How to Monetize Your Instagram Account

Everyone wants to get paid doing what they love. Luckily, you’ll find that on Instagram you can get paid for your passion (whatever it may be).

Budding entrepreneurs are flocking to this social media powerhouse to build their following, and to take advantage of Instagram monetization. In this article, we will discuss some tips on how to become a paid content creator, and exactly how to monetize Instagram. 

Tips on Becoming a Paid Content Creator

Becoming a paid content creator requires a sizeable following. Before you can start getting paid for your content, you must have a large sphere of influence, as well as dedicated and engaged followers. 

Micro-influencers have between 10,000 and 100,000 follower count. This category of influencer is most likely to become a content creator with the ability to make a sustainable income on Instagram. 

Here are a few marketing strategy tips to get a higher number of followers, which gets you on the path to paid content creation:

1. Find Your Niche

Everybody is good at something. Maybe you have a particular skill set or some knowledge that not many people know about. Perhaps you like to create custom fortune cookies. Or maybe you enjoy cleaning historical tombstones or rating and reviewing road stop bathrooms. 

In this big weird world, there is an audience who would be enamored to know just how many bathrooms along Highway 66 are “clean as a whistle, with plenty of toilet paper.” The more specific the niche, the better.

Picking an obscure topic that interests you most will guarantee not only your passion for the subject, but you are more likely to find little to no competition. And soon enough, you’ll be everyone’s go-to “Road Stop Reviewer”. 

Whatever you pick, make sure it is truly authentic to who you are. 

2. Up Your Hashtag Game

To broaden the reach of your content, include hashtags in the captions. This greatly increases the likelihood of it being seen by your primary target customer. The key is to choose the hashtags that best describe your content. Here are a few other tips on hashtags:

• 10-15 hashtags per post: On Instagram, you are allowed up to 30 hashtags. However, we recommend keeping it simple with somewhere between 10 and 15 hashtags. 
• Be creative: Using creative, witty hashtags adds an element of playfulness to your content, making it more interesting and relatable. As a result, you will be more likely to connect with your audience. 
• Mix ‘em up: It is also important to mix your hashtags up so you are extending your reach to a bigger audience. 
• Don’t repeat too much: If you use the same hashtags in every post, Instagram will penalize your content’s algorithm since it doesn’t like repetitive content. 

3. Provide Consistent, High-quality Content

You may think you need to put all the bells and whistles into your content. However, the best strategy is much simpler than that. Just provide content that is made well, that properly conveys your personal brand, and is done consistently. 

Well-crafted content that includes high-quality images and videos gets the attention of the masses. Make sure the content will hold the interest of your audience, but still is authentic to you and your brand.

Then you can leverage the content on different social media channels, as well as Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, or IGTV to get your message out there. Post regularly. When your followers know what to expect from you, they feel like they know you.

Your consistency makes them want to engage with you, which then ups your engagement rates. 

4. Collaborate With Other Influencers

Sometimes the easiest way to get access to wider audiences is by partnering up with another influencer. Find someone whose content you genuinely like and admire, and ask to collaborate. Collaborating will help you learn from others, create something new, as well as spread brand awareness. 

If you are a bit nervous to pitch the collaboration, start by first just asking for a shoutout. It will give you a confidence boost to more actively engage with the influencer and their followers in the future.

Ways to Monetize on Instagram

Once you are a content creator with a sizeable following, it is time to monetize! There are a variety of ways in which you can make a living through Instagram. Some people may just stick to one stream of revenue, while others will engage in several ways of making money. 

Now we will tell you how to make money on Instagram. 

1. Sponsored Content

Brands often work with influencers by sponsoring their content. They will pay you to promote their product, service, or campaign, which means they will have more exposure and therefore get more customers. 

They are profiting from your trusted relationship with your followers. People are more likely to buy from an influencer they trust than a random ad in a magazine or TV commercial. Regarding sponsorships, you will be paid a flat fee per post or project.

You will not receive a commission from the sales. Additionally, Instagram requires that you tell the audience that your post is sponsored. There are ad tags for this, or you can simply mention in the caption that the post is sponsored. 

2. Affiliate Marketing

Unlike sponsored posts, affiliate marketing includes promoting products or services of brands for a commission. You will get a portion of the revenue you’ve helped earn. This gives you an incentive to put some effort into selling it to the audience. 

Getting started as an affiliate marketer is very easy, which is probably the reason it is one of the most popular ways of making money on the ‘gram. Many of the biggest brands out there already have a self-enrollment program to easily get you started.

All you gotta do is sign up as an affiliate and then use the URL link or code from the brand. Then sit back as you rake in the commissions you’ve earned on the purchases made. 

3. Digital Ads

Instagram is one of the top social media platforms out there; there is an estimated 1.9 billion active users who use Instagram daily. The ad clickthrough rate (CTR) for Instagram is 0.22%, which is not bad considering the sheer volume of daily users. 

