Do You Have IG Micro-Influencer Status? Here’s How To Make Money On Instagram

Instagram is one of the most influential social media networks on the planet. It is ranked the 6th most popular social channel with over a billion users.

Other Instagram stats include:

• More than 500 million daily users
• Over 25 million businesses on Instagram
• 72 percent of teens have Instagram accounts
• There’s $20 billion of ad money up for grabs
• More than 55 percent of influencers use Instagram Stories

And the statistics go on and on. For an IG micro-influencer, this all equates to serious money making potential.

Knowing how to make money on Instagram is the first step. Micro-influencers like you may be at the beginning of the journey, ready to turn your influence into cold hard cash.

Well, maybe not Floyd Mayweather money, but you can certainly make a decent passive income as an Instagram micro-influencer.

How? Brands are shifting their influencer marketing focus from mega-influencers and celebrities, like Mr. Mayweather, to micro-influencers. Why? Micro-influencers simply have far more influence.

The loyal 1,000 to 100,000 followers a micro-influencer has can generate far more sales, brand awareness, and customer retention. This is because you connect and communicate with your audience, something many mega-influencers fail to do.

Do you have IG micro-influencer status? Want to make money on Instagram? The following Instagram money making tips can help. Let’s dive in!

Focus On Your Instagram Profile First

Many “make money on Instagram” articles jump right into strategy via posting promotional content or mastering affiliate marketing. And we will get to that below. However, if you want to get paid on Instagram, you need to start with your profile.

Your profile needs to be up-to-date, have relevant, personalized information in the bio, contact info, clever call to action (CTA), and more. Here’s a great example from @thelipstickfever . . .

This fashion micro-influencer has her name, location, personal info about her new baby, what else she does online via podcast, contact info, and more. It is a well-rounded Instagram profile.

Why is each important? Let’s break it down:

• Name: Let’s people know who you are
• Location: Location generates more engagement
• Personal info: make a personalized connection with your audience
• Other interests: Gives followers more places to consume your content
• Contact info: Important for brands and marketers to contact you for paid promotions

When you have a powerful Instagram profile, you are sealing the deal with your target audience. Social media is about being social, so be social and let followers know more about you via your profile.

Create Engaging, Quality Content For Maximum Consumption

The content you create as a micro-influencer is directly related to your ability to make money on Instagram. You didn’t get IG micro-influencer status by accident. You probably niched down and created engaging, quality content that followers loved and shared.

This should continue to be a primary focus, especially if you want to make money on Instagram. Why? If your engagement rate decreases due to poor content, brands and marketers will not be as interested in working with you.

What’s the best content for high engagement that also serves up quality? Video content!

Video content is a must for any micro-influencer, whether your influence is on Instagram or another popular social media channel. This is because people prefer videos over other content types.

According to eMarketer, micro-influencers with up to 30k followers can average $219 per video post . . .

This is a big money making difference when compared to regular Instagram posts ($172) and Stories posts ($73). If you have 50k or more followers, a video post on Instagram can net you around $500.

Not a bad chunk of change for turning your influence into cash via video content. However, your video content needs to encompass quality. The actual video itself should be shot and edited well. And your content needs to be on-point and actionable.

Here’s a great example of quality, actionable video content from health and wellness micro-influencer @dedica . . .

It is critical that you stay true to the content you create as a micro-influencer, whether regular posts or video. Always keep your artistic integrity, because no amount of money is worth losing your influence over.

Partner With The RIGHT Brands To Make Money On Instagram

Brands are in search of the right influencers on Instagram to promote their brand, products, and/or services. The same goes for Instagram micro-influencers. You are essentially a personal brand, and partnering with the RIGHT brands and marketing agencies is important.

And you shouldn’t wait for brands and agencies to contact you. If you want to make money on Instagram, you need to be proactive. First, you need to make a list of brands that you want to partner with. These brands pretty much need to be in your niche.

For example, if you are a travel micro-influencer you want to reach out to hospitality and travel brands. Hilton Worldwide, Marriott, American Airlines, AAA, and other top hospitality and travel brands may be of interest.

But do not count out smaller brands. As a micro-influencer, you may find the RIGHT brands via local resorts, travel agencies, and travel gear companies. Travel micro-influencer @christian.mate.grab partnered with Polaris . . .

You wouldn’t think a brand partnership like this fits for a popular travel micro-influencer, but this post generated over 1,500 likes and nearly 20 comments in just two hours.

How do you land brands to get paid as an Instagram influencer?

You need to have a strong pitch. Include your story (journey as an influencer), your target audience demographics, engagement rate, follower count, and any past paid posts to show just how powerful your influence is.

It is also important to get paid for your creative worth. Do not partner with brands that try to low-ball you for your creativity. The rule of thumb online is $10 per every 1000 Instagram followers. But this is pretty inaccurate.

As a micro-influencer, you should negotiate how much per post based on followers, but also on engagement rate. Here’s a breakdown if you are an Instagram influencer with 30,000 followers:

• 30,000 followers = $300
• Proven maxed out engagement rate = $100
• Video content development = $100

If you create a video for a brand and your engagement rate is insane, you could charge $500 per post. If you want to negotiate long-term campaigns, maybe you can charge a bit less per post to ensure a steady brand partnership.

Leverage An Influencer Marketing Platform To Make More Money On Instagram

You can definitely make a list of brands you want to partner with, email them constantly, negotiate payment per post, and maintain the partnership on your own. Or you can leverage an influencer marketing platform that does it all for you, like Scalefluence.

Why an influencer marketing platform? Influencer platforms already have the brand and marketing agency relationships influencers want and need to get paid on Instagram.

As a micro-influencer, you can access an influencer platform’s network of brands in your niche, maintain creative control, get maximum payment per post, develop strong, long lasting brand relationships, and grow your influence via expert advice.

Scalefluence Helps micro-influencers achieve all of the above and more. We also have a forced FTC disclosure policy to keep your influencer profile safe from FTC issues, social profile deletions, and other common influencer problems.

Scale your influence and make money on Instagram with Scalefluence. Sign up today.