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We’ve already shown you how to make money from home, but now we’re turning our attention to how you can make money on Instagram—one of the largest social media platforms out there. With around 1.5B users, Instagram reaches 24% of the world’s consumers. That’s a huge market share if you ask me, so it’s definitely worth exploring how to make money on this popular social media platform. 5 different approaches to making money on Instagram. 1. Become an Instagram influencer. You don’t need a million followers to call yourself an Instagram influencer and create sponsored posts. In fact, many companies are now looking for micro-influencers—people with accounts that have anywhere from 1K to 100K followers. Big influencers tend to post so much sponsored content that it gets lost in the chaos or loses credibility. Alternatively, smaller influencers still have a close relationship with their Instagram followers and post plenty of authentic content. Think about yourself: would you trust a product review of a vacuum cleaner more if it comes from a friend who you know and trust, or from a celebrity who probably never cleans their own house anyway? Plus, bigger influencers are oftentimes out of reach for most brands. Many charge a lot for posts, and collaboration might require lengthy contracts, complex conditions, and multiple steps. Micro-influencers offer more flexibility and quicker content turnaround times so brands are often really interested in working with them. So how can you make money as a micro-influencer? Earn cash on Instagram by creating sponsored content in the form of a story, a post, a reel, or a combination of these things. Companies typically pay Instagram influencers per piece of content, but they’ll need to know your Instagram account statistics for recent posts before sealing the deal. They’ll want to make sure that your followers are real, the audience you reach matches with their target customer demographics, and that your content is generally engaging. Receiving products in exchange for sponsored posts is still considered sponsored, so many influencers start off by accepting products instead of making money. However, don’t fall into the trap of only working for products. If skincare is your niche, you could end up with a cabinet full of creams and serums but no actual money to spend. As your audience and influence grows, don’t be afraid to negotiate a payment on top of the products even if a brand doesn’t offer it at first. Here are 3 ways to get sponsored if you don’t have a high follower count: Learn about and sign up for influencer marketplaces Tag brands in your posts and hope you get noticed Pitch companies by sending them DMs on Instagram, emailing, or even reaching out to specific employees on LinkedIn. Either way, start small. When you don’t have a proven track record to show, you have better odds of scoring a deal with the local kombucha brewery than with Coca-Cola. 2. Promote affiliate products. Affiliate marketing is a low-cost way for businesses to promote their products as there’s hardly any upfront investment they need to make. It’s also a great way for you to earn extra cash. While both influencers and affiliates promote products or services on their Instagram accounts, the way they earn money is what sets them apart. As an influencer creating sponsored posts, you and the brand will agree on a set sum of money, usually per piece of content posted. Brands often ask to approve the content before you’ve actually published it and may request to make changes. As an affiliate, however, you’ll get a unique link or promo code and a commission for sales that come out of users clicking the link or using the code to make a purchase. It doesn’t matter if it takes you a single story or 2 weeks of constantly posting about the same product—whether or not you get paid depends on the end sale. Since it’s a more flexible process, brands are also less likely to micro-manage your posts, so you often have more creative freedom. To become an affiliate, there are 3 common ways to go about it: Reach out to brands you like. Most bigger companies will already have info about affiliate programs on their website. In some cases, they might set requirements for having a certain number of followers or a specific activity level in the past months. Usually, though, like in the case of Printful’s affiliate program, your interest is all you really need. Smaller brands might not have put the information out there but will likely be willing to work with you if you reach out to them directly. Join one or several affiliate networks that act as the middleman between you (the affiliate) and the brands. Apart from ease of filtering and narrowing down programs you’d be interested in, the main benefit of making money through affiliate networks is that they’ll handle the financial transactions and guarantee you payment of your commissions. You don’t have to talk to the brands directly and worry if they’re legit. Check out this list of The Best Affiliate Networks & Programs. Lastly, if you’re growing your brand and have an engaged audience, take advantage of it to get noticed by businesses. Once you’ve picked a specific niche and use relevant hashtags, those niche stores are more likely to come knocking on your door. Don’t forget to develop an effective marketing strategy as well to help build your profile and get noticed by brands. How much can you make as an affiliate? According to the Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report 2022 by Influencer Marketing Hub, most affiliates make below $10K a year, but there are some stars making more than $150K annually. That’s a wide margin to make good money from affiliate deals. Learn More: 10 Tips for Affiliate Marketers to Make More Money Lauren and Penny is a great example of an influencer doing it right. Lauren posts adorable photos of her dog wearing different accessories and puts her affiliate code in the captions for almost every post. She also has conveniently organized highlights by brands that she collaborates with and uses the linktree in her Instagram bio to promote affiliate links. This way, followers can easily find her promo codes when they need to. Source: @laurenandpenny on Instagram 3. Use Instagram to sell physical products. Another great way to make money on Instagram is by using your IG account as a storefront to sell products. Design and sell any product that you’d personally like to buy, or that you know there’s a market for. If you don’t already have an ecommerce store to guide your potential customers, here are several ways to go about it. Get creative with POD (print-on-demand) Probably the easiest way to start selling physical products on Instagram is through a print-on-demand provider. Partnering with a service like Printful enables you to print your unique designs on hundreds of different products (mugs, hoodies, shoes, blankets, posters, and hats, just to name a few) without having to make a large upfront investment. When someone makes a purchase on your ecommerce store, the POD company will automatically print your design on the product, pack it, and ship it to your customer with your branding. This way, you don’t have to worry about stocking up on inventory that may or may not sell, or dealing with the logistics of packaging and shipping your products to customers worldwide. Even when you’re on vacation in Greece, there’s always someone making sure your customers get their purchases in a timely manner. Printful also provides you with product mockups, production footage, and videos to showcase your items on your Instagram account. Use the Instagram Shopping feature to tag products in your Instagram stories, reels, and posts. Get started with Printful The Aussie Mom is the perfect example of how to make money on Instagram by selling POD products. She uses a mix of her own photos and product mockups to create a fun, colorful Instagram page. This helps promote her products to her following and ultimately get sales. Source: @theaussiemom on Instagram Try dropshipping The dropshipping business model is very similar to POD in that you’re only responsible for setting up your ecommerce store and handling marketing while the supplier or manufacturer fulfills your customers’ orders. The biggest difference is that you don’t have to design the products you sell. Dropshipping simply means the seller accepts customer orders without having stock on hand, so you can also sell products that someone else has designed. Some popular products to dropship are clothing, home & living products, accessories, and baby products. Sell used, thrifted, or handmade products Another way to make money on Instagram with physical products is to tap into the second-hand market or offer handmade goods. Both have become super popular for customers looking to make more sustainable choices, pay less for brand names, or buy novel hand-crafted items. If you want to test the waters, you could start by running an online “garage sale” with your own stuff. Create a post for each piece of clothing, furniture, or appliance, make a reel showcasing the items, and post video stories inviting followers to check out your offering. If you’re ready to take it a step further, you can browse thrift stores in your area or online and flip things you find for a profit. Audrey Leighton Vintage is doing just that. Based in Barcelona, the brand launches a collection of elegant clothing and accessories each month. It’s made up of quality pieces that are thrifted, sourced from collectors, or made new in her atelier. New or vintage, Audry Leighton makes sure to create stunning, coherent visuals for every product. Source: @audrey.leighton.vintage on Instagram Buy inventory in bulk Buying things in bulk at a low price point, keeping inventory, and selling it off one by one is probably the most traditional approach on our list. However, advertise the items in your Instagram store and voilà, another option to make...

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