you don't need hundreds of thousands of
followers to make money on instagram
according to buffer influencers with 10
000 followers or less are getting the
best results for businesses so if you've
ever thought maybe i can do that too
you probably can whether you want to
represent your own brand or a partner's
brand today's video is all about how you
can make money on instagram
[Music]
hey i'm michelle valley and i'm a
creative strategist instagram strategy
is my thing i've helped over a hundred
small businesses grow and monetize their
instagram account so in today's video
i'm gonna be dropping some knowledge
let's get started i'll be answering five
of the most commonly asked questions how
many followers do you need in order to
make money on instagram how much do
influencers actually make
what are the best ways that you can
start making money on instagram
how do you know what to charge as an
influencer and how do you start making
partnerships with brands how many
followers do you need in order to start
making money on instagram well it's not
as many as you would think here are some
ballpark figures according to a recent
study micro influencers or accounts with
10 000 or less followers will make
around 88 dollars per post mid-tier
influencers or accounts with ten
thousand to a hundred thousand followers
will charge around two hundred dollars
per post
top level influencers or influencers
with a hundred thousand to a million
followers can charge around 670 dollars
per post however they can charge a lot
more when you get to this level the
numbers tend to vary the reason that
these numbers are not set in stone is
because there are a few factors that
come into play
the niche that you're in will define how
much competition you'll be up against
and how much money you could potentially
make
some very profitable but also very
competitive niches are fitness beauty
health business and travel if you're not
trying to compete you can always
dominate a very very niche corner of
instagram so for example nicole
mclaughlin remixes clothing and turns
them into art pieces and she has close
to half a million followers
how much money you charge will depend on
how engaged your followers are the
reason for this is because brands want
to see a return on investment so if you
have a hundred thousand fake followers
you won't be able to provide any real
value for brands keep in mind that it's
not only the size and reach of your
instagram account that brands want it's
also your audience's trust and
engagement with your content as well
this is because you provide access to a
niche audience filled with potential
customers and this is something that
brands need and are willing to pay for
now let's take a look at how much money
you can actually make
like in any industry and any job there's
a range of what you can actually make in
my experience there are no hard fast
rules but you're probably looking for a
hard number so i can at least say this
marketers are willing to pay one cent
per follower so let's say you have 5 000
followers you could potentially charge
fifty dollars per post again this is
just a guideline influencer matt crump
shared his pricing guide with later.com
what he said is that pricing will depend
on creative mandates timeline production
costs and usage rates now if you're
wondering what top instagramers make it
is a lot they can make thousands and
thousands of dollars on the content that
they make but let this keep you
motivated as you grow your account and
let it be something to reach
for okay let's brainstorm a few ways
that you can make money on instagram
you can work with brands on sponsored
posts you can become an affiliate
you can open your own online store or
you can do all of these things at once
so let's start with the most common
approach you could charge brands a fee
for sponsored content on your feed or
your stories together you'll come to an
agreement about exclusivity how much
content you produce the wording that
you're using the actual content itself
and how much money is at play the
contract may also include having a
specific call to action like having a
link in your bio that leads to the
brand's website
another route is becoming an affiliate
affiliates are different from
influencers because affiliates are
invested in making their brand partners
sales rather than just raising brand
awareness this is typically done with a
promo code or a trackable link to
indicate that the sales are coming from
you to get connected with brands that
are looking for affiliates you can
explore affiliate marketplaces like
clickbank reward style and amazon
associates the ultimate type of post for
affiliate marketing is reviewing
products to make this work only review
products that you actually back and that
your audience would be interested in
hearing about so for example peter
mckinnon would never review kitchenware
but he would definitely review cameras
though it sounds like a numbers game
affiliate marketing is an art it takes
tac to be able to balance sponsored
content and organic content without
looking like a walking advertisement
remember that your audience is your
biggest asset and if you post too much
promotional material you could
potentially lose their trust if you lose
your audience you lose the backbone of
your entire business