So why not monetize the popularity of the platform by investing in digital ads?

Unlike the annoying popups you swat away on general sites, Instagram ads are tailored to users’ preferences. The user is more likely to engage with your ads because they usually apply to their life in some way and have been recommended specifically for them. 

There are a wide variety of ads you can apply on Instagram. Here are a few of them:

• Photo ads: Photo ads include captions that give the audience more info about the product or service, tag the brand, and include hashtags that will reach the intended audience.
• Story ads: Ads within Instagram appear when the user switches between stories. The user can then swipe up to be led back to the brand’s Instagram profile or website. 
• Video ads: Video ads of a length of 30 to 60 seconds can be posted. Brands trim down existing video content to fit the timeframe, or they provide teasers for the full ad (typically on YouTube). 
• IGTV ads: A newer feature on Instagram is IGTV. If you’d like to post a longer video, you can do so on IGTV videos up to 20 minutes in length. IGTV ads are 15 seconds long and are shown pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll. 
• Carousel ads: Carousel ads allows Instagram users to swipe through 3 to 4 images that are included in the same ad. This keeps them interested in the post for a longer time. 
• Sponsored ads: These ads will appear in the feed of the target audience. There will be a direct link to the brand’s website, e-store, or brand Instagram page.
• Mapped-guided ads: These kinds of ads include a tagging option that directs the audience from one ad page to another. It is ideal for a brand that would like to keep its audience engaged and improve its click-through rate. To work, they must effectively grab the attention of the viewer and sustain it. 

4. Paid Subscription Platform

If you have a particularly devoted fanbase, it may be a good idea to offer a paid subscription platform to your followers. This is the most lucrative way to make money off of Instagram because you will get paid regularly every month.

Typically about 2-5% of Instagram followers will pay for subscription services of the influencer they love. Make sure this Instagram content is executed well, with lots of bonuses and exclusive incentives for these followers to keep their subscriptions going.

Educate them, inspire them, entertain them and these subscribers will keep coming back for more. 

5. Product Placement 

Did you know the TV show The Office (US) has a total of 1,449 product placements? A lot of these are products from Staples, ironically Dunder Mifflin’s biggest competitor. If you look closely, you will spot things like Staples brand fax paper, and a Staples shredder. 

Product placement refers to the featuring of branded goods and services in video production. It has been a long-time marketing tactic used in popular TV shows and movies for years and is now utilized in influencer marketing.

We are now seeing products implemented in posts, videos, and stories of Instagram influencers. The less obvious the product placement the better. The secret is to genuinely engage with the product or service, so it comes off naturally to your following. 

The movie Forrest Gump is one of the best natural product placements of Nike. You can probably easily picture Forrest putting on his Nike shoes and running across the US; you’ve already formed an automatic association with the apparent quality of this shoe brand. 

6. Your Own Products

Some categories of eCommerce products do better than others on the ‘gram. The best physical products and digital products to sell on Instagram include these markets:

• Beauty
• Travel
• Fashion
• Lifestyle
• Health and fitness 
• Animals
• Business

Instagram Shopping is an excellent way to sell your products. Customers are using this platform to learn about new brands and products, and then make a quick purchases. If you have a Shopify online store, you can easily connect your products to your Instagram business account and view these items on Instagram. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Try an Instagram Live video to create a shopping stream. This can get your followers’ attention and enable you to directly and quickly sell your products. A bonus to Instagram Live is Live badges, monetary tips that your followers can pitch in as you stream. 
• In your Instagram posts, use product tags so your followers can easily identify what you’re selling.
• Feature your products in your videos, offering how-tos and examples of the use of your products. 

7. Teach What You Know

Many of your followers are novices in the subject you have formed your brand around; they followed you because they wanted to learn more. Your hard-earned knowledge and skillset are well worth monetizing. 

Share your esoteric gifts with the world! Offer to teach your followers what you know in the form of eBooks and online courses. You can also create posts packed with valuable information and then direct your followers to your coaching, consulting, training, tutorials, or webinar services. 

Online courses take a small investment of time, resources, and energy to create. However, once created the curriculum and videos will be viewed over and over by paying students. This is a small investment that is well worth it in the long run. 

Making Money Doesn’t Have to be Hard Work

It doesn’t have to be hard work. Simply find your niche, utilize hashtags, provide great content, and partner up with another influencer. Then when you’ve hit a following of over 10,000 Instagrammers, you’re already on your way to getting paid on Instagram. 

There are tons of ways to make money: sponsored content, affiliate marketing, digital ads, paid subscription platforms, product placement, your own products, and teaching what you know. Pick the streams of revenue to work best for you, then getting paid will come easy with Tappie.