Instagram is a formidable competitor that cannot be ignored.

The most recent figures available for Instagram indicate that the network currently has 1.704 billion users all around the world. Although it began as an app for exchanging photographs, it has since evolved into a platform for conducting commerce. When it comes to making money on Instagram, service providers, charitable organizations, and owners of dropshipping ecommerce businesses are among the millions of business owners who are taking use of Instagram’s selling ability.

It’s possible that you’re wondering how people make money on Instagram and your question is very reasonable. Will I be able to handle it on my own? What makes selling on Instagram unique in comparison to other forms of online commerce businesses?

In this post, we’ll take a look at a few strategies that you can begin implementing right away in order to join the ranks of successful businesspeople that make money off of Instagram.

You’re ready to start selling on Instagram, but you don’t have any cool things to sell yet, do you? Try out Handshake, Shopify’s very own wholesale marketplace designed from the ground up.

Is It Possible to Earn Money on Instagram?

Absolutely. You can get the attention of Instagram’s millions of users if you utilize photographs that are both attractive and innovative, which you need to have in order to use Instagram.

Now that you know it’s feasible, you might be thinking: All right, I get that it’s conceivable, but where the heck do I even begin?

To get you started, here are some of the ways you can monetize your Instagram account:

Put your focus on creating sponsored content for companies that have an interest in reaching your audience and see you as the ideal medium to do so.
Become a member of an affiliate program, and get revenue by selling the goods produced by other companies.
Make an offer to work as a virtual assistant for a person who has a lot of followers on Instagram. A significant number of people are looking for assistance to remove stuff off their plates.
Provide firms that lack their own in-house content staff with caption writing services.
Sell on Instagram. You have the option of selling a physical product, a digital product, or even a service to your customers.
Make money off of your photographs.

Instagram users who are interested in making financial gains from the platform are always on the lookout for novel monetization strategies.

Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything in great detail, along with providing some examples of people who have found success on Instagram.

How Can One Generate Income Using Instagram?

Instagram is an excellent platform for marketing and selling visually appealing products.

You will have a significant leg up on the competition if you have any experience or talent in photography. If you are photogenic yourself and wish to add some extra life to the photographs you take of your goods, you will receive bonus points. You don’t own a camera, do you? The product photography training that we offer will teach you how to snap great photographs with your phone. There is no way that anyone or anything can prevent you from making money using the photo and video sharing app.

Here are seven different business concepts that can help you monetize your Instagram account:

1. Establish yourself as an influencer in order to profit from sponsored content.

You can use your Instagram account to your advantage if you can achieve the much sought-after title of influencer.

profile to advertise a wide variety of products produced by a wide variety of firms.

If you are unfamiliar with the term, an influencer is a person who has developed a reputation and a dedicated following through consistent posting on their social media accounts. They have a huge audience, and because to this, they are able to persuade those people to follow particular trends and purchase particular items.

They have achieved this level of influence because they have invested a significant amount of time in cultivating the trust and relationships of their audience.

It is common practice for companies to collaborate with social media influencers in order to produce sponsored posts that assist in the dissemination of information on their wares. To get to this point, you need to increase the number of people who follow you on Instagram and come up with posts on a regular basis that generate significant engagement from the people who follow you.

The average sponsored post can earn a top influencer several thousands of dollars. It is important to keep in mind that getting to this position has required a significant amount of time, effort, and talent. If you decide to go this route, it is definitely achievable; nevertheless, you need make sure that your expectations are realistic.

It is essential for you, as an influencer, to have a solid understanding of your target demographic. You have to have an understanding of those people’s identities, including their interests, values, requirements, and desires.

In this method, you are able to determine which brands would be the most suitable for them. If you have upgraded to an Instagram business account, you can use the Instagram Insights function to conduct a little more in-depth study into the demographics of your audience.

If you have established a notable online presence, there is a good probability that major businesses may make contact with you. But at the same time that you’re constructing, you’re also searching for brands on your own that you believe best reflect your identity and the values you hold.

Make an attempt to negotiate a deal with them by contacting them personally (either through Instagram or through their websites). You can also enhance your chances of being discovered by a major company by enrolling in an influencer marketplace and listing yourself there.

