11 Best Ways to Earn Money From Instagram in 2022

Instagram has emerged as a business platform for all kinds of influencers, brands, and especially for people in the entertainment and fashion niche. 

There is no limit on the earning potential if you have a fan base. But you need to become an influencer in your niche to earn a decent amount from Instagram.

If you are a little creative, you can easily grow and expand your fan base by regularly posting quality photos with relevant hashtags and by engaging with your followers.

You can start earning money through your Instagram account once you create a minimum followers base of 5K. In this article, I am sharing 11 ways on how to make money from Instagram.

11 Best On How to Earn Money From Instagram in 2022

#1. Do Sponsored Posts

If you have a good number of  followers, then brands will reach you for a sponsored post. 

Identified as #sponsored, Instagram sponsored post (also called a promoted post) is an organic post for promoting a company and its products.

You have to understand your audiences and their requirements so that you could pitch the right products at the right time to your followers.

As per Adweek, the average price per sponsored post is about $300 depending on the number of followers or expertise. Influencers having more than 100,000 followers can earn close to $800 per post, while others with 1,000 followers or less earn around $100 per post.

#2. Affiliate Marketing

You can start by placing affiliate links or promo codes in the description of your post to sell other people’s products and earn a commission. 

Many companies sell their products through affiliate programs. 

The difference between an affiliate and an influencer is that affiliate marketing works for making sales in exchange for a commission whereas the influencer aims to create awareness & provide value to his audience. He may earn using affiliate links or by promoting brands directly.

You can place affiliate links in 

Text Overlay – Place affiliate links on images, telling your audience where they can buy the product on display.

Coupons – Some affiliate programs will provide you with a coupon instead of an affiliate link. You can display this coupon as a text overlay on your images or by sharing code in the description.

Post Descriptions – For each image or video you display, make sure you utilize the description by adding your affiliate link or affiliate coupon, and add a CALL TO ACTION, encouraging your audience to purchase.

Here is the list of the best affiliate programs to make money on Instagram

1. Amazon Associates
2. CJ Affiliate
3. ShareASale
4. Skimlinks
5. Rakuten

You would like to read – 7 different ways to monetize youtube channel

#3. Sell Your Own Products

You can sell your own products to your audience instead of selling other’s products. The product can be digital or physical products.

You can sell on Instagram by

• Creating Instagram stories with product links like this 

• Build a shoppable Instagram Feed like as under

Alternatively, you can link your shop from the Bio section. The URL section of the bio is the only clickable link you can add to your Instagram page. 

#4. Start an Online Store and Promote on Instagram

Surveys suggest that  30% of Instagram users purchase products that they discover on Instagram. You can start an online shop and promote it on Instagram.

You can promote by

• Telling short relevant stories to connect emotionally.
• Showcase your product in action by taking photos while using the product.
• Do challenges and games to engage the audience. 
• Use photos of your product clicked by the followers who used it.

To sell your products on Instagram for the larger market, you will have to set up your own eCommerce store using Shopify or similar platforms or by selling your products on an online marketplace like Etsy or Amazon.

You will also need a Facebook business page connected to your Instagram Business account.

You can set shopping on Instagram by creating a Facebook Catalog and then add shoppable tags to your Instagram posts.

#5. Become a Paid Brand Promoter

Surveys show that 80% of users follow at least one brand on Instagram and 60% of them say that they have discovered new products or services through Instagram.

Companies are on the lookout for people who have a good fan following. Brand collaboration involves long-term working relationships and is a powerful way to generate recurring income from Instagram. 

You can earn by promoting a particular company’s vision and core values.  You can cover their upcoming workshops, events, and product launches.

You need not stick to Instagram only for promotion, but you can pitch on your blog and other social media platforms as well.

However, you need to check

• What are the brand expectations and are they reasonable
• Is the collaboration a perfect match
• How those products will add value to your audience life
• The compensation you will receive
• Do not let brand monopolize your account

#6. Paid Product Reviews 

You can earn by doing product reviews for newly launched products on your Instagram account and earn money online.

The reviews would involve placing quality photos and catchy short stories to highlight product suitability, benefits, and usage. 

Few points to take care of

• Review products which are aligned to your niche
• Be authentic in reviews
• Be clear about expectations

#7. Become an Instagram Marketing Consultant 

A number of people look for help to grow their Instagram as a business. If you have used Instagram and have in-depth knowledge of marketing and how to utilize social media, then you can offer your services as an Instagram marketing expert.

