How to make money From Instagram

Want to learn how to make money on Instagram? It's simple, all you have to do is follow these steps and you'll earn money from Instagram.

Before getting into the subject ...

What is Instagram?

Instagram is an application that allows you to upload photos and videos by adding filters and frames, to share them with friends or other subscribers that you have either on this same social network or even on other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.


This application was born in October 2010, initially only on iPhone. Now it is also available on Android. At the end of 2010, barely 3 months after its launch, a million people were already using it. Inevitably, it caught the attention of Mark Zuckerberg. In April 2012, he announced that Facebook had just bought Instagram for the modest sum of a billion dollars!

And ... what is an influencer?

An influencer is someone who has gained some credibility on a given subject and is able to influence other people when they make decisions. In the past few years, Instagram has become the most powerful social network for influencers. And they were able to take advantage of it to become very interesting personalities for the brands.

Why has Instagram become a tool for making money?

As I told you above, Instagram is one of the most used social networks today. Millions of people use this app every day. So, for brands, it is a showcase open to the whole world, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (and even a little more in leap years!)

Here are the most important facts to know about Instagram if you are considering becoming an influencer.

• Over 500 million active users every day. The number of users is the key factor that explains why this social network is so successful as a communication channel for businesses.
• 25 million companies have an Instagram profile.
• 70% of hashtags on Instagram were created by brands.
• 80% of Instagram users subscribe to at least one brand or company on this same platform.
• Every day, more than 200 million users consult a company profile. Out of 3 people who visit a brand's Instagram profile, 2 have not (yet) subscribed to it.
• 92% of users consider that the opinion of other consumers is more reliable than brand advertising.

The main conclusion that I draw from these figures is that we simply love this application. We like to both be active users and consume content. And brands know this very well! In addition, on Instagram as in everyday life, if someone says good things about a product or service, we will trust them more.

How many followers do you need to have on Instagram to make money?

This is the big question! Instinctively, you probably think you need a lot of subscribers in order to make money as an influencer.

In reality, this is not always the case. It depends on the area in which you want to stand out. Besides, some people have a stronger impact than celebrities and are sought after by brands when they don't have many subscribers. They are called micro-influencers.


However, there are themes that are more popular than others and therefore the opportunities to stand out among leading personalities will be less. Thus, your interactions with followers will be reduced. And in the end, your profile will not attract the attention of brands.

So, to answer the question about the number of followers needed to make money on Instagram, the most general answer is that it takes at least 10,000.

And you, what influencer are you?

We can classify the influencers according to their number of followers on Instagram:

• Nano-influencers: up to 1,000 followers
• Micro-influencers: up to 10,000 followers
• Macro-influencers: up to 100,000 followers
• Mega-influencers: from 100,000 to several million followers (some even distinguish in this category the top-influencers, who have more than a million followers).

According to this classification, the vast majority of us are nano-influencers. Our main subscribers are our family, close friends, and some acquaintances. We exert a kind of influence on them when we talk to them about something we liked. However, that's not how we're going to make money on Instagram.


On the other hand, as a micro-influencer, it is possible that you start making money with a few brands, just to talk about them. But in the beginning, you will have to be satisfied with remuneration in kind. So, some brands will reward you with free gift products when you talk about them as a micro-influencer.


Then, no doubt, a macro-influencer will earn money to promote products and services on his Instagram account.

So there is not a specific amount that you are sure to earn with Instagram. Obviously, if you have few followers, your earnings will not go up to the sky! The above article also suggests that you can start earning less than 10,000 followers. But, as I told you above, it depends on the competition that there is (or not) in the field where you want to position yourself.

My advice is that instead of making a fixture only on the number of followers, you also focus on the quality and frequency of your content 

How much money can influencers make on Instagram?

According to this article from the Kenoby blog, an influencer who has 6000 followers on his Instagram profile can start making money. Although we must consider him as a rather low-level influencer, he can manage to collect on average 88 dollars (or about 80 euros) for a publication. Even if often, he will be rewarded in kind with one or more gifts.


In the case of influencers between 50,000 and 80,000 followers, earnings per publication increase, reaching on average $210, or even much more for fashion brands or beauty products.

If we talk about mega-influencers or top-influencers, the gains are much higher. For 250,000 to 500,000 followers, the average is $720 per publication. But it can climb high and even reach levels of 5 or 6 digits!

But, beyond the number of followers, the earnings also vary according to other criteria such as the country of residence of the influencer, the product or service to promote or the brand.

How to make money with Instagram as an influencer

So, would you like to make money on Instagram?

