How to make money on Instagram + 8 ideas for creators

Instagram is the third biggest social media platform on the planet. Only Facebook and YouTube have more users, but they had a pretty big head start!

With two billion people using the app every month and a constant stream of new monetization options, Instagram can be a goldmine for creators.

You don’t need one million followers.

You don’t need $10,000 worth of filming equipment.

You just need to understand how Instagram really works.

Later in this article, I’ll take you through eight actionable, money-making ideas for creators. But first, let me guide you through the fundamentals of how to make money on Instagram.

The four ways you can make money on Instagram

Let’s kick things off with a little pep talk from Eduardo Morales, the Instagram creator behind the pin badge curation channel, @pinlord:

“Last month, I made over $3,500 from my Instagram. Before starting @pinlord – the repost account where I curate and sell enamel pins – I had no experience building a social media or online business. I’m also not an ‘influencer’, I’m not particularly ‘social’, and I definitely don’t have a fun and exciting life to show off on Instagram.

I learned how to monetize my Instagram account by making an effort to understand how the platform works and putting in the work required to execute the right activities at a high level, for a long period of time.

Trust me when I say, if I can do it, anyone can!”

Feeling pumped? 💪

Ready to learn how to make money as a content creator on Instagram?

Here are the four main ways you can do it:

1. Make money selling products
2. Make money from your most loving fans
3. Make money by partnering with brands
4. Make money directly from Instagram

Let’s look at each of those in a bit more detail.

1. Make money selling products

Clothes, jewelry, wall art – Instagram is a treasure trove of design and fashion inspiration.

This makes it the perfect place to promote and sell your creations! 💰

If you already advertise your products online through platforms like Etsy or Shopify, you’ll be able to send traffic directly to your store from your channel.

Here are a couple of ways you can do this:

• Link in bio – This is the OG way of selling on Instagram. You can’t add links to your captions, but you can add them to your channel’s bio. So simply say “Link in bio” in your caption, then add the product link to your bio.
• Link stickers in Stories – Post content showcasing your products in Stories, including sticker links so followers can click through to your store.

But since 2020, there’s been a third option: Instagram Shopping. This lets you add product tags to your posts and, if you’re in the US, your followers will be able to checkout directly through Instagram.

2. Make money from your most loving fans

If you want to know how to make money on Instagram Reels, keep reading.

A few years ago, Instagram’s Gen Z rival launched TikTok Gifts. For the first time, fans could send virtual gifts to creators during live content in exchange for a shoutout. And those virtual gifts can be exchanged for cash. All you need to get involved is 1,000 TikTok followers.

Well, guess what? Instagram has followed suit!

I’ll get into more detail on this stuff later. But, for now, here’s a quick breakdown of the three ways you can make money from your fans:

• Badges – get badges on your live content
• Gifts – get virtual gifts on your Instagram Reels
• Subscriptions – offer exclusive content to your most engaged followers

3. Make money by partnering with brands

This is the classic influencer path. You build up an audience around your creative niche, then you start partnering with brands to pepper in branded (sponsored) posts.

One way to do this is through Instagram’s Creator Marketplace. This lets you set up a profile to indicate the brands and interests that are relevant to your channel. Then brands can reach out to set up partnerships.

The other option, of course, is to network with brands directly. And we’re not just talking about megabrands like Nike or Victoria’s Secret here.

When Morales started posting branded content to his 35,000 followers, he charged $5 per post. These were small creators like him, and paying $5 to advertise their products to a hyper-targeted audience was a great deal. And as his audience grew beyond the 100,000 mark, he increased his fee to $20.

But, word of warning, you need to stay true to your audience and why they started following you in the first place, as Morales explains:

“People follow my page because I provide value by featuring the best enamel pins from around the world, but at one point in mid 2017, I was featuring at least 2 pins per day that weren’t great. I was posting them because they were a way to get paid a little extra (and I had rent to pay…). Over the 3-month period that I was frequently posting low-value paid content, my engagement dropped from around 3% to 1.5%.”

