What is Instagram ? How to Earn Money from Instagram ?

Instagram is a free, online photo-sharing application and social network platform that was acquired by Facebook in 2012.

Instagram allows users to edit and upload photos and short videos through a mobile app. Users can add a caption to each of their posts and use hashtags and location-based geotags to index these posts and make them searchable by other users within the app. Each post by a user appears on their followers' Instagram feeds and can also be viewed by the public when tagged using hashtags or geotags. Users also have the option of making their profile private so that only their followers can view their posts.

As with other social networking platforms, Instagram users can like, comment on and bookmark others' posts, as well as send private messages to their friends via the Instagram Direct feature. Photos can be shared on one or several other social media sites -- including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr -- with a single click.

Instagram is not only a tool for individuals, but also for businesses. The photo-sharing app offers companies the opportunity to start a free business account to promote their brand and products. Companies with business accounts have access to free engagement and impression metrics. According to Instagram's website, more than 1 million advertisers worldwide use Instagram to share their stories and drive business results. Additionally, 60% of people say they discover new products through the app.

Can you make money on Instagram?

Yes, you can make money on Instagram. According to CBInsights, Instagram is one of the top platforms where influencers and creators can monetize their content and lure more followers. The platform also tries to help creators monetize their influence on the platform. In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (parent-company of Facebook and Instagram), said: “To help more creators make a living on our platforms, we’re going to keep paid online events, fan subscriptions, badges, and our upcoming independent news products free for creators until 2023.”

The company also wants to help educators better understand their payouts from the platform, and has released an Instagram Payouts feature, which helps people see what their payout will be after taxes, refunds and in-app purchase fees.

10 ways to make money on Instagram

• Partner with a brand for sponsored posts

• Get paid by Instagram as a Creator

• Open an Instagram Shop

• Become an affiliate

• Drive traffic to your website

• Offer Instagram marketing services

• Sell photos, illustrations or digital files

• Offer exclusive content

• Dropship products

. Create an Instagram feature account

01. Partner with a brand for sponsored posts

One of the most promising ways to make money on Instagram is by becoming an influencer, micro influencer or nano influencer. As any of these types of influencers, you will be compensated with gifts or money in exchange for creating and sharing engaging content around a brand or business. These might take the form of sponsored posts, or shoutouts, where you positively shoutout about a brand or product on your Instagram account with a story or post. Reels can also now be used to promote sponsored content or include links to your own website and services.

Instagram promotion works for businesses due to the highly visual nature of its content. Making money on the platform is all about using this visual impact to maximum impact, while reaching hundreds and thousands of potential customers.

Typically, you'll get paid per post, with your follower count and engagement rate setting the price. Nano Influencers, who have 500 to 10,000 followers, get paid between $10 - $100 per post. Micro influencers, who tend to have 10,000 to 50,000 followers earn about $100 - $500 per post.

02. Get paid by Instagram as a Creator

Facebook announced that by the end of 2022, they plan to invest over $1 billion in programs that allow creators to earn money for the content they create. One of these programs is the Creator Fund which allows you to monetize your content through IGTV Ads, Instagram Live Badges and Bonuses.

Instagram Live Badges

Being a creator on Instagram is not just about the content you publish but also about your relationship with your followers. You should aim to create an Instagram business account for added trust, form a strong bond with your followers and give them the content they want to maximize your earnings.

Instagram had this in mind when it created its Live Badges feature, allowing fans to show their support to their favorite creators. Live Badges work like a digital “tip” people can give to Creators during a Livestream. It comes in the shape of a heart and can be bought as packages that sell between $0.99 - $4.99.

To add this feature to your account, go to your “Profile,” click “Professional Dashboard,” tap “Grow Your Business,” and select “Badges.”Once you go Live, click on the “badges” icon on the left side of your screen and turn them on.

Bonuses

Just like the name sounds, Bonuses rewards you financially after hitting certain milestones on Instagram as a creator. If you meet a number of Lives, sign up for IGTV Ads or create a required amount of Instagram Reels, then you’ve reached some of the Bonus Programs’ milestones to collect your reward. But before jumping in, you should know that the Bonus Programs are currently invite-only, so stay tuned for updates on eligibility.

03. Open an Instagram Shop

An Instagram Shop is a lot like running an online store, except it’s all on an app. Their slogan “post, tag, sell” explains how it works. After creating your shop, upload product images, descriptions and prices of your merchandise. Then users can discover your items and check out without ever leaving Instagram.

Follow these five steps for creating a shop on Instagram:

• Convert to a business account.

• Connect your Facebook Page.

• Upload a product catalog.

• Complete account review.

• Turn on Shopping.

04. Become an affiliate marketer

Unlike becoming an influencer and getting paid per post, as an affiliate you get paid on commission. The average affiliate commission rate to expect is anywhere between 5% - 30%. Your sales will most often get tracked with a unique promo code or UTM link. On Instagram, affiliate programs often go by the name "Brand Ambassador." You can either apply to become one on a company's website or be approached by the brand.

