How to Make Money on Instagram in 2021

A lot of people are curious about how to make money on Instagram or how to monetize their Instagram account. In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about how to make money with your Instagram account.

If you want to make money on Instagram then you need to have an active & engaged following to market to. In order to monetize your Instagram, you can follow these ways to make money on Instagram: Selling Instagram Accounts, Content Creator, Growth Manager, Engagement Booster, Social Media Manager, Affiliate Marketer, Brand Sponsorships, & Influencer Marketing, Workshop/Tutorials.

Key Takeaway

Instagram is beyond a chatting site for images and videos of your personality. To make money on Instagram, you need to build active and engaging followers. It enables you to market your brand and showcase your value proposition.

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites to Making Money on Instagram
• 9 Proven Strategies on How to Make Money on Instagram
• Instagram Success Stories

Prerequisites to Making Money on Instagram

Making money on Instagram is never going to be a simple task. It takes more than just a quirky description, catchy Instagram name, or consistent posting.

Even though these activities might work well to impress your friends and family, it takes a lot of patience and hard work to make money on Instagram.

Below are some fundamentals that you need before you can start making money on Instagram.

Influence and Fanbase:

Essentially, businesses pay Instagram users (like you) money to gain access and exposure to their audience – with the hope of actually selling their products to the target audience.

When you’re just starting, you would have a smaller audience size and be unable to drive sales. To be able to have a sizable impact, you need to grow your audience size (to at least a few thousand).

You can measure the overall effect of your Instagram account using tools like HashtagsForLikes- the tool helps you to identify top-performing hashtags and content that you can use to grow your reach and followers.

Aside from growing your reach, you need to be able to create and share valuable content that encourages your followers to make certain purchasing decisions.

Your reach and influence are two essential components that determine how you get paid on Instagram.

Engaged and Dedicated Followers:

Mathematically, having a large fanbase increases your chances of getting featured in more feeds. But, what’s the importance of appearing in more feeds if people don’t engage with your content?

If you want to increase engagement, then you can create content that addresses the specific needs of your audience. You can also measure the overall impacts of the content created by checking the engagement rate of the post.

With a dedicated and engaged following, more businesses will be jumping at the opportunity to work with you. In addition, to making it easier for you to monetize the attention of your following.

If you’re just starting out, earning your first Instagram dollar will be tough because you have no influence and no community. Either of which is the only way to generate a passive income from Instagram. You’ll need to grow your Instagram enough to be in a position to monetize.

However, if you’re an established account on Instagram. Establishing a way to make money on Instagram can be as simple or complex as you like it. Just below we are going to cover 9 Proven Methods on How to Make Money on Instagram or Monetize Instagram in 2020. 

9 Proven Strategies on How to Make Money on Instagram

Are you tired of spending so much time & energy on Instagram and never seeing a single dollar?

Some Instagram Influencers have been making millions on Instagram by monetizing their audience. There are Influencers that are getting paid up to €10,000 for a single post!

However, sponsorship isn’t the only way these Instagram accounts are making their income. A lot of accounts are able to establish niche products and dropshipping stores that generate hundreds of thousands each month.

When it comes to finding a way to make money on Instagram. There are a ton of different approaches one can take, we are going to break down the best and most successful methods below!

1. Digital Real Estate – Selling Instagram Accounts

Looking to make a sizable side income off Instagram? One of the best methods for making money on Instagram is by selling Instagram accounts.

As Instagram Influencers, we possess the skills necessary to establish & grow Instagram accounts in record time. We understand the massive amounts of time & energy it takes to build a well-engaged & active audience. Most of all we know the value that a community like this holds for a brand or business.

For businesses, brands & corporations they are looking for cost-effective, efficient & easy marketing avenues. Building an Instagram account from scratch takes an enormous amount of time, energy & resources. Most businesses want instantaneous communities, they don’t want to spend months or even years growing an Instagram account.

Digital Real Estate sells the idea of convenience & high ROI. The Instagram accounts you grow will be full of highly targeted niche specific users. Meaning that businesses will be able to instantly begin social marketing campaigns, increasing brand awareness, traffic & sales.

Here is a list of platforms where you can sell your Instagram account:

• Social Tradia
• Fame Swap
• Player Up
• Viral Instas

 

2. Content Creator

Get paid for creating posts on Instagram!

Content creation is something that many Instagram Influencers excel at. The constant daily uploads make for great practice.

