In a recent blog on networking with billionaires, I mentioned a mate who was thinking of moving to Dubai, and he had some reservations. Would it be right for him, would he be too much of a small fish in such a massive pond, would he get ahead and make it all a success? I moved to Dubai in December 2020 – a Covid refugee! I always feel like
There are a seemingly endless number of websites, tools, and social media platforms out there being used every day. Undoubtedly you are using many of them yourself. But are you using them as a consumer or a producer? For pleasure or profit?
This article is so the first of many where I will take a well-known (or maybe not so well-known) app or website, and give you multiple strategies of how to use it for your business and for personal profit. I have interviewed hundreds of guests of my podcast, The Matt Haycox Show, who are world experts in monetising websites and social media platforms, and I also have a killer team in my own businesses making use of many of these strategies every day. So let me tell you all you need to know about getting paid instead of just getting square eyes!
I’m going to kick this series off with my favourite profit-making strategies for Instagram.
When I spoke to Timothy Armoo, founder of multi-award-winning social and influencer agency, Fanbytes, he predicted that the next billion-dollar brand would be built entirely off social media by an influencer, such is their reach and ability to turn personal style into a money-making platform.
Amongst the biggest social media platforms of today, Instagram ranks fourth, with around 1.47 billion monthly active users. It is projected to reach roughly $40 billion U.S. in annual ad sales in 2023, and more than half of the global Instagram population worldwide is aged 34 years or younger.
So, for those looking to build their personal brand or generate a second income stream by leveraging their existing account, there is arguably no better place to start than Instagram.
1. Before you make money with Instagram, get verified
Getting your Instagram account verified isn’t in itself a way to make money, but it will help set you up for success. That little blue tick is a symbol of trust and credibility. Instagram has pretty clear criteria for verification, notably your account needs to be:
- Authentic (belonging to a real person)
- Public
- Complete
- Unique (relating to one person or brand)
- Notable (you need to be known – that means highly searched through organic content)
Materially, the benefit of verification is that it gives you access to new features before they’re available to the general public, making it easier to step up your game and leverage your content. Crucially, however, what verification means is that those following, or looking to follow and interact with you, will take you more seriously. If you recommend a website or product that they’re interested in, they are more likely to consider purchasing for example. Good news for when you get onto setting up those affiliate relationships… more on that in a moment.
2. Build your following to earn money with Instagram
How can I earn money with Instagram? Build your following. Like verification, this isn’t a direct way to make money in itself, but it’s the key that unlocks earning potential. How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram? There’s no magic number, and it is always about quality over quantity. But as a goal to work towards, aim for a minimum of 1000 followers before you can consider generating an income. Importantly, you need to make sure those are authentic and engaged followers – don’t ever think about buying them or falling foul of similar ‘marketing’ shortcuts.
3. make money from sponsored Instagram posts
Being paid by brands and organisations for sponsored posts is a great and direct way to make money with Instagram. That’s one of the main ways the influencers do it.
The term ‘influencer’ is used a lot these days, relating to celebrities, social media stars and all sorts of other well-known people. What it really means, however, is exactly what it sounds like – someone who has influence over people’s choices and interests – someone whose followers will listen to their recommendations and trust them. To become an influencer you need to:
- Establish a niche in which you can become known (preferably something you’re interested in)
- Identify your target market
- Launch your social media account
- Post valuable and relevant content
- Create a community
To take that to the next level and start making money from sponsored posts, you don’t need a particular number of followers, but you do need an engaged audience and to approach businesses that are relevant to your community. Brands are interested in the impact you have more than the number of followers – if you have 100,000 followers but no one purchases anything off the back of your posts, it’s less valuable than if you have 2500 followers but generate significant income from your content. In terms of what you can be paid for a sponsored post – the world’s your oyster both in terms of how and how much. Some influencers get paid for the post itself, others get paid per click-through, and what you get varies enormously according to your influence. That said, a rough average across Google research indicates Instagram accounts with 1,000 followers make on average up to US$100 per sponsored post.
4. Become an affiliate – endorse different products
Becoming an affiliate is an extension of being an influencer, but instead of being paid for sponsored posts (or in addition), you get a cut of peoples’ products when customers buy as a result of your account. This means partnering with brands that are relevant to your audience. They will then give you a trackable link or a promo code to make sure that you know exactly which sales came directly from your posts.
5. Make money on Instagram by being a virtual assistant
Being an influencer isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so for those who have excellent social media skills but don’t want to make money on Instagram by building their own brand, the world of remote working is at your service. Being an influencer might look easy, but there’s a lot of admin involved, so lots of them are grateful for an assistant. Being a virtual assistant to an influencer means you might spend time filtering sponsorship requests, running ads, managing DMs, scheduling posts, replying to comments or even generating content ideas.
6. writing captions & copywriting for businesses
It’s not just influencers who need help with their social media accounts, businesses need support too. Sure, lots of them have in-house teams to do the heavy lifting, but many (especially SMEs) need fresh ideas and plenty of content to keep feeding those platforms. For freelance writers, creating content for brand Instagram accounts can be a lucrative way of working, especially if you work for multiple businesses. You might earn £100,000 per year from five or six brands.
7. Monetise your photos on Instagram
If you have an audience and you are creating great content, don’t forget that those pictures are a commodity to be monetised. The digital world thrives on great imagery, so if you’re producing fantastic photos, why not make money from them? Use your platform to promote your work and look into licensing your imagery for brands and online platforms to use as part of their online marketing. You could do this directly if you feel comfortable managing the licensing agreement, or you can work with agencies (there are lots), who can manage it for you and keep track of who’s using your images and how. You can earn on a royalty or royalty-free basis, making anything from $0.25 per image per month to an endlessly high fee for royalty-free sales and extended licences.
8. How to make money on Instagram? Sell your own products
It’s not just digital goods that you can produce and sell. From high-quality prints as posters to other merchandise, you can sell photos and other items thanks to Instagram’s shopping function. You just need to make your account a business account to set it up. Make sure you’re producing high-quality prints and use your caption skills to encourage people to purchase – simple!
9. Get paid on Instagram? Sell before you buy
When you create your own physical products you often get caught with a certain amount of upfront investment, storage challenges and shipping logistics to contend with. If you want to step things up a notch, take full advantage of the digital realm and use your Instagram channel to sell drop-shipped products. That means that you run a store without holding inventory, which gets rid of a lot of hidden costs and difficulties. You can still use the Instagram shopping function or you can place a link in your bio. Decide what you want to sell and engage with relevant dropshipping suppliers like Modalyst, Printful, and Printify to create products on demand. They fulfil your orders while you get busy marketing and earning on your Instagram account.
10. Own the sales funnel to make money from Instagram
Going back to the lessons learned from our friend Timothy Armoo, one of his key pieces of wisdom when it comes to making money from Instagram is to own the account and drive traffic to the products and places that are important to you. For example, you might start a network of Instagram accounts with niche subject areas, where you can build additional audiences and channel them towards your primary account. Armoo’s talent agency manages the biggest social media stars in the UK and those accounts are then used to drive traffic to specific brands. You could do the same!
Want to start earning a second income, build your investment portfolio, or maybe you’ve got the next big idea and you’re looking for an investor? Find out how I can help.
