It may seem strange, but regular Joe and Joannes are out there making money off of their selfies. How, you ask? Instagram, I say. Just when you thought you should cut back on your screen time, here are a few reasons why you’ll want to up the posts and the clicks to make a little cash.
To get paid on Instagram, you’re essentially looking for two things: Followers and Sponsors. First, you need followers like crazy to make yourself into someone worth a brand’s time. Second, you’ll need an agreement with a brand of some kind who thinks you’re a tastemaker worth a paycheck.
Step 1: Post Something Great Every Day
While your cat may be adorable, unless you’ve got the next Maru, nobody (not even Friskies) is likely to be interested in it if that’s all you post. Most successful Instagrammers are beautiful, interesting people who lead beautiful and interesting lives. Post the best pictures you can, and post them every day. You’ll want to make sure your images are not only pristine, but that they’re also unique. Definitely don’t go stealing anyone else’s content (that’s a BIG no-no), but take inspiration from others who post beautiful things. Hashtag if you must, but don’t be a cliche. Rolling Stone recently came out with a list of 100 Instagram accounts to follow (a list also sponsored by Fiat, so….).
Step 2: Get More Eyes on Your Selfies
In order to be a good candidate to brands, you’ll need followers (and not just your Aunt June and her cat). There’s a wide variety of opinions for how many followers you need in order to be viable as a money-making Instagrammer, but the minimum to use services like Popular Pays is 5,000. Most of the more notable fabulous Instagrammers have in the tens of thousands of followers, or more. Getting more followers increases your value to brands. Bloggers who charge thousands per post typically have a million followers or more.
Step 3: Find Brands to Work For/With
With companies like Popular Pays, you’re getting product samples or experiences in exchange for Instagramming about them to your pool of followers. What some fabulous types have found, however, is brands are also willing to work with the most followed of ‘grammers in order to create a buzz about their latest hoopajoop. Some, like Australian model Gabrielle Epstein, noted she can make more on Instagram in one day than she did over nearly a week of modelling. She often uses her agency to set up brand connections and posts images of herself with products to her over 100,000 followers.
Step 4: Profit!
So by now you’re a big internet sensation! Congrats! No really, even if you’re not up to a million followers yet, you can still find ways to work with companies to make a little extra cash. You just have to follow the steps above, and you’ll be making new friends in no time. That is, until the next social media platform comes along and we all need new accounts, friends and followers all over again.
Tell Us What You Think
Are you making money off of your social media accounts? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.
This post was updated from an earlier version previously published on PayScale.
can u just simply give me money
i have 4K followers and i need money. can i ?
I have over 5,000 and willing to make money
This was a very insightful and well done article. I found it to be very useful and informative.
Doesn’t the world have enough Chatty Cathy’s types already ? I wouldn’t give one plug nickel to these cookie cutter type people that think they are all that. They love to say AMAZING and OMG every other word hoping to make money on auto-pilot while they sleep. Sheep like these are not impressive,they just have a lot of dumb people that want to follow them. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
I’m using Rexam’s Instagram Pocket Rocket.. awesome and easy method to grow Instagram account and earn from it… I earned good so far (about $500 in 10 days)
Ive got 80k followers. If theres any businesses out there, let me know.
If you try to monetize your instagram accounts with Affiliate programs then you need to see new service from Befuy.com Posting clickable links on comments are not enabled on Instagram. Also you can put only one link in your Instagram profile. So, when you publish new post with new link to product in profile, the previous post loses its link. That means that your visitors can buy only the last item in your affiliate program. With one link to Befuy… Read more »
It’s quite easy to make money on Instagram. You can start your own business easily. Just create an account. You’ll have access to the entire web and unlimited selling potential. The risk and investment is so minimal, and the earning potential is huge. You can outsource freelancers for cheap to do all the technical parts. Just find your niche, you don’t need any previous knowledge or skills. All you need is the perfect idea! I’m using Instagram Pocket Rocket.. awesome… Read more »
Hello Anne, I was taking a look at your article and I must say I found much of the information you provided to be quite helpful and insightful. I’m actively involved in the “social media” industry with owning and operating a platform that provides the ability for individuals to “buy” and “sell” Instagram accounts. I’ve been actively purchasing Instagram accounts for quite some time dealing with only high-quality accounts to ensure I provide only quality and highly sought-after pages. Since… Read more »
How can I make money by instagram?
Very good information To have good earnings in Instagram you must have the correct information to have a good action plan and have quick results. I share a free course that has helped me grow my Instagram accounts and generate profits in the process, you can exceed 10k in a short time
Is fake followers are a obstacle for making money on instagram??????
I have 25k followers .. Can I earn ????
This was a great, very helpfull post, thanks for that 🙂
i have a page called @top.differences which i playfully created for my website http://www.topdifferences.com . after sometime i found out that instagram is very helpful to reach the people but there is this problem..! when i post some knowledge sharing posts people don’t like them but if i post some gossips it will get more likes..!! i am very much confused to post the knowledge content or gossip content to grow followers..! any suggestions are welcomed
Very nice article informative content thanks we liked it.
Hey really nice article very informational.
I want to make a instergram page based on food … how can i be sucessful ?
I have that Instagram account but how did do got start to the step and making moneys? I knew that their people are likes a lot of my pictures in IG account. Check out at @homeboylao80 Thanks!
I have a hunting page called @hunting_prime . I am at 400 followers and am trying to build up a big follower base, follow for some awesome hunting and animal picture!
This is easier than piece of cake. Than more followers you have than more money you can get because you have big audience and you’re attractive for businesses for making ads. Or if you run business you need more followers as customers. So, I think the best way is to use zen-promo.com for fast growth. That’s very useful tool
You can make money on Instagram if your profile has got many followers. So, get followers, you can use for example zen-promo.com for it. All of them will be real, so they can become your customers, or you can just post ads for money.
Well I don’t know whether it’s true or not i got 9000followers if there’s some work for me please let me know ill be your thankfully you can check out me my Instagram name is Sarthakbainsla
I have 16,000 followers and growing rapidly. Can I make money? Check me out if you want: @Farming_ag_photos
If you want to make money from your phone just get the “Your Web Base-Get Connected app” It is a heck of a lot easier than going through all this Social Media BS where very few people actually do make money. Most of these Social People work harder then most to earn less than you could make working at McDonald’s getting people to believe that they can make money is how they get people to keep using senseless programs like… Read more »
Very well explained and was very helpful.Thanks;
Yes, I want to make money on instagram
I’m using Instagram Pocket Rocket.. awesome and easy method to grow Instagram account and earn from it. I’m using it about 10 days, earned good so far (about $500).
Hi, I came a cross this article when I was searching for how to make money on Instagram. I started posting 3 days ago and I have so many like on each picture I post and few followers. Yesterday THERE IS an sponsor on my Instagram account. Is that means I’m going to get paid from them? How does it works? I never ask any sponsorship. Any idea would be great.
How would I ask them to sponsor ?? What should I say?? Please answer
I have 17,500 followers. Would love to start making money
I have 700 followers will I be able to get money