However, many social media managers & brands struggle with creating breathtaking content on the daily. They either don’t have the time or skills necessary to devote to content creation.

This is where Content Creators come in great use!

Your mastery in content creation & publication can help accounts provide more value to their community on a consistent basis. Understanding content factors like peak posting times, content type, & CTA’s can help to increase overall community engagement, growth & trust.

Your Instagram account feed can serve as a standard basis for content quality. The quality pictures, detailed captions & constant attendance will have brands desperately reaching out to you to produce content for them.

Here is a list of platforms to sell content on:

• Hey Influencer
• Tribe
• Hashtag Paid

 

3. Growth Manager

One of the most frequently asked questions that Influencers get is. “What is the best way to grow my following?’

Instagram users everywhere are constantly searching for the best methods of growth. Everyone is looking to establish enormous followings at breakneck speeds.

While there is no full-proof way to generate a massive community overnight, your experience with Instagram has given you in-depth knowledge on how to grow Instagram account’s fast & efficiently.

Being able to establish communities of highly engaged & active niche specific users is an incredibly powerful service. Brands, Businesses & even other Instagram account owners will pay Instagrammers big money for sustainable community growth.

Growth hacking is a perfect way to use your knowledge to make money on Instagram. Becoming a Growth Manager can be a lucrative side hustle on Instagram.

NOTE: Make sure to always have results & reviews of your services. This will give you more transparency and credibility.

4. Engagement Booster

One of the best ways to monetize Instagram is by becoming an Engagement Booster.

What’s one thing everyone wants for their content on Instagram? To increase their Engagement Rate & Go Viral!

In the case of going viral it’s the more the merrier, but the sooner the better.

Going viral on Instagram requires content to be flooded with high-quality engagement within the first 45 minutes of posting. Most accounts don’t have the skills or engagement networks established to help facilitate going viral.

This is where you as the Engagement Booster step into play.

Utilizing your knowledge of engagement boosting tactics, you can help accounts of any size achieve insane engagement numbers. Increasing their overall account exposure & follower growth. They will be sorry they hadn’t switched to your services sooner!

5. Social Media Manager

Already spending hours on end creating content, growing accounts, boosting engagement & so much more?

Now, you can get paid for all the time & energy you spend on Instagram by becoming a Social Media Manager.

There are plenty of entrepreneurs out there who want to harness the power of Instagram, but don’t have the time to manage or grow it effectively.

Individuals & companies will pay Social Media Managers to take over their Instagrams. Which will reduce some of the stress on their plates & ensure their Instagram account is in good hands.

As a Social Media Manager, you will help establish the brand on Instagram, increasing their following & community engagement.

You will build the brand’s voice & character through interactions with the community & influencers. Your account management services are highly valuable, do not sell yourself short. This method can help you become profitable on Instagram

6. Affiliate Marketer

Want to make a passive income on Instagram by simply driving traffic to products? Thanks to affiliate marketing you can earn commissions off the sales that you generate.

If you want to monetize your audience on Instagram, but don’t want to create a product yourself. Then affiliate marketing is the perfect method for making money on Instagram. All you need to do to start making commissions is drive traffic! It’s simple, easy & effective.

Statistics even show that the spending on affiliate marketing is estimated to hit the $6.8 billion mark this year.

 

Through bio links, story links & product tagging Instagram Influencers have been able to produce extremely profitable posts.

What’s perfect about Instagram Affiliate marketing is that Influencers are able to find products they actually enjoy or use regularly. Bringing more of an authentic approach to the buyer’s journey for their following.

Since you’re not out any upfront cost in inventory you can try out a wide variety of affiliate products. It’s best to search for products that would bring value or help your end buyer. Check out this list of the Top Selling Affiliate Products.

Affiliate marketing is the best place to start making money on Instagram (without creating a product yourself). Fortunately, there are thousands of self-enrolment programs in place, and the barrier to entry is relatively low.

It only takes some minutes to sign up as an affiliate marketer and get started.

If you’re not certain about where to start, you can consider an affiliate network that connects affiliates with merchants – like ClickBank and Amazon Affiliate.

7. Brand Sponsorships & Shoutouts

One of the best methods to monetize Instagram is through Brand Sponsorships & shoutouts. When Instagram accounts reach a certain level of influence in a niche, their feed becomes a hot spot location for hundreds of thousands of niche-specific eyes.

Making their feed extremely valuable to businesses looking to market a product or users looking to gain more followers.

Selling shoutouts is exactly like selling ad space on your account feed or story.

