Instagram is a fast-growing social media platform with over one billion active users. The figure is expected to rise by 2023 to almost 1.2 billion users. Instagram has now become a source of revenue for most users.

With an Instagram account, you can start making money at home. If you’re not sure how to monetize Instagram, we have simple ideas to help you get started on how to make money on Instagram. 

So, let’s get started!

How To Make Money On Instagram The Best Way In 2021

In a day, 500 million people use Instagram stories while 130 million users view shoppable posts on the platform. While on the same statistics, 0.96% of the average engagement rate is from a post from an Instagram business account.

With such traffic and engagement from Instagram, you can monetize your account in various ways. But, you have to start by identifying a niche. Some of the best performing niches on Instagram are beauty, travel, fitness, etc.

As a business, it’s important to keep up with the changes on the platform. You can advertise products and services on reels, IGTV, stories, organic posts, paid promotions, and shoppable posts.

To get the best out of the platform, avoid buying Instagram followers. The drawback of buying followers is that you may end up not making money from your page.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at ways of how to make money on Instagram.

1. Run an online store

With the disruption of businesses by the Covid 19 pandemic, the online platform has become a source of income for individuals and brands.

How often do you come across a brand’s ad on your feed? Since most people search for products and services online, the only option is to market online. So, how do you handle this?

Identify a niche

To earn income on Instagram, it is not a must for you to partner with other brands. What you need to start is to identify a niche. Is it fashion, apparel, consulting, or fitness? 

Having a niche helps you come up with business and marketing goals. Working in an area that you have skills and expertise sets you up for success on the platform. 

Create a business profile On Instagram

An Instagram business profile has more advantages as compared to a personal account. First, you can access insights on the performance of your posts. 

Second, it builds trust and targets followers who are likely to be interested in your posts. It also makes it easy for followers to tag, share and refer potential friends. Make sure you set up the bio information about your online store and start posting. 

Build your follower list

To attract more followers, make sure that you post more often. Also, include relevant and trending hashtags to attract more followers. You can use online tools to help you manage your online store and identify hashtags to use.

Promote your business page by advertising on your personal page. With time, you’ll start attracting more followers who will have an interest in your products. 

2. Become an affiliate

Don’t get lost between an affiliate marketer and an influencer. An affiliate is concerned about making a sale. In return, you get to earn a commission. On the other hand, an influencer is more about creating awareness. 

With Instagram affiliate marketing, you either promote a link or promo code on your page. For instance, a transport agency has an offer for the riders. 

As an affiliate marketer, the transport agency gives you a promo code for anyone who comes across your post. Once there’s a conversion or successful riders, you earn the agreed commission. 

One of the advantages of affiliate marketing is that you do not need to have the product/service. The brand that you’re partnering with gives you the promo code or link to keep track of sales coming from you. 

However, it is not that easy. To attract customers, you must put in the extra effort. For instance, offer more information about the product or service, reasons for using it, the benefits, and any other information that will attract your target audience. 

To get started with affiliate marketing, you can reach out to merchants on online marketplaces like Clickbank, Amazon associates, and Rewardstyles.

3. Collaborate with other brands on sponsored content

You may be wondering, how many followers do I need to become an influencer? How much money does an Instagram influencer make? 

An influencer is an individual who helps in creating awareness about something. It can be a product, place, service, destination, or beauty. 

To be an Instagram influencer, you must know who your target audience is. By being an influencer, you can easily fit in any brand, provided you have the following. Also, the audience needs to build trust with you.

With an online presence, brands are likely to contact you for sponsored posts. You can also reach out to brands within your niche to work with them. 

You make money from the sponsored posts. As an influencer, post regularly to attract followers to your page. To grow as an Instagram influencer, identify a profitable niche and increase your engagement.  

Instagram influencers have various categories. You can either be a micro-influencer, middle-tier, or top-tier influencer. As a beginner, you may consider starting as a micro-influencer and partner with upcoming brands.

4. Become a brand ambassador

Top brands partner with top-tier or middle-tier influencers to become brand ambassadors. The advantage of having an ambassador is to benefit from regular posts and conversion. 

In case you’re not aware of it, an ambassador is someone who promotes a brand by attracting traffic, creating awareness, and generating a conversion. 

For instance, a tour agency hires a brand ambassador or influencer to create awareness and drive sales. The brand sponsors a trip for the ambassador, who markets a destination, services, or rates for the tour agency. 

As the ambassador, you come up with a schedule on how to market a brand. In addition, big brands can send products for marketing. 

