How to Start Making Money Online with Instagram in 2024

Do you spend a significant portion of your day scrolling through social media platforms? If so, consider making money online with Instagram! YES – you can earn money with Instagram. In fact, the majority of the people you follow with large audiences are likely making money with Instagram daily. 

Joining the hundreds of thousands of Instagram influencers who generate regular income via the media-sharing app. According to CBInsights, Instagram is among the leading platforms that enable content creators, brands, and influencers to join forces and monetize their posts, while attracting new followers in the process. By understanding how to make money using Instagram as a beginner, you can better nurture your audience, thus transforming them from followers into paying customers.

Making Money with Instagram as an Influencer is Getting Better and Better… 

If you’re on this page because you want to start making money as an Instagram influencer without followers, you’re in the right place. Sure, you need an audience to convert into dollar signs, but even the most successful Instagram influencers had to start somewhere! Meta CEO and famous Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg is playing an important role in helping people learn how to make money on Instagram. 

“To help more creators make a living on our platforms, we’re going to keep paid online events, fan subscriptions, badges, and our upcoming independent news products free for creators until 2023,” the billionaire, told reporters back in 2021.

Since this time, the video and photo-sharing platform has progressed in leaps and bounds. A growing number of people are making money with Instagram as a full-time job, many of whom identify as a “professional Instagram influencer”. With the option to share Instagram poses via other social networks like Facebook, X, and TikTok, you can potentially become a multi-network mega influencer if you play your cards right. 

Recently introduced Instagram features (which we will discuss below) are simplifying the process of getting people’s voices heard online. Brand awareness efforts are skyrocketing. So much so, that a swelling number of online businesses are actively seeking out Instagram influencers who can promote their product(s) and service(s) to their followers in many forms.

10 Ways To Make Money with Instagram Daily as an Influencer

Making money with Instagram daily is not limited to being an influencer, however. There are multiple methods of making cash money daily online via the social media platform. Whichever option you choose, it’s worth checking out the Instagram Payouts feature beforehand to calculate payment amounts after taxes, refunds and in-app purchase costs. 

So, let’s get to the point of this blog post. How can I make money on Instagram as a beginner, you ask? Here. are 10 ways to earn a full-time income on Instagram:

  1. Make Money with Instagram Publishing Sponsored Posts for Brands

Did you know that people engage with brands that they see on Instagram 10 times more than they do on Facebook? 

This fact alone indicates the money-making potential of getting paid for sponsored Instagram posts. Take the leap and send a direct message to a brand that you adore today! If you don’t have at least 10,000 followers just yet, focus on building your profile before contacting brands. However, some small-scale companies will accept influencers with just a couple of hundred followers (depending on the quality of their audience and uploads). 

You (the influencer) and the brand can benefit from increased awareness and reach after a collaboration. Best of all, you can utilize Instagram’s Branded Content Tools feature to start making money with sponsored posts. These ad-type posts represent branded products and services, mainly when a new product is launched or a sale is taking place. You will usually get paid a flat fee per story and post upload, with the rate increasing with audience size. 

Alternatively, if you want to promote your business via Instagram, there’s the option to pay a daily rate to boost your posts. This type of sponsored post is highly effective at reaching wider audiences, based on your specifications, and boosting overall engagement and follows. Paid partnerships are highlighted next to the uploader/influencer’s username, whereas the kind of sponsored post you pay for to increase engagement will say “Sponsored Post” on it. 

How much money can I earn with sponsored Instagram posts, you ask? The typical rate for a nano-influencer (1,000-10,000 followers) is $10-$100 per post, while micro-influencers (10,000–50,000 followers) may earn $100–$500 per post, mid-tier influencers (50,000–500,000 followers) may bank $500–$5,000 per post, and macro-influencers (500,000–1 million followers) can generate upwards of $5,000–$10,000 per post. 

  1. Get Paid By Instagram Via the Creator Fund

In November 2023, Instagram reached a whopping 1 million creator subs as part of the Creator Fund. This fabulous feature of the social media platform makes it possible for people to start making money on Instagram as a beginner. Instagram monetization is permitted in the form of IGTV Ads, Instagram Live Badges, and Bonuses. 

