1. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FIRST: ATTRACT FOLLOWERS
First thing’s first: what’s your following like?
You should know from the start that most brands will expect a strong and loyal following in order to build a working partnership.
Fill out your bio with all the right information: This includes your contact information, what you post about and where you’re from. Add in a few keywords and even a couple of hashtags to ensure you’re easily findable by the right kind of followers. Something like: Beauty Blogger from San Francisco with a penchant for travel. Business inquiry: business@beautyblogger.com
Post regularly: To grow numbers, you want to be posting several images every day… but be warned, don’t post all at once or this will actually work against you! If you can’t commit to that many posts, then just make sure you are publishing one quality photo every day.
Take good photos: Which leads me to my next point! Make sure your images are of the best quality with attractive effects. There’s no point posting a weak image, so really take your time to make sure you are producing ones of the highest quality. (I’m currently using a Canon DSLR camera to take photos. You can buy one from Amazon (click here).
Engage with your followers: You cannot expect all interaction to come directly to you. Make time every single day to engage with your followers or anyone involved in your industry by commenting on and liking images. If you communicate with authentic content, people will be drawn to check out your account and, hopefully, join your loyal rank of followers.
Okay, so you’ve boosted your follower count – sweet! Now it’s time to start making money.
2. HOW-TO: MAKE MONEY ON INSTAGRAM
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is basically when you promote a product and get paid per sale. You’ll often see bloggers doing this with sidebar banners promoting their partners (affiliates), or even through specific product inspired posts. Well, it’s not much different with Instagram.
With Instagram, you post attractive images highlighting their products and drive sales through your affiliate URL.
It really couldn’t be easier. This type of marketing is particularly popular with clothing on Instagram, as you can post your “OOTD” (outfit of the day) with the affiliate link sending followers to your full outfit details.
For those involved in the travel industry (or simply those that love to travel – ahem, all of us!), you could try to set up and use affiliate marketing when taking part in reviews for hotels and venues.
Create Sponsored Posts
IInstagram users with engaged followings can earn extra money by creating original sponsored content for brands.
In a nutshell, a piece of sponsored content on Instagram is a photo or video that highlights a product or a brand.
These posts are accompanied by captions that may include branded hashtags, @mentions, or links.
However, it’s important that any brands or products you promote are a good fit for your own personal image on Instagram. The idea is to show off brands that you can personally get behind, and to show your followers how that brand fits into your lifestyle.
Sell Your Photos
If you’re a professional photographer, Instagram is a great way to advertise and sell your shots to either individuals or agencies. Add a watermark to your snaps and use the captions to list all selling details in a concise manner.
Use appropriate hashtags to pull people towards your shots and get a conversation going with influential photography agencies.
There are also a few sites that you can use to actually put your Instagram photos for sale, including:
-Twenty20
-Community Foap
Promote Your Business, Products Or Services
If you run your own business, then Instagram needs to hold an integral place in your marketing matrix.
If you sell products, use it to post beautiful shots that can’t be found on your website. Here are some creative ways to promote your products or services:
“Behind the scenes” type images tend to be hugely popular. It’s appealing and adds a certain realness to what you’re doing and people love that.
Your customers’ photos: Linked to this is the use of User Generated Content on your account. Get customers to share their images of your products and re-gram (download “Repost for Instagram” app to repost your customers’ photos).
It also calls for you to start up your own unique hashtag which you can then promote to all your customers.
Infographics + exclusive offers. You can also market your services through Instagram with snazzy infographics and exclusive offers.
Sell Your Instagram Account
Had enough of Instagram? Ready to move on?
Well, you’ll be happy to know that all your hard work hasn’t gone to waste. You can actually sell your Instagram account if (for whatever reason) you can no longer manage it.
There’s a few site that support you with this, two of the best being:
-Fame swap
-Viral accounts