How to Make Money on Instagram - 5 Simple Methods

CAN YOU ACTUALLY MAKE MONEY ON INSTAGRAM? The answer is an absolute, YES! I’ve been making money on Instagram for years and it’s actually much easier than you might think! Today, I’m sharing my secrets with you with 5 ways to make money on Instagram.

The 5 main methods I use to make money on Instagram are sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, getting free stuff, network marketing, and selling my own products. Want to learn more? Let’s get right to it…

How To Make Money On Instagram - 5 Simple Methods | Just Jes Lyn

1) SPONSORED POSTS

A sponsored Instagram post is when a brand pays a content creator (YOU!) to create a photo and caption with a product and post it to their Instagram feed. You can spot these posts by looking for #ad.

Sponsered Post on Instagram @jes.lyn | justjeslyn.com

THE 3 MAIN WAYS TO LAND A SPONSORED POST ARE:

A BRAND REACHES OUT TO YOU

If you’re looking for sponsored post opportunities on Instagram be sure to include your email in your bio. In this way, brands will email or DM you and ask if you’d like to collaborate with them.

Then you can write them back and give them your rates for an Instagram post and/or Instagram story plus your media kit. A media kit is basically your social media resume. You can make a media kit using PicMonkey.

Wondering what to charge? The rule of thumb is $100 per 10K Instagram followers but it’s really up to you how much to charge. Be sure to value your work and set the price higher to account for negotiations.

YOU REACH OUT TO A BRAND

Reaching out to a brand on Instagram may seem scary at first but just remember – most companies on Instagram are already looking for content creators to collaborate with. DM brands you love and ask them if they’d like to collaborate or find their social media email and send them an email telling them why you love their product and why you’d like to work with them on Instagram.

You won’t get a response back from everyone but when you do, don’t be afraid to ask for payment even if they start by offering products only. You won’t know if payment is an option unless you ask!

JOIN INFLUENCER NETWORKS

This is a simple method that anyone can use to get started on sponsored posts. There are so many influencer networks that connect influencers with brands so they can collaborate and most of them are free!

Here is a list of some of my favorite influencer networks:

2) AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate marketing is when you use a custom link to share a product with your audience. If they use that link to buy the product, you get a commission on the sale. There are many different affiliate networks you can sign up for and many brands will have their own affiliate programs.

This is an awesome way to link to the products you already share about on your Instagram in your bio using smart.bio. Your audience will be able to buy the items you love to share with them and you’ll make a commission!

If you want to learn to use your smart.bio link to turn your Instagram followers into paying customers, read this blog post!

Here are some of my favorite affiliate programs:

Shopstyle Collective

3) GET FREE STUFF

So, technically getting free stuff isn’t the same as making money BUT in some ways it is! There are brands I work with on a consistent basis that supply me with free products. Those are products I would already be buying if I wasn’t an Instagram influencer. Which means I’m actually saving money because I don’t have to buy those products!

Shop and shout is a really fun program for getting free stuff in exchange for shoutouts. You can shop for items you want and would probably already be buying and get them completely for free in exchange for a shoutout on Instagram. Pretty sweet deal, right?!

4) NETWORK MARKETING

If done correctly the truth about networking marketing is that it is a social selling business! Social selling is when someone simply shares about a product they use and love in their own lives as a form of marketing through word of mouth vs. the traditional way to market through ads plastered everywhere.

Networking is about cultivating relationships, honest, authentic, genuine, relationships. Being bold and intentional in how you share the products of your company and the business opportunity is what will bring momentum into your network marketing business.

With network marketing, when you make the decision to work your business you can scale up the ranks and earn a substantial paycheck based on how much work you put in. The best part? The income is residual.

Most people work a job their entire lives to see little or no pay raises over their lifetime. Residual income means you continue to generate money after your initial work is done! The business investment is simply buying the products so you can use them in order to share them with other people!

ALSO READ: The Truth About Network Marketing: 8 Reasons you SHOULD Join an MLM

5) SELL YOUR OWN PRODUCTS

If you have your own products such as digital downloads or physical products Instagram is the perfect place to sell them! You can use a smart.bio link in your bio to provide your audience with more details or use the swipe up feature if you have it. I used to sell t-shirts using merch by Amazon and many influencers do really well, selling Lightroom presets on Instagram!

I hope you’ll use these tips to help you make money on Instagram. It’s so rewarding and tons of fun!