How to Make Money From Your Instagram Account

Instagram, the photo and video-sharing app owned by Facebook, caters to individuals who want to share content instantly. Instagram has grown considerably since Facebook acquired it in 2012.  

“The deal was a great strategic fit for Facebook’s mobile offering while removing a potential rival,” according to Yahoo Finance. By August 2020, the platform had about 1 billion active monthly users. 

A widely-followed Instagram account can be worth a lot of money for the people creating its content. Major celebrity names like Kylie Jenner, Ariana Grande, and Cristiano Ronaldo make a lot of money from Instagram. Anyone with a devoted following can also earn a significant amount of money.  

While Instagram doesn't directly compensate Instagrammers for posts, there are multiple ways to earn money through Instagram including brand sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and directing customers to your business or products.  

Brands make deals with those who are deemed “influencers,” who have a certain number of engaged followers on their Instagram account. In general, those with higher numbers of followers and a high level of engagement from those followers will command a larger payday. 

The number of followers isn't the only factor that determines how much an Instagram account is worth. Although a high number of followers is important, the compensation also depends on whether the followers are actively engaged with posts.  

The average engagement level for an Instagram account is about 3 percent, according to InfluencerMarketingHub. Therefore, “Any engagement rate above that, combined with a high number of followers, suggests that you are an influencer amongst your peers.”  

Some digital marketers suggest one cent per follow as a basic rate of compensation, which would mean earning $100 per 10,000 followers. A 10K-follower account’s worth also depends on other factors like engagement. 

Using the one-cent-per-follow estimate, a 50K Instagram account might be worth about $500. Again, Instagrammers can earn money in various ways — marketing their own products, sponsored posts, and affiliate marketing.  

A sponsored photo posted by an Instagram account with 100,000 followers might be worth $700–$900, according to InfluencerMarketingHub.  

An Instagram account with an extraordinarily large following like 1 million followers is likely worth a lot of money. Reportedly, Kylie Jenner earned $1.2 million per Instagram post last year. Her account has over 200 million followers as of December 2020, according to Statista.  

A lesser-known area of Instagram monetization is that of curated accounts where the owner shares other creators’ work. One user explained that he earned $36,000 over four years running a curated Instagram account with 1.9 million followers, according to Medium. 

There are online calculators where you can plug in your Instagram username to receive a rough estimate of your account’s worth. People do sell Instagram usernames (and usernames and accounts for other social media platforms like Twitter and YouTube).  

However, Instagram actually prohibits the sale or transfer of any part of your account, according to Vox.