During the process of monetizing your site through sponsored posts, take extra precautions to ensure that you do not undermine the faith of your current readership. It’s always a good idea to incorporate an Instagram hashtag that indicates people it’s a sponsored post (something simple like #sponsored or #ad). This will help people avoid accidentally clicking on the post.

2. Sign up to be an affiliate and start making money by selling the items of other people.

You can sell things that belong to other individuals and keep some of the profit. Affiliate schemes allow a significant number of people to generate income from their Instagram accounts.

The distinction between an affiliate and an influencer lies in the fact that an affiliate is motivated to generate sales for a partnered brand in exchange for a commission, whilst an influencer is not. On the other side, the influencer’s primary goal is to bring attention to the issue at hand. (If you are solely interested in acquiring exposure for your brand, you may want to consider reading through these brand awareness tips in order to achieve traction.)

Affiliates generate revenue by using a trackable link or a discount code, both of which ensure that you are aware of precisely which purchases were generated as a direct result of your articles.

Make posts that people will want to read in order to advertise your products without appearing overbearing. You are only allowed one link in your Instagram bio, therefore you may want to connect your affiliate link to a landing page. To do this, you can use a “link in bio” tool like Linkpop, which allows you to easily create landing pages and connect them to your affiliate links. Make sure that you remind visitors in each post that they can purchase the product by clicking on the link in your profile. And come up with a clever caption on Instagram to make it sound less promotional.

Affiliate marketing, while at first it could appear to be a challenging game, has a lot of promise if you plan on expanding your business. You can increase the scope of your presence by launching a website and/or establishing a presence on other marketing or social media channels.

Check out our compilation of interesting Instagram post ideas that successful firms have shared with us so that you may draw some ideas from them.

3. Offer your services as a Virtual Assistant to a Public Figure.

Consider becoming an assistant to an Instagram influencer if you’d prefer work behind the scenes than in front of the camera.

There are a lot of influencers who might use some assistance with things like screening sponsorship requests, managing advertisements, and spotting fraudulent followers, among other things. You might propose that you serve as their personal assistant and bill them on an hourly basis for your assistance.

You will be responsible for a variety of tasks as an Instagram influencer virtual assistant, including monitoring direct messages (DMs), scheduling posts, and responding to comments. Additionally, the influencer may ask you to provide suggestions on content they may use to build their personal brand.

Therefore, if you have always wanted to hone your Instagram marketing talents in a setting where you are not the center of attention, this is an excellent location to get started.

4. Offer your talents as an Instagram caption writer.

Instagram is used by a large number of owners of small businesses to promote their products and services; however, very few of these entrepreneurs have the resources or the expertise necessary to write engaging captions for their Instagram photos. If you have a knack for coming up with original captions for Instagram photos, you may be able to offer your skills to the companies listed above. Just keep in mind that they will evaluate you based on your ability to generate compelling copy in condensed form.

You can attract the attention of business owners by writing some captions and posting them on your own account. Then add in your portfolio the ones that attract the most interest and participation. If a company is planning to engage you to design the material for their Instagram account, there is a good chance that they will want to see examples of your previous work. Therefore, you should make sure that you have some instances that they might look at straight away.

How much should you charge for captions on Instagram? whatever price you believe you should be asking for your services. It might be $600 for ten captions or $1,000 for twenty captions depending on the number of captions. Instead of charging for your time or your content, you should charge for your knowledge. This is the most crucial thing.

5. Make money by selling posters, pictures, and other digital goods.

When it comes to content, Instagram is all about the images. Because of this, attractive products and photographs will result in increased sales.

You are able to make a profit off of the sale of poster photographs, paintings, drawings, animations, movies, and other virtual products based on images or videos. Include an engaging caption with each post, and encourage visitors to check out the URL you have provided in your bio. This is another another common method by which people profit from their Instagram accounts.

There is a possibility that you may get paid for your photography if you believe that you take photographs of a good quality. Use the top photo editing apps for mobile devices after you have taken some impressive photographs to get the most value out of the images you have captured. When you are shooting images, you should make an effort to be unique, creative, and have fun. These will garner far more attention than those that are dull.

