The online world paved the way for significant lifestyle changes. In retail, this entails several online transactions such as the purchase of goods and services, as well as the emergence of several online businesses.
This digital age also transformed how people make a living because of several avenues where making money is possible, such as social media platforms. Nowadays, there are several people who make money online, specifically on Instagram. Some are influencers in their field, while others are business owners and entrepreneurs. How do they make money on Instagram? Here is a comprehensive guide.
Affiliate marketing on Instagram
Affiliate marketing is a very popular way of making money online in general. It is the process of signing up with a brand and promoting their products and services. You get a commission for a sale that became successful through your promotion. There are various ways to promote the products and services and one of these is by sharing a link that includes your profile ID, where people can purchase. This link is also known as a URL, or a uniform resource link. In order to do this in Instagram, you need to know your URL to be able to share it on other platforms.
The article ‘What Is My Instagram URL’ written by Wendy of Whatagraph.com probes into the details of sharing your Instagram profile by knowing your URL. It tackles how you will be able to share your URL through a desktop or a laptop computer, as well as a mobile device. Affiliate marketing is an ideal way for individuals with a considerably large number of followers to earn money.
To be a successful affiliate marketer in Instagram, you need to choose the right affiliate marketing programs. It is important to find one that is within your niche. For instance, if you are known in Instagram as a traveler, a chef, or a fashion designer, then choose affiliate marketing programs related to travelling, cooking, or fashion. You also have the option of signing up with an affiliate marketplace where there is a wide variety of products and services for different influencers or bloggers. Some of the most popular affiliate marketplaces are Amazon Associate, ClickBank, MaxBounty, and ShareASale.
Advertise sponsored posts on Instagram
Displaying sponsored posts on Instagram is a form of advertisement that can help you earn a hefty amount. However, to be successful in this venture, you need a significant number of followers. Thereby, this method of earning money through Instagram is more effective for influencers. Nevertheless, you can be an influencer yourself and be paid by companies to promote their products and services through your posts. The price of a sponsored post increases depending on the number of followers you have on Instagram.
To garner a large number of followers with the goal of becoming an influencer, you must first pick a niche. Make sure that it is something that interests you or something that you are good at. Some of the most popular niches in Instagram are fashion, beauty, health, fitness, and travel. It is important to organically grow your audience because brands often check the engagement levels of your followers.
Thus, buying fake followers will not really be successful in the long run. You can also sign up on influencer marketplaces that allow brands and influencers to connect. Some of the most popular influencer marketplaces include Grapevine, indaHash, HypeTap, Tribe, and Fohr to name a few.
Selling physical products on Instagram
Selling physical products on Instagram is a great way to increase the revenue of small scale businesses who already have a shop set up on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. The ‘Shopping on Instagram’ feature makes the entire process more seamless and effective because it allows brands to add tags to their images. These tags contain a brief description of the product, along with its price.
With users clicking on the tags, additional information about the product will be displayed. This feature has just been recently released over the globe but it has already increased the traffic to different e-commerce platforms from Instagram. ‘Shopping on Instagram’ revolutionized Instagram by providing more clickable links.
To set up this feature on Instagram, you need to create a Facebook catalog of all the products you sell via your Facebook business page. However, Facebook needs to review your account, but after your catalog is approved, you can already add shoppable tags to your Instagram posts. You can tag products in both your new posts, as well as your existing posts, with every image having as many as five tags.
In order to be successful in making money using this feature, make sure that your business website is mobile friendly for shopping to provide your customers the ultimate mobile shopping experience, without having to think about page loading latency or screen resolution. After all, this feature is only available via the Instagram mobile app.
Selling photos or photography services on Instagram
You can make your Instagram profile a collection of amazing photos and digital images. If your photos are unique and exceptional, Instagram is the perfect platform where you can sell them. In the same manner, if you are a professional photographer, Instagram is a great platform where you can reach your potential customers or target clients. Thereby, you have the option of converting your Instagram account into an Instagram business account wherein you will have the ability to add your email or physical address, as well as your phone number.
On the other hand, if you sell images from an online store, you can add the URL of your online store in your Instagram bio or in image descriptions, as well as a text overlay on your images. You can also use hashtags to subtly advertise your photos and images to new audiences. In parallel, add an Instagram feed to your online store to encourage your patrons to follow you on Instagram.
Drop shipping through Instagram
Drop shipping is the process of selling products even without holding a physical inventory. Once you make a successful sale, your supplier will directly ship the products to your customers. This eliminates the need for you to manage the logistics of the products such as storing, packaging and shipping. You can definitely employ this business model in Instagram. There are two ways to drop ship through Instagram and one is to set up with a drop shipping store.
The other way is by manually looking for suppliers online who support the drop shipping business model. In any case, all that’s left to do is for you to promote the products that you will sell through your Instagram posts. Make sure to find the right niche to be able to be successful with this venture.
Work as an Instagram expert
With a relevant experience in working with Instagram either at work or social media marketing, you can offer your services as an Instagram expert. With more and more people moving into home based jobs, there are already several platforms where you can sign up and build a profile that includes your expertise in Instagram. Some of the most popular platforms include Upwork and Freelancer. These platforms will allow you to connect with businesses and individuals looking for talented people offering the expertise they need for their businesses.
In order to get a good clientele that will sign up for your services, it is imperative for you to create a website to promote your services and display a portfolio of your work, along with testimonials and reviews. If necessary, there might be a need for you to offer your services for free just to get you started and build up an impressive portfolio.
Be prepared to offer more than you expertise in Instagram because most businesses seeking for this talent also look for an overall social media manager. Using your knowledge about Instagram through freelancing can be a great way to earn additional income.
Is there really a possibility of earning through Instagram?
Well, yes of course! There are statistics that can back up this answer. For one, over a billion users are active on Instagram every month and 500 million users are active on a daily basis. Further statistics reveal that 59% of Instagram users are within the age range of 18 to 29, with 38% female users. Thus, there is a great chance for you to reach your target market.
Additionally, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business account and in the same manner, the time that people spend on this social media platform alone increases by 80% each year. Several studies show that posts with location tags get more engagement while photos with faces get more likes. These data alone show that there is a great chance for you to earn through Instagram.
In this day and age, there are already several means to make a living even without leaving the comfort of your own home or wherever you may be traveling to. The online world has made this possible because of several platforms such as social media. Making money through Instagram is indeed possible.
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