Learn How to Make Money on Instagram (Whether You Have 1K or 100K Followers)

Key Takeaways

you don't need hundreds of thousands of followers to make money on instagram according to buffer influencers with 10 000 followers or less are getting the best results for businesses so if you've ever thought maybe i can do that too you probably can whether you want to represent your own brand or a partner's brand today's video is all about how you can make money on instagram [Music] hey i'm michelle valley and i'm a creative strategist instagram strategy is my thing i've helped over a hundred small businesses grow and monetize their instagram account so in today's video i'm gonna be dropping some knowledge let's get started i'll be answering five of the most commonly asked questions how many followers do you need in order to make money on instagram how much do influencers actually make what are the best ways that you can start making money on instagram how do you know what to charge as an influencer and how do you start making partnerships with brands how many followers do you need in order to start making money on instagram well it's not as many as you would think here are some ballpark figures according to a recent study micro influencers or accounts with 10 000 or less followers will make around 88 dollars per post mid-tier influencers or accounts with ten thousand to a hundred thousand followers will charge around two hundred dollars per post top level influencers or influencers with a hundred thousand to a million followers can charge around 670 dollars per post however they can charge a lot more when you get to this level the numbers tend to vary the reason that these numbers are not set in stone is because there are a few factors that come into play the niche that you're in will define how much competition you'll be up against and how much money you could potentially make some very profitable but also very competitive niches are fitness beauty health business and travel if you're not trying to compete you can always dominate a very very niche corner of instagram so for example nicole mclaughlin remixes clothing and turns them into art pieces and she has close to half a million followers how much money you charge will depend on how engaged your followers are the reason for this is because brands want to see a return on investment so if you have a hundred thousand fake followers you won't be able to provide any real value for brands keep in mind that it's not only the size and reach of your instagram account that brands want it's also your audience's trust and engagement with your content as well this is because you provide access to a niche audience filled with potential customers and this is something that brands need and are willing to pay for now let's take a look at how much money you can actually make like in any industry and any job there's a range of what you can actually make in my experience there are no hard fast rules but you're probably looking for a hard number so i can at least say this marketers are willing to pay one cent per follower so let's say you have 5 000 followers you could potentially charge fifty dollars per post again this is just a guideline influencer matt crump shared his pricing guide with later.com what he said is that pricing will depend on creative mandates timeline production costs and usage rates now if you're wondering what top instagramers make it is a lot they can make thousands and thousands of dollars on the content that they make but let this keep you motivated as you grow your account and let it be something to reach for okay let's brainstorm a few ways that you can make money on instagram you can work with brands on sponsored posts you can become an affiliate you can open your own online store or you can do all of these things at once so let's start with the most common approach you could charge brands a fee for sponsored content on your feed or your stories together you'll come to an agreement about exclusivity how much content you produce the wording that you're using the actual content itself and how much money is at play the contract may also include having a specific call to action like having a link in your bio that leads to the brand's website another route is becoming an affiliate affiliates are different from influencers because affiliates are invested in making their brand partners sales rather than just raising brand awareness this is typically done with a promo code or a trackable link to indicate that the sales are coming from you to get connected with brands that are looking for affiliates you can explore affiliate marketplaces like clickbank reward style and amazon associates the ultimate type of post for affiliate marketing is reviewing products to make this work only review products that you actually back and that your audience would be interested in hearing about so for example peter mckinnon would never review kitchenware but he would definitely review cameras though it sounds like a numbers game affiliate marketing is an art it takes tac to be able to balance sponsored content and organic content without looking like a walking advertisement remember that your audience is your biggest asset and if you post too much promotional material you could potentially lose their trust if you lose your audience you lose the backbone of your entire business you don't only have to work for other brands in order to make money on instagram you can have complete control over your income by opening your own online business you can sell physical goods services and digital products let's take a look at loki the wolf dog for example he is one of the biggest dog entrepreneurs out there on instagram and he even has his own online store he sells mugs greeting cards and apparel there are a few ways that you can start your own online business you can use a print on demand service in order to print on your own mugs t-shirts and totes we actually have a whole video dedicated on just how to start your own online t-shirt brand and you can check that out here you can also sell services like consulting music production yoga classes and photography to name a few alternatively you can sell digital products which are personally some of my favorites because these are infinitely scalable and you can make money while you sleep consider selling courses gated content and workout plans whatever you're selling you're going to want to have a link to it in your bio i recommend using linktree so that you can link out to more than one url at a time also enable instagram shopping so that customers can browse your products directly in the app don't limit yourself financially free people have a secret multiple streams of income as long as you have no direct conflicts of interest you could and should use all of these approaches to diversify your revenue streams start by looking for brands that have similar beliefs and values to yours and your audiences you can reach out to them directly in order to try to work out a deal or you can list yourself on influencer marketplaces in order to get discovered and start building relationships on four you can create an influencer card with a list of all your social profiles for brands to check out when they're shopping around for partnerships or you can access a list of brands and their wants in order to take initiative and start reaching out crowdtap is great for smaller accounts you can do small content creation tasks to earn rewards however this is only available to people that are in the us into hash is where brands post campaigns for you to participate in post a picture and use the specified hashtags and get paid however you're going to need at least 700 engaged followers in order to be eligible the rules vary when it comes to sponsored content but in order to respect your audience's trust use hashtag ad or hashtag sponsored on your posts check out what other instagrammers are doing by searching hashtag sponsored and get inspired instagram also has a paid partnership tag that calls out sponsored posts some brands might require you to do this in order to disclose your relationship with them when you're working with a brand there are two main ways to price your posts for sponsored posts you can charge a flat fee per post the best thing that you can do for yourself is value your work based off of the return on investment that you provide for brands assuming there's transparency you're going to want to be as involved in the results as possible so let's say you're charging fifty dollars per post and you realize that the brand makes 10k in sales you're going to want to renegotiate your rates for affiliate posts you will charge a cost per sale this usually comes in the form of a percentage of the sale and a commission can be anywhere from five to thirty percent but the customer doesn't need to buy a product in order for you to get a kickback depending on the goal of the campaign you can arrange for a pay-per-lead pricing model this is where you get paid a flat fee every time a lead completes a desired action so they can sign up for a newsletter fill out a contact form or sign up for a free trial lastly you can charge a pay-per-click rate where you receive payment for every customer that you convert to a brand's website do not undervalue yourself just because you have a small following micro influencers are on the rise because of their authenticity and their return on investment a mobile marketer study showed that influencers with one to five thousand followers have more than two times the engagement in comparison to influencers with ten thousand followers so keep in mind that small can be mighty there are no hard fast rules some influencers overcharge while some under charge the key is to be both fair and competitive while knowing your value i'd love to know what business you're planning on starting or maybe you're already making money on instagram feel free to drop your instagram link in the comments below so that we can all check it out so there you have it those were five actionable tips on how you can start making money on instagram in this video you learned how many followers you need in order to actually start making money on instagram and you've also learned how much influencers actually make we also discussed some creative ways and ideas that you can start making money on instagram we talked about how to charge for your content and how to make relationships with brands don't forget to subscribe to learn with shopify where each week you'll learn a new skill to make your big plans for your business a reality thank you guys so much for watching and i will see you in the next one