You may use Instagram to market your photography portfolio by employing Instagram hashtags that are related to your portfolio.

6. You should try to sell some of your own tangible things.

You can sell any tangible goods, whether it is something you produce yourself or something you purchase from other vendors. This type of traditional e-commerce selling typically entails stocking some inventory, which means that you will need some beginning capital to purchase your goods.

You will also require a location in which to store the products, such as an unused room in your house or a storage unit that you have rented. This is especially important to keep in mind if you intend to cut costs by purchasing goods in large quantities. You will need a location to store anything before it is delivered to customers after they have placed an order for it.

You will be able to sell things directly on Instagram beginning in July of 2020 by establishing an Instagram Shop (more on that later). Simply tagging products in your Instagram photographs will allow you to direct your followers to your product pages, where they will be able to make a purchase of your wares in a single step.

7. Engage in the sale of dropshipped products.

You are able to operate your store using the dropshipping business model without ever having to worry about holding any inventory.

After you have made a sale, your provider will send the things that you have purchased from their warehouse directly to the address that your customer has provided. You won’t ever have to worry about storing, packaging, or shipping your products since we’ll take care of all of that for you. Phew.

This concept functions in a manner that is analogous to our earlier concept of making money by selling things on Instagram. The one and only distinction is that there will be no requirement for you to store any goods. You won’t have to worry about losing your first investment when you use dropshipping to conduct market research and locate niche products that are likely to be successful sellers.

Using the e-commerce platform offered by Shopify—which is free for the first 14 days—and apps like DSers, you can quickly and easily set up a dropshipping store.

Should I Consider Using Instagram to Make Money?

The data that supports Instagram is mind-boggling, and the site is quickly catching up to Facebook in terms of user growth.

While Facebook has 2.80 billion monthly active users, Instagram has grown to surpass 1 billion users in just over 9 years from the platform’s debut in 2010. This milestone was attained in 2019.

It should come as no surprise that Instagram users are rapidly becoming an unstoppable force, given that Instagram’s popularity is always on the rise. They have devised methods by which they can generate income via Instagram and profit from the photographs that they take.

Take a look at these mind-boggling statistics if you want to learn how to generate money using Instagram:

1) Each month, there are 1 billion users who are active. That’s approximately three times as many people as live in the United States.

2) Each day, 500 million users contribute to the site by posting a story. Almost twice as many people as live in the United States.

3) 71 percent of firms in the United States, including both large and small ones, use Instagram for marketing and branding purposes.

4) Fifty percent of Instagram users, or over 500 million individuals, follow at least one business account on the platform.

5) Each month, there are 2 million businesses that promote on Instagram.

6) The amount of time spent on Instagram grows by a factor of 80 percent each year.

7) Brands get 4x more engagement on Instagram than they do on Facebook.

8) While using the Instagram app, eighty percent of consumers end up making a purchase decision about a product.

7) Seventy-one percent of Instagram users are less than 35 years old, which makes the site excellent for businesses who are trying to reach young folks.

Instagram Users’ Most Popular Posts

You can get knowledge from the experiences of other people by reading case studies and success stories like the ones that are listed here.

Create a certain lifestyle that fits into a specific niche, and start selling things that are related to that lifestyle. It could be a hobby, a passion, or anything else that you feel compelled to share with other people. Just stick to what you’re good at.

The seamlessness will be even better if you use apps that integrate the social networking networks you use with your online store. Shopify already has connectivity for Instagram Business Accounts, which simplifies the process of using Instagram for business even less complicated than it already was.

Let’s take a look at some brands that are successfully integrating their ecommerce site and Instagram marketing.

BeardBrand

BeardBrand was initially highlighted in a piece that was published in the New York Times. Their retail establishment was launched with a mere thirty dollars and one dedicated vendor. The manner in which they make money from Instagram is one of a kind and totally awesome.

BeardBrand.com is able to sell a lot more of their beard-related products with the assistance of their robust Instagram presence, which includes more than 183,000 followers.

RadSlimeShop

Because it has more than 1,800,000 followers, rad.slime’s merchandise typically sells out within a day. The videos have an excellent level of clarity. The viewers are able to hear the multicolored slime popping as it is molded. The vibrant and beautiful videos have incredible potential as marketing tools.

