How to Make Money on Instagram - The Right Way

Ever wondered if you can make money on Instagram? The good news is you can, no matter how big or small your following is.

Instagram is the second-most downloaded app in the world and almost 60% of US adults use the platform daily. Globally, over 1.22 billion people use Instagram each month. With the potential to put your content in front of such a large audience, Instagram offers significant opportunities for creators to reap financial benefits from their work.

How much money can you make on Instagram?

You don’t need millions of followers to make money on Instagram. In fact, users with between just 5,000 – 10,000 users are earning an average of $115 USD per post.

Of course, those with larger Instagram followings are able to earn more on average. Let’s take a closer look at these figures below:

• 10,000 – 25,000 = $129 USD per post

• 25,000 – 50,000 = $208 USD per post

• 50,000 – 75,000 = $219 USD per post

• 75,000 – 100,000 = $294 USD per post

• 100,000 – 150,000 = $354 USD per post

• 150,000 – 250,000 = $447 USD per post

• 250,000 – 500,000 = $580 USD per post

• 500,000 – 1,000,000 = $866 USD per post

• 1,000,000+ = $1,628 USD per post

When you take into account that some of these users may be posting sponsored content multiple times each week, it’s easy to see the incredible money-making potential that Instagram possesses.

How many followers do you need to get paid on Instagram?

As you can see from the figures in the previous section, there is some serious money to be made on Instagram. The best part is you don’t need to be “Insta-famous” in order to do so. A study has found that even users with less than 2,000 followers can still earn an average of up to $50 USD for posts.

When looking to sponsor Instagram users for content, a brand doesn’t just consider the size of their audience. The following elements are also very important when wanting to make money on Instagram:

• Your niche: the categories you post about the most will influence which products or services brands may want you to promote. Some of the most trending niches on Instagram include fashion, fitness, beauty, and food.

• Your engagement rate: the more your followers are viewing, liking, saving, commenting, and resharing your content on Instagram, the more engaged they are. A user with 1 million fake followers won’t produce the same engagement as a user with 1 million real followers, for example.

• The quality of your content: the most successful Instagram users are those who have mastered high quality content, including eye-catching photos and engaging captions.

Boosting your engagement rate, content – and in turn, your number of followers – all comes down to having the right Instagram marketing strategy in place.

If you require additional assistance in creating the right Instagram marketing strategy for your own profile, then a freelance social media marketing expert can help.

How to Make Money on Instagram

Now that you know it’s possible for anyone to make money on Instagram, let’s examine how you can do so.

The best way to make money on Instagram for you will depend on several factors, including the type of content you post, your audience’s wants and needs, and even your own level of commitment.

Choose the methods which are most relevant to you. The more methods you commit to, the greater your potential for making money on Instagram will be.

1. Partner With Brands

Partnering with brands is one of the most common ways to make money on Instagram. These collaborations can take many forms too, but will commonly be a post, Story, or Reel promoting a particular product or service. It might also be a single piece of content or a series of content posted over a set period of time.

When partnering with brands, it’s vital that their values align with your own. You’ll also want to ensure their products or services are in line with what you regularly post about. Otherwise, you run the risk of seeming inauthentic to your following and other brands – something which can cost you followers or additional brand partnerships down the line.

When wanting to partner with brands, Instagram users should first start posting about the products or services they already use and love. Although not sponsored, this helps to put you on the radar of those brands. It also allows you to create examples of the posts you can create for brands, therefore increasing your chances of securing paid partnerships on your profile.

When you’re taking part in a sponsored partnership with a brand, you’ll need to meet Instagram’s Branded Content Policies. This includes using the platform’s Paid Partnership Label when posting content which you have received an “exchanged value” for.

How to Find Brands to Partner With

If you already have a large following, it’s likely that brands will contact you to promote their products or services. No matter the size of your following though, you can still reach out to relevant brands and pitch a partnership.

When contacting brands for partnerships, you’ll want to come prepared. Put together a media kit that contains key information about you and your Instagram account, including:

• Who you are

• What you’re passionate about and why

• The number of followers you have

• Your average Instagram engagement rates (such as the number of likes, comments, saves, or reshares your content receives)

• Your audience demographics (age group, gender, location, interests, etc.)

• Examples of past brand partnerships or high-performing content on the platform

You can also join one of the many Instagram influencer marketplaces to increase your chances of brands finding and contacting you. Some of the top platforms include:

• Tapinfluence

• Grin

• Klear

• Upfluence

• Creator.co

Instagram has also recently launched its own Creator Marketplace. Although it’s currently only available to business and creator accounts within the US, the marketplace allows users to select up to 10 interests to let brands know the types of content they want to create. Brands can then discover relevant creators by searching the marketplace.