Clients will purchase a posting slot in your content schedule that will last a specified amount of time. Their post is used to generate more followers, brand awareness, traffic, etc. Shoutout prices vary based on account size, engagement rate, activity & much more.

Brand Sponsorships are slightly different from Shoutouts. Selling shoutouts is like freelance work while becoming sponsored by a brand is much more official and long term. Brand Sponsorships typically imply that you receive free gear or merchandise, in addition to an affiliate code to earn commissions. In exchange, you will promote the brand on your Instagram account to increase brand awareness and sales.

Both of these methods are lucrative and can make you some serious money on Instagram.

8. Influencer Marketing

Already have an established community with an active and engaged audience? You might be eligible to enter the field of Influencer Marketing. Content Creation, Brand Sponsorships, Shoutouts, Advertisements, and so much more all fall under the umbrella of Influencer Marketing.

Influencers are now able to start collaborating with brands. Brands are utilizing these audiences to increase their overall reach, as well as solidify possible brand ambassadors to help promote their products/services. Influencer Marketing is yielding huge returns for business and Influencers are starting to cash out.

 

Essentially, an influencer is anyone who’s built a reliable online reputation by creating and sharing some amazing things online. In the sight of their audience, influencers are usually seen as trusted experts, trendsetters, and tastemakers whose opinions about specific subject matters are respected.

Many brands are aware that they can’t compete with these subject experts. So, they partner with influencers by asking them to help publicize their products.

Although, these brands are not just interested in the reach and size of your Instagram account; They also want your audience’s engagement and trust with your content.

Even though it might be challenging to balance your integrity as a creator and your revenue as an influencer, one good thing is that you’re at liberty to select the brands you work with. Brands are also free to be selective about the influencers they work with.

9. In-person Tutorials/Workshops:

This is another great way to share and monetize the influence and knowledge that you have.

Even though many of the present-day activities has shifted from the physical world to the digital world, there’s just something fascinating about learning live from someone.

Live, in-person workshops, and tutorials allow attendees to work together, have more quality interactions, and be able to see and know you personally.

Regardless of the knowledge or topic, you might have to share; you can also combine everything into a workbook or presentation and make it accessible to your audience.

Such live events can also help to convert people into consistent and loyal customers. It can also persuade them to purchase more of your services (like consulting and/or private coaching).

 

Instagram Success Stories

In life, learning continues and doesn’t stop. This is also applicable in business when you learn from the success and mistakes of others. You can avoid making the same mistake and learn from their successful approaches in growing their business.

Before you venture into any business, conduct your research by going through some successful brands’ success stories. After this, create your own niche by recognizing that just one person cannot dominate the whole market.

Ensure you choose a niche you are passionate about, as passion is the driving force that makes a business successful. Just like a swimming athlete won’t become successful in playing football, everyone must recognize their strength and weak point in business.

Instagram can now be linked to your e-commerce website like Shopify. This makes it even easier for your products to be seen through Instagram, thus bringing your products before your potential customers.

 Below are examples of brands that have successfully implemented Instagram for their business:

 

1. RadSlimeShop

RadSlimeShop has over 800,000 followers on Instagram. The product videos and pictures used for their sales are excellent. This makes their products sell out very fast in less than 24 hours.  Their viewers can see the colorful slime with high-quality photogenic videos that bring amazing marketing results.

The brand uses Shopify and Instagram to drive sales. This is how they make money with their product videos and engages approximately 500,000 viewers on Instagram.

 

2. Teva

Teva is a sandal brand since 1984, is one of the business brands killing it on Instagram in 2021. It is a trendy fashion sport sandal used by many youths. With over 500,000 Instagram followers, Tava has engaged its audience with captivating pictures of fashionable men and women in their sandal.

It is one of the successful leading brands that are into fashion and beauty on Instagram. They have been able to capture their customers by using different categories of people in their product shoot, giving their viewers an idea of diverse categories of people that can use their products.

 

3. BeardBrand

BeardBrand is a popular brand on Instagram, known for its beard-related products serving the needs of thousands of men. BeardBrand.com has over 180,000 Instagram followers with thousands of engaging audiences on their Instagram posts, which helps them in making massive sales on their products.

 

Wrap Up

In order to monetize Instagram in 2018, you have to market your knowledge & experience as an Influencer. Brands, businesses & even other Instagram users will pay for your expertise as an Instagrammer. Your services offer them convenience, efficiency, & peace of mind.

 

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