The number of followers you have is not a deciding factor for brands looking to hire affiliates, rather they want to see that you’re a fitting person who connects with their audience.

In advance, you should know that you can only add product links on the app in your Instagram bio or your Story (if you have over 10,000 followers). Since these two places are limiting, you might also consider starting a blog with a blog maker and writing SEO-optimized blog posts about the products with trackable links. This is a popular affiliate marketing method.

05. Drive traffic to your website

80% of people surveyed said Instagram helps them discover and buy new products or services. Evidently, the more people who see your brand on Instagram, the better chance they will buy from your website. To help you make more money online, you can use Instagram indirectly to drive traffic to your website. With the help of all your Instagram visitors, you can boost sales, grow your email marketing list and expand your loyal community of customers.

06. Offer Instagram marketing services

Are you skilled in Instagram marketing, caption writing or content creation? If so, you might be suited to take on an Instagram freelancing gig. By consulting other companies on improving their Instagram marketing techniques, you can make a nice profit, charging service fees between $20 - $50 per hour and even $100 for writing captions.

Book more freelance customers and spread the word about your services in your Instagram bio. You can also advertise your services on platforms such as Fiver and Upwork. Plus, consider adding online scheduling to your website so people can book services directly from your site.

07. Sell photos, illustrations or digital files

Instagram is all about the visuals, so if you're a designer, photographer or creative, it's time to cash in on your talents. You can sell your photos to other businesses, which is very common in the travel industry, or you can sell your own content, such as prints and illustrations.

Moreover, if you have a photography website or online portfolio, think of Instagram as a "storefront window" for your work and use it to get more clients.

08. Offer your audience exclusive content

Humans are curious creatures with a strong desire to keep learning. This is why online course platforms such as Coursera, Masterclass and Udacity have gained a large customer base. If you’re thinking about creating an online course, Instagram is a wonderful outlet to market it and earn money with each registration.

An average individual course can start at about $100, while longer, more intense courses can cost thousands of dollars. But you don't only have to limit yourself to earning through this alone. Simple downloadable guides, eBooks, whitepapers or templates can be other lucrative ways to make money on Instagram.

09. Dropship products

When starting a business, a factor that often provides logistical and financial hurdles is inventory. However, you can run a store without ever holding any inventory, thanks to the dropshipping business model.

By starting a dropshipping business, you can choose from millions of different suppliers' products such as T-shirts, books, mugs, and pillows. You're set free from the hassle of fulfillment and shipping and get to set your own pricing to maximize profits. Once you're ready to promote your dropshipping business, create a dedicated Instagram page to showcase your products, advertise your site and increase sales.

Create a dropshipping website to get started.

10. Create an Instagram feature account

Instagram feature accounts act as hubs to showcase photos from several different creators within a niche. For instance, a travel page shows images of various top travel bloggers and tags them for credit. Here are countless Instagram feature accounts sorted by topic that you can look at for reference.

But can you make money on Instagram from this type of page? Once you’ve grown your account to a favorable size, you can offer paid spots to users who wish to get featured on your accounts’ feed or Instagram Stigories.

Many are willing to invest good money for such prime real estate and exposure. On average, paid spotlight slots can range from $15 to $30 per post. Other Instagram hubs manage follower loops and “like for like” engagement groups and offer VIP paid memberships in them for as high as $20 - $30 per month.

While this income method doesn’t require you to buy or sell any physical products, you will need to invest a considerable amount of time engaging with accounts, messaging potential customers and continually growing your followers.

Tips to succeeding on Instagram

• Pick a niche: Choose a niche to focus on and be an expert in. It will be much easier to gain followers and brand partnerships when you have a clear and specific target audience from the start. For instance, being a food influencer can be seen as far too broad. A niche example could be focusing only on vegan or gluten-free cuisine. Honing in on a subject will also differentiate you from the competition and make you highly relevant to brands in that industry.

• Regularly engage with others: Build a strong community by often liking, commenting, messaging and sharing other people’s content. Simply taking a beautiful shot and hitting “publish” won’t do the trick. Instead, allow people to get to know you can see you as a real person who is equally interested in others’ content. Storytelling is an essential part of securing engagement across all social media platforms and Instagram is no exception. Hone your storytelling skills across all of your content and it will make a difference.

• Add tags: Use hashtags, geotags and tag brands in your posts and across your branded content. This will drastically help you get discovered by new followers and maybe even land new brand deals.

• Use a multi-channel approach: Be active on other channels such as YouTube and TikTok. Start a blog and newsletter and cross-promote your accounts. This will help you attract relevant people from all angles and inform them of more places to keep up with your content. Extend your reach across other money generating platforms, such as Patreon. As a musician you may use Instagram to promote your music, and even include links for fans to download it for a fee. With Patreon you can extend its monetization potential by offering behind the scenes footage or priority access to new or unreleased music.

• Be proactive and resilient: Whichever of the ten methods you try, take strong action with messaging brands about new partnership deals. Apply for several ambassador programs and often collaborate with others (even for free when you first start). As you kick off your Instagram monetization efforts, remember the words of Robin Sharma, "the only failure is not trying."