2. Become an Affiliate

An affiliate is someone who promotes a brand, product, or service and receives a commission from each sale they generate. This means their focus isn’t just on increasing the awareness or reputation of a brand, but rather on increasing that brand’s sales.

On Instagram, affiliate marketing works through the inclusion of a unique promo code or trackable link. This code or link will be specific to the user, allowing the brand to determine exactly how many sales that user has generated through their content.

Although clickable links cannot be placed in the caption of a post, affiliates can still place their unique code or link in their Instagram bio or Stories. Affiliate links can be long and complicated, so it’s advised that users shorten these URLs using a tool like Bitly.

Affiliate marketing isn’t as easy as just sharing a link or code and expecting followers to make a purchase, however. It also requires careful planning to provide your following with high-value content that encourages affiliate sales.

As a result, you should only partner with brands that align with the topics and values your followers have come to expect from you.

The best way to generate affiliate income through Instagram is to become part of relevant affiliate networks. Some of the most popular affiliate networks include:

• Amazon’s Affiliate Program

• eBay Partner Network (EPN)

• ClickBank

• ShareASale

• Awin

You can also do some research to find niche affiliate programs suitable to your regular Instagram content. LTK (previously rewardStyle), is one such example. It’s an invitation-only affiliate program for fashion, beauty, homewares, and fitness influencers, offering as much as 20% commission per sale.

3. Brand Yourself and Sell Your Own Merch

If you've developed your Instagram presence to the point where you have a distinctive look, logo, slogan, or other unique feature, consider selling merch that celebrates this. Doing so not only increases your money-making potential on Instagram but also boosts awareness and recognition of your own Instagram presence.

Take famous drag queen Trixie Mattel, for example, who advertises branded merch to fans via the platform.

If you’re wondering what merch you can sell through Instagram, the opportunities are infinite. Just some of the most common forms of branded merch include:

• T-shirts

• Tote bags

• Posters

• Coffee mugs

• Stickers

• Framed prints

• Hoodies/sweatshirts

• Cushions

There are a number of ways you can sell your own merch through Instagram:

1. Using a print-on-demand service to upload your own designs and allow consumers to purchase them on items such as clothing, posters, home decor, and more. You can then use Instagram to link to these products and promote them to your following.

2. Creating a website to sell your products through, then using Instagram to visually promote and drive followers to that site. There are a number of key steps to designing your own website from scratch. Or, you can simply hire professional web design services to create the perfect website for you.

3. Launching an Instagram Shop, which allows users to quickly shop any merch you promote through videos and images within the app. You can direct customers to your website so they can finish their purchase there, or you can let them use Instagram checkout in the app. Just keep in mind that you’ll need a business or creator account to access these Instagram Shopping features.

Before you branch into selling your own merch, you’ll need to make sure you have the perfect logo to represent your brand. This logo will then be placed on the merch you sell to further establish your brand. Thankfully, Fiverr’s Logo Maker can create one within your budget in just a few clicks. It immediately generates logo designs that suit your business and style, based on a wide variety of logo designs made by talented designers

4. Create a Social Media Masterclass or Course

Never underestimate the services you can provide to your own Instagram following. If you’re actively growing your followers and finding success on the platform through high engagement, for example, then there are plenty of other users who would be willing to pay for your expertise.

One of the best ways to monetize your knowledge in this area is by offering a social media masterclass or online course.

A masterclass

A masterclass, for example, allows you to give an insightful 1–2-hour presentation on a specific topic and provide your audience with some helpful takeaways that they can apply to their own social media journey. Masterclasses can be hosted through platforms such as Zoom, Udemy, Facebook Live, or YouTube Live.

In the lead-up to your masterclass launch, let your followers know exactly how they can benefit from what you’ll be teaching them. The more specific and evidence-based your promise, the better. For example, if you’ve grown your Instagram engagement rates by 300% in the last 6 months, then you can tell your followers that your masterclass will show them how they can achieve the same results.

You can then offer a short preview or “teaser” of your masterclass, including a short video post or Story. Then, encourage your followers to purchase a ticket to your full masterclass so they can gain access to all of the material you have to offer.

An online course

An online course can be promoted in much the same way; however, it should be a lengthier series of lessons that cover your chosen social media topic in greater depth. Therefore, access to an online course usually comes at a higher price point than a masterclass.

To add more value to your online course, you can include additional material such as digital or printable workbooks, access to a private online community, and anything else that can elevate your students’ course experience.

An online course requires resources such as filming and recording equipment and video editing software. If you need help editing your online course, Fiverr sellers offer a number of helpful services such as video editing, custom Intros & outros, and more.

