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Monetize Instagram: 4 Ways Instagram Creators Make Money

September 6, 2021

Monetizing Instagram is a huge topic and is one of the most searched on the Internet. Because almost everyone who has a good set of racks and booties, wants to become an influencer. 

This banal type of understanding and overgeneralization is wrong. It is true that there are many girls and accounts of girls with millions of followers. 

However that is not all it is, and the platform still is thriving with opportunities not just to grow but to make money on it.

In this post, we will be covering how to monetize Instagram and talk about a few ways you can become an influencer. 

Let us get started with three tips that are guaranteed to make you an influencer if you follow them.

Consistent Output of Quality Content 

Before we get to Instagram monetization tips and tricks, you need to have an audience to monetize.  

To have an audience you need to have content. Having content is like the king of all the tips or tricks. It is so important that nothing else will be possible without it. 

However, you also cannot have just any kind of content, you need to have good content. You need to have the best quality pictures, videos and so on.

They should be entertaining and interesting and best of all, provide value to the audience. 

You can read more about how to make quality content on Instagram, but the idea is to really make it stand out from other people in your niche. 

It is also not enough to make an excellent post once in a while and think you have accomplished something. 

You literally need to post extraordinarily incredible content every single time you upload. Because that is how competitive the market has got. 

But the better your content and the more you post, you will be growing faster, which means faster compensation as well. 

So, do  you think consistently working your ass off and posting quality content will do it?

Unfortunately, no!

You will need to optimize. Let us discuss this next

Hashtags, Keywords, Alt Text

To optimize your Instagram account as a result of which you can monetize Instagram. You need to focus on the second most important aspect of growing Instagram account 

This one is equally important as the first one. Because what good is output quality content if it does not bring any new followers and people in? 

To increase your followers, you need to present your photos, Reels, and videos in front of the right people. 

Presenting in front of the right people utilizes the keywords and hashtag strategy. We have another post on this very topic that goes a bit deeper into this. 

Quick Links 💡: Go into the details of hashtag research and Instagram SEO reading Instagram SEO: From Strategy To Action In 10 Minutes".

However, in short, you need to include keywords basically everywhere. That means your bio, username, captions, and so on. 

Hashtags are the next big thing after keywords, and are equally as important. Including them in your bio, descriptions and captions is a good idea. 

There is also the thing called alt text, which greatly helps you with Instagram SEO. Which you can find more about in that article as well. 

But the simple idea is that you should also put alt texts on every one of your photos. Because Instagram automatically assigns this, so it is better you control that. 

Buy Ads, Collaborations  

If you consistently post quality stuff, and fix your SEO, you should definitely grow organically and fast. This is guaranteed. 

However, to make the process even faster, and more assured. You can buy Instagram Ads. 

Buying Instagram Ads will help you with increasing the number of followers but also with clicks on your products or links. 

This part will come in handy when we will discuss how to monetize Instagram traffic. 

Thus, buying Instagram Ads will not only help you grow but monetize Instagram. That is why you need to  be ready to spend some money to make more money. 

Collaborations are another part of how you can grow on Instagram. Asking for a shoutout from another influencer, or showing up on their Stories, any any other creative way you can think of. 

Shoutouts especially could be the best form of collaboration if you can find the right profile to shout you out. 

The right profile is someone in your niche, and has more followers than you do, and most importantly with better engagement. 

Now let us assume you follow all three of these tips and garnered a fair healthy level of following with high engagement because we did it with hard work by providing a lot of value. 

Let us now talk about how can you get paid on Instagram. 

Monetize Instagram: Affiliate Marketing 

To monetize Instagram followers passively, the easiest way must be to put up the link in your bio and see the money coming in. 

That is considering you have found the right product that will truly provide some value to your followers. 

Affiliate marketing is such an Instagram monetization strategy that you don’t just have to include your bio, but can, in fact, include everywhere else. 

This is not one of the first things you need to do to monetize Instagram. We talked about it first because it is the easiest one to get it up and running.

Also this is semi-passive, meaning you won’t have to do much to sell, except choose the right product. 

Many people choose to market affiliates of the products they use or have used before. Because that way, you know what the product is about and how useful it will be. 

There are about a million affiliate programs and finding one is easy. However, if you have never come across something like this before, try the Amazon Affiliate Program (FBA).

Yet depending on the product you want to promote there will be a bunch of options. 

Don’t worry about that,  just make sure to choose the right product to not only monetize Instagram account of yours, but to help the followers you have there. 

Shout-outs/Branded Deals/Sponsorships

Do you remember that we just talked about you buying some shoutouts, on your way to monetizing Instagram. 

Now how common do you think?

It seems very common, doesn’t it? And it is. That is why, when you already have a good number of followers, making money on Instagram gets easier. 

You can literally sell shoutouts. Isn't that wonderful?

Apart from shoutouts you can also sell branded posts. Branded posts are posts sponsored by a certain brand or a business. 

These are incredibly profitable and very useful too, especially when you don’t feel like creating a post yourself. 

By the way, while the posts can be sponsored, it is not all you get. You could also be monetarily compensated, or given the product you are promoting. 

Now, you don’t have to promote other brand’s products, be it virtual or physical, you can also promote your own products, again be it virtual or physical. 

The benefit of promoting your own products is that you will first earn more money from instagram. Second, you will also have more freedom in terms of your marketing limits, and so on.

However, it is one of the  best ways to monetize Instagram traffic. That means to send the people straight to your site rather than someone else’s. 

Educate Audience

Educating is another thing you can do to monetize Instagram. Although education can take many forms, the idea is to sell what you know. 

