Instagram, although introduced as an app for sharing photos, has evolved into a big industry. Due to its rapid growth, Instagram has now become a perfect business platform,and lots of brands have taken advantage of its reach. Many people are becoming smart to buy IG followers rather than growing a page organically, which can take years. Buying IG followers and growing your page organically will produce the same result; both strategies will improve your brand awareness.
Active users on the platform (on a monthly basis) were reported to be around 1 billion people as of June 2018, and the number keeps rising by the day. Instagram popularity keeps attracting more business to the platform to advertise, connect with their target audience, and transact business.
There are several ways to make money on Instagram. You might feel it’s hard, but it’s not. All that is required is the application of the right strategies and other essential know-how. If you have always had this burning desire to become a millionaire through this platform, then this piece is for you. Follow it to become a success story in 2021.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON INSTAGRAM
1. POST SPONSORED CONTENTS
This is one aspect of Instagram that has fetched lots of people’s money. Influencers are always sought after by emerging and established brands to help advertise their businesses to boost sales. As it stands now, there are more than 500,000 Instagram influencers.
For one to be an Instagram influencer, such a person must command a good followership and engagement rates. Brands usually check the number of posts you make, the number of likes, comments, shares, etc., before coming to you. If you aim to become an influencer, you should aim at getting a good number of people to trust and follow you on the platform.
The beauty of being an influencer is that you don’t have to create any product. All you need do is be yourself, post the products and say nice things about them. By just doing this, you have created the much-needed awareness that can rake up sales for the brand. You can get paid before each sponsored post or when there is a surge in sales.
You must, however, be very careful so you don’t get scammed by some brands that may not keep their end of the bargain. You also should ensure that any product(s) you endorse are authentic, so you don’t lose your followers.
2. BECOME AN AFFILIATE MARKETER
This strategy goes straight to the aim of every business – making sales and getting profits. Unlike social media influencing, which dwells more on spreading the word, affiliate marketing ensures that those products are bought as that is the only way you can make money. If you get lucky and become a marketer for a fast-moving product, you are sure to make more money.
In affiliate marketing, you need to have a concrete plan and a good strategy to grow your reach. The products you sell must satisfy customers’ needs or even surpass their expectations. You must be careful also because few companies are scammers. They would promise to give you a certain percentage of your direct and indirect sales but end up not keeping their word.
Affiliate marketing is an emerging and rapidly growing branch of marketing. Most established brands now offer just anybody the opportunity to become a marketer. They issue personal links or coupon codes through which people can make purchases. They track the sales made through each unique link or code and pays a certain amount of commission or fee for each purchase.
3. SELL YOUR PRODUCTS
Instead of marketing other peoples’ products and services, why don’t you sell yours? Yes, you can sell your brands and make good money. Instagram’s wide reach is something you should take advantage of and get those products out to the people that need them.As a business owner, Instagram will give you’re the opportunity of turning your followers into your customers. Even if you offer real-world products and services, you can advertise your brand and get booked. It’s that simple to integrate a robust Instagram marketing strategy into an offline business venture.
Image by ValdasMiskinis from Pixabay
4. SELL POSTER PHOTOS AND OTHER VIRTUAL PRODUCTS
Instagram was originally a photo-sharing platform, and to a large extent, it remains. If you are a photographer, artist, animator, or graphics designer, then Instagram is for you. You can sell your drawings, photos, animations, cartoons, and other virtual products at a very good rate.
Try to be creative while remaining original and think out of the box. If you are into photography, take photos in a good background and with good lighting. Work on those photos with the best editing tools to get the best. This will catch the eyes of potential buyers. Ensure that you are offering top-notch virtual products because there is a lot of competition in this niche.
Put backlinks in your bio and redirect them to your site or sales page. To boost your visibility, use relevant Instagram hashtags or tag people on your posts.
5. SELL DROPSHIPPED PRODUCTS
Dropshipping is now booming, and there is no better time to get into it than now. Leverage on Instagram’s large audience, you can make lots of money with minimal effort. One thing that makes dropshipping cool is that you don’t need to own an inventory or have any warehouse to store products. Once a customer makes an order, you send the request to the manufacturer, shipping the product directly to the customer’s doorstep. This saves you money and time, which you would have spent on purchasing, storing, repacking, and shipping products, as well as the risks involved in them.
There are lots of products you can dropship using Instagram. The major thing you need to do is a market survey of your followers and then your target audience. What do they need? What products do they spend on and are willing to spend more on? What is their purchasing power and frequency? If you can get answers to these questions, then you are good to go.
GROWING YOUR INSTAGRAM TO EARN MONEY
After creating your Instagram profile, it’s now time to monetize it. Monetizing it involves applying requisite strategies to make your profile professional and get it to bring in as much money as possible. The strategies you can use to do this are elucidated below:
1. GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM AUDIENCE
The larger your audience, the better your chances of making money. Of course, the more money you make when it starts coming in, whether you want to go into brand influencing, dropshipping, or affiliate marketing, you must first grow your audience. Let’s take at some ways you can grow your Instagram to earn you money.
i. Optimize your Instagram profile.
