Today, we’re chatting all about how to make money on Instagram. We’re basically chatting about how to turn your account from crickets to cash flow so that you’re monetizing your account in a way that’s impactful for your business. 

Decide how you want to monetize

The first step to monetize your account is to decide how to monetize the account. It seems silly and like you can skip this step, but you need to decide how you’ll make money. Just increasing your following isn’t going to make you money. Instead, you need to decide if you want to do brand collaborations, paid products, or offer services. You don’t necessarily have to know what this is from the moment you start your account. It’s possible to grow an audience first then begin to sell your product/service. But, the bottom line is that you need to know the strategy you’re taking so you don’t keep showing up on Instagram over and over for free. 

How do you make the most of your sales?

The second thing to think about is how you’re going to make the most of your sales or where you’ll make most of your sales. This is going to look different depending on the option you’ve picked. It might be getting people on your email list for sales funnels, booking calls, or DMing brands for collaborations. Whatever it is, this needs to become a big part of your Instagram strategy as a whole. You need to know where the conversion point is in your business. For us, in our digital products, our email list is where we make most of our sales. So it’s important that we incorporate that link in our weekly content so that we can convert our followers into paying customers.  

Sharing the links in your bio and in your Stories is a great way to drive your traffic to whatever makes sense for your brand and monetization strategy. I also want to share that ManyChat is a great new resource that Instagram has approved. You can use ManyChat to automatically send your audience a DM with a message (including your link!) based on a specific word response. It just streamlines your audience’s ability to connect with your next step! 

Post consistently & post the RIGHT ideas

When you are ready to monetize your Instagram account, you need to post consistently and post the right ideas. Remember, consistently doesn’t mean every day or even a certain kind of post. It just means showing up for your audience regularly. Instagram is all about those short form video or photo posts. Instagram’s content doesn’t perform for longer than about 48 hours after posing, so it’s important to show up with new content regularly. Showing up consistently allows you to get in front of new people more often, unlike long form content (like YouTube that has a long shelf life!). 

Posing the right kind of content is also important. If you’re showing up but not sharing content that resonates with your audience, then it’s not going to help you either. Your feed posts should be designed to connect with your ideal audience, the people you’re trying to serve, and the people you’re trying to reach/sell to. If those posts don’t make sense to the people who might buy your product or service, why would they buy from you in the first place? 

Again, I think it’s important to know where someone is buying from you so that you can focus on incorporating that into your posting strategy. For us, as a digital business, we know that we can make sales on Instagram, but we’re more likely to make them on our email list. So it’s important to push our audience to join the email list and that’s a huge part of our strategy. You have to know what that puzzle piece looks like for your business. 

Incorporate personal branding

The fourth thing to remember when you’re trying to monetize your Instagram account is to incorporate personal branding. I know I talk about this all the time, but hear me out. Personal branding works for a reason. People buy from people – not things. Even more so nowadays, people want to purchase products and services from people who share their values and experiences. Seeing a face on Instagram will only drive sales in your brand – because your audience wants to connect with you. It’s important to show who YOU are, what your personality is like, and what you’re like behind the scenes. 

If you want to know more about personal branding, check out my tips here.  

Create community

Finally, Instagram was made to connect so it’s important that you’re creating a community when you’re trying to make sales on Instagram. All of social media was created to make those connections. People come on these platforms to be entertained, be inspired, and engage – not necessarily to purchase. It’s important to recognize this when we’re planning content. We have to create content that is centered around community but also helps naturally guide them to the next step to purchase. On the other side, you have to genuinely engage with your people. Respond to comments, engage in DMs, have Q&A boxes, show up on Stories, and make those connections. When people think of your account, we want them to realize how valuable you are and how much you truly care about your community. Ultimately, showing up and creating that community is going to get you so much further with your monetization options. 

If you’re looking for more help with your Instagram account, join our FREE class: What to Post on Instagram in the Next 30 Days!

Other Instagram Resources 

I also offer a free one-hour Instagram Reels class if you want more help with how to grow your reach, followers, and customers with Reels in 2 hours a month! You can sign up for that HERE. And, if you have questions or want some extra support, I’ve got a FREE Reels Growth Facebook Community that you can join. I absolutely love getting to chat with everyone and help them work through their questions about Reels!

Wondering what to make for your next Reel? Free quiz to find out what type of reel idea you should make next! 

Discover what your next step should be to gain your next 1,000 followers!

Need ideas for Instagram? Grab our free sample Instagram posting schedule here!

If you’re listening and you have ideas about what to talk about next, please send in your requests! I really do want to know what you want to hear about in future episodes. Email me at [email protected] with your questions!! I can’t wait to hear from you! Don’t forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, too. We appreciate all of the support and love!