Selling is not really the problem, here it is knowing what is sellable, especially on Instagram. Thus, you will have to learn something useful.

These days information is hot and can really be sold on varying levels of pricing. It really is not what you know, but what you can market. 

Things like e-books, and online webinars, and free PDFs with some related information to what you teach. 

Teaching something related to Instagram marketing itself is another good niche to be teaching at.

You can also do book reviews, or shortened retelling, or teaching how to cook etcs. As it was mentioned in the beginning, the list goes on and on. 

Teaching something you know is also the best and surefire way to monetize your Instagram. 

Because people who follow you will be gaining something useful and beneficial. That in return will motivate them to return and engage with you more. 

If you happen to be in this niche, monetizing Instagram becomes so easy. For example, you could even write a book and sell it. 

Selling books doesn’t in fact require you to have your own, but to just have a book that is related to your field and sell it. 

Own Line of Merchandise or Products 

Just like the possibility to sell  books, and ebooks to monetize Instagram. You can also sell your own line of merchandise or products. 

Your line of products can include all sorts of things from educational material like online courses, tutorials, to real physical products like housing furniture etc.

This works really well if you also have something else you do in your day job. Something that is related to what you teaching on IG. 

Of course, it could be that you teach about Instagram on Instagram and that is your job. However, it is important to consider when monetizing Instagram that the platform cannot be your sole earner. 

It should complement and supplement your earnings, but cannot by itself carry you through it all. 

Instagram has supportive features if you want to make a shop out of it.  You can directly sell on the platform and showcase your products. 

Instagram has been long in the works of various programs and features to help support business and entrepreneurs. Which works for you.

Because, you can even get paid on the platform without your customers leaving the platform. This is great because the visitor will be spending much longer time in your account, which also helps with the SEO.

List of Things to Monetize Instagram Traffic 

Although, we have shown just a few ways to monetize Instagram there exists a lot more.

  • Sponsored posts and content; 
  • Shoutouts; 
  • Affiliate links;
  • Certain product advertising;
  • Online store on Instagram;
  • IGTV Ads;
  • Selling your own products;
  • Promote and sell other products; 

Obviously, some of the things in the list are clear and need no explanation which is why it has not been explained. 

The idea is to first gain a lot of followers and increase your engagement rate. However you cannot do it in one day. 

This requires you actively working on your account and thinking about the value you provide to your followers. 

Once you go through the hard part of making it on Instagram, you need to start implementing the tactics and tips discussed in this article to monetize Instagram. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Instagram monetization?

In short, Instagram monetization is the process of earning money from your Instagram account. This can take many forms and varieties like working with affiliates or promoting your own products, you can even charge people for posting them or mentioning them in your Stories, etc.

The fundamental principle is that you want to make money from the Instagram traffic. You do that by any means you see fit as long as you provide value to your followers on a consistent basis. 

How do I monetize my Instagram account?

You can monetize Instagram account by including affiliate links in your bio, doing shoutouts and posting branded and sponsored content. You can also follow our advice on this and read either the list of things you can to monetize Instagram, or just give the whole article a thorough read.

How much money does 100k Instagram followers make?

You can charge up to 5k per post. However that is not always the case.

That also very much depends on a lot of factors, including but not limited to geography, niche, engagement rate,  etc.  

If you are in a popular niche with high engagement, the rate could be a lot higher. But the same is true for the reverse. 

When you have a huge following it is important that you have more integrity and be cautious about the kind of offers you accept. 

Because, big accounts generally seem to have lower engagement, but the ones with less trust have even lower. The lower your engagement the worse the offers get.

Thus, it is better to work with quality offers asking the highest sum with the least number of sponsored posts.

If you keep posting only the sponsored posts, your followers will be annoyed and may even leave.

Thus, just make sure to post organic content, the kind you used to post before you got too big.

How much money does 10k Instagram followers make?

You can make up to $100 per post. Like the answer above  it also again depends on multiple reasons including those above.

One of the things that will only be available is promoting your own links in your Stories when you hit 10k.

That will make it possible to make more than just $100 per post. Because you can  promote your own products or links and sell them. 

However, the instances when influencers with only or just over 10k followers made more than those with 100k are common enough. 

They smaller influencers sometimes end up making more because of the higher engagement rate they have. 

That is why focusing on engagement rather than making money will actually bring you more money in the long run.

Can you make money with 1000 followers on Instagram?

Yes, you can but only a few bucks considering you get lucky. Thus, when you only have 1000 followers. It is better to wait and work on accruing more than starting to monetize Instagram. 

Despite the popular belief that you can make money  with only 1k followers. Those 1k followers on Instagram are not always proactive and engaged.

Also, some of the features are not available with only 1k followers. Thus, it is better to wait. 

Even though you would make some money with 1k followers, the amount wouldn’t be enough for you to do something with it. 

The best action you can take at this point is to go read this article and grow your followers count even higher and then start monetizing Instagram. 

To Wrap Up

In this post we have not only answered how to monetize Instagram but gave some tips on how you grow before monetizing Instagram. 

At the end of the day, if you don’t have any followers, there is no way to monetize it. This is what the first and the second parts of the article are about. 

To grow your Instagram profile, you need to be: 

  • Consistent in producing good quality content;
  • Have your Instagram SEO in order: hashtags, keywords, etc;
  • Buy Instagram Ads, shoutouts, and do collaborations;

To monetize Instagram: 

  • Use affiliate links;
  • Do shoutouts and brand deals;
  • Sell your knowledge;
  • Sell your own products and services; 

📌 Make sure to read our article on Instagram SEO and find some of the tips and tricks to help crack the Instagram growth.  

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