Why Instagram?
Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. As of January 2025, Instagram had more than 2 billion active users. Just imagine that. That is one in every 4 people in the world right now. In other words that’s a quarter of all humanity. This is an ocean of market as well as opportunities to make money. You know where there are people there is money. Similarly, where there are people there is opportunity to make money. Hence why today we are talking about How to Make Money with Instagram.
Build a Strong Instagram Presence.
First before we can even talk about making money with Instagram, we have to talk about audience. How do you make money if you have no one on your profile? How do you promote your product or services if you do not have audience? Hence you need to grow your audience on Instagram so that you can be able to use it to make money. So how do you do that? How do you grow your audience?
- First choose a niche. You need to know what your Instagram profile will be all about. Some of the niche you can use are fashion, fitness, travel, tech, etc.
- Then you need to optimize your bio with keywords, links and a CTA.
- Post high-quality content consistently. This is so that you can grow your profile.
- Use hashtags and Instagram SEO to increase reach.
- Engage with followers to build trust.
Once you do that and keep doing it over time, you will get Instagram followers and grow your audience. Once you grow your audience now we can start talking about how to make money with Instagram.
Below are the ways you can make money with Instagram.
#1. Sponsored Posts & Brand Collaborations.
When you have a large Instagram following, you can sell that audience to businesses and brands. You do this by posting sponsored posts for the brands. For this, you partner with brands for paid promotions. The brands tell you what post to make for them. Alternatively, they can send you the post they want you to post for them. If you are looking for the brands to make these posts for, you can find them on platforms like the Instagram marketplace and other influencer platforms.
Note that the rates that you charge the brands is based on followers and engagement. The more followers and engagement that you get the more you can charge the brands. The vice versa is also true, the less followers and engagement you have the less you will have to charge the brands.
#2. Affiliate Marketing.
Another way that you can use your Instagram audience to make money, is through affiliate marketing. To do this you just go to affiliate programs such as Rakuten Advertising, ClickBank, ShareASale, Shopify, Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network, CJ Affiliate, ClickFunnels. Create your account and select the affiliate products that you want to sell. Get the affiliate links of those products and then post them on your Instagram profile. Post them on a spot that gets the most traffic to make sure that people see them. When the people see these links, they will click them and visit the website seller website. Once they buy, then you will be paid for the sale.
#3. Sell Your Own Products or Services.
Other than selling other people’s products like we have discussed above, you can actually sell your own products. If you are tech savvy, then you can make and sell digital products. Some of the digital products that you can sell include e-books, presets and courses. Similarly, some of the services you can sell are professional with the belief that you are a professional. Some of these services include coaching, consulting and photography.
To make things better, you can use Instagram Shop for physical products.
#4. Monetize Through IG Features.
Instagram has a lot of inbuilt features that you can use to make money with. Some of these features include:
Instagram Badges. With the Instagram badges, you can earn from live streams. This feature enables you make money from your audience during live streams.
Instagram Subscriptions. Just like many other social media platforms such as youtube, you can make money using paid subscriptions. To do this you make exclusive content that you make the people pay to watch. You can also make it exclusively for paid followers.
Reels Play Bonus. You can also make money using Instagram reels plays. With this feature, you get paid for video views.
#5. Dropshipping & Print-on-Demand.
Methods like dropshipping and print-on-demand work with almost every social media platform. We have discussed these methods of making money with many other social media platforms like YouTube and others. Instagram is not any different. You can sell products without inventory on Instagram using dropshipping. Some of the things you can sell are custom merch like T-shirts, phone cases and mugs.
To sell your products, you can make use of platforms like Printful and Shopify.
#6. Offer Shoutouts & Promotions.
If you have a large following on your Instagram, you can turn that into money by selling shoutouts and promotions. There are so many other Instagramers who want to rise up. There are so many Instagramers who want to grow their following and will do anything for it. Some of these people are even willing to pay to grow their profiles. Here is where you come in, you offer to shoutout their profile in your posts so that they can get followers. This will also introduce them to new audience. In exchange, they pay you for the promotion and marketing. You can use platforms like Shoutcart to find clients.
#7. Create & Sell Instagram Filters & Themes.
More ways you can make money with Instagram is to develop and sell custom AR filters.
You can also design and sell Instagram highlight covers and templates.
#8. Sell Exclusive Content on Third-Party Platforms.
Since some of these social media platforms do not always give you the best means to make the most out of your content. Hence why you can use third party platforms to be able to capitalize on that. Use platforms such as Patreon, OnlyFans or Buy Me a Coffee to offer exclusive content. You just give a teaser on your Instagram and then tell your fans that if they want the full content they should go to the third party platform. Provide the link so that they can just click and go to the platform. Share behind-the-scenes footage, tutorials or even early access to posts. Drive traffic from Instagram to these platforms so that you can make money.
#9. License Your Photos and Videos.
If you make some really good photos or maybe you a professional photographer, don’t let people use your content for free. Sell high-quality images to stock photo websites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, or Getty Images. Offer exclusive photo rights to brands for marketing campaigns. Since brands are always looking for new and high quality images and photos, you will always get market.
#10. Host Paid Webinars and Workshops.
Use your large audience advantage to make money by hosting paid webinars and workshops. Teach a skill via live sessions. Some of the skills you can teach are photography, social media growth, fitness, etc. Charge participants for access to the webinar. Use Instagram Stories and posts to market the event.
Bonus: We will throw in a list of many other ways that you can make money with Instagram.
- Get Paid for Writing Captions or Managing Accounts.
- Use Instagram for Lead Generation.
- Create and Sell Instagram Reels Templates.
- Monetize a Newsletter or Blog Through Instagram.
- Run a Paid Membership Community.
- Crowdfunding and Donations.
- Monetize Instagram Guides.