You can also earn by freelancing for Instagram-related jobs on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork.

Once you have completed multiple projects and created a portfolio of completed projects, you can start pitching companies for work. 

This will give you more flexibility over the price that you charge and can make it a full-time business as an expert. The average social media marketing consultant’s salary ranges from $40,000 to $60,000 annually

#8. Earn Money by Account Selling 

Now that might be surprising! 

But yes, you can earn by selling your Instagram account entirely at a single go.

If you have an active fan base but you do not have time or you are still not an influencer in the eyes of brands, then selling your account will be a good option. Many people make earning by selling  Instagram accounts. 

Instagram accounts sell anywhere between $150 to $1000. 

The other business model is buying a niche-specific Instagram account with low people count (as they are focused and have more value ), growing it, and then selling the Instagram account for a higher value.

You can get high payouts, instant gratification with minimum hassle as compared to selling a Facebook account.

#9. Sell Your Designs & Photographs 

If you are a photographer or have a knack to click great images then Instagram is the best platform to display your beautiful photographs, designs, and digital images.

If your images and designs have a unique flavor, then Instagram is a great place to promote and sell them.

#10. Earn Money through Instagram Apps 

People use various Instagram tools to manage their  Instagram business. If you are an App developer, you can also build Instagram tools and sell them to earn money.

Some useful Instagram apps

• Iconosquare: This is a tool that provides Instagram users with advanced statistics about their profile such as the total number of likes received, the average number of likes and comments per photo, most liked photos, follower growth charts, and many more things.

• Piquora: This is a visual marketing app that curates and suggests the best photos for your posts that can pull content based on geography, language, and specific locations.

• Repost: Allows you to re-post amazing eye-catchy images from another Instagram user’s profile and give them the credit.

• Postso: This is a post scheduling app that makes a busy marketer’s life easy. Schedule your posts, specify a location, sit back and relax.

#11. Offer a Paid Service

Paid service will be a profitable business for you if you have skills or resources that you can offer as a paid service and you also have a strong followers-base on  Instagram. 

You can offer your skill as professional services, like dance lessons, tax-consultation, cooking classes or photography.

Offer your services by

• Including a link in your bio that takes users to your website to find your services

• Include expertise and skills and contact in your bio and mention that you are open to work

• Offer your services at discounted  rates at an early stage 

• Connect with other Instagram users who offer similar services to build a relationship

• Use posts, pictures, and videos, to advertise your skill. Whether you are a cook, a dancer, an artist or skilled in any other niche.

Think Like a Business Person 

Instagram or any other social media platform offers you an opportunity to earn a decent living provided you are serious about it.

You need to take it as your business, think and run it like a professional business person which is not that hard to do. 

You can start by building your brand and making your presence felt across all channels like a blog, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and group along with Instagram. 

You can keep on growing your other channels by mobilizing traffic through Instagram and make multiple income sources. 

Another option is to reach and collaborate with other influencers to grow your business. You will be able to cross-promote posts to reach out to each other’s audience. 

You just need to take your first step out.

Tips to Grow Instagram Followers 

#1. Focus on Quality

Your followers come to know you and your brand through content. You need to create relevant quality content including images, videos to build viral posts, enhance the user experience, and grow the community. 

#2. Engaging with the Audience 

Posting just photos and content is not enough, you also need to engage with your audience. 

Dedicate some time every day to engage – leave comments, respond to each and every comment you get on your images and videos, and answer all the queries.

Engagement creates a rapport and trust factor, plus it helps you to reach new people and understand the audiences in a better way.

#3. Post Regularly

Posting regularly will help you reach more people rather than keeping your audiences waiting for a particular time. Because all the followers may be online at different times of the day. Regular posts will keep you in touch with your fans.

Your posting frequency will depend on your business goals and the amount of time you can dedicate to your Instagram marketing efforts. 

Consistency is important. That’s okay to not posting multiple times a day but it is important to be consistent whether you do it once every day, twice a week or whatever you feel comfortable. Make a consistent schedule for your Instagram channel.

#4. Make a Relationship with Other Influencers

One Instagram user teams up with one or more Instagram users for promotion and increasing their audience reach.

You can appear in each other’s video to cross-promote, take photos together to post, take sponsorship for a brand together, start a challenge post together or run a contest.

Conclusion

Instead of jumping out and trying all the methods to earn money, initially, you can start with affiliate marketing or selling designs & photographs. 

Later you can offer paid service or consulting service until you are approached by brands for a sponsored post, product reviews or collaborations.