You can’t open social media these days without seeing products being hawked. Girls in bikinis are pushing protein and weight loss supplements, self-proclaimed influencers are shoving teeth whitening kits and cell phone cases down our throats. It’s everywhere, and guess what?

You can get in on the action.

Yes, you too can become a social media influencer and make money. Your passion combined with your mobile phone, the Instagram app, and a little effort can turn into a nice sizeable amount of extra money every month. If you really do it right, you can turn social media posting into a huge six, or even seven figure a year business.

There are people making silly money simply by posting content. Now, there are very few making millions, but there is plenty of opportunity for those who are dedicated enough to easily make an extra $5,000 a month by following the information below.

Let’s start this discussion now. By the end of this blog post, you will have the knowledge to make money on Instagram.

 

Monetizing Your Social Media Presence

We live in a day and age where social media dominates every aspect of our lives. The majority of people are connected to their phones all day and night, and any down time they have is spent on social media. People post their entire lives on social media.

Years ago, before mobile phones, people would watch TV to wind down and be entertained. Now people watch their shows on their phones and social media is the new entertainment distraction.

This has opened up new careers that are social media based, and the only thing you need in order to take advantage of this is an active following. Anyone with an audience has some value to an advertiser or brand.

Now anyone with a large following can become a celebrity, and many social media influencers are now making more money than traditional celebrities.

Wouldn’t you like to make money simply by being active on social media?

 

How to Put Yourself in the Position to Make Money Posting on Social Media

A lot of people assume that you need millions of followers to make money on social media. This isn’t the case at all, as more companies are realizing that micro-influencers provide a much better value because their engagement rates are typically higher and more genuine.

Companies will see a better return by paying “influencers” with 20,000 to 50,000 followers a couple hundred dollars to post, than they would paying a mega celebrity with millions of followers $100,000.

So, you need to focus on building real followers that are interested in the “niche” you decide to create your account on. You will see the most successful accounts don’t wander too far from their focus. A car account will post nothing but pictures of cars, and a funny meme account will never post any content that isn’t a meme.

It’s really simple: Build a following that is highly engaged and stay laser focused on your content direction.

 

Do NOT Buy Fake Followers

It will take time to build up an Instagram account with real followers, and many people will want to “jump start” their account with fake ones. This will come back to bite you and it will actually push away potential followers.

If you buy fake followers someone might check out your account because they see it has a large following. But, then they will look at your content and there will be no engagement, which will raise an immediate red flag and the person will know that you are rolling with fake followers.

Post content with relevant hashtags and try to attract initial followers that way. This works if you have some time and if you are low on available marketing money to help push your account growth.

Buying some fake followers seems like such a harmless thing to do, but it will never help you. You are better off growing slowly, but naturally.

 

 

Buy Shoutouts for Fast Growth

If you have some money to play with, you can experience rapid growth if you buy shoutouts from accounts that are in the same niche as you. You will essentially be buying shoutouts from people that you want to copy, in terms of Instagram success. The goal is to position your account so you can someday charge money for mentioning accounts, in addition to other monetization strategies.

Most accounts that offer shoutouts will have an email address in their bio. This is a clear indication that they can be bought. If you happen to discover a great account that doesn’t have contact info, simply send them a Direct Message (DM) and ask them if they would be willing to promote your account on their page for a fee.

Always negotiate the posting fee and if it’s an account that doesn’t do it often low ball the initial offer. It’s very possible to get posts for as little as $10.

 

Get in Niche Relevant Engagement Circles

There are plenty of engagement circles available and the key is to join one that is full of members in the same niche as you. These groups will all follow each other and like the posts the group members make and also comment on them.

The helps growth in a couple ways. First, your followers will see people liking and commenting on your content. It makes you look more popular and your followers might then follow the people liking and commenting, helping them grow. The same applies to you. You participate in hopes that their followers will then follow your account when they see you liking and commenting on the content that they follow.

It’s a very simple concept and it’s easy to participate. The results depend on the number of followers each account has, but the good thing is that everyone that follows you will be interested in what you post because they came from an account in the same niche.

 

Run Contests to Attract New Followers

One of the most effective ways to grow your following is by running a contest. You will want to make sure you have a desirable prize to give away. The best things are always electronics, and I have seen several accounts experience massive growth by giving away iPhones or GoPro’s.

Not sure if this works? Tai Lopez grew his Instagram account to almost 2 million followers by giving away cash and cars. He has a crazy large budget to work with, but the concept remains the same.

You need to have other accounts promote your content and then require that people like your content post, follow you and take a specified number of friends. The exposure your account receives is large and your follower count will grow as long as you have content that will interest people.

