How to Make Money on Instagram

With over 1 billion active users a month, Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. This vast audience creates a lucrative opportunity. However, making money on social media requires a strong strategy to be successful.

We’d like to help you gain more from Instagram than just likes and comments. In this post, we’ve provided valuable information about how to make money on Instagram and how much cash you can expect to make. Keep reading to find out more.

Can You Get Paid on Instagram?

People are generally surprised to learn that they can make money on Instagram. However, you won’t be paid just for garnering a huge following. Yes, to get paid on Instagram, you do need a high number of followers. However, this is not enough.

Unlike TikTok, which offers its successful users a chance to share income earned through their posts, Instagram doesn’t provide any money to fund its creators just for posting content. However, Instagram has recently introduced its Reels Play Bonus program in hopes of beating TikTok in its game.

What can Instagram users do to earn money from the platform?

What Instagram users are left with is the possibility to expand their following and make money through sharing sponsored content (reels, posts, stories).

People who are making money from Instagram this way are influencers or celebrities who have a huge amount of followers. Since their posts have a massive audience reach, different brands and companies are willing to give them a lot of money to advertise various products or services through sponsored content.

Aside from promoting companies through their posts, Instagram users can also earn money through commissions from affiliate links and profits from selling merchandise.

How Do Influencers Earn Money from Instagram?

To start earning money from posting content on Instagram, influencers need to have a niche that appeals to other users. When they have built a following, influencers usually set a price brands and companies pay to have their products or services advertised and promoted through an influencer’s Instagram account.

How much can influencers make from sponsored posts?

There isn’t a set amount influencers can earn from Instagram posts. This usually depends on the price they set or get offered per post. Factors that most commonly determine how much you can make as an influencer include:

• Engagement
• Following size
• Credentials
• The people you’re associated with (i.e. celebrities)
• What products you’re selling
• What you’re promoting

Because influencers and celebrities are extremely private about their earnings from sponsored posts, it’s impossible to determine how much they actually make. Still, to give you an idea of how much influencers can get paid for advertising on Instagram, here are some estimates:

Source: Business of Apps

Of course, these are just estimates. Some influencers and celebrities get paid much more. For example, it is estimated that beauty influencer Huda Kattan, who has over 50.3m followers on Instagram, makes over $158k per Instagram post.

Meanwhile, Kylie Jenner, who has almost seven times more followers (338m), earns approximately $1.2m-$1.5m per single Instagram post! From a kid featured on a reality show, she managed to grow her Instagram following over the years and earn money through Instagram posts, build her own business, and even be named a self-made billionaire at one point.

How to Make a Living on Instagram

If you’re seriously considering a career as an influencer, you need to have at least 1,000 followers. Of course, this amount of followers is merely a starting point. From there, you need a good strategy to grow the number of your followers, which can ultimately get you a decent amount of money per post.

Here are some tips to help grow your account and start earning an income from Instagram content:

• Create relatable, trendy, and unique content that increases follower engagement.
• Use the correct hashtags.
• Run a giveaway.
• Share user-generated content.
• Figure out the best time to post content and stick to it.
• Get followers through other channels such as TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
  Make Reels.

Note: Brands are willing to invest in you because your account can engage many followers and bring in profits. To get paid for posting branded content, your followers need to be authentic and not bots because you want them to engage in your posts. 

How to Monetize an Instagram Account

Whether you’re an influencer, business owner, artist, or just someone with many followers looking to take advantage of it for financial gain, there are numerous ways to get paid through your Instagram account. We’ll go over them below.

Create your Instagram Shop

If you own a business and want to sell your products or you’re a reseller, it’s a good idea to set up an Instagram shop. This feature allows you to introduce a catalog of products you want to sell. You can promote them through posts, Stories, the Explore tab, and the Shop tab on your profile.

To start earning money from selling products via your Instagram Shop, every item needs to include:

• The name of the product
• Product photos
• Description of the product
• Product price
• Link to view the product on the website
• Related products

Use the Reels Play bonus program

This Instagram Creator Incentive allows you to get paid for Reel plays, but you have only a month to reach your target view count.

By signing up, you’ll have a chance to earn money from Instagram directly. Naturally, the Reels Play Bonus comes with some rules, including:

• You need to start the program before the eligibility expires.
• Your bonus is based on the performance of your reels.
• The amount you earn per play may not always be the same (due to performance and engagement).
• You won’t receive a bonus for a reel with branded content.

Up to 150 reels of your choosing can count toward your bonus earnings. You just need to select the Reels Play Bonus feature before posting your reel (if you forget to do it, you have 24 hours to do it).

Note: the bonus is paid on a monthly basis. Because of this, if you want a reel to count toward your bonus, you need to activate the feature in the same month you posted the reel.