The motto of Instagram Creator Fund is: “Where brands and creators can more easily build branded content partnerships” To ensure you make money with Instagram daily, weekly, or monthly using the Creator Fund, it is vital that you comply with the Instagram Partner Monetization Policies, Community Guidelines, and Content Monetization Policies

To get started with making money on the Instagram Creator Fund, visit the”“Professional Dashboard” On your Business account (switch to a professional account beforehand if you haven’t already) and select “Branded Content Tools”. Create an Instagram post as you normally would, then activate the “Add Paid Partnership Label” toggle. Once the toggle is on, you can “Add Brand Partners” and get paid by promoting products on Instagram! 

To improve your chances of making money daily online with Instagram Creator Fund, clarify which brands and interests are most appealing to you. By signaling your interests, brands can track you down much faster and easier, so you won’t miss and opportunity. If a brand is interested in working with you, they can send a ‘project’ outline to you for review. Once you approve the project and payment rate, the brand can send projects directly via the Partnership Messages folder. This means you can literally make money with Instagram on your phone! 

  1.  Make Money Selling Your Branded Merchandise with an Instagram Shop 

The Instagram Shop feature is revolutionizing the way people earn money online with social media, not to mention how buyers do their online shopping! With built-in ecommerce tools, Instagram is a goldmine for attracting people who splurge a lot of money online, particularly those people who tend to spend money spontaneously, seasonally, impulsively, and leisurely. 

To make money with Instagram Shops, you must have a product that is worth selling. Instagram e-commerce stores offer a powerful way of getting your brand seen by thousands or even millions of people. You might even consider hiring an influencer who can wear or use your branded products in their posts and stories, thus ameliorating your path to making money on Instagram. Buyers will instantly know when something displayed in your regular posts, such as a pair of shoes, is available in your Instagram store since it will feature a miniature shop icon. 

Setting up an Instagram store is straightforward and takes just a few minutes. You will need to upload your product inventory, too, so we recommend writing SEO-optimized product descriptions and titles beforehand to further streamline the process. Once your store is live, you can expect your products to show up in the Instagram feeds of people who share the same interests as you, follow you, and/or search the hashtags you use.  The images of your products will meld in with the typical post aesthetic. 

Examples of some successful brands that make money with Instagram shops include Soludos · SummerFridays · Artifacts Uprising · Anthropologie · Victoria’s Secret · Tentree · Cowboy Bikes · Allbirds · Meow Meow Tweet · Lunchskins. You can even set up a countdown to new product launches, thus enticing your audience before your product is even available in the Instagram shop! 

  1. Make Money Online with Instagram as an Affiliate

Who isn’t an affiliate marketer nowadays? Affiliate marketing is the ultimate way to make money online with Instagram, as well as various other social media platforms, websites, ebooks, email marketing strategies…  the list goes on. If you haven’t already done so, consider joining an affiliate network as a publisher. Recommended sites include Clickbank, Digistore24, Matrix Network, Amazon Associates, and JVZoo. By using the ‘Affiliate Insights’ feature on Instagram, you can track sales statistics and find out what products your audience like the most! 

You can also search any brand or business name on the planet with the term “sign up as an affiliate” next to it and see what Google presents you with! This method is recommended, since it’s always best to promote products and services from a brand that you love, know, and trust. Commission for affiliate marketing on Instagram depends on the product type, audience, and commission percentage. 

Most affiliate marketing networks pay their publishers 30-90 days after sales are made, since this allows the companies time to calculate any refunds. Although you might not want to wait to make money with Instagram as an affiliate marketer, being patient is worthwhile because you can watch your sales stack up! Consider adding your customized affiliate tracking links to an Instagram e-commerce store to amplify conversions. 

  1. Send Traffic to & Generate Leads for Your Website

Nowadays, small business owners simply must have a website, as well as maintain a solid online presence and reputation, in order to stay ahead of their competitors. How regularly you post and how much you engage with your audience will determine how much money you can make online with Instagram by sending traffic to your business website. 

Even if you’re not a business owner with a website, you can create an online business in the form of a monetized blog. (You can set up a WordPress blog within minutes via Bluehost for less than $3 monthly! Click here to sign up today.) 