Ambassadors have to sign contracts with the businesses. For you to make money, you need thousands of followers. It is a legit way of making money from $40,000 a year.

To grow as a brand ambassador, start by identifying a niche. However, if you’re comfortable working with multiple brands, make sure that it aligns with your viewpoints.

You cannot promote a product which you have a varying opinion. For example, being a brand ambassador for a beauty agency, yet the products you’re marketing harm your skin. 

5. Sell personal products

With so many DIY ideas, you can make different products and sell them on Instagram. Besides the handmade products, you can also sell other items like beauty products, baby clothes, shoes, etc.

To start selling on Instagram, you do not need thousands of followers. It’s not a must for you to be a celebrity or influencer. Making money requires you to be engaging and post high-quality images of the products selling.

To attract high engagement, market the products on Instagram stories and tag people. You can also save the Instagram stories on highlights for people to scroll and view later. 

With the rise in eCommerce websites, you can create a website on Shopify and promote it on Instagram. To get started, identify a profitable business and market it on Instagram. From your audience, you’re likely to attract leads who you can convert into customers.

6. Sell digital products

Selling digital products on Instagram has become very popular. Online products are broad, and it’s about selling anything. It can be an online course, ebook, graphic design image, art, etc.

Instagram is a social platform that is helping businesses scale up and drive conversion. With the rise in print-on-demand, a graphic designer can create various designs and post them on Instagram.

Interested people will buy the designs to print them on clothes or create picture frames. The Instagram business account comes with various features to help brands reach out to potential customers. 

Some of the features are the shop button, analytics, shoppable tags, and product tags. The features help businesses to attract buyers and monitor traffic to the business page.

To reach a wider audience, consider running ads, partnering with influencers, or use trending hashtags.

7. Sell visual content 

Are you looking for ways on how to make money on Instagram using visual content? As a graphic designer, create appealing visuals that attract brands to use for marketing.

For example, manipulation is about creating visuals by combining several images to tell a story. As such, brands can partner with designers to market and sell products.

Human beings are visual. Images on Instagram get 23% more engagement than on Facebook. Hence, businesses that use images have the potential to generate more leads from the platform.

With the rise of UGC, user-generated content, businesses can partner with various people to create content on their behalf in return for mention and other benefits.

For instance, a photographer posts an organic post and tags a specific brand. In return, the brand reposts the image and mentions the photographer. 

8. Begin dropshipping

Dropshipping is another lucrative job online. It involves selling products without the need of having a physical shop. You can design a website with Honey App on Shopify, which does not require you to have web design skills.

Later, you can market the eCommerce website on Instagram. With the rise in online platforms, most sales begin online. That is, people search for products on the internet before buying.

70% of potential shoppers use Instagram to discover products. As a drop shipper, advertising on Instagram has a higher potential of attracting leads. To successfully increase the number of clicks, make sure that your business is discoverable when a user searches on the platform.

The advantage of dropshipping is that you’re free to test different products. With Instagram analytics, you can learn more about your audience and what works for them.

9. Offer social media services.

As individuals and businesses join the online community to earn an income, it has led to the growth of online jobs. Social media marketing is one of the profitable jobs that most people are using to make money.

Instagram has over 25 million businesses. With such a high number of online businesses, this translates to competition for audience, sales, and profit. So, how do you benefit from the platform?

Now, this is where social media services come in. As a social media manager, it is possible to handle several accounts at once. Your role as a marketer is to come up with content calendars, manage posts, analyze traffic, engage with the audience, and monitor performance.

To make money as a marketer, you’re either paid per hour or a flat fee. Depending on your skills, you can earn from $50 per hour. Social media marketers make money by using their skills to grow and nurture businesses.

Since social media marketing is a broad category, you need to understand how the platform works. For instance, which is the best time to post on Instagram, picture sizes, filters, audience analysis, and content creation.

10. Write captivating captions for other businesses.

If you don’t know how to make money on Instagram, you can start writing captions on individual profiles or business posts. As an SEO expert, write captivating captions that are rich in keywords to generate traffic. 

To identify merchants, you can reach out to brands or join online platforms like freelance sites. For example, with Upwork, business owners are always looking for people to help them create captions.

A a result, you’re paid per post or hour. Writing captions for businesses do not require you to have thousands of followers. What you need is to have a portfolio to attract clients to working with you. 

You can make as much as $50 per hour, but you have to deliver the expected results. Large organizations work with freelancers, while small businesses can work with creative content creators like comedians. 

