The year is 2021 and social media has taken over the better part of our lives. The social media applications that we have today are not just used for the sole purpose of recreation but are also used for a number of other activities namely, brand promotions, having a self- cultivated small business, creation of content, amplifying news to name a few.
Instagram today is one of the most used social media applications. From connecting with old friends to creating content and earning money, Instagram is a one stop destination for everything that interests our generation. It has over one billion active users.
Earning money through Instagram is one movement that has picked up fuel quite recently. Around 200 million accounts check out a business profile on a daily basis, so if you’re looking to start a business of your own, Instagram has all the tools that you would ever need. There are many different ways to earn and get paid for your art through Instagram. Some of the ways are:
Being A Business Owner Or Having An Online Store
As India propagates the notion of shopping small and from homegrown businesses, having an Instagram store where you sell your products is a sure- fire way to earn a steady side income. People have home-made clothing and jewellery stores, thrift stores, stores selling home and office accessories, bakeries and home- based restaurants. With the right engagement and reach any store can blow up and gain popularity on Instagram.
If you are looking to start your own small business, you should keep in mind your target audience and then source your raw materials based on the preferences of your target audience. For example: if you start a thrift store on Instagram, your main focus should be sustainability, quality checks and discounted prices of your garments.
Once a business or a store blows up and has created a loyal customer base, it is very easy to earn handsome profits through the business while also maintaining the integrity and uniqueness (the unique selling proposition of the products) that is often a prerequisite of having a small business.
Doing Sponsored Posts For Brands Or Services
The term ‘Instagram influencer’ gets used a lot these days. An influencer is an individual or a group of individuals who have a considerable number of people following them on Instagram. There is no certain number of followers that makes you an influencer, you can stand anywhere from 1K to 100K+ although the more followers you have, the better.
Influencers have an ability to influence crowd decisions which is why they are often approached by brands or services to promote their products on their Instagram feed and stories. The brands pay people for posting reviews about their products. The more you post, the higher sum you earn from a particular brand.
If you are an influencer, brands pick you out based on a bunch of factors. Apart from the size and reach of your audience, your credibility and trustworthiness is one of the biggest factors. Brands mainly look for influencers whom they can sponsor per post and in return gain more customers. Each format of reviewing has a different payment structure.
For example: an Instagram post or a video can get you more money than an Instagram story because stories are only visible to your audience for 24 hours.
To be regarded as a reliable and trustworthy influencer, you should be fairly transparent about your sponsorships as that generates more engagement from your audience while maintaining your integrity. A simple #sponsoredpost can go a long way when it comes to garnering attention.
Becoming A Content Creator
A content creator is a person that creates appealing and eyeball grabbing content on Instagram. So yes, Instagram also presents you with an opportunity to get paid for your creativity. The word ‘content’ has a huge scope, your content can be humorous, informative, fitness related, based on your talents like singing, dancing, painting, photography etc.
Now, not every content creator gets paid by Instagram. As a creator, you have to check certain boxes before Instagram considers monetizing you. Aspects like:
- Your audience, reach and influence.
- The engagement of your followers.
- Quality of your content.
- The impact your content creates.
- Your relationship with fellow content creators.
Need to be kept in mind when you are looking to grow as a content creator.
Before Instagram monetizes you, there are other ways to earn money as a content creator. Partnering with brands to create your own special product or getting affiliated with a brand.
Affiliation is another great way to earn money. You create awareness about a brand through your content in exchange for a certain amount of commission. Doing advertisements is one of the most traditional ways that creators can earn a few bucks.
Once Instagram notices you as a successful content creator, it will monetize you, which means you will get paid for every post you make on Instagram depending on your views and engagement on that particular post. Fun fact: Kylie Jenner earns about 1.2 million dollars for a single post on Instagram.
Offering Creative Services Through Instagram
If you are an individual in the creative fields, Instagram is a great way to get freelance jobs and to get your art promoted. People who are painters, graphic designers, performers, video and photo editors, designers, illustrators etc can make an Instagram account of their art and the services they provide. Any brand or company or artist looking for their services can contact them and book them for a freelance job.
Instagram is a very vast community of people from different professions coming together so getting a freelance job is a very efficient way of earning some money while doing what you love doing.
Providing Social Media Marketing Services
Since in the last 10 years Instagram has developed so much that it is now one of the most heavily used social media by brands, the competition has increased as well. Through the cutthroat competition, the demand for social media marketing services has increased too.
For example: you are a marketing expert who helps big brands in forming strategies, consultations and training for Instagram while at the same time you yourself use social media to promote your services.
So for individuals who have an in-depth knowledge of Instagram so much so that they can help brands and businesses better themselves, Instagram itself provides a sufficient opportunity to earn you money for your expertise.
Conclusion
Since we have listed down some of the major ways to earn money through Instagram, it is also imperative that you know that although Instagram has become easily accessible and available and provides such great opportunities, it is also not very easy to earn money as soon as you start using the app. It requires a lot of patience, consistency, hard work and an attitude that can accept failures or setbacks.
People work for years on their respective businesses, content, art, services etc before they can experience any sort of profits from their ventures.
If you are looking to earn some money from your Instagram there is no better time than to start working on your profile than now. In this pandemic the work from home module has skyrocketed the usage of Instagram for more than just photo sharing purposes. 2020 alone saw the small business hashtag being used for millions of times throughout the year.
Many new businesses and ventures were started by people in the previous year which have yielded a very successful performance. Many content creators and influencers also gained popularity for their work which in turn increased the revenues they earned from this platform.
Instagram is an ever-changing platform which is extremely user friendly. It will keep evolving even in the future to provide more and more employment opportunities to people and the right time to start investing your time, money, efforts and hard work into this dynamic platform would be sooner if you are looking for better returns after establishing yourself as an earning entity.
