Instagram to Earn a Fortune in 2021

As of June 2018, Instagram has over 1 billion users and 500 million daily active users. It’s a behemoth of a social media channel which continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. But what does that have to do with you?

Well, if you’ve ever wanted to monetize Instagram, then now’s the time for you to do so. Given the sheer size of the global audience, it’s fair to assume there’s a niche market out there for you. Regardless of the kind of content you create, there’s an audience for you. One that, in all likelihood, you can leverage to earn a fortune.

Although it is a platform designed to share photos and videos on, with the right approach, you can monetize Instagram. But before we talk about the different ways you can monetize Instagram, let’s look at what you’ll need to achieve that.

Disclosure: This content has a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you) read.

Table of Contents
Prerequisites to Monetizing Instagram
1. Fanbase and Influence
2. Dedicated and Engaged Followers
What Do You Need to Do
1. Leverage the Right Hashtags
2. Have a Snappy Bio
3. Be Regular
4. Improve your Content Quality
5. Build Relationship with Other Content Creators
Ways to Monetize Instagram
1. Affiliate Marketing
2. Sponsored Posts and Shoutouts
3. Advertise Your Products
4. Teach What You Know
5. Product Placement Videos
FAQs
Ready to Monetize Instagram and Earn Money?
Infographic
Prerequisites to Monetizing Instagram
This is never going to a simple task. It takes more than just a catchy Instagram name, quirky description, and posting photos to make money using the platform. It might work well to impress your personal circle, but it takes a lot of hard work and patience to monetize your Instagram account.

Here’s what you’ll need to be able to get to those desired monetary returns:

1. Fanbase and Influence
The question you need to ask yourself is why would businesses be willing to pay an Instagram user, like you, money? They would do so to gain exposure and access to your audience, in the hopes of selling their products to them.

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Starting out, your audience size is low and unlikely to be able to drive sales for your own or a brand’s products. You need to grow your reach, organically, to at least a few thousand to be able to have an impact.

You should measure the performance of your Instagram account using HashtagsForLikes. Their analytics feature, based on open data and AI technologies, can help you discover what works best. You can easily identify the top-performing content and hashtags in your niche and use them to grow your followers and reach.

But reach, alone, isn’t enough. To generate sales, you need to be able to create and share compelling content(ProWritingAid). Your followers have to take actions based on your product recommendations.

Thus, having a reach and an influence over the purchasing power of your fanbase is critical. Here’s what an Instagram sales funnel looks like.

Social Media Examiner Monetize instagramImage via Social Media Examiner

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2. Dedicated and Engaged Followers
Having a sizeable fanbase does, mathematically, increase your chances of appearing in the feeds of more users. But what’s the point of that if people don’t engage with you or your content? The trick to increasing engagement is to create content that solves certain content needs for your audience.

Influencer Marketing Consultant
And how can you measure that? Not by the number of followers you have, but the number of people liking, commenting on, and sharing your posts. If you have an “engaged” community, brands will be more willing to invest in you to drive their profits.

Just take a look at Jenna Farmer. She has a relatively small audience of around 4,900 followers. Yet, she still managed to garner 151 likes and 15 comments on this post promoting Tyne Cheese. That’s a very respectable engagement rate of 4.2% (approx).

Jenna Farmer Monetize instagram

Image via Instagram

What Do You Need to Do
Now, we’ve covered the most basic requirements that you’ll need to meet to monetize Instagram. But what can you do to actually achieve that social reach, earn that influence, and attain high engagement?

How to be Influencer
1. Leverage the Right Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to improve the discoverability and reach of your content. While Instagram allows you to use a maximum of 30 hashtags, I personally recommend a decent 10-15 for the maximum effect.

However, it’s crucial to get your hashtags right to ensure that they can create the maximum effect.

But, how can you find the right hashtags?

There are multiple hashtag generator tools out there that can do the groundwork for you. Based on your niche, they can send you a list of the most popular hashtags in your niche.

The problem is there are many tools for hashtag generation. And not all of them are genuine. If you are new to the field, you may struggle to filter out the wheat from the chaff.

To save your some time, I’ve got a recommendation for you:

Use HashtagsForLikes.

This AI-powered hashtag research tool can help you get in-depth insights into each hashtag so that you can figure out if it’s worth using it. All you need to do is enter the hashtag, and the tool will do the work for you.

But that’s not all.

The tool can also find the right hashtags for your profile. Just enter your Instagram handle and the tool will find the best hashtags for you.

Remember, though, you shouldn’t be using any random hashtags. Try using ones that are relevant to your posts and will help you reach out to bigger audiences. Feel free to get creative and witty with your hashtags, as well. The Brothers Buoy sure know how to do this right.

The Brothers Buoy Monetize instagramImage via Instagram

2. Have a Snappy Bio
Regardless of whether you’re a business or individual trying to monetize Instagram, you need to post wisely. Your profile bio is valuable real estate you can leverage to pitch to first-time visitors.

I’d advise that you have a simple, crisp, and perhaps quirky, bio. Showcase your creativity and what value you might add to them.

Let's take a look at Luvvie for inspiration. Her bio is catchy, visually appealing, and establishes her brand's credibility.

Luvvie Monetize instagramImage via Instagram

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3. Be Regular
To nurture any relationship, you need to interact with each other on a regular basis. The same principle extends to your presence on Instagram.

You need to post content and engage your followers on a regular basis. It helps to set up a fixed posting schedule. One that aligns with the times your audience is most likely to be on the tool.

According to Tailwind, there is a positive correlation between the frequency of posting and engagements rates. Not only that, the more you post on Instagram, the faster your audience will also grow.

Take this to a whole new level by regularly interacting with your followers in the comment section of each post. This will go a long way to show your followers that you genuinely care and appreciate them.