More and more people are joining Instagram to try to make a living from it or, at least, earn some money. There are thousands of ways to use your profile; focused on fashion, aimed at children, to publish photos of animals or pets, to create ecommerces, to publish cooking or restaurant posts...but of course the most successful is the influencer phenomenon and telling about your life through the social network .
is being an influencer a job?
The million-dollar question. There are many who think yes and others who think no. The fact is that they are providing a service, in which they contribute time and effort, in most cases entertainment, and receive money in return. In other words, the definition of a job.
Since the first known influencers, such as Dulceida, there have been thousands of other users who have managed to make money through Instagram thanks to their dedication or perhaps luck, but how can you get to monetise through Instagram?
how to make money on Instagram?
Before offering you a series of strategies to monetise on this social network, you must first have an Instagram account with quality content and a well-kept profile. Then you can follow these steps:
1) Offer a mixed content strategy. An organic content strategy with part free and part paid content can be a way to start earning money. Paid content can be, for example, a private podcast, FAQ sessions with subscribed users, webinars or workshops given by specialists and professionals in the sector or an event, such as a workshop. You can also use the content that is published on networks, which is free, to arouse the curiosity of the user and the desire to delve deeper into certain topics, which leads them to pay to access this paid content.
2) Affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to monetise your presence on Instagram. This strategy consists of becoming a "brand ambassador" for products that you use and believe in. By talking about them, you can share a link to their page and/or a discount code, so that you encourage your audience to click. Every time a person buys a product through your personalised link, you get a percentage of the revenue generated. Similarly, another tactic widely used in affiliate marketing are sweepstakes in which users must comment and like a page, thus encouraging interactions.
3) Branded content tagging or sponsored content. Advertisers can now create branded content ads without the need for creators to post organically on the platform first. Brands have more flexibility and fewer restrictions when they want to run branded content ads.
4) Advertising on Instagram: Instagram Ads are a great opportunity for brands and accounts that want to be known or generate conversions through this social network. You can start from €5 a day or spend €3,000 a month, that will depend on your decision and your possibilities. Likewise, campaigns can be stopped and modified at any time.
5) Social Shopping: Instagram has become a very good alternative to traditional ecommerce since you can add buy buttons. These buttons, like Buy Now, serve as a call to action and usually take users to the brand's website, which is the place where they can finalise the purchase process.
6) Instagram Reels and Instagram Videos: Instagram, after seeing the popularity of TikTok, wants to give greater visibility to videos. This means that it can be a great opportunity for brands to publish short videos showing a product in order to make it much more attractive and increase sales.
7) Influencer marketing platforms: These are platforms where advertisers and influencers can meet. Not so long ago you had to find your own way to get brands to want to do sponsored posts on your account if you were starting out, but now platforms have emerged that allow brands and influencers to meet. Two examples of these are Influenz and Coobis.
If you think you're good at this and you have spectacular ideas to show on your profile, don't wait any longer and start monetising and earning money with your Instagram account. However, you must remember that nowadays it costs more effort and money than a few years ago and not everyone succeeds. Train yourself, make mistakes, listen to your audience, don't look for shortcuts by buying fake followers or likes, work hard and you will have become a real influencer.
