How to make money on Instagram? I asked 5 creators to find out

Travel vloggers get to stay in nice hotels, eat at fancy restaurants, and fly around the world on someone else’s dollar. Influencers have brands lining up to send them free stuff week after week.

But how exactly did they get there?

To find out what it takes to grow a personal brand on Instagram and make tons of money doing it, I interviewed five content creators:

• Sofia Kalimeridou – travel vlogger @sophiefamilytravel
• Martin Lešnjak – content creator @martin.lesnjak
• Chaitra Yangandul – travel vlogger @madoverexploring
• Maggie Waters – content creator @itslifebymaggie
• Amanda Belina – beauty influencer @amndabelina

If you want to replicate their success, follow along as I unravel their journey.

How many followers do you need before you can start making money?

You probably think that you need millions of followers to make money on Instagram or any other social media platforms.

Surprisingly, that’s not the case.

“People usually think you need hundreds of thousands or millions of followers to get brand partnerships. But it’s not true, I got my first hotel collaboration when I had like 1,000 followers,” said Sofia.

Maggie also experienced the same thing.

“When I launched my course Road to Acceptance in April 2021, I made around $5000. I had like 1,500 followers at that time.”

Still think it’s too much? Martin actually managed to secure one consulting client with merely a hundred followers.

“It doesn’t matter how many followers you have. What matters is if you have the right people following you. Even if you have like one hundred followers but they’re all your target audience, one person can end up buying your product or service,” he explained.

While it’s true you don’t need a big audience to monetize your account, having more followers will certainly help you land bigger deals, negotiate better rates, and make much more money.

But the question is… how?

How to grow your Instagram followers

Based on the conversations I had with those successful creators, growing an Instagram presence boils down to these six steps.

1. Find your unique positioning

Marketing is about making your brand or offerings stand out from the crowd. And Instagram marketing is no different.

Almost every digital creator I interviewed has something unique to offer. For instance, Chaitra started her Instagram page because she and her husband wanted to help people travel while keeping their full time job.

“We wanted to show people that if we can travel while having a nine-to-five job, they can do it as well. That’s what I think was the reason why a lot of people were able to really connect with our content,” Chaitra said.

For Sofia, it was the simple fact that she had a baby and wanted to continue traveling. She realized there are a lot of people with a similar situation, and she could help them by sharing family-friendly travel tips.

But you don’t need to travel the world to make money on social media. Many Instagram influencers are able to attract thousands of eyeballs simply by sharing their own experience in a very specific field.

Martin’s selling point, for example, is his experience in building multiple Instagram accounts.

This year alone, he has created and grown three different profiles: one account reached 98k, the second one got to 30k followers, and now, he’s starting over from scratch with a new account.

Martin learned so much throughout the journey, and now his goal is to help other people grow on Instagram.

In Maggie’s case, her journey as a pre-medical student was enough to convince over 60 thousand people to follow her.

“I wanted to share everything from how I studied for the MCAT to getting my secondary applications done, how I was preparing for interviews, and interview day experiences so that other premeds didn’t have to go through the same trial and error process I did.”

Personal experience is unique, and in most cases, that’s all you need to stand out.

2. Write down a plan

As cliché as it might sound, the notion that “failing to plan is planning to fail” still rings true. Before you create an Instagram account, do these first:

• Understand your dream viewers. Describe their current situation and pain points, as well as their desired outcome. This will help you address those problems in your content and attract the right audience.
• Take inspiration from other creators. Find 10 successful creators in your niche and learn what type of content is performing well for them. Then, replicate their formula on your own Instagram account.
• List your success stories. Write down your achievements, unique experiences, and expertise. Anything that you can leverage to position yourself as an authority.

All this information will make it easier for you to create content pillars. These are the foundation of your personal brand that keep you on track and help you attract the right leads.

Here’s how Martin created his:

Feel free to copy our content pillars template and tweak it to your exact needs.

3. Optimize your account

Once you have a clear plan and content strategy, optimizing your Instagram account is a great next step. According to Martin’s experience, the first thing you need to optimize is your Instagram bio.

Use a clean headshot as your profile picture. If you don’t have a camera to take the photo, a phone works just fine, as long as it looks professional.

Keep your bio simple – use two or three lines max. The first line reveals who you are and what you do. The second line should include some sort of social proof, like the brands you’ve worked with or the results you’ve achieved.

The third line is the call to action for your offerings. It could be a link to your coaching class, digital products, or website.

Next, make the most of highlights and pinned posts to display content that might be appealing to your target audience, like:

• Your personal journey
• Your clients’ success stories
• Your main offerings
• Your best posts or reels

By doing so, Instagram users who visit your profile can easily see the type of content you’re creating and how it can help them achieve their goals. This will make users more likely to hit that follow button.

