If you have started with Instagram marketing, you did it for one reason only. Work on a mass monetization and make the money!
But there is a chance that you hit a roadblock.
You are successfully building your audience, but you still don´t know how to monetize your Instagram efforts.
Well, then if you are reading this, you are exactly on the right spot.
In this astonishing blog post, you will discover how to monetize your Instagram and turn it into a massive source of income.
Are you ready to begin? Then, let´s make the paper!
1. Grow Your Audience
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that you cannot monetize your Instagram with a small audience…
I am saying that if you want to make some big bucks from your Instagram monetization strategy, you have to show your offer to more people.
And you can do that only if you grow your audience every single day.
Here are few tips for huge growth:
Profile Optimization
If you want to grow your Instagram account you need to convert a lot of traffic into followers.
And to do that, you must optimize your profile. If your profile is not optimized, you will lose your biggest advantage – first impression.
If your first impression sucks, your account will suck in the eyes of the people who have seen it forever, even though it might be great in the future.
That is the power of the first impression.
But, if you will optimize your profile properly and the first impression is good…
YOU WILL GROW LIKE CRAZY!
That is why you have to do it.
Here are some things you need to handle if you want to optimize your Instagram profile properly:
- Include a keyword in the headline.
- Tell them who you are, what you do, and why they should follow you in the bio.
- Include a CTA in the bio.
- Choose your profile picture carefully.
- Make sure that you use highlights to strategically showcase what you are doing and offering.
- Pay attention to the feed and make sure that your content has the highest quality.
Once your profile is optimized, you have set a great foundation for the Instagram monetization process.
However, you also have to create content that your audience is going to love, and that is not easy.
Create The Right Content
If you want to get more followers and engagement you need to create content that your audience is going to love.
That includes a lot of steps that you need to take, but here are the most important ones.
Know Your Audience
If you want to make your content relevant and exciting, you need to know:
- Who is your target audience?
- What is the target audience’s “hidden” desire?
- What frustrates them the most?
- What are their deepest pains?
- What are they afraid of?
- What do they dream about?
- And so on.
But how do you get all of the data?
You can use your Instagram stories to create one-question surveys.
Just ask, “If you would have a magic wand, what would you change in the XYZ industry?” and you will get a lot of info that you will need.
But you will get the most data from your insights, analytics, and surveys.
So, what are you waiting for?
Start gathering the data to make sure that you know your Instagram audience as much as possible.
Pay Attention To The Design
Instagram is a highly visual platform, and if your posts look like sh*t, nobody is going to pay attention to them.
That is the reason why you need to be able to create beautiful graphics that will support the post’s message.
I use Canva for that. But if you opt for Adobe design tools like Photoshop you will probably be even better off.
Give Them Value, A TON Of It
If you want to grow your Instagram following, you have to be valuable. Otherwise, nobody is going to be interested in you.
However, you need to realize that value is not just education. There are many forms of value:
- Inspiration
- Education
- Entertainment
- Visual Satisfaction (Beautiful Images)
- Sharing News
- And so on…
The thing is that the value of your posts depends on how relevant it is to your audience. If they want to be educated…do that.
If they need to get inspiration to keep going…do that.
If they got the job done and they want to be entertained…do that.
It depends on your audience. That is why you need to know it before you even start your content creation process.
It is more than essential.
If you want to discover more about creating raving Instagram content, click here and discover more about it now.
Engage With Others
Well, I will pull this out straight right now. Your content doesn’t mean a damn thing if nobody is going to see it.
You have to create exposure for your account to see the growth you are looking for.
But how do you do that?
That’s a simple answer. ENGAGE with others.
When you start commenting on other people’s posts, they are going to read the comment and there is a high chance that they will visit your profile, follow you and start consuming your content.
You need to understand that commenting and other types of engagement do require a lot of hard work.
It’s not going to get done itself, and until you reach 5,000 followers, commenting is going to be your best way to drive traffic to your profile.
Go to a relevant hashtag, and start commenting on posts and make it happen.
Now when you know how to effectively grow your audience, here are the ways to monetize all of your Instagram efforts and make a lot of damn money!
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the simplest ways to monetize your Instagram.
It works based on commissions and the biggest benefit is that you don’t have to create a product or know copywriting to convert the people…
…all you have to do is to drive a ton of traffic to the company’s website through your affiliate link to make a ton of money.
Here is how affiliate marketing works. (You can download the infographic below.)
It is really simple, but you need to make sure that you choose the right company to promote.
It has to be in a similar niche as you are, and it should have as high commissions as possible. (Or even better have high recurring commissions.)
If the company offers a recurring commission reward, you will be able to create a source of passive income and make money without having to move a finger.
Recurring commission means that you get paid every time the person pays for a monthly subscription to something.
Every month that the customer pays for the thing you are promoting, you get a commission. And that is a perfect source of passive income.
When you sign up to be an affiliate for the company, you will get a unique link.
That is the link that you are going to use to promote the company.
It has a tracking cookie and you will know exactly who signed up through it, how many people clicked on it, and how much money you earned.
It is a great way to monetize your Instagram and I believe that you should try it out.
3. Drive Traffic To Your Blog And Earn Ad Revenue
This is another simple way to monetize your Instagram.
If you have a blog and you use ads to monetize it, you can drive traffic from your Instagram account there and earn even more money.
But showcasing the new blog posts that you have written is not easy.
If you have less than 10,000 Instagram followers, it is going to be hard for you to promote it because you can’t use the “swipe up” feature in your stories.
So, you will have to do it all through your bio.
And if you want to showcase more than just your new blog post it can be a problem because you can include only one link.
That is why I would recommend you using tools like Znaplink or Linktree.
With them, you will be able to easily show people everything you need and it will be easier for them to choose.
However, if you want to make the highest amount of money, include the link directly to your new blog post.
That way, the people will immediately see it and you can instantly show them some ads – which means instant revenue.
It’s a great way to monetize your Instagram…and even better, you can combine it with affiliate marketing to increase your income even more.
So, are you going to sit there or are you going to start making the money right away?
4. Promote Your Own Products
If you have a strong personal brand and aren’t too keen on promoting other companies on your page, you could always market your products.
There is no better way to monetize your Instagram.
When you do that, you have full control over what funnels you use, what profit you are going to make, and how it is going to impact your business.
Also, you can leverage Instagram shopping to make even more money from your monetization strategy.
But if you want to make your audience buy your products, you have to make sure that the products are relevant, useful, and they solve a problem.
However, the most important thing of all in selling is building TRUST.
And the only way to do that is by building relationships with your audience based on the things that I have shared with you in the beginning.
You need to be consistent, helpful and engage with your audience daily to make it happen.
But it is overwhelmingly worth it. So, don’t hesitate and get after it.
5. Sponsored Posts and Shoutouts
Once you achieve “influencer” status, be it as a micro or macro influencer, you could leverage your influence to promote brands and monetize your Instagram.
Oftentimes, brands partner with influencers for sponsored posts that help spread the word about their offerings.
Typically, such posts revolve around the product itself, with a small review from yourself.
But it is incredibly important to make sure that the posts don’t look too promotional.
If it does, it will turn your followers off.
For instance, if you’re a plus-sized apparel influencer, then you want to be working with brands that promote body positivity.
That’s why Gabi, often partners with brands like Premme because they align with her personal values.
Filip Konecny 