This Slime made with Minty Rainbow Chips received more than 426 thousand views. It is hardly surprising that the product was completely purchased in less than a day given the enormous amount of views it received.

The malleable and customizable e-commerce platform offered by Shopify is utilized by RadSlimeShop.com. Once you have mastered the art and science of creating compelling product videos, earning money on Instagram may be a rather simple process.

Aesthential

The adorable Harajuku fashion that Aesthentials was founded on is a particular interest of the company’s founder, Justin Wong. The majority of his marketing efforts are concentrated on his enormous Instagram account.

Take note that every Instagram post is painstakingly altered in order to fit a particular atmosphere and vibe. Wong’s dropshipping business on Instagram generates a monthly revenue of $12,000 thanks to the platform’s widespread user base.

Even though there are many different suppliers, the proprietor of the store doesn’t really buy the products until after customers have bought them.

When It Comes to Making Money on Instagram, What Are the Prerequisites?

Utilizing apps, adhering to a list of dos and don’ts, making use of excellent filters, and employing advertising strategies are essential to the success of a firm. But if you want to make money on Instagram, you still have to keep up with the latest trends and adhere to the platform’s guidelines.

Let’s take a look at a couple of them.

1) Become an Instagram Expert for Your Business

There are two different kinds of accounts you can have on Instagram: personal and business. In July of 2016, the business account was made available to customers. You may learn how to set one up by watching this video that provides step-by-step instructions. Shopify also offers a comprehensive guide on selling on Instagram, which you can access through their website.

2) Establish a storefront on Instagram

You’ll have the ability to combine your product catalog with your Instagram profile when you use an Instagram Shop. Through posts, Stories, the Explore tab, and a dedicated Shop page on your profile, you will be able to promote your wares directly to other Instagram users.

Our group has compiled the most comprehensive guide to opening an Instagram store. If you’re interested in learning some points that will help you comprehend how you can generate money from an Instagram Shop, check out the link.

3) Become an Expert in the Integration of Ecommerce Shopping Apps on Instagram

Instagram has a restricted shopping experience built in, so it takes some creative thinking to make it useful for commercial purposes. On the other hand, the e-commerce shopping capability can be easily incorporated with apps that have been developed expressly for a Shopify store.

Experiment with a few different apps so that you can determine for yourself which ones will allow you to publish products together with their prices and individual pages detailing their specifications.

Customers will have the impression that they are continuing browsing your Instagram pages, even though they will actually be taken to the ecommerce-ready sites of your shopping app.

Shopify is the e-commerce platform that I recommend adopting because it provides a wide variety of apps that are compatible with Instagram. You are able to test out a lot of the apps without spending any money, so there is no danger if they don’t meet your needs.

4) Get familiar with the guidelines for posting on Instagram.

Instagram imposes stringent guidelines on users, including the manner in which they should publish, the categories of photos and videos that can be shared, and the number of times per day that they can share content.

It also restricts the number of hashtags that can be included, which means that you cannot just spam your Instagram account with more than 30 hashtags that have nothing to do with the subject matter of the post. No deception allowed!

If you follow these guidelines, your chances of earning money from Instagram will be significantly improved. It has been suggested by CoSchedule that you provide content between one and two times each day so that your followers do not become overwhelmed. You’ll also have more time to create posts that are original and interesting as a result of this. The most optimal time to post would be on Wednesdays and Fridays at eleven in the morning, just before the launch.

The social media analytics company Sprout Social recommends keeping your Instagram captions between 138 and 150 characters in length. Keep your advertisement captions to 125 characters or less. Even while it is possible to use more than 20 hashtags, it is not advisable to do so. The ideal amount of hashtags is between 5 and 10.

If each of your posts contains more than 20 hashtags, Instagram may “shadow ban” some or all of them. If your posts are “shadow banned,” it means they will no longer appear in results for searches with certain hashtags.

It is probably obvious to you that anything that contains the term “ban” is undesirable; therefore, you should make every effort to stay away from it. Your capacity to earn money will suffer as a result of this.