4. Make money directly from Instagram

Last but … well, actually, probably also least, is Instagram Bonuses.

This is a way to make money from your Reels, carousels, and image posts based on your views and engagement metrics. 

It’s a reboot of the Reels Play bonus, which was designed to incentivize creators for posting their TikTok style content on Instagram too. And for creators with 100,000+ followers, it brought in a tidy $500 to $1,000 per month. But Instagram scrapped it in 2023.

Now it’s back, but it’s not totally clear how much you can expect to make from it. Still, if you have a strong following and get lots of views on your content, there’s no harm in signing up!

How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?

You need at least 500 followers to really start making money on Instagram.

This will unlock Instagram’s Gifts feature, which lets you earn virtual gifts from fans that you can convert into cash. And as long as you’ve got a strong niche and your followers are super-engaged, you could also start making a few product sales too.

But if you want to make money on Instagram through brand partnerships, you’ll want to get over that 1,000 follower mark. This will make you an official nano-influencer, which is like catnip to brands.

How much money can you expect to make on Instagram?

On average, Instagram creators with 1,000-10,000 followers make $1,420 per month. And mega influencers with over one million followers earn $15,356 per month.

So the more followers you have and the more money-making avenues you explore (we’ll get into those in just a second), the more money you’ll make. 

As our good friend Eduardo Morales of @pinlord (100,000+ followers) explains:

“Adding up all of the activities: $1,500 from sponsored posts + $1,188 from direct sales + $475 from Etsy & Depop + $400 from referrals from my articles = I make around $3,500 per month from my Instagram.“

And if you’re mostly interested in the influencer path of partnering with brands, here’s how much you can expect to make for each post:

• Nano-influencer – 1,000-10,000 followers ($10 to $100 per post)
• Micro-influencer – 10,000-50,000 followers ($100 to $500 per post)
• Mid-tier influencer – 50,000-500,000 followers ($500 to $5,000 per post)
• Macro-influencer – 500,000-1 million followers ($5,000 to $10,000 per post)
• Mega-influencer – 1 million+ followers ($10,000 to $1 million+ per post)

Eight ideas for creators to make money on Instagram

That’s the technical side of how to make money on Instagram covered. Now let’s dive into some actionable ideas you can follow to start monetizing your channel.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

1. Sell your creations as wall art
2. Sell digital downloads of your art
3. Sell downloadable resources 
4. Sell a course
5. Set up a subscription service
6. Earn gifts by publishing Reels
7. Earn badges by posting live content
8. Partner with brands or fellow creators

1. Sell your creations as wall art

My first tip is to make prints of your art. Your followers come to your channel because they love what you’re creating. So why not give them the chance to bring that into their homes too?

This is a great option for all kinds of creators, including:

• Painters
• Illustrators
• Sketch artists
• Typographers
• Photographers
• Printmakers
• Tattoo artists

You can expect to make anywhere from $20 to $500 for each print. This will depend on factors like size, paper stock, framing, and the popularity of your art.

2. Sell digital downloads of your art

Does producing art prints feel like too much work? Then let’s talk about my number one way for artists to make passive income: selling digital downloads!

This takes all the logistics out of the equation. You just create your art file, make it available as a download, then your customers take care of the rest.

Here are a few ideas of things you could sell:

• Art prints and photography – individual PDF files for printing at home or at a local printing shop
• Wall galleries – a collection of 5-10 PDF files that work well together in a gallery wall, again for printing at home or at a local shop
• Illustrations – vector SVG files that can be printed on everything from t-shirts to tote bags
• Wedding invitations – customizable design files that fiancés and fiancées can edit, adding their names and other details about their big day

This can earn you anywhere from $1 to $50 per sale. And the beauty is that, once you’ve created the thing, you can just sit back and watch the money roll in.

3. Sell downloadable resources

This is another type of digital download, but this time targeting your fellow creators.

Let’s say you’re an illustrator. And to support your work, you create brushes, icon packs, and textures in all kinds of styles. Well, why not sell them to other illustrators and graphic designers to make a bit of money on the side?