And these aren’t just random followers, but the right ones – people who will eventually become your clients.

Of course, what works for Martin doesn’t necessarily mean will work for you too. I encourage you to test different strategies and figure out the right formula yourself.

4. Create valuable content

“Give value.”

This is something that I kept hearing during my interviews.

But how do you exactly offer value to the audience? According to Chaitra, your content should be educational or entertaining. Or both.

“I think the goal is to be authentic with what you’re trying to create, and to give value in whatever you’re sharing. The content should have educational information, or it should at least be entertaining for people to watch.”

Let’s see the examples of each content type.

Educational

Maggie managed to rack up thousands of followers with educational content. Like the example below, where she shared insights into her studying habits.

The best part about it? She didn’t need advanced video-making and editing skills to create this content. All she did was record a five-second footage of herself studying, then add a title and a caption inside the video. That’s it.

During our interview, Sofia also stressed the importance of creating valuable content. Especially today when the creator economy is getting more competitive.

Here’s an example of her step-by-step tutorial for traveling with babies:

Again, no fancy cameras and paid third-party tools. She took and edited the video using nothing but her phone and CapCut.

Entertainment

Let’s be real: most people spend their time scrolling social media to get entertained. While educational content is great, you have to mix it up with entertaining videos as well to keep your audience interested.

If you’re not sure what type of content to make, riding the wave of viral trends is a great idea. These videos usually get viral because they’re entertaining for casual viewers.

And who knows, maybe you can hit the jackpot like Amanda did with her ‘long hair vs short hair’ video:

Amanda believes that showing your funny or quirky side is key to creating engaging content, because this is something people can easily relate to.

5. Use reels to attract new audiences

Instagram Reels works exactly like the For You Page (FYP) algorithm on TikTok. It allows new creators to tap into a wider audience no matter how many followers they have.

And most of the Instagram creators I interviewed said that reels are much more effective in growing their followers compared to regular posts.

Amanda recalled her turning point, “I remember I had like 9.8k followers, and it took forever to reach 10k. I think I had that number for about four years. Then Instagram Reels happened, and I started making random videos. There was a time when I joined a trend and my video hit two million views. From there, my account grew to almost 15k.”

Chaitra also experienced similar growth for her travel account when she started creating reel videos.

“If you’re looking for more reach, then reels are definitely better. And that’s how we increased our followers, like we hit our first 10k followers because one of our reels got viral and attracted around two million views.”

From Instagram’s standpoint, it makes perfect sense why the platform is pushing reels more: videos keep people engaged longer than static images.

“Reels keep people online for longer and this is what the platform wants. If you upload a photo, someone will look at it for maybe one or two seconds. But if you upload a video, they will look at it for 10 seconds, and if they watch it twice, that means 20 seconds,” said Sofia.

6. Show up every single day

Most of the influencers I talked to shared a similar challenge at the start of their journey.

According to Sofia, “It can feel like thankless work at the start. You post, you post, and you post, but you don’t necessarily get the result. It’s not like you post one time, and suddenly you have a thousand followers.”

At one point, Maggie even considered quitting.

“The biggest challenge was probably impatience since I was often feeling like I wasn’t growing my account fast enough. At one point, I actually quit and started a new account in a different niche for a few months.”

So, how did they overcome that challenge? There’s only one solution: consistency.

Sofia was posting every single day. She knew if she kept giving value to her audience, she would eventually grow her followers and start getting brand collaborations.

In the end, there’s no secret formula to success. You just have to show up every day and keep trying until you finally get it right.

Chaitra sums this up perfectly. “The thing is, you’ll never know what will work, so you just need to keep consistent. Just keep trying. If something works, it works.”

Planning your content in advance can also help you build a productive posting habit.

Maggie creates events in Google Calendar to plan her content in advance. So, when it’s time to post, she will get notified and have everything ready in one place.

5 ways you can monetize your Instagram page

After growing your personal branding and follower count, it’s time to monetize your account. Here are several different ways you can earn money on Instagram.

1. Secure brand deals

This is the most common – and also the most lucrative – way to make money as an influencer.

There are five types of brand collaborations:

• Barter partnership. A brand gives you a free product in exchange for exposure. You have to create content to recommend the product to your audience.
• User-generated content. A brand buys your existing content and uses it in their marketing assets, like ads or social media posts.
• Sponsored content. You get paid by posting a certain product or service in your Instagram Stories, Reels, or Feed. Keep in mind that Instagram requires sponsored posts to have a paid partnership label.
• Brand ambassadorship. If a brand loves working with you, they might offer a long-term partnership. As their brand ambassador, you’ll get free products and money every month.

So, how do you secure brand collaborations? According to Chaitra’s experience, you have to reach out to brands who have already endorsed content creators in your niche.

Which makes perfect sense, as these brands are more likely to work with you as well. This is also how Chaitra got her first barter collaboration with a suitcase company.

