How much money Instagram influencers make

Sydney Bradley
·5 min read
How much money Instagram influencers make
Jour'dan Haynes
Nano influencer Jour'dan Haynes.Jour'dan Haynes

  • Influencers on Instagram earn money in a multitude of ways.

  • From sponsored content to getting tipped on IG Live, creators balance several streams of income.

  • We spoke with dozens of creators who shared how much money they earn.

  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Instagram and influencers go hand-in-hand.

The Meta-owned social-media platform has become a primary stage for influencers launching their careers. And they don't need millions of followers to earn money on Instagram.

As more brands turn to smaller creators like "nano" or "micro" influencers with under 100,000 followers, establishing a full-time career as a creator is no longer a pipe dream.

But it's not so straightforward to start earning money on Instagram. Unlike YouTube, Instagram doesn't yet have a comparable payment system in place like YouTube's Partner Program. Typically, influencers rely on sponsored content to make a living. From posting a picture to the main feed with #ad to sharing swipe-up links in a series of Stories, sponsored content takes on many different shapes.

Rates for these types of brand deals also vary.

For instance, Nate White, a comedy creator who had 1.8 million TikTok followers and 340,000 Instagram followers when Insider interviewed him, has a base rate of $3,000. Meanwhile, Jour'dan Haynes, a nano influencer, told Insider she can earn up to $600 per post.

To land on these rates, some influencers rely on formulas like charging brands $100 for every 10,000 followers. But not everyone agrees on one formula.

Each deal has to also account for an influencer's following, engagement metrics, and niche, as well as deal terms like exclusivity, usage rights, and timing.

But if influencers negotiate well, brand deals can lead to big paychecks. For instance, one influencer with 275,000 followers told Insider she had booked $700,000 in brand deals in six months. And two micro influencers told Insider they earned six-figure yearly salaries as full-time creators.

Sponsored content, however, isn't the only income generator for these influencers — although it is generally the most lucrative.

Influencers on Instagram can also earn commissions on affiliate links, profits from selling merchandise, and proceeds from monetization tools Meta has introduced. One influencer who spoke with Insider made an average of $5,000 per month through affiliate links alone. Others are earning thousands of dollars from Instagram Reels Bonus Program.

Insider has spoken with dozens of Instagram influencers about how much money they charge brands for sponsored content and how else they make a living using the app.

Here's a comprehensive breakdown of Insider's Instagram money log series:

How much money Instagram influencers make from brand deals

Many influencers earn money on Instagram by working with brands on sponsored content.

35 Instagram influencers told us how much they charge for and have earned from sponsored content. Here's a full breakdown of our coverage, in order of follower count at time of interview:

"Macro" and "Mega" influencers

Micro influencers

Nano influencers

How Instagram influencers earn money beyond brand deals

From earning a commission through affiliate links to getting tipped by followers on an Instagram Live, there's a host of supplementary sources of income for creators on Instagram.

How much money do influencers make by promoting links or selling their own products?

Affiliate marketing

Influencers use platforms like LTK and ShopStyle to generate affiliate links or discount codes provided by brands to earn a percentage of sales. (Read more about the top affiliate platforms for influencers.)

Adding these links just got easier, too. In 2021, Instagram released the ability to add link stickers in Stories to all users — regardless of the follower count or verification status.

The platform also began testing native-to-Instagram affiliate marketing tools for influencers in 2021, but later shut down the program during the summer of 2022.

Read more:

Using Instagram's suite of monetization tools

Facebook, now called Meta, announced in July 2021 that it would invest over $1 billion in creators through 2022.

Since then, Instagram has announced several monetization features for creators. Although the platform's ad-revenue share program for ads played on IGTV (which rebranded to "Instagram Video") came to an end in 2022, creators have turned to Reels as a way to earn money.

Instagram has several incentive programs under the umbrella of "Bonuses." Instagram's "Reels Play Bonus," for instance, pays creators based on the number of views their videos accumulate within a month.

Meme creator Jackson Weimer told Insider that he was paid over $6,000 from his Reels in a month. Meta also added a bonus program and more ways to earn money from Reels on Facebook, including ad-revenue options. But these payments are constantly in flux for creators while Meta continues to test the program.

One creator described these payments as a "cherry on top."

Creators can also make money on Instagram by receiving "Badges" or "Gifts" (tipping features for Live and Reels, respectively), launching Instagram Subscriptions, and selling their own merchandise or products in-app.

Read more:

Selling courses, direct-to-consumer products, and merch

Influencers can sell their own products and merchandise directly through Instagram's shopping features, or leverage their audience to promote their own brands, DTC products, coaching services, or online courses.

Some influencers, like Huda Kattan, go on to found brands that are worth millions — or even billions — of dollars.

Read more:

Reselling clothing

Resale apps like Poshmark, Depop, and Etsy have become lucrative small businesses for many Instagram creators.

Read more:

Read the original article on Business Insider

Latest Stories