Instagram with 2 Billion active users is one of the hottest social media platforms in 2024. It also has the highest number of Indian users (229.5 million) placing the US at the 2nd position with 149.35 million. As per a stat from Sprout Social, Instagram reach has also grown by 12% YOY in 2024. This means creators & brands can reach more customers. So if you are a social media influencer or a small content creator who doesn’t want to lose this golden opportunity, you must know how to make money on Instagram in 2024. Fret not, if you don’t. In this article, we have gone into the depths of how to earn money on Instagram as a social media influencer in 2024.
Find exact details on how influencers and creators can use Instagram to earn affiliate income with Cuelinks (even if you do not have your product).
Stats that Show Content Creators Can Earn on Instagram in 2024
- Over 2 Billion active users on Instagram in 2024 (the TAM or Total Addressable Market size is massive)
- India tops the chart for having the highest number of users (229.5M) leaving the US behind (149.35M) (a good opportunity for Indian creators to gain traction)
- Gen Z’s two hours plus daily Instagram use (highest) & 54% willingness to spend on clothing, of accessories, etc indicates a greater scope of earning for targeted content creators
- Internal Instagram data reveals that 70% of shoppers look to the platform for their next purchase
- Instagram is the most used platform for influencer marketing in 2024 (which means brands are more likely to sponsor content creators)
Bonus stat:
After driving a solid 7.2% GDP growth in 2023, India is all set to be the fastest-growing economy in the next FY with 6.9% GDP growth rate (more GDP growth = more consumer spending)
What You Need to Earn Money on Instagram as a Content Creator (Influencer)
- A creator Instagram account
- A website (don’t worry, we will share how you can do that for free)
- A profitable content strategy
- A sold bio that drives clicks & traffic
- Affiliate network (such as Cuelinks)
- Be a part of affiliate programs relevant to your niche (free with Cuelinks)
- A tool that automatically converts your normal shopping links to affiliate links (free with Cuelinks)
- Patience, patience & effort
How Cuelinks can help Influencers & Creators Make Money on Social Media?
Cuelinks is a 2-minute, quick and easy content monetisation affiliate network that gives creators and publishers access to over 1000+ affiliate programs including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Ajio, Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales & more.
- Free to join for all
- Access to 1000+ affiliate programs across all top categories including fashion, food, health, finance, tech & more
- You don’t need a website to join
- Aggregated all-in-one reporting of all your affiliate programs in one place
- Automatically turns normal links into money-making links
Signing up on Cuelinks is absolutely free and the payout threshold is as less as Rs.500!
How to Make Money on Instagram as a Content Creator or Influencer in 2024
There are several ways to make money from Instagram from selling digital courses to selling affiliate products. We will cover all of that in some other article. For now, this article is going to be focusing on the “How to earn from Instagram with affiliate marketing” part than anything else. There’s no restriction to who can do this or not. Whether you are a social media content creator in the beauty space or the tech space or finance, everyone can use the below methods and start generating affiliate income from Instagram in 2024. So let’s get started.
How to make affiliate income from Instagram in 2024 for content creators and social media influencers (big and small)
1. Ensure you have a Creator Account on Instagram
Having a creator account on Instagram is pretty essential if you are planning to make money from your IG profile. Anyone can sign up for a creator account for free. Moreover, if you have been using a normal personal IG account so far, you can easily convert it to a creator account. Below are the metrics that are available to track when you have a creator IG profile:
- Reach
- Impressions
- Engagement Rate
- Audience age group
- Top Locations
- Follower Growth (graph)
- Website Clicks
- Profile Visits
- Saves
- Shares
Special Features you get with IG Creators account:
- Shoppable posts & tag products
- Sell badges during live streams
- Scheduling options
- Create a CTA (book a call, etc – present under the highlights section)
- Create a label (such as writer, chef, artist, etc)
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2. Create Your Website for Free: Best Alternatives to Linktree
The next step to earning money on Instagram as a content creator is to have your own website. We all know Instagram only allows up to 5 links in the IG bio. One of the biggest advantages of Linktree or other similar tools is that you can put unlimited links (more links = more scope of promoting/making money). However, one of the biggest disadvantages of the same is the lack of control over branding & customisation. Not to mention, unless you are willing to shell out some cash, the free version is pretty limited. This is where having your own free website shines.