11. Create market days for small businesses

Instagram stories are helping business owners create awareness and earn profit from leads. According to Instagram stories statistics, 500 million accounts use stories every day, while 4 million businesses use Instagram ads monthly. 

Instagram stories provide engagement and are a source of conversion for individuals, influencers as well as brands. However, they only last for 24 hours. Depending on the performance of your stories, you can save them on highlights. Visitors to your page and followers can always refer to it.

If you have about 10,000 followers or more, you can create market days on stories. For instance, you can partner with small businesses to market their products on your Instagram stories. 

If a merchant is selling household items, post the items and tag the page on your stories. You may decide that on specific days, you post products for other brands. For the rest of the days, you publish your posts.

Also referred to as market days, you make money by charging per post. You may charge small businesses as little as $50 for every Instagram stories post, while large organizations pay more. 

Tips On Instagram Monetization

To start earning on Instagram, you don’t have to be an influencer, celebrity, or have millions of followers. There are so many ideas on how to make money on Instagram. It depends on your niche, expertise, and how you approach each idea.

One of the benefits of Instagram monetization is that it does not require a budget. Creating an Instagram profile is free for both personal and business accounts. 

You can start earning with 10,000 followers or lower. You must be questioning how this is possible. Check out the tips below to start making money:

1. Avoid buying fake followers

As more people continue to join the platform every day, do not be tricked into buying an Instagram account. Create your follower base from scratch by attracting the right audience to your profile. Having fake followers will only harm your business performance. 

2. Post regularly

Keep your followers engaged by posting high-quality visuals on Instagram. It not only keeps your followers engaged, but it increases the number of followers as well.

To stand out from your competition, create high-quality content that relates to your audience. Remember, the platform has over one billion users with a similar goal of making money. 

Instagram is not only about likes and posting. It’s about creating a relationship with your followers. 

3. Establish a brand on Instagram

To monetize your Instagram profile, establish a brand that businesses and followers can partner with and trust. By creating a brand, it is easier for partners to correlate with you.

For example, to become an affiliate business or ambassador, start by establishing a brand. That is, what do you want your followers to have in mind when they come across your posts?

Branding is about who you are. Being unique will have you make money on Instagram as large businesses will also want to associate and work with you. 

4. Have a niche

With a niche, you are able to concentrate and grow in a specific field. Online marketing is broad and can be very challenging to familiarize with each category.

For instance, if you choose photography to be your niche, perfect your skills in this field and make the best out of it. Consider partnering with brands or merchants who share the same goals as you.

5. Create shoppable posts

Instagram has introduced new features for merchants to sell more on the platform. For instance, in your dropshipping post, include a product tag and a call-to-action button.

It helps in directing the user to a specific landing page with more product information. Shoppable posts can be a single image or carousel. 

To earn money with Instagram shoppable posts, make sure that the landing page has a website link or a button that prompts the user to buy.

6. Join influencer marketing platforms

Businesses are cooperating with micro-influencers to drive traffic and increase engagement. 15.7% of Instagram users are micro-influencers, which means that they have 1,000 to 10,000 followers.

However, it is not always as easy to convince merchants and brands to partner with you. It is not as seamless as it is for big influencers with 100,000 followers.

Hence, you may consider joining online platforms to make it easy for brands to connect with you. Examples of such brands are Influenz, SocialPubli, and Coobis. 

7. Promote your business page on other platforms

Besides using Instagram stories, reels, IGTV, sponsored ads, and organic posting, promote your Instagram account on other platforms. 

For eCommerce, use other platforms like YouTube and emails to drive traffic to your page. Also, leave a link on your Instagram profile that users can click to land on your important pages. For instance, email subscription, blog, or YouTube channel.

How Much Money Can You Make By Monetizing Instagram?

As you figure out how to make money on Instagram, you need to identify the profitable ideas to use. You can make several dollars more with more than 10,000 followers. 

The standard amount to earn on the platform is $10 for 1,000 followers. However, you can make more based on your experience, content quality, engagement, and name recognition. 

Also, it depends on your contract agreement with your sponsor. Therefore, if you have 1,000 followers or more, you can partner with brands and start making money.

How To Attract Sponsors and Merchants To Make Money On Instagram

With the above ideas on how to make money on Instagram, it now time to attract brands. But, how do you do it? To get started, consider growing your followers. 

For a micro-influencer, begin by pitching out to the brands to work with you. Define your niche and work on establishing a brand. Post relevant content regularly and tag the brands as well. 