This is essential to growing your Instagram profile. You have to make your profile look professional, so many would know you are serious about business. Some ways to optimize your Instagram profile includes:
- Use a handle name that reflects your brand and identity.
- Use top-quality profile picture. This picture should also reflect your line of business.
- Mention your real name in your bio so that customers can locate you even offline.
- Add a backlink to your Instagram bio. This backlink should direct people to your business website or sales page.
- Use Call-to-action (CTA) in your bio to ask for followers’ engagements. Ask them to share your posts, use your customized hashtags or invite others to your posts by tagging them.
- Use relevant keywords that are unique to your brand and/or business niche. If these keywords are searched on the platform, your profile will be among those that will come up.
Photo by SolenFeyissa on Unsplash
ii. Post valuable and relevant content.
This is one of the most important strategies for growing your Instagram following. If you get it wrong here, you may lose it all. Whatever you post, make sure that it is in line with the wants of your target audience. They will only engagement in your posts if they find them useful and beneficial.
You should also ensure that your posts are well planned and in line with your business, its goals, and objectives. You shouldn’t just put random posts in your feed, as this might make you lose them. For instance, if you sell wines, don’t go about posting about national holidays at all times. It may leave them confused about what you do. If you are to post about holidays, tune it down to “how to enjoy your holidays with the best wine in town” or something of the sort. Then post pictures of your product. Visit the website business.instagram.com to learn a better strategy on how to build your Instagram to make money.
iii. Be consistent and regular with your posts.
For you to get more followers on Instagram, you need to be active on the platform. No user would want to follow a profile that comes on the platform once or twice in a fortnight. The more you post, the more your chances of getting more followers.
You should also be consistent in your posts. Although they might be different posts, let them be consistent in meaning which should be align with your business goal(s). You might want to employ social media personnel to do this for you or do it yourself if you are a budding brand.
iv. Use the right hashtags to attract the right audience.
One thing about hashtags is that they can build your followership at a very rapid rate. Many people have no time to search for brands and products; what they mostly do (which is, of course, easier) is to search for hashtags relevant to their needs. If you used such hashtag(s) in your bio or your posts, then you would be found.
Use the right hashtags on Instagram. You can use industry-specific hashtags or look for trending hashtags. While those looking for such products/services to buy will locate you, others who are just interested in knowing the latest happenings in town will also locate you. Either way, you will gain potential buyers and followers who may become a customer someday.
v. Create and promote brand-specific hashtags.
Rather than using only industry-specific, popular, and trending hashtags, while don’t you create a personal hashtag for your brand and promote it in your profile, posts, and Instagram Stories. Also, ask your follower to use the hashtag when posting about your brand.
With this, many of their followers can locate you easily. You will also be able to track all conversations about your brand to see how good you are doing.
vi. Host giveaways and contests.
This is undoubtedly the fastest and easiest way to get followers. Announce a giveaway and ask them to invite others to join and watch your follower base grow in no time.
2. MAKE YOUR INSTAGRAM SHOPPABLE
If you are on Instagram to make sales, then you have to consider this strategy. Make your Instagram shoppable, so people can make direct purchases effortlessly. This is done by integrating your online store into your Instagram account.
This is a new improvement on the platform. In times past, brands can only add backlinks to their e-commerce store in their bio, but this isn’t the case anymore, as Instagram keeps improving by the day.
Below are some of how you can make your Instagram shoppable:
i. Create Shoppable posts.
Ensure that you include shoppable tags or the product tags in your posts so potential clients can be redirected to your sales page in one click.
Using product tags is like tagging people in a picture. When someone clicks on that picture, he/she gets redirected to the person’s profile. In this case, the customer will be redirected to your website or sales page.
ii. Use CTAs in your Instagram Stories.
Using CTAs such as “CLICK TO BUY,” ”BUY NOW,” “GO TO STORE,” “GET IT NOW,” etc., should be included in your Instagram Stories. These CTAs will take them to your store, where they can make the transactions.
Instagram has plans to integrate a payment system on its platform so that customers can purchase theirs without going to another page. This can make you good money as a seller. Once this is available, make use of it.
3. ADVERTISE ON INSTAGRAM
Get your products and services to your target audience through Instagram ads. With Instagram ads, you can use product tags or call-to-actions (CTAs) to redirect customers to your sales page. This feature also allows you to do audience targeting so those whom you feel are better positioned to buy can see them right on time. Another flexibility it offers is the ability to choose how long you want your ad to run and how much you wish to spend.
There are also strategies to follow while creating Instagram ads for optimum results. Some of them include:
i. Create engaging Ads
One mistake many marketers make is creating ads with just the aim of getting a conversion. Ensure that your ads are engaging so you won’t get customers’ attention.
ii. Create Ads Relevant to Your Audience
Before creating ads, you need to know your customers well. You should consider their needs, their preferences, etc. This will better position you to create ads that will appeal to them. You can get this by creating customer personas or a survey of your audience before launching your ad campaign.
iii. Use High-Quality Images or Videos
Instagram remains a visual platform, and so you must ensure that all pictures and videos you use for your ads are high-quality and clear. Poor picture or video content will make them lose interest before the ad ends.