3 Tips To Make Money on Instagram | Blog & Social Media | Life By Lee (2024)

Let’s get real for a minute. Yes, I make money on Instagram. Do I make money off of all of my Instagram posts? No way… that would be overkill and my feed would look like a giant advertisem*nt. I also don’t endorse any products that I wouldn’t write about naturally. For example a monthly subscription box reached out to me wanting me to post about their October box which was full of items focused around tailgating & football. Sure I would have loved the money, but I don’t watch football. Accepting money and posting about something that I wouldn’t use myself is dishonest in my opinion.

I wanted to write this post about how to make money on Instagram, because I’m all about helping others. I don’t see the point of having fabulous information and keeping it to yourself. I also love the fact that anyone can do this. All you need is a phone, an eye for photography, and a willingness to work hard. So whether you are a blogger who uses Instagram as a social media outlet to promote your blog or you consider yourself a social media influencer, this post will be really helpful in helping you find ways to make money on Instagram. Let’s dive right in!

1. Sign up for Instagram-focused agency platforms– there are specific platforms whose sole purpose is to connect brands and Instagram influencers. One of my favorites is Popular Pays. Popular Pays is an app that provides local and national gigs. I think they are working on expanding into more cities as they only have a few cities that offer local gigs for the time being. They also work with some awesome national brands like Dunkin Donuts, ZICO Coconut Water, Favor, Diamond Candles, and more. I’ve listed some other great agencies to check out that either I have worked with before, or that my friends have worked with before. A lot of these agencies want to work with bloggers on packages that include a blog post and social media posts, so the more active you are on your blog and all of your other social channels, the easier it will be to make money on Instagram.
   1. IZEA
   2. Find Your Influence
   3. Collectively
   4. FameBit
   5. SheKnows/ Blog Her
   6. Clever Girls Collective
   7. Silkworm Social
   8. Megan Media
   9. Collective Bias
   10. Linqia
2. Use affiliate networks that are compatible with Instagram–You still can’t add links in your Instagram comments, but you can utilize affiliate networks who have taken the work out of this for you. Two that I know of are Liketoknow.it and Shopstyle.it. If someone is signed up with either Shopstyle.it or Liketoknow.it and they like your Instagram photo that you’ve linked they will receive ready-to-shop links in their email inbox. This is still something I’m educating my followers on because I think a lot of normal Instagram users have no idea what these things are still and how to use them. If you’re using these platforms make sure to really dive in headfirst and learn the ins and outs of them. Studying best practices, emailing your rep questions, and making a consistent effort to educate your followers will pay off.
3. Reach out to brands directly-If there is a brand out there that you love and want to work with send them an email! It’s really that simple. They may turn you down, but it’s worth a shot. When it comes to reaching out to brands it’s all about the pitch. Make sure you know how you would incorporate the product into a post, what you would say about it, and why you love it so much. Don’t know their contact email? Send them a direct message on Instagram! You’re reaching out to them on the native platform you will be posting on so this is a great way to start the process. They are then able to go directly to your profile and see if they would be interested in working with you. Normally if they respond with an email for you to reach them at it’s a good sign.

Have any questions for me? Is there something you’ve been doing to makemoney on Instagram that I should know about? Leave it for me in the comments (and stop by my Instagram profile HERE and say hi!)

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