If the brands do not get back to you, consider reaching out to them and inform them of your goals and intentions. Prove to them what they get in return and include your ratings.

Finally

 If you didn’t know how to make money on Instagram, consider using the ideas above. Instagram is a fast-growing social platform with a lot of marketing potential. 

And there you have! Which of the ideas or tips above will you be using first?

Well, I have good news for you! This article will answer all your questions, enabling you to finally figure out the mechanism behind all your activity on Instagram.

For better understanding, the article is broken down into 5 parts:

1. Instagram Algorithm for Feed Posts
2. Instagram Algorithm for Instagram Stories 
3. Instagram Algorithm for the Explore Page
4. Instagram Algorithm for IGTV Videos and Reels
5. Ways to Improve Instagram Algorithm

Since Instagram tends to behave mysteriously at times, it is important for you to take into account some of the insights we discuss today. Once you have a better knowledge of how everything works, you can easily improve your content strategy and boost the growth of your brand on Instagram.

Without further ado, let’s get started! 

Instagram Algorithm for Feed Posts

Your feed posts are the square images that appear on your Instagram timeline. The Instagram algorithm for feed posts takes into account six key factors:

1. Interest

The Instagram algorithm is very interesting. Not only does it care about the kind of accounts you follow, but also the kind of content you have liked in the past. Your interests, therefore, are taken into account when considering which posts to show on your feed. 

In order for a post to appear higher up in your feed, Instagram needs to think that you are certain to like it. That will only happen if you have liked similar posts in the past. Your interests – whether they come in the form of likes, comments, saves, or tags, will all act as guidance for Instagram to understand what to show you. 

For online businesses, this means that the more active you are and the more you give your audience the chance to interact with your posts, the better chances you have of making your presence more prominent. That’s why engagement is key!

2. Relationship

Your relationship with people that you are close to and the accounts that you really care about is prioritized by the Instagram algorithm. How the Instagram algorithm works in this regard is that it uses your interaction on the app as a means of establishing who you are the closest to. Based on that, the algorithm then shows you what you really, really want to see. 

While we don’t have any official information regarding how Instagram does this, there is a theoretical consensus between experts that the Instagram algorithm decides who you are the closest to based on a number of activities. For example, it analyzes the content that you like as well as the people you direct message and the people you search for!

3. Timeliness

Engagement is not the only important thing you need to keep in mind while using Instagram for business. The Instagram algorithm also takes into account how long ago a post was made! In fact, we can go as far as to say that the Instagram algorithm really cares about when something is being posted. 

4. Frequency

The Instagram algorithm also takes into account how frequently users scroll through the app. This way, it can show users the best posts since their last visit to the app. If you are someone who uses the app very regularly, then you are likely to see these posts in chronological order. 

5. Following

Of course, the number of people you follow on Instagram ultimately have a bearing on the Instagram algorithm. If there a lot of people you’re following, Instagram will have to dig through all those accounts and show you the best and the most relevant ones. 

Also, for businesses, it is important to ensure that they are not following a lot of inactive accounts! The reason behind this being that inactive and “ghost” accounts have an adverse impact on the algorithm.

6. Usage

Lastly, Instagram cares about the usage of your account. If you are always on the app, then you are likely to see more posts! The more you use your account, the deeper and further Instagram goes to fetch the kind of things you would like. 

Instagram Algorithm for Instagram Stories

The Instagram stories that appear at the start of your feed are generally from the accounts that you interact with the most. So, all of your engagement with a particular account; for example likes, comments, story views, reactions, and DMs – all go towards establishing this aspect of the stories.

In addition, like feed posts, Instagram Stories also consider timeliness as a factor for the algorithm. The entire point of Instagram Stories is to keep the users in the loop with the latest updates from the people they follow, and hence it the algorithm really goes the extra mile to ensure that it’s always giving you the latest updates. 

Therefore, the pages that post a lot and consistently get way more recognition by the Instagram algorithm. So, the key to mastering Instagram stories is to post a lot!

Instagram Algorithm for the Explore Page

The feed and the Explore page algorithm work in a very similar way. They both are geared towards presenting content that you are likely to be more interested in based on your previous activity on the app.

However, there is one small distinction. Whereas the Instagram feed only operates using the content from your followers, the Explore shows you exciting content from accounts that you don’t follow. 

In short, the entire purpose of the Explore page is to connect you with accounts you are likely to be interested in, but don’t follow yet. It is a dynamic part of the app that keeps changing, showing new topics, categories, and keywords. 

