How to Get Paid to Promote on Instagram
What if you could take what you already do multiple times a day and make money with it? Monetizing your online life is a sure way to get money. But do you have what it takes?
Instagram is a wondrous display of human life. From the foods we eat to the games we play to the things we wear. It’s all on there.
And if you’re Insta-famous, you’re powerful. Businesses understand this power. And they’re willing to pay for a piece of it.
Even if you’re not Insta-famous, but you have a decent sized following, you could make a little bit of extra cash from your following.
How do you get paid to promote on Instagram? Let’s log in and find out.
1. How to Get Paid to Promote on Instagram: Reach Out and Latch On
Sometimes fame happens to just drop in someone’s lap. But you’ll most likely die before the statistics work out in your favor.
This might sound a bit like a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” motto, but you need to go get to succeed here. Unless you have a stadium full of followers. Then the companies might already be asking you to promote them.
How much you have to work for the opportunities depends on several factors.
- Your niche (does it connect to a product or service?)
- Are your followers real or fake? (ie. how engaged are they?)
- How you will promote
If your niche doesn’t connect to a product or service, then you will have to figure out a way to make it connect to either. You can’t possibly convince someone you can promote their product if your niche doesn’t support their product.
Engagement is what makes the social media world go round. If your followers are either fake or inactive, then your account is useless as a promoting machine.
Doesn’t matter if you have 100 followers or 1,000,000 followers. If most of them are fake, you can’t promote.
Some promotional platforms on Instagram are more valuable than others. Are you going to post videos? Are you writing short blogs? How you promote will determine the price you can charge and how attractive your account will be.
Where Do You Latch On?
There are several places to find businesses who want to connect with promoters. And if you want to get paid to promote on Instagram, check out these already set places to self-promote:
Grapevine
Do you have more than 5000 followers? I know I don’t. But if you do, Grapevine might be the platform you’re looking for. It’s a collaborative center that allows you to hook up with brands who need promoters through a central marketplace.
Fohr Card
This is more like a billboard for influencers across several platforms including blogs and YouTube channels. It might be a little saturated, but it’s worth a shot.
Shoutcart
If you don’t have much of a following, you can still get picked up. And Shoutcart might be your best bet.
You can create a little advert about your Instagram account and charge a certain amount. The companies that want to eat up the “plankton” accounts for promotion will definitely be looking here.
IndaHash
If you want to just get paid directly without the hassle of latching on, you can use the indaHash app. Basically, you get paid each time you promote something from indaHash on your Instagram.
But you need to have at least 700 real followers to be eligible.
2. What If I’m Not Landing Gigs?
You have all your ducks in a row. Real followers, a niche connected to a product, and a dedicated platform. Why aren’t you grabbing a company’s attention?
It could have something to do with whether you’ve promoted anything already. Sometimes you have to give some to get some, right?
Well, it’s really no different if you want to get paid to promote on Instagram. Doing some free promotion of your favorite products will possibly get the attention of companies.
Especially if those products come from start-ups or smaller businesses. They will be monitoring their product’s social media presence more closely than a major corporation like Apple.
If you can start promoting smaller companies and their products, you’ll have the equivalent of a portfolio. And these companies might start sending you swag and products too.
Simply look at a brand’s own Instagram and see what products they mainly promote and what hashtags they use. Then promote those products and use those hashtags.
Lastly, make sure you’re advertising. Find an advertising agency that would be willing to help you promote yourself a little. Get your name in front of more people.
3. One Does Not Just Gain Followers
The land of many Instagram followers may not have a Mount Doom at its center, but getting real followers is a bit harder than simply walking through a garden gate in The Shire. You’ll need to have a few things mastered before you can grow your audience and make more money.
First, make sure your bio is complete. Optimize your bio for search. Find a keyword that fits your niche and add it a few times to your bio. Then make sure you bulk it up with some good writing and correct grammar.
Be sure to include a way to contact you. An email will do just fine.
Then begin to post. Make a schedule and post regularly. As in every day, several times a day.
Research and find out when the best time of day to post would be. And hit those times every single day.
Quality photos are a must. Brands don’t want their stuff paired with boring and fuzzy photos and videos. That would tarnish the brand.
Get a quality DSLR and snap some nice photos with good lighting. If you’re doing video, make sure you shoot on 4k and again, the lighting is key.
The entry bar for great photography has dropped considerably in the last ten years. It’s not expensive to take great photos anymore.
Engagement is the end all be all of social media success. Followers will stop paying attention if you stop giving attention.