 

Exchange Shoutouts with Niche Relevant Accounts

Once your account has a decent following and engagement rate, you can then leverage that to exchange shoutouts, rather than buy them. When you have something to offer, people will be willing to trade since they know they will get something beneficial out of the exchange.

You will want to target accounts that have a similar following. If you have 30,000 followers, and account with 2 million isn’t going to want to swap, but another account with 30,000 will likely be interested in trading promotion swaps.

Search for relevant hashtags to discover new accounts and email them or DM to connect. A lot of people will already be familiar with the process and gladly do it. You can also search shoutout related hashtags to find accounts that are actively looking for shoutout exchanges.

 

 

Create a Professional Bio with Contact Information

Once your account becomes larger and more popular, you are going to be in a position to start making money. You will be approached by companies that want you to post their products and other account owners that want to buy shoutouts.

It’s important that you have a professional image from the start. Companies aren’t going to reach out to you if they don’t think you are professional. I would make sure you have a professional sounding bio and also professional contact info. I would even consider buying a domain so you can list a business email rather than a free email service.

At the very least, if you are using Gmail, make sure that you have an email address related to your account. If you have something like 420smokeblazzzer@gmail.com it will turn potential customers away, especially companies.

If you want to attract the big money opportunities, you have to look the part.

 

Offer Sponsored Posts Priced According to Your Following and Engagement

The prices some influencers are commanding right now is bonkers. The Kardashians are charging up to $250,000 for a single post. This has caused every other influencer to think he or she is worth way more than they really are.

You have to have realistic expectations when it comes to pricing your posts. Think long-term and repeat business. Would you rather a $400 post every week, or ten $100 posts a week? Think about what you are doing for a minute. You are posting on Instagram, so even $100 is more money than any other option that takes 10 seconds.

Don’t let greed get in the way of building a profitable business. Think about what $5,000 a month is broken down. If you are getting $250 a post, that is just 20 posts a month, or 5 per week to hit that number. The earning potential is huge, but greed can cause you to miss a lot of opportunities.

 

Get Listed on Influencer Marketing Platforms

There are so many platforms that allow people to buy posts, so get listed on as many as you can find. A lot of them are country specific, so simply Google, “influencer marketing platform” or “influencer marketplace” to find ones that operate in your country.

They will list you for free, and they make their money by taking a cut of the payout. If you build up a solid account and you have great engagement rates you can make a lot of money with almost no work. So, it is in your best interest to register and be active on as many as possible.

If you want to find out how active a particular marketplace is, contact some of the larger accounts on it and see if they are making money. If they aren’t, you know not to waste your time.

 

Run Affiliate Offers on Your Account

This is a great way to boost your monthly earnings. There are affiliate offers for almost any niche, so search popular affiliate marketplaces to see what your audience could potentially be interested in.

For example, if you built up a personal brand Instagram account that provided financial tips, you might be able to push a credit repair or credit report offer. These will typically pay between $30 and $50 per conversion, so a conversion a day would be an extra $900 to $1,500 per month with no work on your end. You could even leave your affiliate link in your bio and pull conversions that way.

As you grow your account, you will get to know your followers better. This will help you identify offers that they will respond well to.

 

Create Your Own Product or Brand

This is where the really big money is on Instagram. There are some influencers that have gone on to create their own clothing brands and fitness programs, which earn them millions of dollars a year.

You have to have a huge audience in order to leverage this approach and support your own brand. There are so many possible options when you look on Alibaba. You could white label any product imaginable.

This isn’t limited to physical products, though. You could create eBooks, downloadable training, or even launch a membership website. The number of possibilities is endless. The key is to find a product that your followers will want to purchase from you because they trust you and want to be a part of anything you are involved with.

 

Final Thoughts

There are so many opportunities to make money with Instagram once you build up a large following that is highly engaged with your content.

The steps above can be followed to take a brand new account and develop it into an actual business, whether you are just looking for a side project for extra spending money, or if you are looking to become a full time social media influencer.

Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, you can almost guarantee it will be around for a long period of time. But, you need to leverage your following and get them to follow you on other social media platforms, especially new ones early on. You never know what the next trend will be, so always stay ahead of the curve. The good thing is that a truly engaged following is following you and not Instagram, for example. Put out great micro-content and you will have a loyal following no matter what social platforms you are active on in the future.


Tommy McDonald

Tommy is an SEO professional with years of experience running highly successful SEO companies, founded SerpLogic after noticing there was a major void when it came to options for SEO agencies needing a reliable and professional one-stop outsource solution.You can read all about me in the “About” page here on our blog!


© SerpLogic 2023. All Rights Reserved.