Here are a few other examples for different types of creators:

• Design templates for logos or PowerPoint presentations
• Special effects for video projects
• Patterns for knitting and crochet
• Guitar tabs and sheet music for musicians

Again, depending on what you’re offering, this can make you between $3 to $100 per sale.

4. Sell a course

We’ve talked about selling products, now let’s talk about services.

For anyone in the creative industries, courses are a great way to make some money on the side. And these don’t need to be live. You can write and record all the content in advance – your customers are simply paying to get access.

To get a feel for what you could create, here are some examples from the illustrator, Lisa Glanz, all priced at $19:

• Botanical Drawing – Learn to sketch whimsical flowers, vectorize, and arrange in Adobe Illustrator
• Drawing Series: Bear – How to draw cute animal characters using simple shapes
• Enhance your vector drawings with Procreate – Harness the hand drawn quality of Procreate to take your Adobe Illustrator vector drawings to the next level
• How to give your vectors an authentic hand drawn look – Discover an easy-to-follow method for retaining a hand drawn quality to your Adobe Illustrator graphics
• How to add personality to character drawings – Inject life into your character drawings using three effective techniques

Need help finding a tool to build your course? Check out number three, four, and six in my roundup of the best subscription platforms for online creators. 

5. Set up a subscription service

Have you been skimming through my first four ideas thinking, but I’ve got nothing to sell! Then let’s get into how to make money on Instagram without selling anything.

If you’ve got over 10,000 followers and a highly-engaged audience, you should start thinking about offering exclusive content through a subscription service. You can do this with Instagram Subscriptions or through a dedicated subscription platform for creators.

Here are some examples of exclusive content you could offer:

• Behind-the-scenes videos
• Early access to new products or upcoming posts
• Exclusive workshops
• Subscriber-only Q&As
• Private live streams

With platforms like Patreon, you can even create tiers of membership with different levels of access. These usually vary from $1 to $50 per month.

6. Earn gifts by publishing Reels

Got a small but highly-engaged audience? Here’s how to make money on Instagram with 500 followers or more!

When you post Reels, your fans can buy virtual gifts and send them your way. You can then tap the heart icon next to their gift, making them feel seen and appreciated.

Unless you have a large following, this is unlikely to be a major money-maker. But if you get into the habit of perfecting your Reels now, you’ll start seeing the gifts (and cash) roll in as your audience grows.

Here are a few tips from Instagram to help sharpen your gifts game:

• Keep being your creative self
• Stay consistent
• Let your audience know they can send gifts on your reels
• Be open with your fans
• Recognize your supporters
• Learn what works best

7. Earn badges by posting live content

Got less than 10,000 followers? Skip to number eight. Otherwise, keep reading to learn how to make money by going live on Instagram.

To start with, you’ll need to go to your profile and find the “Set Up Badges” option. Then, next time you go live, your followers will be able to send you badges ranging from $0.99 to $4.99.

Here are a few examples of live content that performs well for creators:

• Intimate live music performance
• Behind-the-scenes process content
• Art tutorials and demonstrations
• Q&A sessions

8. Partner with brands or fellow creators

Last but not least, you can make money on Instagram by partnering with brands or fellow creators.

Here are a few options you could explore:

• Promote brands and products that are authentic to you and your audience
• Promote products from fellow creators that align with your aesthetic
• Collaborate with creators on new products you can cross-promote

As for the how, you can either sign up to Instagram’s Creator Marketplace or network with brands and creators directly.

Final thoughts

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my guide on all things money and Instagram. I hope you’re feeling inspired and positive about your prospects – even if you don’t have one million (or even 10,000) followers!

I’ve covered a bunch of different ideas here. But my last piece of advice would be this: diversify. Don’t just pursue one path and throw everything at it. Try a range of things to see what works best for you. And as your channel grows, keep trying new ideas and revisiting old ones to add more strings to your money-making bow.

_{Featured image by Alexander Shatov}