you don't only have to work for other
brands in order to make money on
instagram you can have complete control
over your income by opening your own
online business you can sell physical
goods services and digital products
let's take a look at loki the wolf dog
for example he is one of the biggest dog
entrepreneurs out there on instagram and
he even has his own online store he
sells mugs greeting cards and apparel
there are a few ways that you can start
your own online business you can use a
print on demand service in order to
print on your own mugs t-shirts and
totes we actually have a whole video
dedicated on just how to start your own
online t-shirt brand and you can check
that out here you can also sell services
like consulting music production yoga
classes and photography to name a few
alternatively you can sell digital
products which are personally some of my
favorites because these are infinitely
scalable and you can make money while
you sleep consider selling courses gated
content and workout plans whatever
you're selling you're going to want to
have a link to it in your bio i
recommend using linktree so that you can
link out to more than one url at a time
also enable instagram shopping so that
customers can browse your products
directly in the app
don't limit yourself financially free
people have a secret multiple streams of
income
as long as you have no direct conflicts
of interest you could and should use all
of these approaches to diversify your
revenue streams
start by looking for brands that have
similar beliefs and values to yours and
your audiences you can reach out to them
directly in order to try to work out a
deal or you can list yourself on
influencer marketplaces in order to get
discovered and start building
relationships on four you can create an
influencer card with a list of all your
social profiles for brands to check out
when they're shopping around for
partnerships or you can access a list of
brands and their wants in order to take
initiative and start reaching out
crowdtap is great for smaller accounts
you can do small content creation tasks
to earn rewards however this is only
available to people that are in the us
into hash is where brands post campaigns
for you to participate in post a picture
and use the specified hashtags and get
paid however you're going to need at
least 700 engaged followers in order to
be eligible the rules vary when it comes
to sponsored content but in order to
respect your audience's trust use
hashtag ad or hashtag sponsored on your
posts check out what other instagrammers
are doing by searching hashtag sponsored
and get inspired instagram also has a
paid partnership tag that calls out
sponsored posts some brands might
require you to do this in order to
disclose your relationship with them
when you're working with a brand there
are two main ways to price your posts
for sponsored posts you can charge a
flat fee per post
the best thing that you can do for
yourself is value your work based off of
the return on investment that you
provide for brands assuming there's
transparency you're going to want to be
as involved in the results as possible
so let's say you're charging fifty
dollars per post and you realize that
the brand makes 10k in sales you're
going to want to renegotiate your rates
for affiliate posts you will charge a
cost per sale this usually comes in the
form of a percentage of the sale and a
commission can be anywhere from five to
thirty percent but the customer doesn't
need to buy a product in order for you
to get a kickback depending on the goal
of the campaign you can arrange for a
pay-per-lead pricing model this is where
you get paid a flat fee every time a
lead completes a desired action so they
can sign up for a newsletter fill out a
contact form or sign up for a free trial
lastly you can charge a pay-per-click
rate where you receive payment for every
customer that you convert to a brand's
website do not undervalue yourself just
because you have a small following micro
influencers are on the rise because of
their authenticity and their return on
investment a mobile marketer study
showed that influencers with one to five
thousand followers have more than two
times the engagement in comparison to
influencers with ten thousand followers
so keep in mind that small can be mighty
there are no hard fast rules some
influencers overcharge while some under
charge the key is to be both fair and
competitive while knowing your value i'd
love to know what business you're
planning on starting or maybe you're
already making money on instagram feel
free to drop your instagram link in the
comments below so that we can all check
it out so there you have it those were
five actionable tips on how you can
start making money on instagram in this
video you learned how many followers you
need in order to actually start making
money on instagram and you've also
learned how much influencers actually
make we also discussed some creative
ways and ideas that you can start making
money on instagram we talked about how
to charge for your content and how to
make relationships with brands
don't forget to subscribe to learn with
shopify where each week you'll learn a
new skill to make your big plans for
your business a reality thank you guys
so much for watching and i will see you
in the next one