“Since I work in the travel industry, I searched for brands that are associated with travel. Then I came across this suitcase brand, and I decided to reach out to them. Because I’ve seen other content creators work with them, so maybe they’re open to work with me as well.”

She simply sent an email explaining who she was, how many followers she had, and why the brand should collaborate with her. And it worked.

“We had a call, they said they were going to send me some bags and see what kind of content we create. That’s how we start working with the brand. Later, when they started liking our content, they gave us the opportunity to be their affiliate partner.”

2. Become an affiliate marketer

Affiliate marketing is a business model in which you promote other brands’ products or services and get paid for every successful transaction.

It’s very easy to get started, since you don’t have to create an Instagram business account and set up an Instagram Shop.

All you have to do is join popular affiliate marketing programs in your industry, then place affiliate links in your Instagram bio, stories, or captions.

This is how Chaitra promotes an affiliate link to packupgo.com in her Instagram Stories.

When your followers click the affiliate link and make a purchase, you earn a commission. As simple as that. The commission can either be a fixed rate or a percentage of the total sales, depending on the agreement.

And affiliate promotion can be done outside the Instagram app too. You can use other social media platforms like YouTube, and even create an affiliate marketing website to drive traffic from multiple sources and boost your affiliate sales.

3. Sell digital products

If you want to earn passive income, selling digital products is a great choice. There’s no need to worry about inventory and shipping – you just need to create the product once and make it downloadable or accessible online. That’s it.

Here are some examples of digital products to sell:

• Online courses and webinars
• eBooks
• Music and audio files
• Digital art and graphics
• Printable items

Many Instagram creators make tons of money this way. In fact, Maggie’s main source of income is an online course she launched four years ago.

“My main revenue stream from Instagram is my online course Road to Acceptance. I promote a free workshop through my Instagram posts and stories, which have a special offer for the course included.”

After creating the product, you will need a place to host and sell it. In general, you’ve got two options: either use third-party marketplaces (like Shopify, Amazon, and Etsy) or create your own website or landing page.

Which one is better? It depends on your preference. Third-party tools are easier to use, but quite limited in terms of customization. You also need to pay an extra fee for every sale you generate.

On the other hand, having a website gives you more control over the design, content, and branding of your product. And more importantly, your profit is 100% yours.

Alternatively, you can combine the two methods like what Chaitra does. She uses a platform called Thatch to sell travel guide eBooks.

“While people can visually see what we did through YouTube videos or Instagram Reels, they still want detailed information about the trip laid out in a written format, along with links, references, and so on. So, the tool is really helpful for me to put all those recommendations in one place. It works kinda like an eBook, so we can also sell it as a digital product.”

Besides eBooks, Chaitra offers a paid webinar on how to maximize credit card points and travel rewards on her own website, madoverexploring.com.

She created the site using Hostinger’s Premium web hosting service, which starts at just $2.99/month and already comes with a free domain name (if you buy the yearly plan).

4. Offer coaching sessions

When you become a successful content creator, many people would want to know ‘your secret’, and they’re willing to pay for it.

By offering a coaching session, you can share your expertise and give value to others while earning some extra income on the side. Plus, you won’t need much effort to promote your service, as you already have an existing audience.

“You can leverage your followers to offer them something they want. I am coaching people how to grow on social media, how to get collaborations, and how to stay at hotels for free,” said Sofia.

Sofia offers a coaching program called Travel Freedom, where she personally trains her students with daily messages and monthly calls.

To promote her coaching service, Sofia uses Instagram Stories to explain the benefits and share student testimonials. She then asks her followers to send a DM for more information.

5. Start a side business

Most entrepreneurs start a business first, then find ways to attract clients. As an influencer, you get to do the exact opposite. You already have the audience, and it’s just a matter of finding the right side business.

For example, Amanda noticed that personal color analysts were growing in popularity in South Korea. As a beauty influencer, she believed that she had the right followers to succeed in this field.

“My niche is lifestyle, beauty, and fashion. And since I already have followers who are interested in beauty and fashion, I took the opportunity to create a side business related to those kinds of stuff.”

She was right. Her business account (@soracolorstudio) quickly reached over 2,000 followers in just three months.

And she’s not stopping anytime soon. She plans to use paid advertising to reach even more people and take her business to even greater heights.

Final thoughts

Making money on Instagram isn’t something that’s reserved for the selected few. With the right strategy, a lot of hard work, and a bit of fortune, anyone can do it.

And you don’t even need to have a big audience to monetize your account – you just need the right kind of audience. Focus on your unique selling point, create valuable content for your target users, and show up every single day.

If you keep doing these small steps over a long period of time, success is just around the corner. Bookmark this article and come back to it when you make it someday!

How to make money on Instagram FAQ