| Factors | Link in Bio tools (Linktree, Milkshake, etc) (free version) | Your own website (free) |
| Your own Branding | ❌ | ❌ |
| Customisation | Average ❌ | High ✅ |
| Unlimited Links | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email/ Phone Number Collection | ❌ | ❌ |
| Embedd YouTube Video & Tweets | ❌ | ✅ |
| Clicks analytics | ❌ | ✅(with Cuelinks) |
| Ease of Use | High (simple to understand & use) | Medium (may include initial learning curve) |
| Scope for expansion (Blogs, newsletter, shop, SEO) | ❌(Limited) | ✅ (High) |
| Upgrading cost | Cheaper | Can be expensive |
Creating your website is not as daunting as you think it is. Check out our guide on the best free blogging platforms in 2024 to choose the best free website-building platform for yourself. You can use something as simple as Blogger to create pretty much a similar-looking & functioning web page as Linktree. Sure, you will sometimes need to dig through the internet to find your way around but it’s worth it. Having your own website, even if free, can open several doors for you to do effective affiliate marketing on Instagram & other social media channels. Below are some of the ways you can start making income from Instagram with the help of your website
Legit Ways to Earn Money from Instagram Using Your Free Website
- Share unlimited links to products, contact pages, etc (alternative to Linktree)
- Share product reviews & recommendations of affiliate products and link it to your Instagram posts & stories
- Create a categorised shop based on the different interests of your audience and earn through affiliate commissions on the sale of those products
- Offer (paid) exclusive content (you can create a free members-only page with Blogger)
- Start a newsletter to promote your Instagram posts & sell your affiliate products (Mailchimp allows you to send emails up to 1000 per month for free which is enough for the start)
- Host giveaways (giveaways are a good way to build a loyal community)
- Drive your Instagram traffic to your website & earn through Adsense, sponsorships
- Use Cuelinks to turn all your normal links on your website into money-making affiliate links
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3. You Need a Profitable Content Strategy to Make Money on Instagram
To make a sustainable income from your Instagram as an influencer or content creator, you need to find a balance between Promotion, Education and the newly important element, Humour or Entertainment. If the content you are posting in a span of say 1 week has an optimum balance of these 3 elements, you are likely on the right track. Do note, that by optimum balance, we mean it should be specific to your niche. For example, some niches such as lifestyle and fashion may need to have a little more promotional content than education. While niches such as medicine or health may need to focus more on education than entertainment.
Here are some ideas for you to explore to enhance your content strategy on Instagram and start generating income as a content creator:
| Find your balance | Analyse your niche & audience group & form a balanced ratio of Promotion, Education, and Entertainment. |
| Share your journey | Share any specific product that helped overcome a certain problem (Example: how shifting to a diary diet helped my skin glow) |
| Solve a common problem | Humour and entertainment in today’s day & age of having an attention span less than a goldfish is super important |
| Add a touch of humour | Helps your audience connect more to you. Remember, most of us connect with people whose failures resonate with us more than their success |
| Comparison & testing | Compare & test different products (people love to see different products being compared) Also, it makes you look like an expert (bonus point!) |
| Share outtakes and bloopers | Keep up to date with the latest trends in your niche, follow accounts of your peers (no harm in that), participate in community interactions |
| Get creative with your post formats | Example: Then vs now, what I ordered vs what I got, a day in my life vlog, ordering the cheapest (or expensive) product in your niche & reviewing it, etc |
| Make the most out of ongoing trends | Keep up to date with the latest trends in your niche, follow accounts of your peers (no harm in that), participate in the community interactions |
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4. Tip to Make Money on Instagram as a Creator: Use your IG Bio wisely
Imagine you have only 10 seconds to let your target audience know who you are, what you do, and why you are worth their attention. These ten seconds decide whether someone swipes your profile right or left. Well, that’s Instagram Bio for you. To make money from Instagram as a content creator, you need to ensure your IG bio has the following things in place:
| Add your keyword in your IG profile name | Vrushali Sawant | Sweet 21 | God’s Child❌ Vrushali Sawant | Exp Content Writer & Editor ✅ |
| Address what you do & how it helps the target audience | No-fluff SEO, Copywriting & Fresh Insights – Helping Beginner Writers Grow Fast |
| Add your website link (or any other promotional link) | Helps you remove dependency on IG as a platform + generates you connections & income |
| Use link analytic tools to track your clicks | Cuelinks helps you do that for free |
| Keep testing different CTAs & bio layouts | Analyze metrics such as profile clicks, follower counts, profile impressions, etc |
| Profile picture matters | Portrait pictures on a solid colour background, and high-contrast portrait pictures, are some examples to try |
| Use affiliate product link instead of Linktree | If you do not want to send your IG traffic to your website and have a single product to promote (let’s say from the latest product review) then be sure to use an affiliate link in your bio to generate affiliate income |
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5. Join an Affiliate Network: Start Earning from Instagram as a Social Media Influencer
Joining an affiliate network is one of the easiest ways to monetise your content or following especially if you are still a small content creator or influencer.
Joining an affiliate network opens up several opportunities for you to earn from your Instagram account as a content creator. Below are a few of them
- Get access to 1000+ affiliate programs for free including top brands such as Amazon, Flipkart Affiliate, Myntra, etc
- Share affiliate links with your followers of the products you promote
- Automatically convert all your normal links to affiliate links (works on all websites + if you are using Blogger which is free, you can still benefit)
- During the initial phase when you do not have a ton of revenue or thousands of followers, its not easy to fulfil high payout thresholds. This is where Cuelinks’ payout threshold of just Rs.500 to Rs.1000 comes in handy.
So this was all about sharing how you can earn from Instagram as a content creator or an influencer. If you follow all the practices mentioned in this article, we are sure that your journey of making money from Instagram will be fast-tracked. Remember that earning money shouldn’t be your primary goal. Rather the goal should be to build an audience who loves your content and finds value in it. Once you do that, the earnings will follow.
