How to Use Instagram to Make Money [5 Simple Ways to Start Today]

You may have heard that some Instagram users will snap some photos and share them on their Instagram account every day, and then make big bucks. Those people are Instagrammers. Looking at the number of your followers, are you also stirred? Thinking "maybe I can do it too?"

If you now want to know how many followers you need to start generating real income on your Instagram, the answer is simple, "not as much as you think."

Here I explain everything you need to know and do to be able to live on Instagram.

Sponsored Post

If you are starting out, you have to find the brands that want to publish sponsored posts in your account. It is true that the big influencers (+ 100,000 followers) are going to be searched, but the small ones with 3,000 followers or so may not get much traction. If you are way below that number, don’t worry. There are a few ways to grow Instagram followers fast. 

In order to find more brands that would pay you for sponsored posts, you need to do some homework. You must know what type of target you have and in which niche you are specialized. Besides, you need to analyze the data of your followers. 

Luckily, there are platforms that allow brands and influencers to meet. Here are 5 of them:

Influenz

The first Instagram influencer marketing platform that I recommend is called Influenz. It is free for Instagram influencers. You can simply register an account with Ifluenz and they will propose a profit chart, depending on the number of followers you have.

For example, if you have 5000 followers you can earn something like $ 10 for a validated post. And if you have 500,000 followers, you can earn $ 1,000 per validated post. The average is $ 2 per 1,000 followers.

SocialPubli

This is another of the influencer marketing platforms that put companies in contact with influencers to transmit the brand's message through different spaces. Besides Instagram, SocialPubli welcomes Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Snapchat influencers. The platform's strong point is that it not only works with influencers but also with micro-influencers.

All you have to do is register and create your profile. The platform itself will tell you what signals your interests and those of your audience are, so brands will know what type of community you have created.

Coobis

Coobis is a marketing platform for the most important influencers at the moment. Not only it meets the basic conditions for the proper functioning and performance of campaigns, but also it presents itself as one of the most complete platforms. It responds to the needs of two different target audiences, advertisers and publishers. 

Affiliate Marketing

You can make money on Instagram by selling affiliate products. There are many online stores that give you a percentage for each sale you make through their links.

For example, you make a super cool photo with a camera and upload it to your Instagram account, you can indicate that this photo is taken with that specific camera and that it can be purchased through the link you provide, for example on Amazon or Gearbest, two Large online stores that accept affiliates. If you prefer selling software, you can use Avangate, Shareasale, or ClickFunnel, etc. 

You can find affiliates of virtually any type of product. With a simple Google search, you can find the ideal affiliate for your profile. Keep in mind that on Instagram you can only put a single link in your description, do not forget to mention it in your photos so that they go there and click.

Sell Your Photos in Image Banks

If you want to make money with Instagram directly, you can upload part of your images that you have prepared for this network to an image bank and put a price on it. You can use the Shutterstock.com portal, which works under the concept of micro-stock.

It is not any kind of photographic discipline, but the way in which your photographs are sold to third parties. 

With the rise of the Internet and digital companies, the need for images has grown exponentially and for this reason, the micro-stock portals emerged in early 2000.

It is a kind of low-cost image bank, where everything is based on the ability to take professional-type photographs and be patient to upload them to platforms such as Shutterstock and sort them according to the needs of the portal.

You take the picture and they sell it. The fees are distributed in proportion and whoever benefits most is the author. There is no secret here, just proof of taking quality photos and uploading them to micro-stock platforms. Normally, there is no exclusivity, so you can upload it to several portals.

Sell Your Instagram Account

If you have no intention to maintain your Instagram account, it can be a good income for those who sell an Instagram account. however, having an Instagram account with a good following is not a short process. It requires time, dedication and good content, so that people who follow the account, have good receptivity and support for publications.

The price of your account depends on the trend towards popularity and the number of followers. There are many ways and many sites to sell or buy Instagram. Some of the platforms will give you a suggested price based on the followers count and engagement. 

One of them is Viral Accounts. It is a platform that allows you to sell or buy all kinds of social media accounts including Instagram. You can get a reasonable price based on your account’s statistics. 

Viral Accounts offers pages of different themes: culture, reading, current information, entertainment, sports, opinion, economy, religion, politics, science, art and any other area you can imagine. No matter what niche you are in, Viral Accounts will help you to find the buyers. 

Sell Your Own Product or Service

To make the most out of Instagram, you can also set up your own store and sell your own product or service. You don’t need many followers, buy loyal followers. Instagram engagement is more important in this regard. 

You can use the same strategy for selling affiliate products. The only difference is that the money is all yours instead of a small commission fee. For example, you can appear on your Instagram photos with your own T-shirt models and take advantage of them to sell them in your own store.