This is a great time to monetize your Instagram account. More than 1 billion people now use the platform, with 84% of these users visiting it to learn more about new products.
Additionally, after finding a product they like on Instagram, many people either search for more information, visit the store, talk to someone else about it, or make a purchase.
But how can you make money on this social media platform? Listed below are the four most popular tactics.
1. Package your skills or knowledge into products.
One way to monetize your Instagram account is by promoting your knowledge or skills. This can be done by creating educational products that teach audiences how to solve problems. Package what you have to offer as an ebook or video lessons on platforms such as LearnWorlds, Thinkific, and Udemy.
But how can courses help you monetize your Instagram account?
Start by understanding what your course will cover and whether there’s a market for it. Most importantly, get your skills or passion to line up with something people want to learn about or will willingly pay to learn. Then validate your course idea.
- Host a challenge or offer your mini-course for free. Pay attention to how many people register and be sure to collect their email addresses.
- Create an expectant buzz by preselling your course prior to launch.
- Launch a beta version at a discounted rate. Use the opportunity to collect testimonials and feedback.
After validation, launch your course and create content for each stage of your sales funnel. This way, you’ll have content to help build awareness, nurture leads, and convert those to sales.
2. Advertise brand-name products.
Another way to monetize your Instagram account is through advertising brand products. To make this happen, you’ll need to become an influencer.
Build your online reputation and become a trusted expert on a particular subject. Grow your following, get your audience to engage with your content, and become their trusted source of recommendations. You can rapidly increase your reach and influence by using an Instagram auto liker for your posts.
After that, find brands in your niche with the same values and whose products your audience is likely to embrace.
But where do you get brands to help you monetize your Instagram account?
If you’ve grown your reach, influence, and engagement, brands may start approaching you for collaborations. On the other hand, you can pitch your collaboration idea to brands whose products you believe in or register with the many influencer marketplaces.
The process of negotiating pay can be as varied as there are vendors. Most brands either pay a set amount, provide free products or services, promise you exposure, or a combination of these.
However, keep in mind that the brand will access your audience, reach, and usage rights during negotiation. It’s critical, therefore, to know your audience and engagement rate before entering into negotiations.
Switching to a business account can give you access to these numbers. You can also leverage an influencer marketing tool to monitor audience quality and track your growth. Additionally, use it to provide brands with reliable statistics that give you an upper hand during negotiations.
3. Sell your products.
You can sell anything from knitted hats or creative cookies to anime puppets or illustrations to earn money on Instagram.
Alternatively, you can monetize your Instagram account by promoting another manufacturer’s goods. Once you get an interested customer, ship the products yourself and brand your packaging, or have the manufacturer deliver to the customer. However, make sure you’re repping for a product that relates to your niche and that your audience would use.
Start by switching to a business account. Include details such as contact information and brief testimonials. Switching to a business account also gives you access to analytics and promotion opportunities.
Update your profile and use the link in your bio to direct visitors to either an ecommerce store you built for your products or a website.
Once you’ve completed this step, create high-quality content that helps build your professional image and brand identity. You want it to create a strong persona around you. Drive traffic and engagement to your content by:
- writing captivating captions;
- maintaining a distinct aesthetic across posts;
- using appealing and emotional high-quality videos and photos;
- leveraging creative tools such as carousels, Boomerang, filters, tags, and so forth;
- creating polls, quizzes, and tutorials; and
- posting Reels, Stories, IGTV, Live Stream, etc.
Want to drive more people to your products? Set up an Instagram Shop and connect your Shopify or BigCommerce store to Instagram. After that, leverage the many Instagram features to monetize your Instagram account. These include Story Highlights, shoppable posts, user-generated content, and hashtags.
Additionally, advertise your products using Instagram ads or use influencer marketing to increase reach and boost your content arsenal. Most importantly, don’t forget to track performance and use the insights to improve your Instagram marketing strategy.
4. Become an affiliate.
You can also monetize your Instagram account by selling partner brands in exchange for a fixed fee or commission.
In this case, you sign up with affiliate marketers selling products in your niche, then use the link or code they give you to promote their products. Once you make a sale, the brand gives you a percentage of its revenue.
Start with the link in the bio feature on your profile or include a shortened form of the link on your post that people can memorize and type in the search bar. Just be aware that very few of your followers will visit your bio or go to the search bar.
In that case, use other strategies including promo codes, the swipe-up feature on Instagram Stories, adding a link to IGTV, or running sponsored content.
Alternatively, use Instagram Shopping or create a website with all of your products. Categorize products depending on characteristics or into catalogs, then direct account visitors to that page.
It’s time to monetize your Instagram account!
Now you’ve got a good overview of some of the most popular ways to monetize an Instagram account. Go forth and use the tactics mentioned to make money online. It may take patience and an ongoing willingness to adjust tactics, but in time you could develop a steady revenue stream.
