*This post was most recently updated on 1/30/2021.
Here are the 13 best ways to monetize you Instagram profile.
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1. Shout-Outs
Shout-outs from bigger brands in the same industry are great ways to get more followers on Instagram.
You could also get paid to give a shout-out by building a popular profile and using a site like Shoutcart.
2. Sponsors
Sponsorships are how a lot of Instagram influencers make money these days. Basically, this is just when a brand pays you to include their product in a post.
How much do they pay? Well, it varies. But, an example would be Liz Eswein being known to earn around $15,000 per post on average for her following of 1.4 million people.
To get matched with brands for sponsorships, try sites like iFluenz or TRIBE.
3. Sell Accounts
Ever been interested in flipping real estate? How about flipping online real estate instead?
Instead of dealing with houses, you could create a new Instagram account or buy an existing one, build it up and sell it for a nice profit.
You can buy and sell Instagram profiles on sites like ViralAccounts.com and FameSwap.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing through a service like GetResponse is still one of the best returns on investment for getting sales.
Plus, your email list acts as a security blanket in case something ever happens to YouTube, Instagram or any major site you might be making money from.
You OWN your email list. You can build it through Instagram and then monetize it with solo ads at a site like NextMark.
Solo ads are when you give a brand permission to email your list for a flat fee or for a pay per click payment structure.
You can also monetize your list with your own products, affiliate links, etc.
5. Courses
If you want to sell products that make hundreds or even thousands of dollars per sale, try online courses.
You can link to a course in your Instagram bio or have a shortened link that is easy to copy and paste in your posts' descriptions.
Try a site like Udemy or Teachable first if you aren't ready to host a course on your own website yet.
6. Ebooks
If you aren't quite ready to sell long courses on how to master a skill, try selling an ebook instead.
You can sell these for $5-$10 online and just self-publish without dealing with editors, publishing companies, printing, or any of that.
Again, you can link to these in your Instagram bio or a short, non-clickable link in post descriptions.
Try publishing your ebooks on Amazon and Google Play.
More on selling eBooks here:
7. Art/Photography
Since Instagram is such a visual platform, many popular accounts focus on photography and art.
You could even use this as a way to promote your own work. Use sites like Etsy, Shutterstock, and Society6 to sell your pieces in different ways.
8. Affiliate Marketing
If you want to make money from your Instagram account without having a product to sell, you might consider promoting someone else's product for a commission.
Just make sure whatever you promote is legitimate, highly-rated, and related to what you audience likes.
Try Etsy Affiliates or Redbubble's affiliate program.
9. Merch
Another type of internet business that's been taking off the last few years in merch sales.
You can turn an original design you did or hired someone to do into apparel, coffee mugs, phone cases, pillows, bags, and more.
Try sites like Teespring, Redbubble, and Society6 for print-on-demand options that make it where you don't have to deal with packing, shipping, and customer support.
10. Services
One of the best ways to get started making money online is being a coach or consultant. You can literally just take your expertise in a given area and help people get results.
Instagram can be a great way to get new clients as well. You can post before-and-after images, performance videos, and testimonials to show people what you can do for them.
Just make sure you have your own website and some kind of video chat service for this.
11. Memberships
Having a membership with exclusive content for your most loyal fans is a great way to monetize your Instagram profile.
For instance, many online content creators use Patreon.
With Patreon, you can do exclusive videos and other content with fans you buy a membership for $5, $10, or more per month.
You can also do this with YouTube.
For example, Graham Stephan, a finance and real estate YouTuber, has a “Join” button on his channel that allows people to pay monthly for exclusive content regular subscribers won't be able to see.
He might take individual finance questions from fans, do some in-depth videos on his investing strategy, etc.
12. Coaching
Coaching is another great way to turn your Instagram followers into paid clients.
For instance, if you have a profile related to fitness and health, you could sign up to be a coach at TaskHuman.
Here, you can make $26.53/hour on average or as much as $50/hour helping people via 1-on1 video chats.
Another coaching option if you're not ready to start your own website yet is Gamer Sensei.
At Gamer Sensei, you can get paid to be a video game coach.
You can start as early as 13 years old and even set your own prices.
You'll just need to be really good at the games they support like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Overwatch, or many others.
13. Twitch
Another way to monetize your Instagram account if you're good at gaming, music, or other things is by streaming on Twitch.
With Twitch, you can earn money from subscriptions, donations, ads, and sponsorships.
Here's a breakdown of how you get paid:
- Subscriptions – Viewers pay either $4.99, $9.99, or $24.99 per month and you get about 50% of that. Some top streamers get a higher percentage.
- Ads – $250 per 100 subscribers per month, according to CNBC. Or, if you go by views, it may average more like $0.25-$1.50 per 1,000 views.
- Sponsorships – $0.01 – $1 per viewer per hour.
- Affiliate – 5% commissions on games people buy while watching you stream.
You also need a minimum of $100 earned to withdraw your earnings.
As far as requirements, you need to have 50 followers, 500 total minutes broadcast (over the last 30 days), stream on seven unique days (over the last 30 days), and average 3 or more concurrent viewers (over the last 30 days).
Conclusion
As you can see, there are LOTS of ways you can monetize your Instagram account if you just specialize in a certain niche and use the right tools.
On top of all the methods I mentioned, there may be a few new direct monetization options that will be available to you soon:
Get paid directly with new Instagram monetization?
1 Response to "How to Monetize Your Instagram – 13 Best Ways"
Hey Justin, I really enjoyed your article. I’d like to share a few ways to monetize a social media following and would love to hear the strategies that have worked for other people.
Here are 3 examples:
Sponsored Posts: Reach out to brands you admire and ask if they would be interested in working with you. This partnership can take different forms. For example, they may give you free merchandise in exchange for you posting about their products on your Instagram feed. If you have a huge following, you’ll likely get free items and cash as well.
Sell Merch: You can also sell and promote your own merchandise to your followers. Many influencers sell t-shirts with their logo or name to their audience for $20–30 a pop. Other popular items include mugs, phone covers, and tote bags.
Join An Affiliate Program: They are several affiliate programs that will pay you a commission for every product that one of your followers buys. Let’s say you put an affiliate link in your Instagram bio for your favorite headphones. If a follower clicks on the link and buys the product, that company will pay you a percentage of the total price.
There are many more ways to monetize your social media following, but I hope these three tips are helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to respond to this post and we can continue the conversation.
Thank you,
Alex W.