More and more people seem to be making money using Instagram. After all, you probably already seen videos and blog posts about people who get paid for Instagram posts. But how can you make it too?
The truth is that there are people who get paid for Instagram posts and build an empire and there ate others get paid for Instagram posts who just earn an extra cash as well as free stuff. No matter where you stand, the truth is that you can make it happen for you too.
One of the things that most people wonder when they are considering making money using Instagram is how many Instagram followers to make money they need.
And the short and more direct answer that we can give you is that you don’t need as many as you may think. Nevertheless, how many Instagram followers to make money depend on different factors, including:
- how engaged your followers are
- your niche and how you can direct your followers to a specific product category
- the revenue channels that you want to pursue.
The truth is that even though celebrities and famous people only need to post a photo and they can earn millions, you can only have an account with about 1000 engaged subscribers and you can have a good source of income.
With that said, here are the 5 best ways to get paid for Instagram posts:
#1: Work With Brands on Sponsored Posts
You probably already heard about influencers. In case you don’t know what an influencer is, an influencer is simply someone who has built a reputation online about doing and sharing things in a specific niche. Fro that niche, influencers are seen as trusted experts, trendsetters, and tastemakers whose opinions are highly respected.
What happens with some brands is that they can’t either compete or just don’t have any interest in competing with these influencers. So, what they do is that brands partner with influencers to get the word out about their products, So, simply said, they do sponsored posts.
One of the things that brands look for on influencers is the trust others have on them. A lot more than the number of followers, brands look for trustful influencers with whom they can partner up.
While you may want to maintain your integrity as an influencer, you need to know that you always have the final word about it. And if you don’t feel comfortable with a brand or one of their products, you can simply be selective and decline the opportunity.
One of the things that you are probably wondering about is how much you can charge as an influencer. Usually, each one of these deals includes the creation of the content itself that can be an Instagram post, Story, or video, and can also include the permission for the brand to use this content in an add or on their own website. The reality is that most of these deals are completely negotiable. After all, they can include the creation of a single post or an entire campaign, and in return, you may get a gift, a free service, product, a promise of exposure, among many others.
In a survey that was conducted recently to 5,000 influencers, about 42% said they had charged between $200 to $400 per post.
#2: Become an Affiliate
Becoming an affiliate is something rather different than becoming an influencer. After all, when you want to become an affiliate and use Instagram, you’ll be far more interested in making sales for the partner brand than in generating awareness. In exchange, you will get a commission.
What usually happens is that you will get a trackable link to make sure that you are paid for all the sales that you are able to generate.
In case you want to become an affiliate, the best way to start is to search for online merchants who offer affiliate programs that you are interested in participating in.
While using your Instagram account as an affiliate is a great idea, we believe that you should complement it with your own website as well as with other marketing channels.
#3: Open Your Own Online Store
When you want to get paid for Instagram posts, you don’t have to rely solely on selling others products and services either as an influencer or as an affiliate marketer. The truth is that you can get paid for Instagram posts selling out your own products, services, or even digital items.
While this option will take you more time because you need a well-established plan that should include an e-commerce store as well as other marketing strategies, when you are selling your own products you don’t need to worry about integrating messages from brands within your own messages to your audience. Besides, you will be creating your own brand.
#4: Sell Your Photos Online or On Things
One of the best niches on Instagram that you can use to get paid for Instagram posts is photography. After all, Instagram is all about photos.
Just think about photos for a minute. Photos are great assets that can be printed, licensed, and even sold in a wide variety of ways. One of the things that you can do, for example, is to list your photos in marketplaces such as Twenty20 or 500px. There, both publishers and brands can license them. However, you can also try to sell your photos as prints, for example. In this case, you should probably check out services such as Teelaunch and Printful since they allow you to put your amazing photos on pillows, phone cases, posters, among others. In addition, they also take care of all the customer service as well as the fulfillment of orders.
#5: Do it For The Fun
One of the things that tend to happen is that you have a hobby and it suddenly starts paying you. Many Instagrammers started this way. There are several cases of people sharing pictures of food, photos with their dogs and cats, among others, and they started to have Instagram as a source of income.