5. Join the Reels Play Bonus program

Instagram also offers users the chance to make money through the Instagram Reels Play Bonus program. The initiative pays creators when their Reels reach a particular number of views within a specific period of time. This isn’t just applicable to new Reels, but to existing Reels too. During that interval, you can choose up to 150 reels to count towards your bonus earnings.

According to the platform, it's an opportunity for creators to make money straight through Instagram rather than through a third-party brand sponsorship or affiliate program.

Eligible users with a business or creator account can generate income for Reels that have received at least 1,000 views in the last 30 days.

Your bonus earnings are based on how well your Reels have performed over those 30 days. Even if you fall short of the desired number of plays, you will still be eligible for a bonus if you have 1,000 views on your Reel within the 30-day period.

Bare in mind that not every Instagram user is eligible to receive these bonuses. If you are eligible, Instagram will inform you so you can get set up and activate bonus payouts. Additionally, branded Reels are currently not qualified to receive Bonuses.

When participating in the Reels Play Bonus program, there are some things you can do to boost your Reel’s chances of success:

• Post your Reel when your following is most active

• Consider embracing a video trend that’s currently popular on the platform

• Use trending yet relevant songs or sounds in your Reel

• Create a reel that would add value to your audience’s lives, whether that’s a new recipe, an effective workout, a little-known tip, or simply something that’s highly entertaining

You should also polish your Reel with professional editing so it looks high-quality and stands out among the other Reels it’s competing with. If you need help, a freelance video editor can polish your Reel content for you so it’s ready to upload and attract as many views as possible.

6. Earn Tips Through Live Badges

Badges are monetary donations that fans can make during an Instagram Live broadcast. These "badges" are based on a popular feature on Twitch and TikTok that allows viewers to "tip" a broadcaster throughout their live stream.

Your audience can buy a badge during your Live video to stand out in the comments and receive extra perks, such as inclusion on a creator's list of badge holders and access to a rare heart. It's an opportunity for fans to demonstrate their support while also becoming "VIP" members of your Instagram community.

Badges are classified into three levels based on the quantity of hearts available to buy. Viewers can purchase one heart for $0.99, two hearts for $1.99, or three hearts for $4.99.

Thanks to a visible indicator in the chat stream, creators can see how many hearts an audience member has purchased. This makes it easy to determine who they should give a shout-out to during the live stream.

Currently, Live Badges are available to all eligible creators within the US, while the feature slowly rolls out across other regions worldwide.

To be eligible for Instagram Live Badges, you must:

• Have a creator or business account

• Be at least 18 years old

• Have over 10,000 followers

• Reside in a region with access to the feature

• Follow Instagram's Partner Monetization and Community Guidelines

According to Instagram, Live Badges provide creators with another opportunity to make money from the content they’re already creating.

7. Create a Blog and Sell Advertising Space

You can also harness your following on Instagram to earn money through your own blog. One of the best ways to monetize your blog is through selling advertising space, particularly in the form of banners or sponsored blog posts.

Blog owners can passively make thousands of dollars each month just by displaying relevant advertisements to their audience.

All it takes is a few simple steps to get your blog up and running. If you need assistance, you can also hire the services of a freelance WordPress developer. Of course, no blog is complete without a collection of high-quality and valuable blog posts for audiences to engage with. If writing isn’t your forte, or you simply don’t have the time to dedicate to your blog content strategy, then you can get help from a professional blog writer.

Promote the link to your blog on Instagram to encourage your audience to engage with and keep up to date with your new site. If you’ve already spent time and effort building up your audience on Instagram, then getting plenty of traffic to your blog shouldn’t be a problem. It is this blog traffic that will allow you to earn money by selling advertising space on your site.

To qualify for Google AdSense, for example, blogs must have around 250 unique visits each day in order to fulfill the required conversions. AdSense is a Google tool that allows blog owners to earn money by displaying tailored advertisements on their pages. You, as the blog owner, are paid each time a visitor clicks or views the advertisements.

Affiliate networks also offer banners that can be displayed on a blog. They work in the same way as affiliate links, so each time a visitor clicks through your banner and makes a purchase from that brand, you receive a commission.

You can also take advantage of direct advertising on your blog, rather than relying on third parties. This involves you reaching out to brands directly to negotiate your own advertisement opportunities on your blog.

Get Paid on Instagram

Everyone can make money on Instagram, providing they have the right strategies in place to boost their revenue. From partnering with brands, becoming an affiliate, and selling your own merch, to creating online courses, joining the Reels Play Bonus program, and so much more – there are plenty of opportunities to make money on Instagram.

Start by focusing on posting high-quality content that aligns with your values and developing an engaged audience. In doing so, you’ll soon be able to reap the profits that Instagram provides.