1. Get Sponsored
Creating sponsored posts or stories is the primary way Instagram users can cash in on their account. Creators with around 1 million followers earn up to $100K/ dedicated feed post. It is also important to mention that around 60% of people use this platform to discover new products. According to Insider Intelligence forecasts, US influencer marketing spending will reach $4.14 billion in 2022. That's a lot and the perfect reason to start creating content!
2. Become an Affiliate
Earning money on Instagram through those programs is performance based. The business rewards you for each visitor or customer brought by your own marketing efforts. If you feel like you have a strong engaging community I definitely recommend joining some affiliate programs and always have a campaign sales % in your brand contracts. Especially small and new businesses slide in your DM's and pitch those programs to you. Be careful though and only work with brands that sell products you actually like and think you can promote in an efficient way. Amazon has a great program (Amazon storefront), LTK and also other well-known brands such as Dunkins and Nike.
3. Promote your Business
There are other ways to use Instagram to earn money. You can set up a business account to grow your business and sell f.e. merchandise, services and products. Even with a few thousand followers you can already partner up with small businesses and design a collection. I worked with a fashion brand in the past and sold my poems on their T-Shirts for no charge and I split the earnings with them. You can also start an Instagram Shop.
4. Earn Badges through Live videos
You can earn money directly from your audience when you share real-time videos with Instagram’s Live feature. As you showcase your talents, products and so on, viewers can buy badges, which are essentially tips, to show support. Badges cost $0.99, $1.99 or $4.99.
Promote your upcoming Live video sessions through posts or stories to get the word out beforehand. Then, try using the Q&A feature or give shoutouts to commenters while you’re broadcasting to boost engagement — and hopefully, badges.
5. Earn Money through the IG Reels Creator Program
Micro-influencers (between 1,000 and 10,000 followers) make an average $1,420 per month. Mega-influencers (more than one million followers) make $15,356 per month. I heard mixed feedback from content creators though and would recommend to test it out with your account. Some influencers told me it really damaged their reach and the Instagram algorithm blocks some good performing reels to become viral so they don't have to pay you too much money. Not sure if that's true but I would run a test phase first.
6. Monetize your Videos with Ads
Allow brands to run ads during your videos. To set it up, head to your creator account settings and enable the monetization option for in-stream video ads. Then, post videos as usual.
The amount you earn depends on how many views your video gets in the feed. You’ll receive 55% of the revenue generated per view, according to the Instagram for Business website. Payments are issued monthly. You won’t get paid if your videos don’t meet the requirements: F.e. videos need to be at least 2 minutes long to earn money.
7. Create an amazon storefront and have the link in your bio/ IG shop
I know of many creators who earn an additional 10K a month just by promoting their storefront every once in a while. It helps to make it easy for your Instagram followers to check it out by putting your link in your bio. If you want to share more links (f.e. to your other social media accounts, blog, website etc.) use liinks. This platform is for free and connects all your links into one.
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