5) Become an Expert in Instagram Photography and Filters

Canva conducted research to determine which Instagram filters are most popular in the United States. The order in which they appear is as follows: Clarendon, Gingham, Juno, and Lark. Clarendon, Juno, Valencia, Gingham, and Lark are the five most popular photo filters in the entire world.

Most popular filters for nature:

Valencia
Normal
Brooklyn

Most popular filters for fashion:

Kelvin
Valencia
Nashville

Most popular filters for food:

Skyline
Normal
Helena

Most popular filters for selfies:

Normal
Slumber
Skyline

To determine which photographs will work, you can use programs such as Picodash. You want to emulate the kinds of activities that popular accounts participate in, while at the same time developing your own own content and profile. Find ways to keep yourself motivated to learn new things every day so that you can make money with Instagram.

6) Generate Posts That Are Informed by Trending Stories

Include them on your Instagram account in the spaces in between the photographs and videos of your products. You may accomplish this with relative easy by making use of applications such as Stencil, PromoRepublic, and Be Funky.

How to Create a Vibrant Following on Instagram and Why It Matters

Should you work on building a following on Instagram before or after you begin selling your products?

Before and after is the answer. It’s that simple.

Before you begin selling your products, you should ideally already have a following of at least a couple hundred people. You won’t end up posting product photographs to an account that has no followers if you do it this way. You will, of course, have to begin from the very beginning at some time; but, you should make an effort to build up a customer foundation before you begin to pursue sales.

Now, how exactly do you go about cultivating a sizeable following on Instagram? Start expanding your following as soon as possible by putting these 13 suggestions to use. Having a sizable following on Instagram is essential to make money from the platform.

1) Ensure that your Instagram profile is optimized.

When picking a username, be careful to pick one that has fewer than 30 characters. In an ideal world, the name would be searchable by using a keyword. In addition to this, it needs to be the same as the username you use on all of your other social networking accounts.

You should limit your bio to no more than 150 characters. Including a link that directs readers to your website that may be clicked on is a fantastic idea. Because this is the only location inside your Instagram account where you may include a link that users can click on, optimizing your account in this manner is extremely critical.

2) Establish and spread awareness of a designated hashtag.

It could be a good idea to start using the #jenniescandies hashtag if the name of your account is Jennie’s Candies. Simply checking the hashtag will let you know what others are saying about your company whenever you want to know.

You may also promote this hashtag wherever you go as well as on other platforms, both online and off. You can do this both offline and online.

3) Be inventive when using hashtags that are relevant to your niche.

Instagram enables users to include up to 30 hashtags in each post, although doing so could be counterproductive. It is recommended that you employ between five and ten prominent hashtags that are relevant to your niche and your items.

4) Take part in conversations that are relevant to your specialized field.

Investigate the content of other accounts that are utilizing the similar hashtags. Keep up with them and participate in the discussions that are going on. This will result in you gaining new followers.

5) Create captivating captions for your Instagram photos.

When you make a post on Instagram, you can give it a little more flavor and appeal by typing in what is called an Instagram caption. This is what appears beneath the post. Your followers will feel more encouraged to participate in the conversation and enjoy your photos if you use Instagram captions that are well written.

6) Host and publicize various contests.

Hold a competition and include a photograph in the rules that outlines the rewards that will be awarded. Make sure that you also create a unique hashtag for the competition. Determine the criteria that will be used to select the winners, and then clearly display the regulations.

One option is to take unique photographs specifically for the competition. And participants are counted towards the prize pool each time they publish a picture online accompanied by the appropriate hashtag. Be sure that you are following all of Instagram’s guidelines for the competition.

Be inventive in how you run the contest so that participants, if at all possible, will also have the possibility to earn some money from Instagram. You may send them an invitation to participate in an affiliate scheme that offers a reward.

7) You should make Instagram Stories and Instagram Live Videos and promote them.

Stories on Instagram have quickly become one of the platform’s most popular features, and their popularity only seems to be growing. Building your audience on Instagram is simple when you use the Stories feature like a pro.

You may customize the look of the content in your Instagram Stories in a variety of ways, including adding geotags, selfie stickers, moving texts, color overlays, texts, and face filters (much like Snapchat).

When you are delivering your message, use your imagination. Make it fun.

8) Be sure to update frequently.

