According to recent Instagram statistics, the platform has 1.704 billion users worldwide making it important to know how to implement Instagram monetization. The platform which began as a photo-sharing app has quickly transformed into a business platform. It now boasts of having thousands of its users leveraging the platform’s diverse audience to market and sell products as well as services.
Businesses aren’t the only ones benefiting from these immersive powers. Individuals as well help serve as marketing outlets for brands to increase their reach. In turn, such individuals earn from their efforts on the platform. Thankfully, there are no shortages of ways to earn on Instagram as it offers one of the most diverse monetization policies. Instagram monetization ranges from brand deals, affiliate marketing, direct sales to Dropshipping just to name a few.
In this article, I will be considering the various ways to implement Instagram monetization and make a decent earning from it daily.
Having Doubts; Consider the Stats
Not a few believe it is possible to make a decent living on the Instagram platform. If you are one of those, then maybe some of these facts will help change your mind. For one thing, the statistics behind Instagram are staggering and the platform keeps growing.
That growth has spurred users of the platform into creating lucrative earning streams for themselves on the platform. Here are some of the stats that will convince you that it’s possible to earn money on Instagram:
- Over a billion active monthly users.
- 500 million users post a story every day.
- 71% of US businesses (both large and small) use Instagram for branding and marketing.
- 50% of Instagram users (500 million people) follow at least one business account.
- There are 2 million Instagram advertisers every month.
- Time spent on Instagram increases by 80% every year.
- Brands get 4x more engagement on Instagram than they do on Facebook.
- 80% of Instagram users make a purchase decision about a product while browsing the app.
- 71% of Instagram users are under the age of 35, making it an ideal platform for brands targeting young adults.
How to implement Instagram monetization
As earlier stated, Instagram provides diverse ways for its users to make money on it. Most recently, the platform decided to monetize its IGTV ads. This ensures that the platform now shares revenue with its users from ads made on IGTV. Danielshustle will examine a few of those methods:
Become an Influencer
An influencer is someone who has built a reputation and loyal following by sharing regularly on their social accounts. They have a good following and they’re able to convince their audiences to jump onto trends as well as purchase certain products. This influence is derived from the time spent building trust and relationships with their audience.
This is one of the most popular Instagram monetization techniques available on the platform. Users that attain the status of influencers can leverage their profile to promote just about any product from any brand. So as an influencer, asides from having a decent follower number, you must also come up with posts that generate strong engagement from your followers.
Businesses and Brands are always on the lookout to partner influencers. This is aimed at creating sponsored posts that can help boost awareness for such businesses and increase their reach. In return, top influencers make thousands of dollars per sponsored post. Earning money via influencing on Instagram is viable but potential influencers have to manage expectations.
To leverage influencing, it’s important to know your audience well enough. Learn who they are, and understand their interests, values, needs, and wants. This will help you know which brands best fit them. A quick tip is that Instagram business account users can learn more about their audience stats through the Instagram Insights feature.
Take care not to lose the trust of your existing audience in the process of earning money from sponsored posts. It’s often best to practice to make your audience aware that a post is sponsored by using hashtags such as #sponsored or #ad.
Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is another Instagram monetization method users can use to earn money. It simply entails users selling other people’s products for a commission. It’s quite a popular monetization technique and many users of Instagram leverage it to make money. Affiliates earn through a track-able link or a promo code to track sales. This ensures that payment is credited to the right affiliate after each sale.
Affiliate marketing does differ from influencer marketing. This is because an affiliate’s main goal is to drive direct sales for the partnering brand in exchange for a commission. On the other hand, an influencer is mainly aiming to create awareness. Thankfully, affiliate marketing has a lot of potentials if you plan on developing your reach. Affiliates can expand their presence by utilizing websites, other social media channels, and marketing tools.
Using affiliate marketing to earn involves creating engaging posts to promote products. And create a fun Instagram caption to make it sound not overly promotional. Also, you can only have one link on your Instagram bio; therefore, connecting to a landing page with your affiliate link is advisable. Simply ensure to state clearly on each post, that audiences can buy the product via the link in your bio.
Sell Instagram Caption
Chances are you might know this, but users can monetize Instagram by selling captions. This is lucrative since many business owners use Instagram to promote their goods and services. With such promotions comes the need for attractive, concise, and detailed captions. If you’re good at crafting creative Instagram captions, then you can leverage your skill by selling your services to those in need of them.