What this suggests is that the Explore page algorithm also takes into consideration your captions, the theme of your account, and visual content. This is a great thing for accounts that are just starting out, because it means that you don’t have to worry about the number of followers or likes you get. Instead, you get to focus on putting out amazing content that attracts different groups of people and then watch that get you the results that you need. 

The Instagram Algorithm for IGTV Videos and Reels

For IGTV videos and Reels too, Instagram focuses on the accounts you engage with the most! Not only that, but it also takes a look at the type of posts you are more likely to engage with generally as well. 

Essentially, based on your activity in the feed, Instagram decides what to suggest to you for IGTV videos and Reels. The best way to ensure that they get the attention they deserve, share snippets and previews of your IGTV videos and Reels on your feed and stories! 

Ways to Improve Instagram Algorithm

In case you haven’t been able to figure it out yet, the Instagram algorithm is a very smart piece of AI. In order for you to make a presence on Instagram, you have to not only survive all the twists and turns of the Instagram algorithm, but also outsmart them. 

To help you, we have compiled this list of best practices that will help you evolve your IG account and take it to the next level. 

1. Post photos daily

If you want to grow your account and beat the algorithm at its own game; you must focus on posting on Instagram every single day. Not only does that keep your followers interested, but it also gives the algorithm a fresh stream of content to pick from! 

You don’t have to be pumping out professional photos all the time, either! Anything will work, as long as it is relevant enough for you followers to engage with it. There are a lot of people out there who are always on Instagram, so do your best to target them and appease them. 

If you cannot post daily, then you might want to come with a regular posting schedule. The key for that would be not just to craft that schedule, but also to stick to it! Also, aim for posting at least 3 times a week.

2. Post Reels

The Reels feature is a relatively new feature on Instagram, and users love it! In general, videos tend to do better than pictures since they are a form of storytelling. Therefore, they tend to do better with your audience! Not only do they make the audience feel connected to you, but they also allow you to create a certain image for your account amongst your viewers. 

So – post Reels! Post reels at least 3 times a week. That might sound like too much, but again, you don’t have to do anything crazy or fancy or out of the blue. Just basic videos giving a glimpse into your life or your surroundings could do wonders. 

Reels get way more attention than any other sort of post, so you definitely need to do this. 

3. Reply to dms 

Posting and being active on the feed is not enough. In order to take your account to the next level and ensure that the Instagram algorithm really registers you as an active page, you must also reply to dms!

Yes – you heard that right. Ignoring the messages in your inbox isn’t the best way to go about things anymore. When your followers text you, respond! This will show your followers that you care and will tell the Instagram algorithm that you are a well-engaged account. 

You can reply to all your Instagram messages from your phone, or even from your desktop! The unified Pages inbox on Facebook can also be a great way of making sure that you are always in touch with the people who take out the time to text you and interact with you. 

4. Reply to comments

Just like dms, you must reply to the comments under your posts too. The more interaction you have with other people on the app, the more Instagram will establish your account as an attention-worthy aspect for the algorithm. 

Not only that, but when your followers feel that you acknowledge their efforts to interact with you, they will be even further encouraged to talk to you and leave comments on your post. You get to build a meaningful connection with the people around you, all while making important changes to your account!

5. Turn on post notifications

Yes, you want your followers to turn on the post notifications for your posts, but are you willing to do the same for yours? As unreal as it sounds, keeping in touch with accounts that post similar content to yours can help you build a sense of community, generate engagement, and collaboratively grow on the app. 

6. Maintain a theme

This one might seem like a shot in the dark, but it can actually help you expand your presence! Instagram relies heavily upon visual appeal. The more aesthetically pleasing your account is the more attention, engagement, and value you can get out of it. All of that means that your ranking on the algorithm will improve. 

My suggestion is to figure out a theme for your account, and then tailor the rest of your content in accordance with that. When your followers look at your account, you want them to instantly click with it, and that is only possible if you work on making it look good. 

The Bottom Line

Years ago, Instagram merely started as a means of entertainment amongst friends and family. However, today, it is an all-purpose portal of everything, from marketing to eCommerce business. Therefore, it deserves a lot more attention from you and must be dealt with strategically. 

Luckily for you, there are tons of people who have already researched enough to understand what the Instagram algorithm is and how it works. The insights we have shared with you today will really help you take your Instagram strategy to the next level. 

So, what are you waiting for? Log in to Instagram, and conquer it!