How to Make Money Off Your Instagram Account in 2024

Want to make money off Instagram?

It’s possible, I swear!

If you get it right, you can get rich off of social media.

However, even with 100,000 followers, an Instagram user could earn $5,000 for a social media post made in partnership with a brand.

It may not be viable for regular folks to gain popularity overnight. The only thing you need is a solid social media strategy, consistency, and patience.

Not sure where to get started?

This post will tell you how, but first, let’s discuss the requirements.

What Are the Requirements to Make Money Off Instagram?

Having an Instagram account does not guarantee that you can earn money off it. Having many followers is also not a guarantee that you can make money on Instagram.

The following are a few requirements to monetize your account:

1. Reach and Influence

With the right reach and influence, you can make money on Instagram.

How?

Businesses are likely to want to collaborate with an Instagram user who has an engaged audience base. It allows them to get more visibility.

With the help of the user’s influence on social media, they can increase conversions as well.

They also expect that the Instagrammer’s followers will recommend their products to more of their friends on social media.

If you master the art of posting at the right time, then you can increase your social media reach and make money on Instagram. An increased reach means that more accounts will see your post. You also need to have a sizable number of followers.

Reach helps increase awareness for the brand while influence convinces the audience to act.

As an influencer, followers trust your recommendations and will convert with the right call to action. Brands will only hire an account that increases their reach and persuades followers to take action.

2. Engaged Followers

Have an active social media audience that engages with your content to make money on Instagram. The number of followers you have will not matter if they don’t interact with the content you upload.

To make money on Instagram, you need to have followers that comment, like, and share content. This social media engagement shows that people love the work produced and find it engaging.

Engage with the audience by responding once they comment or share your content. It’s a great way to keep them engaged and appreciate their feedback. Engage with their social media posts too by commenting and sharing their content.

3. A Niche

To truly monetize your Instagram account, find a niche. It must be an industry or topic you are passionate about and like. 86% of consumers consider authenticity important when choosing brands they support and like.

Passion helps you grow an authentic connection with the audience. You will create social media content they resonate with, and that drives engagement. One of the best ways to make money on Instagram by encouraging them to try out products.

To summarize on requirements:

If you want to monetize your Instagram, you need followers that engage with your social media content.

Brands are likely to invest in you because you can drive conversions to their brand.

To make money on Instagram, you also need to find a niche you are passionate about so that you can authentically present content to your followers.

How to Make Money Off Instagram: A Reliable Guide

Now that you know what requirements will kickstart your journey, let’s dive into the details.

The following tactics can help you grow your followers, understand how much to charge, and find brands that will collaborate with you.

Make Money Off Instagram #1: Grow Your Following

If you want to monetize your Instagram, you need to make sure that brands would want to partner with you. They will do so if you have a following that trusts and engages with your content.

Users with more than 100,000 followers have a good chance of finding brands that would partner with them. But even if you have just a few thousand followers, you could still work with brands that need micro-influencers.

The following tips will help you grow your following and make money on Instagram:

Create a Great Bio

Your bio on Instagram is the first thing visitors see when they visit your profile and is a great place to pitch them. It’s where you tell your audience what you do and where they can contact you or find other information. You can also use it to let brands know that you are open to collaborations.

Provide informative content in your bio if you want to make money on Instagram.

What does this mean?

Clearly describe what you do, including interests, hobbies, and accomplishments. Depending on the niche, make it witty and humorous to give followers a lasting and great impression.

Make your bio compelling and easy to read. Find a way to sell your message without being promotional. Ensure that anyone who visits your profile understands who you are and what you do.

For example:

This bio from @bretthoebel has a simple, powerful, and compelling message that impresses the followers.

Image Source: @bretthoebel

High-Quality Content

Grow your following by creating high-quality content that appeals to people in your niche. Make sure all images are vivid and relevant to the products you wish to promote, whether it’s beauty products, fitness products, or clothing.

High-quality content can help you build a huge following and reach relevant audiences. It will also help brands find you and allow you to monetize your account.

68% of influencers use content to build their reputation and make brands know them.

Image Source: Onalytica

Relevant Hashtags

Use relevant hashtags so people can easily discover your content and possibly even follow you.

How do you choose relevant hashtags?

Consider relevance and competition when choosing hashtags. The high competition posts will increase your exposure while the low competition will help you rank higher in searches.

