How To Earn Money With Instagram

How To Earn Money With Instagram

8 Creative Ways To Earn Money On Instagram

I wasn’t an Instagram lover before, admittedly. Well, what would you really get from those seemingly-vain activities of posting your own photos that you retouched with effects using your smartphone?
Apparently, none... until you realized you can earn decent money through that same app you call ‘hobby.’

Of course, it’s an honest thing to say that Instagram is essentially not a money-making stream.
Nor is it a marketing strategy by itself. It’s a social network, you might even argue.
But the fact that people get to earn money using Instagram should spark your curiosity: what did they do that I still haven’t tried doing? Should I know anything else? Well, today, you’re sitting in the right chair because you’ll learn most—if not all—of these tricks.
Shall we get started? Right.

How-TO: Make Money on Instagram

1. Photography

This must be the subtlest and the noblest way to earn money from Instagram. Instagram is founded on the idea that people who has a handheld camera has something interesting within them, and sharing them to a community of the same interest would bring better and even profitable results.
If you love photography (not only doing ‘selfies’), then try Instagram. Bring your skills of composition, exposure, and retouching to the surface. Most of all, let the people know you got the skill—a skill wherein effects end up being ‘accidents.’ If you can capture great shots, people will contact you to take good shots of their products, all using Instagram. 

2. ‘Back-end’ Photography

A ‘back-end’ photography, seriously? Yes, I shall call it that way. There’re some remarkable people who may not be great with photography itself, but put them in the post-processing scene, and they shine.
What I mean here is that, if you’re good with post-processing such as adding effects (where Instagram is very good at), then you can also be hired as told about photographers. Clients may offer you few shots for you to play all day, and voíla, there’s your paycheck. 

3. Instagram Marketer

A part of the whole ‘social media marketing’ idea, being an Instagram Marketer means you’re hired to market something using Instagram and targeting the communities built within the photo-inspired social network. If you’re great in dealing with people online, and if think you’ve got the technical skills and the rightful amount of time to spare, then this job is great for you!
TIP#1: Have you heard of SnapFluence? Here, you can be an ambassador of a brand, product, or campaign. Your only job is to be an active Instagram user (such as posting updates and interacting with people). You can get paid and you can get exclusive benefits like free products!
TIP#2: Another iOS app you can try is Popular Pays. This is how it Popular Pays works: a company will make an offer (usually not in cash but in goods), and if you like it, join the request (for example, 500 followers for a product to be marketed). 

4. Sell items ‘online’

Got some products to sell? Want to be a re-seller? You’ve got a business and wanted to highlight your product? Set Instagram as another channel for you to get more traffic (or attention). One thing so great about Instagram is that you can make mediocre product shots look cool and persuasive. Once you get the hang of it, Instagram can be really helpful to help you sell more.
Moreover, you can also start your own hashtag. Enlist thousands of followers. Follow other users and get connected. The larger your network within Instagram, the better. 

• TIP#1: To make Instagram a little more unique and especially useful for your business, you may want to make that network a channel only for your unique offers. An exclusive and heart-pounding sale, daily deals, a free offer, a membership offer, etc.—these are some of the many options you can try.
• TIP#2: Have you tired HashBag? It’s more like an app, and is actually a third-party one. But what it does is that everytime an item is posted on Instagram with the hashtag #forsale, the app automatically parses them and posts them on its own market. So if you want to make your product enlisted here, try the mentioned hashtag. Payments will be processed through PayPal and you get the job to ship the item!
• TIP#3: Don’t try missing Statigram. Aside from other minor features such as selling and searching for popular members or hashtags), the main offer of Statigram is more like an analytics tool for your overall Instagram performance.

5. Market your service.

Are you a freelance? A web designer and developer? A fashion designer? A ‘real’ photographer? A quality analyst of some sort? A writer? Let the Instagram community know your skills by posting your progressive portfolio. Your new items on the list. Your most current project. Your most outstanding or trending project. But of course, don’t forget your contact details. 

6. Sell your photos.

Have you ever thought of this idea? You’ve got crazy shots on your storage card, and keeping them like that will not generate a cent. But if you try to sell your photos to some agencies, you might even get at least a commission or a percentage of the profit.
The following are some venues for you to sell your Instagram photos:

• Instaprints– sell your photos here and people can buy them in real materials or objects: photos can be printed and framed, used as greeting cards, and even delivered to their doorsteps!
• Twenty20 – formerly InstaCanvas, here you can get the audience you want that you once haven’t achieved in Instagram alone. Upload your photos here, and sell them as you’ve always planned.
• SnapMyAd – not really a marketplace for Instagram photos, but what you get here are rewards which aren’t that bad at all. Look for a about a brand or niche you love, and promote your skills. If you win, you get some good shares! By the way, SnapMyAd also has its iOS app. Visit iTunes for more information and download. !
• Statigram Contests – much like SnapMyAd, you choose a contest for some good trades.
• Printstagram – here you don’t really sell your photos as you’ve shot and edited in Instagram. Instead, you can sell printouts of those photos using Prinstagram (whether in a form of a business card, a shirt, a calendar, etc.). Printstagram is a printing service, but they do the job well.

7. Affiliate Links

Much like in blogging, you can get affiliate links from Amazon, for example. Get a unique link for a product, use Instagram to take good shots about the product, and when there’s a sale, you got a commission. 

8. Be an ambassador.

Best if you love travelling, you may want to take Instagram shots of the places you visit. Use those photos to market yourself being a tour guide or a local ambassador of some famous spots. Arrange dates for your followers. Gather them in actual places where you can meet. Get well paid for these adventurous services.

This trick can also be applied to restaurants, shopping malls, etc.