As soon as you have reached a significant number of subscribers (and the more you have, the better), you will be able to generate money with your Instagram profile thanks to the means that I will explain to you now. If you have already read my article on the different ways to earn money with Facebook, you will find some similar methods and others more specific.

1. Publish sponsored posts

Sponsored content is the most used method by influencers and the main way to generate income on Instagram. This method is also used to monetize blogs. You can get paid for publishing sponsored content without having millions of followers.

So how do you do it? There are platforms that connect brands with influencers. Most of them accept profiles from a few thousand followers.

But beware! If you think that by buying followers, you will get the brands to contact you, you are wrong! Brands are interested in the interaction of your followers, the fact that they are active and that it really shows that you exert a certain influence on them. However, when a profile has bought a good part of these followers, it is quite easy to realize it: there are no comments, few clicks on "likes", little visibility of your stories, etc.

The publication of sponsored content can be a photo, several photos, a video, one or more stories, with or without a link to the website of the brand or its products. The more you are asked, the more you can earn.

2. Promote affiliate products

This way to monetize your profile is to promote products or services from third parties. You'll get a commission every time someone buys it. To make money on Instagram with affiliate products, the first thing you need to do is find products or services that are interesting to your audience and have a connection with the content you share on your profile.

You can continue to share your photos or videos as usual. And, from time to time, you will recommend a product using your affiliate link. Thus, each time a sale is made, you will receive a commission.

3. Be a brand ambassador

For some brands, it's important to maintain a long-term relationship with an influencer, and even more so if they have thousands of followers. This is why some companies are willing to pay an influencer to be the image of his brand.

In these cases, your tasks will go further than posting on Instagram. The brand will invite you to events, new product launches, etc. You see the kind? Well, for that, you will still need to reach several hundred thousand followers.

4. Sell your photos
This is another way to make money on the internet. It has nothing to do directly with the Instagram app, but with the quality of the photos, you take and share.

In addition to posting your photos on your Instagram account, you can sell them to image banks and make money when a company buys them. And for that, no need for a minimum number of followers, it is simply necessary that your photos are of good quality. There are different platforms where you can sign up in minutes and upload the photos you want to sell. It is a great option for generating passive income.

5. Promote your own products and services

If big brands use Instagram to promote their products, you too can do the same.

With your content, you can show your skills and your professionalism. Thus, you will gain credibility and proximity with your subscribers, who will then be more willing to buy you something.

I left this idea for the end because, although you won't make any money directly, it's a good way to build an active and loyal audience. This will translate into increased sales of your products.

The 5 influencers who earn the most money on Instagram
Here are the 5 people who earn the most money by posting on Instagram. The number of subscribers that I indicate is data from December 2019.

Nº1 Kylie Jenner. 141 million followers, $1.2 million per post.

Nº2 Ariana Grande. 160 million followers, $996,000 per post

Nº3 Cristiano Ronaldo. 176 million followers, $975,000 per post.

Nº4 Kim Kardashian West. 144 million followers, $910,000 per post.

Nº5 Selena Gomez. 153 million followers, $886,000 per post.

10 practical tips to become an influencer and make money on Instagram

1. Become an app expert. Learn how to use Instagram and take advantage of all its features.
2. Motivate your followers. Brands are more willing to pay an influencer if they see that their audience is active.
3. Post good quality photos. There's no point in putting a new photo online every 15 minutes if it's blurry or dark, for example. The quality of the photos you share is key.
4. Learn how to edit photos, and get celebrity-worthy results.
5. Don't abuse sponsored content. Your subscribers will not really appreciate it if your content is still aimed at promoting a particular product. Likewise, your audience will not see very well that you are promoting products that do not correspond to your usual content.
6. Be constant. If you want to become a real influencer and make money on Instagram, you have to post regularly. If you are an influencer you can see that his presence on social networks is constant.
7. Create your media kit, and be professional. A media kit is a document for possible advertisers, where you show your full potential in a summarized and attractive way using objective data.
8. Study the brands. Don't assume that all the brands in your segment are good options for your profile. Research, study and choose the most interesting companies that you perceive as the closest to you and your content.
9. Register on influencer platforms. If you are determined, don't wait any longer. Find and choose the best influencer platform for you (or the one you like best) and sign up.
10. Get in touch with the brands. Do you already have a large number of active subscribers? In addition, you bring added value to your profile, what sets you apart from the others? So don't wait for the brands to knock on your door. Contact them directly, present your media kit and offer them a collaboration.