To make sure that you are using the right hashtags for your content, you can use tools like HashtagsForLikes. This tool enables you to find data-driven and targeted hashtags to grow your business.

Its smart algorithm can help you find trending hashtags that can give you more exposure. Plus, it can help you save a lot of time on hashtag research.

Image via HashtagsForLikes

Build Relationships with Other Accounts

Ask relevant accounts for a shout-out. You can conduct a hashtag search to find popular Instagram accounts that share content from different users in your niche. Go through their content and contact them to share your post if you notice that they regularly do shout-outs.

For instance:

@fervor_travel is an Instagram account with 95.1k Instagram users following it. If you look through their posts, you’ll see that they’re mostly user-curated photos related to travel. Instagram users who wish to grow their following and build a name in the travel niche could ask them to share their content.

In addition:

You can observe top influencers and see what they’re doing to engage their audience. From choosing an aesthetic to posting at consistent times.

For this strategy to work, you need to find Instagram influencers who are relevant to your brand. Ideally, their target audience should be similar to yours. That way, you are likely to find high-quality leads.

But finding the right influencer can be a challenge. It requires you to invest a lot of time and effort into research.

Want an easy way out?

Leverage influencer platforms like Heepsy. Using this platform, you can filter out influencer profiles based on their niche, engagement rate, location, follower count, and other parameters.

They also provide influencer reports with detailed stats so that you can ascertain if a shortlisted influencer is actually suitable for you.

Post Regularly and Engage Your Followers

There are many studies on the number of posts per day that will help you make money on Instagram. However, there is no one right answer to the frequency. It all depends on why you started your Instagram account. What works well for the company across the street may not work for you, and that’s fine.

If you want to earn money off Instagram, increasing followers and awareness becomes an important goal. Post as many times as you can because the more content you put out, the more reach you get.

Image Source: Dash Hudson

You also need consistency to make money off Instagram. If Instagram users see four posts a day from you, don’t reduce the frequency to one post a day. You may lose followers and engagement. If you suddenly start sending more posts per day than you normally do, then your audience can feel overwhelmed and unfollow your account.

Use analytics on Instagram to determine the ideal time to post and the frequency. Check when your posts get more engagement and always try to post at those times. You will also know from the analytics what content drives the most engagement.

Make Money Off Instagram #2: Understand Your Worth

Once you’re able to gain several thousand followers for your Instagram account, you need to understand how much you’re worth to brands.

Why?

Because understanding your worth helps you avoid overcharging or undercharging your clients. Making money off Instagram may not be your full-time job, but you should make a sizable amount from it.

Some influencers may overestimate their worth and charge several thousand dollars when they’re worth only a few hundred. Others may underestimate their worth and only charge a few hundred dollars when they could charge more than $1,000 for sponsored posts.

The Webfluential Influence Estimator is a useful tool to gain a better idea of how much your posts are worth. The tool will calculate the number of followers and the quality of engagement to see how much you should be charging per post. Keep in mind their free tool only calculates the Twitter value. You will need to register as a Webfluential influencer to find out the worth of your Instagram posts.

Make Money Off Instagram #3: Find Brands to Partner With

To earn money off Instagram, start looking for brands that will pay you for your Instagram posts. If you have millions of followers, you’ll already have brands approaching you for partnerships, so you probably don’t need to read on.

For emerging influencers, you’ll have to do the grunt work and look for brands to partner with on your own.

But there’s some good news:

There are several influencer networks and influencer platforms that accept micro-influencers. If you’re a part of this network, you can easily make money off Instagram. The companies put you in touch with brands that require relevant influencers.

Here are a few good networks and platforms you can use to make money off Instagram:

• Influence.co: Influence.co extends to more than 1,000 brands across 65+ countries. You can look for the ones you wish to partner with and directly submit an application to join their campaign. If you’re still a micro-influencer, this is much better than waiting around for a brand to approach you for a partnership.
• TRIBE: TRIBE is an excellent platform for influencers who only have a few thousand followers. The process of working with brands on the platform is fairly simple. You need to find brands that you already use and like. You can then create a post for that brand and submit it for review. Once approved, you get paid within 48 hours.
• TapInfluence: There’s also TapInfluence, which estimates your monthly earning potential once you create your profile. You can choose the topics and subtopics you specialize in, then set your rate. The platform then matches you with brands whose needs match your characteristics.
• Fullbottle: If your content tends to get high levels of engagement, Fullbottle would be an ideal platform for you. On this platform, you don’t charge per post but, instead, get paid according to the engagement your content drives. You can bid a certain amount for every like on the Instagram post you create for a brand.

