide value without coming across as too salesy.
Don’t forget to include your unique affiliate link in your content and Instagram bio so that your followers can easily click through and make a purchase.
Remember, the key to successful affiliate marketing on Instagram is to focus on quality over quantity. Instead of bombarding your followers with a constant stream of promotions, aim to build trust and provide value to your audience.
Push your own brand
Alongside all of the partnered Instagram marketing you can also use Instagram to push your own brand(s).
Creating engaging content that highlights your products and services can add enormous value and traffic to your website or shop.
This could be with a local view whereby you’re pushing a store front or with a global view by selling products via an ecommerce store.
The key is to create yourself a content strategy and work on creating content.
You can hire help through places like Fiverr that can help you create reels (which Instagram are favouring right now) or infographics that explain a topic using imagery and text.
Freelancers could also use it to promote their services. For example, graphic designers could post pictures of their work and then push people into the link in bio which could lead them somewhere promoting your service.
Hire a freelancer on Fiverr to help you build the brand of your dreams. Whatever it is you need help with there's a freelancer waiting for you to reach out.
Dropshipping Business Model
Dropshipping on Instagram is like being a magician, except instead of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, you’re pulling a product out of thin air!
As an Instagram influencer, you may be approached by dropshippers looking to collaborate with you and promote their products to your audience.
The process typically involves finding a reliable supplier who will ship the product directly to the customer, while you sit back and collect a commission for each sale made through your unique affiliate link.
But before you dive headfirst into the world of dropshipping, it’s important to do your research and make sure you’re promoting products that align with your brand and values.
You also want to make sure you’re following Instagram’s advertising policies and being transparent with your audience about your relationship with the supplier.
With the right approach and a bit of magic (and maybe a rabbit or two), dropshipping on Instagram can be a fun and profitable way to monetise your influence and grow your business!
Instagram Shops
In the past few years, more people have wanted to sell their products through social media platforms.
In fact, 44% of Instagrammers use the app weekly to make purchases.
Therefore, you will have seen that Instagram has released various features which allows people to shop and find business posts and videos on the platform.Â
However, this all starts by creating an Instagram shop. From there, you can share posts and stories, which will help you to sell your products as you link to them directly.
Users can only browse your shop and products that they may want to purchase. It is important to note, you can only create an Instagram shop under a business or creator account.Â
In addition to that, you can customise the shop to suit you. Also, people can buy your products through Instagram, due to shoppable posts, the Instagram shop tab and live shopping features all found on Instagram.Â
The best part is also that setting up a shop through Instagram is completely free. Although, you will have to pay a small commission if someone does purchase something from your shop.
Sell Photos
Instagram is a photo sharing app, and the images posted can be printed and sold in a number of ways.Â
In fact, you can market your photos on the Instagram marketplace, where publishers and brands may licence them.Â
Selling your photos is one of the best ways to make money on Instagram (if you take good photos).
Although, you can sell your images as other physical products and prints, by creating your own shop as mentioned above you can really excel this.
Certain services will allow you to place your images on various physical products. These services also take care of any orders you may receive. Thus, all only need to focus on taking images to make money.
Partner with creators
A great way to grow your audience which in turn leads to more people visiting your channel and potentially making a purchase is to partner with creators.
The collaborator tool on the Instagram posting app means you can post content that shows up on both channels. This then exposes your post to both audiences allowing you to attract new views, engagement and followers.
I use this social media marketing strategy with our podcast where I collaborate which each of the guests posting trailers or snippets of the podcast. This brings me more listeners each week and new followers too!
Instagram Business Account vs Personal Account
The main difference between business and personal accounts on Instagram is that business accounts have access to additional features such as Instagram Insights, the ability to add contact buttons, and the option to run paid ads.
Personal accounts, on the other hand, are more geared towards social connections and do not offer these features.
Ultimately, the choice between a business and personal account comes down to the individual’s goals and how they plan to use the platform.
It has been said that in the past Instagram lowers the engagement on business accounts to encourage ads but I’ve yet to see this happen.
That being said the algorithm can change at anytime!
FAQ’s
How much money can you make per 1000 followers?
 If you look into it you can expect to be paid roughly $10 per 1000 followers although this number can vastly increase based on your engagement and results from previous campaigns. It also depends on what type of content you are being paid for.Â
You may only be requested for story that would have less value than a fixed post or reel. Also if you’re also an influencers with multiple channels this can vastly increase your reach and therefore make you more valuable.Â
How does Instagram pay you for views?
Unfortunately Instagram doesn’t pay you directly for your content. You would need to partner with brands directly or via influencer agencies. You could even partner with Instagram themselves and therefore be paid by them so it’s not impossible!Â
How do I get paid for likes on Instagram?
The best way to get paid for likes is to build up a decent sized following with high engagement across your channel. You would then need to partner with a brand directly or get yourself onto an influencer program / agency.Â
Who is the highest paid Instagrammer?
Conclusion
Those are the 7 ways in which you can make money on Instagram. Hopefully, there is a method that will suit you!
To make money on Instagram it’s important you think about what really suits you best. It’s not always about the amount of followers (it used to be) but about your engagement and how loyal your following is.
You might want to also consider utilising your video content across other channels like YouTube and TikTok to help grow your audience across other mediums.
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Disclaimer: Content on this page is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making a financially related decision.