The process of making money with Instagram by generating leads and website traffic is easy: Add a link to your site in your profile bio. By creating educational, informative, and educational posts and stories that resonate with your audience, you will position yourself as an expert in your niche and encourage people to click through to your website. You can also put the link in your stories or add it the comments section of your photos, videos, and reels.

Whatever your website sells, whether it is car insurance, cosmetics, or trips to Spain, you can capitalize on Instagram’s power as a visual search engine to generate leads that convert into sales. (And recurring sales if you implement a smart and effective Instagram marketing technique.) A top tip for making money with Instagram as a beginner is to include a call-to-action (CTA) in your bio that tells users to click on the link and how they will benefit from it. 

If you decide to open an Instagram shop, too, you can divert customers to your website by linking to your site within the product descriptions in your online store. Hosting contests and giveaways is a tried-and-tested way of generating extra leads, website clicks, and conversions, in addition to uploading videos to IGTV. Make sure you include customer testimonials whenever and wherever possible! 

  1. Offer Instagram Marketing Services to Grow Business Accounts

If you are skilled at using Instagram, (and let’s face it, who isn’t nowadays?) you can offer your Instagram marketing services to business owners who don’t have time to upload posts, engage with followers, and update their stories. This is an effective way of making money on Instagram if you don’t have a business. Instagram serves as a foundation to promote a business or personal brand with the intent of increasing website traffic, brand awareness, followers, sales, etc. By using your skills to optimize client profiles, you can help them to get noticed in a sea of competitors.

Offering your Instagram marketing services through a freelance marketplace like Fiverr is recommended, since this can build your authority, trust factor, and status in the online world. Business owners who purchase your services can leave you positive ratings on Fiverr, thus encouraging other buyers to work with you. Plus, Fiverr eliminates the need to build a website promoting your services, or even spending unnecessary time promoting yourself on social media, via email, on Craigslist (you get the idea). 

  1. Sell Digital Downloads on Instagram as: Photos, Digital Files, & Illustrations 

Did you know that you can sell digital products on Instagram?  In fact, Instagram is one of the best social media platforms to make money by selling digital products and downloads! You can start making money with Instagram by creating a catalog. Find this option on the store setup page, and when prompted to choose between ‘Create a shop’ and ‘Create a catalog’, you should select the latter. 

Next, follow these steps to sell digital products on Instagram:

  • After selecting ‘Create a catalog’, click ‘Get started’. (FYI: If you would rather sell physical products on Instagram, skip to number 10 on this list of ways to make money online daily with Instagram. 
  • Click on the three black lines (the menu) in the bottom left-hand corner of your Instagram profile. 
  • Choose ‘Settings’ and scroll until you find the ‘Switch to a professional account’ option. 
  • Next, choose ‘Business’ and select your chosen category/niche. Tap ‘Done’ and proceed to the next step. 
  • Connect a Facebook page to your Instagram shop. (This is an essential step since your purchases, refunds, and everything else money-related will be managed via Facebook’s Commerce Manager. 
  • Once you access Facebook’s Commerce Manager, tap ‘Get Started’ for setting up a shop.
  • Click ‘Create a Catalog’ NOT ‘Create a Shop’ – Catalogs are for digital products and shops are for physical goods. 
  • Choose between the main four categories: Auto, Ecommerce, Real estate, and Travel
  • Upload products in bulk using a spreadsheet or add them manually. 
  • Start earning money with Instagram Catalog!  

When you are satisfied with your store uploads, product descriptions, and titles (don’t forget to implement SEO in the form of keywords, too), you can connect it to your Instagram account. By doing so, it activates the Instagram shopping feature. Once activated, you can easily tag products from your catalog whenever you publish an Instagram Post and Story. 

Remember to optimize your Instagram bio with the correct keywords and information outlining exactly what kind of digital goods you are selling. Make your profile stand out by telling the audience why they need your digital downloads, and be sure to mention any discount codes or sales to attract more buyers. Pasting a link to the Instagram Catalog eill bolster the number of visits and sales your store gets, making this one of the best ways to make money with Instagram! 

  1. Create a Niche-Specific Instagram Feature Account

Regardless of your interest, chances are you will have seen an Instagram feature account before. Scroll through your news feed and you may notice some pages that only feature text quotes in the form of images, inspirational phrases, tips, and how-to’s .. For example, a spiritual Instagram feature account owner may upload an AI-generated image of a magical backdrop, with the words “You have a body, you are a soul” written across the top. 