How to Monetize Your Instagram: 4 Different Ways You Can Explore

Now that you have followers and have access to a few brands you want to work with, learn how you can monetize your account.

1. Become an Affiliate Marketer

One of the best ways to make money off Instagram is through affiliate marketing.

How do you earn money with affiliate marketing?

You sign up with a brand and then promote services or products for them. The brand gives you a link so that if one of your Instagram followers buys a product or signs up using the link, you earn a commission.

Previously, only bloggers used affiliate links. The bloggers would discuss products and place affiliate links in their articles. If the reader liked the product, they would use the link to make a purchase, and the blogger earned a fee.

But, there is good news:

Today, affiliate marketing happens on social media, too, and especially on Facebook and Instagram. Instagrammers with huge followings promote and sell products on behalf of brands. Once a follower purchases the product, the Instagrammer gets a percentage of the profit.

To make money off Instagram, you will need to sign up with affiliate marketing programs in your niche. Selling products out of your niche will encourage your Instagram followers to unfollow you. If you are into fitness, find fitness-oriented programs. This way, your audience can engage with the content and purchase the items you promote.

You should also find affiliate programs that add value to your audience’s lives. Some of the companies offering affiliate programs include Amazon Associates,  ShareASale, and Clickbank.

2. Sponsored Posts

Another way to make money off Instagram is through sponsored posts. Once you become an influencer in your niche, brands will find you.

Why is this?

Because you can help them get the word out about their products. As an influencer, you become a trendsetter for your audience. You are a trusted expert, and your opinion becomes respected.

For sponsored posts, the brand will not only be after your numbers but the engagement and trust from your Instagram followers. In exchange for sponsoring their product, you get free products, a fee, a gift, exposure, or a combination of them. It will all depend on how much you think you are worth.

But there is a catch:

Sponsored posts require valuable and authentic content to keep your audience interested. Even though your goal is to make money off Instagram, the audience will lose interest if all the posts are for marketing purposes. You should also indicate when posting sponsored content to keep your followers' trust.

That is why it’s important to understand your audience when monetizing your Instagram account. You understand their interests and needs, which means you can choose brands that fit them.

Choosing a brand, you are enthusiastic about is also crucial when it comes to sponsored posts. Your enthusiasm towards their product will help you post authentic content for your followers.

Your Instagram business account will give you access to analytics that help you figure out your audience. You can also use other social media analytic tools to carry out audience research.

3. Sell Your Products and Services

Make money off Instagram by promoting and selling your products. Take incredible photos of the products or services and post them on your page. Find a professional photographer or use a high-quality camera to take photos.

You can also offer your followers special offers without making your page full-on promotional. Mix your content up so that you follow up your promotional post with at least four that are not promotional.

Share photos and videos of your clients using the service or product to show social proof. You can also show behind-the-scenes videos or photos to showcase your human side. Ultimately, use creative and entertaining posts that build your followers' trust.

What's more?

Instagram now allows you to drive traffic and revenue to your e-commerce site using the Shop Now feature. You can add shoppable tags to your product images on Instagram. Once the follower clicks, they get extra information on the product. They can also view the product on your website.

4. Promote and Sell Your Photos

Make money off Instagram by selling your photos and images. However, note that not every image will sell. They must be exceptional, special, and with something different to offer.

Make Instagram your portfolio and showcase some of your greatest works. You can also directly message potential clients and give them a link to your work.

If you convert your account to a Business account, you can add your contact details. It makes it easier for potential clients to contact you or purchase.

Are You Ready to Make Money Off Instagram?

Instagram offers you exceptional opportunities to monetize your brand. You can now use it for more than posting and liking what other people post.

To make money off Instagram, have a community of followers who trust and engage with your content. You can then sell your products or services, become an influencer, sell your photos, or sell affiliate products.

The most difficult part about monetizing your Instagram account is growing your following. But the tips provided here can help you overcome this challenge.

And once you have sufficient followers, you need to connect with the right brands to start earning through Instagram.

Have you made money off your Instagram account yet? What tactics did you use? Share in the comment section below.