Theresa Nguyen is earning about $3,000 a month from her Instagram account. Like many other people on Instagram, Theresa started her account from scratch, but instead of using Instagram as a normal social media platform, she got inspired and started to sell homemade slime on it.
Time.com reported that Theresa is raking in over $3,000 a month income from Instagram alone, and the best part is that she is just a 13-year-old girl from Texas. These kinds of stories are not uncommon these days. Many people are making money online from the comfort of their home and some even build it into a real business that brings in millions of dollars.
Over the years, Instagram has grown and become one of the largest social platforms on the internet and it has gained more than 100 million active users each month. Making money from Instagram is the dream of many people and the good news is that anyone can do it.
Furthermore, it is very possible to earn a decent living from this social platform just like Theresa Nguyen. What you need to do is to understand how it works and how you can turn Instagram into your money making machine. Below are the five ways how you can make money using Instagram.
1. Selling Sponsored Posts
When you have built up a decent following in your Instagram account, it is time for you to make some quick money by sponsoring posts. In a nutshell, a sponsored post is a photo or a video that highlights a product or a brand.
Just like the advertisements you watch on TV, you look for advertisers, companies, and brands who want to tap into your audience and advertise through your account.
According to an article published by the Washington Post, Instagram influencers who have accumulated more than 7 million followers can command an average rate of $150,000 per sponsored post.
When you have grown a large following with very engaging audience, there will be plenty of advertisers wanted to sponsor your posts. And by that time, you can earn thousands of dollars just by posting through your Instagram account.
2. Become an Affiliate and Sell Other People’s Products
You do not necessarily need to sell your own products to make money from Instagram, there are many creative ways to do it and one very effective technique is through affiliate marketing.
As an example, you can create an account and join Amazon’s affiliate program. And that means you can sell products that are listed on Amazon. When people buy from your link, Amazon will pay you a small percentage of the money. And Amazon is just an example, there are other companies you can work with, such as Shareasale, Ebate, and Clickbank for digital products.
3. Sell Your Own Products or Services
Do you know how to use Photoshop to make a photo looks better? Well, you can sell your service through Instagram and make some money from there. If you have your own products, you can sell it there too.
Instagram can work just like any other social media such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, you can promote your own products, regardless of whether it is a physical or digital product, to your own audience.
Of course, how much you can earn from selling your products are largely depends on a few factors like how engaged are your audience, how many followers you have, and how much you can profit from selling the products.
4. Sell Your Photography
Stock photo sites are huge these days. And you can sell your photography through Instagram. First, unlike other social platforms, Instagram was created to showcase your photography. It is a social media website created solely for photos.
Next, you can sell any photos you like as long as the demands are there. Well, you do not have to sell your own picture, you can sell photos of things, scenery, and whatever people need in their everyday lives.
Before you posted the photo, be sure to add a watermark. There are also some websites that you can use to put your Instagram photos up for sales such as Twenty20 and Community Foap.
5. Sell Your Instagram Account
Yes, it works just like a business and you can sell away your Instagram account. Of course, people will only want to buy from you if you have a decent following and have built a highly engaged audience.
After you feel tired and have had enough of Instagram, you can sell it and move on to other things. There are a few websites that can help you in selling your account including Fame Swap and Viral Accounts.
Making It All Work
Now that you know some of the fundamental ways how to make money from Instagram, it is time for you to understand how to make everything works on your side.
The first thing you need is an audience. You need to have followers on your Instagram account in order to advertise or sell something. And the number of your audience will impact the profit that you are going to generate from there. However, this does not mean that a small following cannot generate you a decent income.
Jeena Farmer, a qualified nutritional therapist got paid about $100 per sponsored post and she only has about 3,300 followers. As you can see, your number of followers does matter, but what is more important is the engagement between you and your audience.
Finally, you have to be active and consistent on Instagram in order to build a larger and loyal audience. A good Instagram presence means consistent, tasteful posts and captions. Plus, you have to be proactive in looking for brands and companies that will want to sponsor you. Rather than sitting and waiting for people to come to you, why don’t you reach out and get to the advertisers?
By now, you should understand that making money from Instagram is not something difficult as everyone can create an account and build a large following, but it is not something easy too because the competition is getting tougher and you need to stand out from the rest to capture a piece of the market.
References:
- time.com/money/4702337/teenagers-selling-homemade-slime-instagram/
- theguardian.com/money/2017/may/05/earn-a-living-instagram-micro-influencers
- washingtonpost.com/business/economy/social-media-influencers-a-marketing-experiment-thats-metastasized-into-a-mini-economy/2016/11/02/bf14e23a-9c5d-11e6-9980-50913d68eacb_story.html
- neilpatel.com/blog/make-money-on-instagram/
- shopify.com/blog/make-money-on-instagram
- twelveskip.com/guide/making-money/1228/ways-to-earn-money-on-instagram
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