Making money online has always intrigued me because I just love the whole lifestyle and concept behind it. One of these online money-making methods is through Instagram. I’m sure you’ve seen many “famous” Instagram pages or influences flashing their wealth online. But how are they making money from this social media platform?
Instagram as a business doesn’t pay them, therefore they use other methods to generate an income. It’s a simple concept yet can be so powerful if you have a large audience following you. To make people more aware of what’s available online, I wanted to create a quick guide on how you can make money on Instagram.
Can you make money on Instagram?
So, can you make money on this social media platform with over a billion monthly active users? The answer is yes, and a very lucrative money-making method if you execute it correctly. People or pages that have a large following on Instagram can be relatively successful. There’s no real age limit on it either, so you can even make money as a teenager!
I say both pages and influencers as each have a good chance of generating income by posting on Instagram. For those who don’t know, an Instagram page is usually targeted towards a general niche. For example, you may get a page about dogs, travel, tattoos, and so on. However, an influencer is a physical human being that people look up to.
Ways to make money from Instagram
Now you know it’s possible to make money on Instagram, I assume you’re excited. This is normal, as it is an exciting opportunity that has only come about in recent years. Although there are 100s of ways to make money through Instagram, we’re going to discuss the most profitable three. These are:
1. Affiliate marketing
Something that’s been around since the beginning of the internet is affiliate marketing. This money-making method on Instagram is an easy one to implement and doesn’t require any start-up. Affiliate marketing is when you promote other people’s products in exchange for a commission. For a better understanding, let’s sculpt it into stages.
- You contact an online seller or affiliate marketing network, and they provide you with a unique link for a specific product or page.
- You post that link onto your Instagram page.
- When someone clicks on your link and purchases that product or service, it’ll notify the website owner that a sale came from your link.
- Once they’ve identified that your link produced that sale, they’ll give you a cut of the profits.
The concept is really as easy as that. However, the only tricky thing is generating an audience that is interested in buying products or services you promote. But, once you’ve figured that issue out, you’ll be on your way to making anywhere between £10,000 to £1,500,000 annually, according to Neil Patel.
2. Sponsored ads
The great thing about building a large following is businesses will want to advertise through you. You may have already seen this when you are on instagram where a page / influencer promotes a certain products or service.
To make this easier, let’s split the business side of it down.
- Let’s say you own an Instagram page in the travel niche that has over a million followers.
- Businesses related to your niche will contact you and ask you to promote their products for some money.
- How much you ask for really depends on your rates. But as guidance, it should be around £10 per 1,000 followers you have.
- Once you’ve agreed on a price, they’ll then send you the marketing details.
- When they’ve done this, wait until you’ve received payment.
- Once received, you’ll post their promotional video or create content to their requirements and post it at a specific time.
Again, a straightforward concept if you have an interesting and profitable niche. Remember, not all Instagram pages will receive £10 per 1,000 followers. This will depend on the quality of your audience and niche.
The main difference between affiliate marketing and sponsored ads is you get a one-time payment per sponsored post, but with affiliates, you get a commission each time you generate a sale.
3. Create a brand
If I were you and wanted to make money on Instagram, I would choose the two methods above. Doing this first will enable you to understand your audience without spending any money. However, once you have a solid understanding of what sells well to them, you can create a brand.
Creating your own brand means one thing, extra profit. This is because you’ll be in control of the goods. But, the only massive disadvantage this method has, is that you’ll need some capital to get your business off the floor. Depending on what your business plan will be, this can be a considerable amount.
As you can see from the above, there are plenty of methods to making money on Instagram. The sheer number of users on this platform really makes it a money machine for anyone that owns a popular page or account.
How much can you make per follower count?
Talking about the above is cool, but how much can it generally make you? Considering all of the above, here are some averages of how much you can earn depending on the number of followers you have.
| Follower Count | Average Price Per Post |
|---|---|
| < 2,000 | < £50 |
| 2k – 5k | £50 – £75 |
| 5k – 10k | £50 – £100 |
| 10k – 25k | £75 – £150 |
| 25k – 50k | £100 – £200 |
| 50k – 75k | £125 – £250 |
| 75k – 100k | £150 – £250 |
| 100k – 150k | £300 – £500 |
| 150k – 250k | £500 – £1,000 |
| 250k – 500k | £750 – £1,000 |
| 500k – 1m | £750 – >£1,000 |
| >1m | >£1,000 |
As you can tell from the above, there is plenty of money to make if you have a large following, target the right niche, and engage with your followers. Growing your following, however, will be the most challenging part of it all. But if you can find a method that skyrockets your following, you’ll be on your way to generating some amazing profits.
This is just one of many ways you can make money. If you want other ideas, check out our post highlighting several other ways you can make money in your spare time.
James Banerjee is an Account Director who graduated from the University of Kent in 2014. He works in SEO on clients such as HSBC UK and Nestle and he has a keen interest in personal finances and money-saving advice.
