Having a large following on Instagram is an attractive prospect for many people. After all, influencers with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers are able to make a full-time living through branded partnerships and collaborations. So it’s natural to wonder – at what point can you start making money on Instagram? Does having 1000 followers mean you can monetize your account?
Can you get paid for 1000 Instagram followers?
The short answer is no, having 1000 followers on Instagram does not mean you can start earning money. While the idea of making an income from a relatively small following is appealing, the reality is that most brands require influencers to have a much larger audience before they will consider partnering and paying them. This allows the brand to reach more potential customers through the influencer’s audience.
Some of the factors that determine what following size is required to earn money on Instagram include:
- Your niche – Some niches have more monetization potential than others. Fashion and lifestyle influencers often need a smaller following than those in less commercial niches.
- The type of brand you want to partner with – Larger brands look for influencers with 50k-100k+ followers. Smaller brands may work with nano-influencers under 10k.
- Your engagement rate – Highly engaged followers are more valuable than followers who rarely interact with your content.
While rare exceptions exist, the general consensus is that you need a minimum of 10,000 engaged followers before you can realistically start earning as an influencer. Even then, earnings will be small until you reach 50,000 to 100,000 followers.
What are the Instagram monetization options?
Once you do build up a sizable following, there are several ways to monetize your Instagram account and start earning money. Some of the most popular options include:
Sponsored posts
One of the most common ways influencers work with brands is by creating sponsored posts and stories. This involves tagging the brand and promoting their products or services in your content. The brand pays you a fee for each sponsored post, with prices typically starting from $100 for nano-influencers up to $10,000+ for celeb influencers.
Affiliate marketing
Signing up for affiliate programs allows you to earn a commission whenever someone makes a purchase after clicking your affiliate link. The commission rate depends on the brand but is often around 5-15%. Affiliate links work well on product review posts.
Selling products
Influencers who want to earn higher margins often create their own digital or physical products such as ebooks, courses or merchandise. You can promote and sell these to your audience directly through links on your bio or posts.
Brand ambassador roles
Some brands may hire influencers as official brand ambassadors and pay them a fixed monthly fee to exclusively promote and create content featuring their products over a set time period (e.g. 6-12 months).
Licensing content
If you have high-quality photos or videos that align with a brand’s image, you may be able to license these for a fee. Your content could be used on the brand’s website, social media, ads or other marketing materials.
Paid partnerships
Teaming up with other brands or influencers can expose you to new audiences and allow you to charge a partnership fee. This may involve co-creating content, guest posting, or cross-promoting each other.
Crowdfunding
Platforms like Patreon allow followers to pay a monthly subscription fee to support your work. In return, you provide exclusive content, updates or rewards.
Selling shoutouts
Some influencers earn extra income by doing shoutouts for other Instagram users, businesses or brands in their stories or feeds. Fees are charged for each shoutout post.
What earning potential do different follower sizes have?
To give you a better idea of how follower count correlates with earning potential, here is an overview of approximate income for influencers at different follower sizes:
| Followers | Potential Earnings* |
|---|---|
| 1,000 | $0 – $100 per month |
| 10,000 | $500 – $1,000 per month |
| 50,000 | $2,000 – $5,000 per month |
| 500,000 | $10,000 – $20,000 per month |
| 1 million+ | $30,000+ per month |
*Earnings vary based on factors like niche, engagement, content quality, partnerships etc.
As you can see, it takes time to build up both your following and your earning potential as an influencer. But for those willing to put in consistent effort, it can become a lucrative career.
Tips to start earning from a small following
While 1000 followers is too small to earn directly from Instagram, here are some tips to start monetizing if you have just 5,000 to 10,000 engaged followers:
Optimize your profile
Brands look at your entire profile before deciding to work with you. Make sure you have a professional looking profile photo and bio, attractive Instagram grid, quality content, and use relevant hashtags.
Apply for affiliate programs
Sign up to become an affiliate partner for brands you love and regularly feature their products. Use affiliate links in your captions and stories.
Promote relevant brands
Proactively reach out to brands that are a good fit for your niche and audience. Offer to create sponsored content featuring their products for a reasonable rate.
Sell shoutouts
Offer Instagram story or feed shoutouts to other users and brands for a small fee like $5-10. Bulk packages can increase profitability.
Share discount codes
Provide special discount codes for your followers to use on relevant online stores or products. You can negotiate a commission from brands for any sales driven.
Offer freelance services
Monetize your skills and experience by offering social media consulting, content creation, influencer marketing services, etc. to brands.
Crowdfund a project
Use a platform like Kickstarter or Patreon to crowdfund a creative project, product launch or exclusive content for your loyal followers.
Should you buy followers to earn money?
One temptation when trying to increase your earnings is to take shortcuts and simply buy fake followers. However, this is not an effective or ethical strategy. Purchased followers have very low authentic engagement, and brands can easily identify accounts with inflated followings.
Not only will buying followers fail to help you earn money, but it can actually damage your reputation and cause you to lose partnerships. All your efforts should instead focus on organically growing real, high-quality followers in your niche.
Risks of buying Instagram followers
- Loss of credibility and trust
- Lower engagement rates
- No monetary benefit
- Potential ban by Instagram
- Waste of money
Growing your account the right way might take more time and effort, but it will pay off in the long run. There are no shortcuts when building an audience and monetizing as an influencer.
Conclusion
To summarize, while 1000 Instagram followers is an exciting milestone, it is too small to start earning money directly from your account. Most influencers need at least 10,000 highly engaged followers to begin monetizing through affiliate marketing or sponsored content. Brand partnerships, ambassador roles and larger earning potential come after hitting 50,000 to 100,000 followers.
Rather than taking shortcuts, focus on providing value to your audience and leveraging your skills. With consistent effort, you can gradually turn your passion into profit as an Instagram influencer.