Alternatively, a fitness Instagram feature page may entice followers by posting infographics that explain how to lose weight quickly, or how to drop a waistline by using a particular product. But how to monetize an Instagram feature page, you ask? By putting an affiliate or product link in the bio of course! Use an URL shortener like Bitly.com to shorten ugly-looking affiliate links, otherwise known as “link cloaking”. You will still be able to track your clicks and purchases via a cloaked link, but check with your affiliate marketing network first. 

Popular Instagram feature account niches include art, AI, business, travel, food, fitness, fashion, parenting and relationships. By bringing passionate people together and evoking emotion, you can build trust and attract conversions. You could even create an account about self-love, and simply post self-love quotes on a daily basis. With time, your followers will increase, resulting in increased engagement and sharing of your content. 

If you’re seeking inspirational Instagram feature accounts that make money, check out @discoverearth, @manifestingportal, and @millionairessteps.Certain pages may not sell anything at all. Rather, they will send traffic to their websites or blogs (like this one) and earn money from the ads placed on their site. 

  1. Offer Exclusive Content To Your Fans

This option might not be for everyone, but it sure can earn you a decent side or full-time income online! Once you have established a solid foundation of loyal followers, you will notice that many of your fans will visit your profile every single day without fail. Some of those fans will have already subscribed to receive Instagram notifications once you post something, so why not earn some money from it?

Think of it as OnlyFans, except you don’t have to get down and dirty to make money with this Instagram monetization method. On the other hand, if you want to do that, then that is totally up to you. Making money online with the Instagram Subscriptions feature involves promoting a monthly subscription package for a monthly fee. Exclusive content is highlighted in a purple-colored ring, and your paying fans will get a subscriber badge alongside their name. The purpose of this is to make their comments grasp your attention. 

Aside from sharing behind-the-scenes content to paying subscribers, you can also integrate interactive story stickers and go live to your subscribers, thus making those paying followers feel special that they are seeing something unique and exclusive! Some influencers who make money with Instagram using the subscription feature often liken it to Substack and Patreon, but that al depends on the type of content you share. 

  1. Start an Instagram Dropshipping Business

The great thing about making money online daily with dropshipping on Instagram is that you do not have to handle any of the inventory, nor do you have to organize the shipments! You basically serve as the “middleman” who attracts the buyers. When somebody purchases a product that you display on an Instagram store via the dropshipping method, you can rest assured that the suppliers will fulfill all Instagram dropshipping orders on your behalf.

Making money with Instagram by dropshipping is a diverse and low-risk option. The business model does not require an upfront financial investment. You will, however, need to invest time into this “make money with social media” method. Fortunately for a lot of Instagram dropshippers, profits emerge quickly, with sales growing and become more consistent as time progresses. 

Follow these steps to launch a dropshipping store on Instagram:

  • Launch a dropshipping store by clicking on ‘Create a Store’.
  • Setup your Instagram account with business-specific details. 
  • Choose top-selling products for your Instagram dropshipping store. 
  • Collaborate with trusted and reputable dropshipping suppliers who fulfill orders in a timely and professional manner.
  • Import branded products to your store. 
  • Promote your dropshipping products on Instagram stories, posts, and direct messages (DM’s).
  • Track your orders and profits!

How much money you can earn with a successful Instagram dropshipping business depends on your chosen niche, the reputability of the brand(s) you promoted, your audience, your marketing techniques, and your commitment. Earnings may vary from $50 to $5,000 (or more) per day! Other factors that affect the earning potential of an Instagram dropshipping store include profit margin, seasonal trends, stock availability, audience type, and recurring purchases.

Summary

Well, there you have it – 10 ways to make money with Instagram as  a beginner or experienced online entrepreneur! The majority of ideas to make money on Instagram featured on this list will work much more effectively if you nurture your audience, communicate with them and, most importantly, GROW your Instagram followers. 

Consider using a tool like PathSocial, Plixi, Kicksta, Ampfluence, Social. Buddy, or Upleap to speed up the process of building a following. Alternatively, use the sponsored post option to learn how to earn money on Instagram quickly and consistently. Best of luck, and let us know how you get on in the comments! 

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