Pick a niche and stick to it

If you’re an influencer, it is essential to choose your niche. If you have many followers and still haven’t picked one, you can try creating posts from different niches and seeing which gets the most engagement and attention. The most popular categories over the last couple of years have been:

• Fashion
• Beauty
• Lifestyle
• Traveling
• Health/fitness

Promote your business

This is an ideal way to make extra money. If you already have an online store, you can use Instagram to grow your following and attract more customers by creating unique content related to the products you sell. This could be in the form of:

• Unboxing videos
• Product tutorials
• Promotions on new products
• Talking about your company’s history
• Q&A about your business

What you can also do is:

• Add links on your Instagram Bio to direct your audience to a specific product, landing page, or website.
• Offer users discounts or prizes for taking pictures or videos using your products.
• Keep your followers up to date with news about your business.
• Choose a promotional technique you know will increase your Instagram following.

Get sponsored

To monetize your Instagram account, you can get other companies to sponsor your content. If your account focuses on gaming or making tutorials, you’ll use part of the video to mention your sponsors and how your audience can benefit from them.

Sponsors may reach out to you, but you can also try contacting a brand or company you’d like to sponsor you. Ideally, you want to choose sponsors relevant to the type of content you’re making. For example, if you do makeup tutorials, you could reach out to well-known brands such as Nyx or MAC to sponsor your videos.

Become an affiliate

Instagram may not pay you solely for having many followers or for posting regular content. However, through Instagram’s affiliate program, you can get commission payments based on the total sales you drive for a brand. You’ll get your first payment once you’ve earned at least $30.

Earn badges through live videos

While you’re on Instagram live, viewers can buy badges (digital products used to show support to the creator). These badges will usually cost your followers $0.99, $1.99, or $4.99, and a single follower can give you as many badges as they want. You can see who’s purchased these badges because there will be a heart icon next to their name during the live video.

To earn more badges, host a Q&A session or speak directly to those who comment on your video. The more viewers there are, the more chance you have of earning badges through your live feed.

Monetize your videos with ads

One of the easier ways to make money on Instagram is through paid video ads. Simply allow brands to run ads through your content by enabling the monetization option for in-stream video ads on Instagram.

The money you earn will depend on the number of views you get on the video with the embedded ad. To achieve this, your videos need to be at least two minutes long.

How to Make Money on Instagram as an Artist

Instagram is the best platform where artists can promote their visual content, showcase their skills, and create art for commission. Whether you’re a sculptor, painter, or resin artist, here are ways you can start making a profit from your art through Instagram.

Switch to a business profile

You can do this easily through the app, free of charge. Switching to a business account gives you access to important insights on your account performance, such as engagement and user activity.

An Instagram business account looks slightly different from a personal profile. For example, you can:

• Add extra info to your Bio (such as an industry label and contact information).
• Add a call to action button to prompt users to call you or visit your online shop.
• Schedule posts
• Access advertising options
• Add links to Instagram stories.

Tip: To improve your chances of growing your following and making money, try replying to your comments and direct messages and running promotions and discounts on your artwork through Instagram Stories.

Create a descriptive Bio

Your Bio needs to contain a short description of what your art is all about. You can be fun, quirky, or have a professional tone. Simply ensure your Bio is relevant to the work you do and it has the potential to attract new followers.

You can also target your niche market by using specific keywords. Your Bio should include:

• The name of your art business
• What type of art you do (e.g., sculpting, painting, or resin art)
• A URL to your website
• Contact information
• Location of your business

Share your creative process with your followers

The best way to make money off Instagram as an artist is to consistently post pictures and videos of your art process. Users love watching videos of artists who paint or create dioramas.

There’s also a large following for artists who make advertising videos. For example, artist Takashi Murakami, who works in fine arts media and commercials, has over 2.5 million followers on Instagram. He has attracted his audience by consistently posting his work on the platform.

Consider adding an AMSR angle to your videos

ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is one of the biggest trends on Instagram. You can also grow your following by including aesthetically pleasing content in your art-process videos.

Visuals and audio are usually the tools used to stimulate ASMR. Some features artists can use in their videos include:

• The sound of pen on paper
• Audio of brush strokes on canvas
• The visuals of clean painted lines
• The sound of mixing paint

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a singer, artist, or author, you can make money on Instagram through clever marketing strategies and content creation. The best way to make money through the platform is by growing your following and using your skills to post aesthetically pleasing, relatable, trendy, or informative content.

However, let’s not forget that many brands and companies are ready to pay influencers a lot of money depending on their audience reach. Additionally, you can consider affiliate marketing and receive commissions from different brands and companies.

As you can see, there’s a plethora of opportunities to make money on Instagram. You can have a mixed strategy, tapping into several of the available options. Whatever approach you choose, make sure you’re consistent in your effort and up-to-date with any changes.

If you are looking for other ways to make money online, check out our list of the best money-making apps.