There are countless ways for brands and people to profit from their Instagram usage in 2022. Are you active on social media and looking for ways to make money on Instagram without selling anything? It’s a good side business to consider in this modern era.
There are several popular activities that can make you money on Instagram without having a product to sell:
- Publish Sponsored Posts
- Become a Brand Ambassador
- Give Shout-Outs
- Make Filters and Masks for Stories
- Write Captions for Businesses
If you’re looking for ways to monetize your Instagram account without having any services to sell, these are 5 options to consider.
Publish Sponsored Posts
One of the most popular ways to create revenue source through Instagram is by publishing sponsored posts. Sponsored posts are simply posts that you create to promote a product or service from a company or brand.
Are you a repeat buyer of a product and often unbox the experience to your followers? Then, you can get paid for those posts.
To get paid for sponsored posts, you will need to have a moderately-sized and engaged following on your account. Companies and brands are typically only willing to pay for sponsored posts if they know that their followers will see and interact with the post.
Their goals are to drive traffic to whatever they’re promoting and ultimately increase sales. So if you have the types of followers they want to engage with and get consistent reactions from posts, you have a better chance of getting their interest.
Become a Brand Ambassador
Another popular way to make money on Instagram is to become a brand ambassador. Brand ambassadors are typically paid to promote products or services from a specific company or brand.
Is there a brand you love to talk about with your followers and get positive responses when you post about them? Then you may have a future as a brand ambassador.
To become a brand ambassador, you will need to have a large and engaged following on your account. Companies want ambassadors that will partner in creating a positive brand image for them. If you post about a brand and your followers respond with likes or comments, this is an avenue to explore further.
Give Shout-Outs
A simple way to make money on Instagram is giving shout-outs.
A shout-out is when you mention or promote a product or service from a company or brand in your posts. It is usually a one-time advertisement that could be a temporary post or a permanent one.
There aren’t high criteria that brands look for in shout-outs, so this is one of the most common ways people on Instagram make money.
Shout-outs are typically less formal than sponsored posts and require no prior relationship with the company or brand.
Make Filters and Masks for Stories
If you’re creative and have experience with graphic design, you can make money on Instagram by creating social media filters and masks for Stories.
Filters and masks are trendy on Instagram, especially among younger users.
If you can create attractive and popular filters or masks, companies and brands will be willing to pay you for your work. If you create a platform where users can leverage multiple filters or masks, you’ll make buyers out of direct consumers too.
Write Captions for Businesses
Another way to make money on Instagram is by writing captions for businesses. Companies typically need help creating compelling and attention-grabbing captions for their posts. So this presents an excellent option for those who are creative and have a knack for writing.
Do you write captions that are memorable and engaging? Companies are willing to pay contractors to assist them, from a few dollars to a few thousand, depending on the urgency of the need. To grab the attention of the brands you want to partner with, make easily sharable samples so they can tie in the vision of what you have to offer.
Companies will be willing to pay you to write memorable and engaging captions, from a few dollars to a few thousand, depending on the urgency of the need.
If you write captions for your Instagram posts that are highly engaging and have a history of high sharing because of what you write (and not necessarily the graphics attached to them), this may fit you.
The Bottom Line
There are dozens of ways you can make money on Instagram without selling anything. So if you’re looking to monetize your account, examine one of these options.
There is an investment of time to showcase your value, and there is heavy competition between Influencers. However, with 1.2 billion users and growing, Instagram still has plenty of room for new entrants to service them.