5 ways you can make a living off Instagram
Living in the digital age certainly has its perks. Today, social media platforms are breaking the established norms of making money and even building a career for many. Talented individuals can mint thousands by the day if their blog or YouTube channel hosts eye-popping content. And now, photographers, too, have joined the ‘digital influencer’ foray, thanks to Instagram. With over 300 million plus users and millions more pictures, the popularity of Instagram cannot be ignored. And now, businesses are taking notice of this.
If you have an eye for photography and a vast catalogue of quality pictures, then it’s time you made some money out of it. Here are a few ways to do this:
Sponsored posts
If you take quality pictures, you could simply approach brands that would like to pay you to use your images to build their own brands. Take the example of the world’s best known fashion blog, The Blond Salad, which photographed this simple picture of Dior sunglasses! This is actually a good way to monetise your account if you have existing photographs and a good number of followers on your handle.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you promote a product and get paid per sale of the same. You often see bloggers doing this on their blogs in the form of ads for brands or under tags like ‘favourite product of the week’ and so on. Similarly, with Instagram, too, these can be featured with a direct link attached to your profile.
Let’s say you are a travel and lifestyle blogger. You can review hotels and list things to do at a particular city. In case you are a fashion blogger, you can post reviews of the brands you use and ask people to create a similar look.
Sell your images
If you are a professional photographer or a calligrapher, Instagram is a great way to showcase your work and have potential buyers approach you. Make sure you add a watermark, signature or a quote to highlight it as your work. Always make sure you have an active presence with the use of hashtags, and drop a personal message to the right kind of clients and agencies.
Promote your business, products and customers
If you run a business, using Instagram is a major part of interacting with your client base and gathering an audience for your brand.
If you sell a product or service, you can showcase your products and new collections or offerings and offer behind-the-scenes images to get your user base excited about your upcoming product.
User-generated content is the backbone of any brand. Repost and share images from customers who showcase your products. This has been a proven way to increase purchases for your product. For example, KOOVS.com uses #KOOVSXYOU for customers to share images and get a chance to be featured on their page. Put up exclusive offers to drive sales. This is great way to drive up your fan count.
Back up option: Sell your Instagram account
Can’t manage your Instagram account anymore? But what about those Instagram followers and all those brilliant photographs? Fret not. If you feel unable to keep up your account, you can sell your account. With the right buyer, you can fetch a fairly good price.
Well, now you know five ways of making money off Instagram! So it’s time you get started and carve out your niche on this promising platform.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)