Getting gigs like this doesn’t come easy but when they do come, they could last for as long as possible bringing in a steady source of income. If you intend to use this method, start by writing and posting some captions on your own account. Next, create a portfolio of your most engaging captions to attract potential businesses. These serve as samples if and when businesses come calling for your services.
One beauty of selling Instagram captions is that sellers get to set the rate they so wish to charge. It all depends on the self-worth and quality of your work samples. Just remember, businesses will judge you by your ability to write engaging captions which will determine how much they are willing to pay.
Sell Your Own Physical Products
Another Instagram monetization method is to simply sell any physical product that you make or buy from suppliers. This entails using Instagram as a conventional eCommerce retailing platform and will require you to stock an inventory. This essentially means incurring extra costs as start-up capital to buy your products.
Asides from inventory, you will likely need a space to keep and store purchased products such as a spare room or a rented storage space. This becomes necessary if you intend to buy products in bulk to reduce cost. Users can leverage the Instagram store feature to sell products directly on Instagram. Simply tag products in your Instagram images and you can lead your Instagram followers to your product pages, where they can buy your products.
Utilize Dropshipping
If the conventional eCommerce method sounds expensive to operate, another mode of selling is Dropshipping. Dropshipping is a business model that eliminates the need for a store to run a sales business. It also takes care of packaging as well as shipping of products to buyers.
Once you’ve made a sale, your supplier will ship your products from their warehouse, straight to your customer’s doorstep. Dropshipping makes it easy for users to try their hands on different niches before settling for one. Thankfully, starting a dropshipping store is easy and can be done in minutes. Platforms like Shopify and Oberlo’s free Explorer plan provide eCommerce stores.
Become a Brand Ambassador
Becoming a brand ambassador can be considered as an extension of the Sponsored posts or influencer method of Instagram monetization. Many businesses and brands would prefer to establish long-term relationships with influencers. In other words, they are more interested in getting influencers to act as brand ambassadors who can then promote the company on a regular basis.
Instagram is one of the biggest spaces for influencer marketing, making it a good platform for companies to seek out ambassadors. Large brands regularly send free products to influencers so they can review and promote them. Also, Micro-influencers in a specific niche are often sort after as they provide better-engaged audience to celebrities.
Becoming a brand ambassador requires satisfying different conditions but in the end, you need to sign a contract with the brand. Most brands look for ambassadors with the right target audience, engagement number, and right values. While there is no fixed rate for being a brand ambassador, estimates show that they earn around $40-50,000.
Provide Social Media Marketing Services
By now, we are sure you are aware of Instagram’s strong sales potential. And according to Business Instagram, over 25 million businesses and 2 million advertisers are on the platform. This means more and more brands are willing to use the platform to promote products and increase sales.
The increased competition means professional social media marketing strategists are in high demand. This means social media marketing strategists can earn money on Instagram by promoting their skill set on the platform. They can provide different social media marketing services such as training, guidance, reviews as well as monthly support.
Find Freelance Gig
Regardless of what you do, you can leverage Instagram to find freelance gigs and earn from your efforts and skill. Finding freelance gigs is one Instagram monetization technique that has continued to pay users.
The platform has evolved from just a photo-sharing one to a powerful networking tool. It leverages its large user base to connect virtually anyone with a valuable skill set to those searching for those skills. To use this technique, simply use Instagram to serve as a portfolio for your works. This way, potential clients have access to a catalog of your previous work and can access your expertise.
Using freelancing to earn will require a dedicated account as well as a call-to-action in the bio to alert potential clients. This means stating in your bio that you are open to new gigs. Another step is to actively offer your skills to those who might be interested. Stay true with your work sample, negotiate favorable deals to both sides, and visitors with freelance opportunities will keep coming.
Conclusion
If you intend to perform Instagram monetization, there are diverse means and no limit to earning possibilities. The platform has grown rapidly over the years making it a prime location for businesses and brands to create awareness and drive sales for their products. We’ve shared some of these methods with you and we hope you find them useful at the end of the day.
Regardless of which monetization technique you use, each requires putting enough time and effort to build a steady source of income. Thankfully, you can start your monetization today and still make a decent living for yourself.