The most important thing is to remain consistent and to make sure that all of your postings have their own distinctive tone. Your followers will be able to recognize your postings and understand that they are coming from your brand because of this. When it comes to scheduling your Instagram posts, you also have the option of utilizing third-party social media software apps like Hootsuite, SocialFlow, and Sprout Social.

9) Work together with accounts that have similar interests and influencers.

Make contact with influencers and other accounts that share your interests in order to engage in post exchanges and paid collaborations. For instance, if you have a sizable following, you may participate in post swaps with other users.

When you work with Instagram influencers to promote your brand, you have the option of establishing an affiliate program that either pays a commission or pays the influencer on a per-post basis, depending on the size of their following.

10) Take advantage of the location function.

You should upload videos and tales to your account, and then use the necessary hashtags and geotags to ensure that your postings may be easily discovered by those who are in the area and who have an interest in it.

11) Invite other people to participate in engaging with your material.

People are willing to assist you if you simply ask for it. There is nothing improper about making a request; nevertheless, you should ensure that the stuff you provide is genuinely valuable and interesting before doing so. After all, this is the most direct way to turn your Instagram account into a moneymaking machine.

12) If you want to reach more individuals, advertise on Instagram.

If you run advertisements on Instagram, you can reach more people who otherwise would not have been looking for your posts because of the adverts. If you want to push your business to the next level, you should investigate Instagram advertisements because they are a significant advantage for any brands that want to make money through the platform.

Making Instagram Posts to Promote Your Company

You will need to advertise your company no matter what kind of business plan you use. To be successful at self-promotion, you need more than just a thick skin. First and foremost, in order to genuinely earn money, you will need to employ sound strategy and tried and true methods.

When you’re selling on Instagram, most of your customers will buy on the spur of the moment. The creation of a “wow” factor for clients who are shopping for your items through the use of photographs, videos, and subtitles, as well as a streamlined shopping experience, is essential.

Make use of captivating photographs and movies that have been professionally generated and edited with the user’s preferred filters and tools.
Integrating your Instagram account with your online business will ensure that customers have a nice and consistent experience each time they shop with you.
Collaborate with as many people who have influence as you can. Choose to follow the influencers whose values and audiences are compatible with your own.
Strategize well. Maintain your position by publishing new information on a daily basis.
Create a unified and consistent look across all of your social media profiles, website pages, and blog posts by using a design theme.

Profit from Instagram is Within Your Reach.

Instagram is a veritable treasure trove for prospective businesspeople that are interested in making money for themselves. You, too, can earn money from Instagram just like all the other successful users by being creative with your account.

In a nutshell, the following are all the several methods that you can make money using Instagram:

As an influencer, you should create sponsored posts for various brands.
Join an affiliate program and promote a variety of different products.
Serve as an influencer’s personal assistant virtually.
Create captions for use in commercial enterprises.
You can make money by selling posters, photographs, and other virtual products.
You should sell your own actual products.
You can sell things that are dropshipped.

Posting images, videos, and live tales on your website allows you to offer tangible things. You also have the option of selling services such as influencer marketing. Consider utilizing the dropshipping model if you are in the business of selling tangible things because it is both handy and cost-effective.

What kind of earnings might be expected from using Instagram?

It is dependent on the products you sell, as well as the commercial and promotional approaches your company takes. If this is your first time, it’s likely that you won’t make much money at all. On the other hand, your stats are likely going to increase as your Instagram following expands and as you get more skilled at marketing.

What are the best ways for me to monetize my Instagram account?

Gain knowledge from Instagram users who are already successful. Combine what you’ve learnt from them with the skills that you already have, such as marketing, photography, telling stories, and picture styling. Increase the number of people who follow you as much as you can, run contests, and maintain an active presence by uploading fresh photos once or twice a day. In addition to that, ensure that your product is of high quality and that each and every one of your clients is satisfied.

You should do some planning before quitting your 9-to-5 work because it could take a few weeks or months before you start earning a sexyprofit from Instagram. However, if you are willing to take the risk, there is a wealth of potential for you on the other side. Get started right away and retain an open mind in order to ensure that you never stop learning, expanding, and crushing your monetary objectives.

Instagram for Selling Product and Making Money