You don’t need to be a massive influencer to make money from Instagram. Many Instagram business users make money with Instagram as an extra avenue in addition with their website and in-store experiences. Building an audience takes drive, time, and commitment. Use the existing marketing material you have to help build your profile. Once you have built a good size following, check out the 5 additional ways to make money on Instagram: 

1. Team Up with Another Brand

Your competition isn’t always your enemy. Sometimes they are the complementary brand or company you could partner up with. If you have a committed base of followers that regularly engage with your posts, a company may reach out to you to include one of their products or services post. The reverse is also true. If the company has an engaged audience reach out to them to see if they would be interested guest posting. Make sure the content benefits both parties. This can come in form of sharing industry news, swapping similar products, creating a fun game with each product or service, and more fun ideas. 

2. Instagram Live Badges

Audiences can use badges to show their support for creators during a live stream. Think of them like a tip jar for creators. Enable badges within your creator Instagram account, and the option will be presented to viewers within the comments section of a live stream. Remember to remind views occasionally to draw attention if they want to give their support. If they donate show videos of how their donation improved the product or service. This will make your audience feel like they are part of the creation process and indicate that your business listens, cares, and learns from their audience. 

3. Enable Subscriptions

While still in the trial phase, the ability for creators to allow subscribers access to unique content is available. Unlock a ‘subscribe’ button on your profile that lets you create custom, access-only content for Stories and Lives behind a paywall. This is a great way to engage more deeply with your audience. Content could be a sneak peak of a new product, a backstage look of what it takes to prepare for a product or service, or in-depth detail about your brands story that may interest your audience. 

4. Affiliate Marketing 

Instagram Affiliate brings a more direct recommendation service to Instagram. Are there any tools or services you want to recommend to your audience? Potential clients go to creators they admire for recommendations on products and brands to support. Once enabled, you can simply share a link to a product or service you want them to view. If your audience purchases something through the link, you gain a commission. Make sure whatever you recommend does not conflict with your product or service and does not conflict with why you audience follows you. For example, your business sells home-made soaps. A good affiliate product would be a soap dish by a different company. It is natural for someone shopping for soap to need something to place it in and would not be put off by that product being sold to them as well. Use Instagram Stories to showcase products and click through to other sites. 

5. Merchandising

If you are business that sells products you are already doing this, but if you sell services, it might interest you to sell products. If you have a group of committed followers with an authentic brand that they absolutely love, consider setting up your own shop. Branded merchandise like mugs, t-shirts, and books requires a bit of an initial investment, but the rewards can be significant. It can act as a bonus for your customer, and you may gain free marketing if they share it organically. Look at Starbucks for example. They sell coffee, but they also sell mugs and tumblers, and more. Make sure to choose what feels right for your brand and audience. If it feels like monetization for the sake of it, you may end up losing followers, so make sure it something they would enjoy having. 

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