🚀 Ignite your growth: Discover 30+ new tools to get ahead in our new Ecwid Igniter. Learn more →
Everything you need to sell online

Set up an online store in minutes to sell on a website, social media, or marketplaces.

10 Ways Creators Can Monetize Instagram

10 min read

Long gone are the days when Instagram was only good for sharing pictures of food and selfies. Nowadays, the platform is a multi-million dollar social media giant with over 2 billion monthly users from all over the world.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you should be asking yourself: why aren’t you leveraging this platform to make money?

If you’re anything like most people, chances are you don’t know where to start when it comes to monetizing Instagram. Don’t worry — we have your back. Keep reading for ten easy ways you can start using Instagram to generate cash flow.

How to sell online
Tips from e-commerce experts for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Please enter a valid email address

1. Generate a Following

One of the most important things you need to do if you want to make money on Instagram is to generate a following. Your follower count helps your business gain traction, reliability, and trust in the market. In other words, the more Instagram users that follow you, the more authority you will have in your industry.

But how many Instagram followers do you need? You can start making money with anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 followers; the key is engagement. Use your account to share engaging information that customers in your space are interested in to drive up your engagement.

2. Teach Your Followers Something

Did you know that you can use your Instagram to distribute a paid service that you offer? Small business owners use the platform to promote and distribute high-quality content like webinars and online courses.

If you have a knack for teaching, this might be the perfect gig for you to earn some extra cash online.

Online course content can offer learning experiences about everything from gardening to motorcycling and everything in between. If you have a passion, you can turn it into an income by sharing it with followers on Instagram.

3. Find a Sponsor

Work with brands, sponsored posts, sponsored content, creating sponsored posts,

If you have a large following that is at least moderately engaged in what you post, you can work with brands to promote their products in exchange for cash.

These sponsored posts revolve around creating posts that encourage your following to purchase a product or service from your sponsor.

To get a sponsor, you must post consistently and engage your audience to build your brand. Then, you can reach out to brands to solicit sponsorship. You can also use hashtags and geotags on Instagram to get brands’ attention.

4. Use Instagram as a Promotion Tool

The sheer amount of users on Instagram makes it a perfect place to promote yourself. Instagram marketing allows business owners to leverage the platform to grow their businesses and ultimately make more money.

When you’re crafting your Instagram marketing strategy, consider these questions:

  • What are your goals on Instagram?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • Who are your competitors and how are they marketing?

Use the answers to these questions to make decisions about what you should post, how you connect with your followers, and what you can offer that the competition lacks. Developing your personal brand is the most important part since that’s what makes you stand out from the crowd.

Follow these steps and before you know it, you’ll be an Instagram marketing expert with a marketing channel that converts followers into sales.

5. Consider Running Ads

IGTV, social media platforms, Instagram lives,

Running advertisements on social media platforms like Instagram is a great way to generate cash flow on the platform. When you run ads on your Instagram page, you can create your own ads for products and services that you offer or you can team up with an established brand.

Either way, you want to make sure the content on your page helps you connect with your followers. Whatever you’re promoting, it should be something that your followers find useful or helpful.

IGTV is another exciting way creators can convert their high-quality Instagram content into cash. IGTV, or Instagram TV, is a service offered by Instagram that allows creators to make videos and insert ads into their content for pay-per-view compensation. It’s one of the easiest ways to make money on Instagram.

Remaining thoughtful about how the ads you run connect with your followers’ lives is the best way to foster engagement with your followers. Remember: the more engaged your following is, the more money you can make on Instagram.

6. Become a Social Media Content Creator

Do you have a way with words? If so, you can start getting paid to create content for Instagram accounts.

This might include writing attention-grabbing captions, conducting research about which hashtags make posts stand out, and even writing Instagram bios. There’s a big market out there for writers who know what they’re doing on Instagram. If you’re willing to put the work in to learn the platform, there’s no limit to how much money you can earn.

Even if you don’t choose to write for others’ profiles, you should know that the captions and hashtags that you use can give your bank account a serious boost.

A picture says a thousand words, but your caption can attract a million. Be thoughtful in choosing the words carefully — remember, they represent your brand.

7. Become an Instagram Influencer

Perhaps one of the most well-known ways to make money on Instagram involves becoming an influencer. Instagram influencers are individuals who gain large followings by sharing their lives with their fans.

As an influencer, your Instagram account should be curated around a specific niche. The niche that you choose determines what your account should be centered around. Here are some examples of popular Instagram niches:

  • Beauty
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion
  • Family

The best Instagram influencers make money sharing content that they are passionate about. Use the platform to spotlight the things that bring you joy in life and your content will resonate with like-minded people.

8. Try Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing on Instagram remains one of the most profitable ways to make money online. Affiliate marketers team up with companies to help them sell products. To get started, choose the products you want to promote and share them with your followers. Each time one of the products sells, you receive a commission in exchange for your promotion.

If you’re looking for a foolproof way to start affiliate marketing, try connecting with affiliate networks. These networks act as middlemen between companies and Instagrammers who want to help them market their products. Their services are helpful because they offer user-friendly portals where you can find the perfect affiliate marketing opportunity for you with minimal effort.

9. Monetize Instagram Photography

If you have a knack for capturing beautiful moments in the form of photography, you can use your Instagram account to create an income stream. Posting photos is the cornerstone of Instagram.

Why not use the photo-sharing app to sell your work?

The easiest way to sell your photos on Instagram is to post them on your page. You can use your stories to promote the images and direct followers to the shop tab on your profile or you can even include a link in your bio to any 3rd party website where your work can be purchased.

10. Create an Online Store

Creating an online store that syncs up perfectly with all of your social media platforms makes the process easier than ever. You can use your ecommerce store to sell physical or digital products and with Ecwid, the setup is a breeze.

If you’re looking for the easiest way to sell online where you can sell anywhere, Ecwid can help. Why wait? Get started today!

You need all the support you can get to help you reach your dreams of being successful. Ecwid has a top-tier support team available to guide you through the entire process.

Do you want to learn more about how creator make money onlie?

Table of contents

Sell online

With Ecwid Ecommerce, you can easily sell anywhere, to anyone — across the internet and around the world.

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.

Ecommerce that has your back

So simple to use – even my most technophobic clients can manage. Easy to install, quick to set up. Light years ahead of other shop plugins.
I’m so impressed I’ve recommended it to my website clients and am now using it for my own store along with four others for which I webmaster. Beautiful coding, excellent top-notch support, great documentation, fantastic how-to videos. Thank you so much Ecwid, you rock!
I’ve used Ecwid and I love the platform itself. Everything is so simplified it’s insane. I love how you have different options to choose shipping carriers, to be able to put in so many different variants. It’s a pretty open e-commerce gateway.
Easy to use, affordable (and a free option if starting off). Looks professional, many templates to select from. The App is my favorite feature as I can manage my store right from my phone. Highly recommended 👌👍
I like that Ecwid was easy to start and to use. Even for a person like me, without any technical background. Very well written help articles. And the support team is the best for my opinion.
For everything it has to offer, ECWID is incredibly easy to set up. Highly recommend! I did a lot of research and tried about 3 other competitors. Just try ECWID and you'll be online in no time.

Your ecommerce dreams start here

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Your Privacy

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. More information

More information

Strictly Necessary Cookies (Always active)
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.