How Many Followers Do You Need to Get Sponsored on Instagram?

Whether a public figure, influencer, or business, social media platforms, like Instagram, are a great way to build awareness about your brand, garner a loyal audience base, and even cultivate customers (as a business).

However, while taking advantage of marketing on Instagram, the social media platform also incentivizes its users with a high engagement rate and followers - through active and passive income. Instagram account owners can make money on Instagram after they get a certain number of followers.

Do you want to know how many Instagram follows it takes to make money - and other essential criteria to meet? Check out this guide on how to make money on Instagram by having more followers.

How many followers do I need on my Instagram account to start making money?

You need at least 1,000 Instagram followers to start making money on the platform. Account owners are categorized into 5 key tiers, helping you understand the potential to earn money on the platform.

Here is how accounts are categorized:

• Nano-influencer: 1,000–10,000 followers with a minimum pay of $10 to $100 per post
• Micro-influencer: 10,000–50,000 followers with a minimum pay of $100 to $500 per post
• Mid-tier influencer: 50,000–500,000 followers with a minimum pay of $500 to $5,000 per post
• Macro-tier influencer: 500,000–1M followers with minimum pay of $5,000 to $10,000 per post
• Mega influencer: 1M+ followers with minimum pay of $10,000 to $1M+ per post

How do you make money on Instagram with more follower count?

There are several ways to make money on Instagram with a minimum of 1,000 followers. Instagram users don't get paid directly by the social platforms for just having followers. But, through collaborations or own initiatives, you have enough followers to create useful leads and convert them into customers.

With a higher follower count, brands are more likely to reach out and offer partnerships. Common ways to make money include brand collaborations, affiliate marketing, or setting up a shop on Instagram.

Moreover, Instagram is currently testing two unique programs; where the brand shares revenue with a select group of creators. These include the ad revenue and bonus rewards program.

10 ways of making money on Instagram

Here are examples of potential ways to make money on Instagram:

1. Partner with brands through Instagram influencer marketing
2. Collaborate with brands to create sponsored posts and content
3. Place affiliate links or promo codes on your Instagram bio or posts
4. Setting up an Instagram shop for your business
5. Expand your selling channels into social media
6. Design and sell merchandise for your Instagram shop
7. Take advantage of monetization tools, such as live badges, gifts, and paid subscriptions
8. Earn from ad revenue
9. Instagram bonus program
10. Offer services: coach, mentor, train, or offer masterclasses

1. Partner with brands through Instagram influencer marketing

With a large follower number and engagement rate, brands can reach out for potential collaborations, depending on your niche. As you continue to grow and make more impact in your niche, you are likely to attract brand partnerships - particularly serving as a brand influencer on the platform.

2. Collaborate with brands to create sponsored posts and content

Alternatively, you can collaborate with brands by creating sponsored posts, Instagram stories, and other content types for them. Sponsored posts and content are usually much easier to land for influencers of all levels as long as you meet the brands' needs - typically, the number of followers and engagement.

3. Place affiliate links or promo codes on your Instagram bio or posts

You can also earn extra money online by placing affiliate links or promo codes on your Instagram profile.

You can find a wide range of brands and businesses with affiliate programs that let you earn based on the traffic and sales you drive to their sites.

Simply look up a site that matches your niche and target customer and sign up for their affiliate program to get the links or promo codes.

4. Setting up an Instagram shop for your business

Instagram lets you set up an online store from your account and sell products directly to your audience. With already good engagement and a large following, creating relevant and engaging content is enough to drive sales.

5. Expand your selling channels into social media

Do you already sell online? Maybe you set up an online store on your website or simply run a brick-and-mortar store? Expanding your sales channels can help you grow your earnings significantly.

If you already have a large number of followers or have a strategy to grow one, you can extend your social media account into another selling platform. All you have to do is enable the shopping features and start to market your products.

6. Design and sell merchandise for your Instagram shop

As you grow your followers and continue to engage them, you can design and sell merchandise for your Instagram account. When you build your name among your followers, you can create merchandise for your account and sell it to your fans.

Many Instagram influencers opt for this monetization option for extra revenue based on their niches. For instance, coffee influencers can create their unique blends and have them available for their followers to purchase.

The best part? You can leverage different online tools to streamline this process without digging deep into your pockets. Brands, like Supliful, offer dropshipping services.

‍In the case of selling coffee: Supliful blends, roasts, packs, and brands the coffee package for you and delivers it to the customer.

With Supliful fulfilling your orders, you don't have to worry about the extra costs of storing your inventory or dealing with shipping services for the customer. Supliful covers more than just coffee - business owners can choose from the company's catalog of over 100 different products. Plus, on Instagram, you can directly link your Supliful store.

7. Take advantage of monetization tools, such as live badges, gifts, and paid subscriptions

Instagram features built-in monetization tools, such as Instagram badges, gifts, and paid subscriptions your followers can pay for. Many influencers offer exclusive content whereby only their subscribers can view after paying a subscription fee.

On the other hand, the platform lets your viewers purchase live badges and gifts during your live streams as a show of appreciation to you. This translates to revenue on your end.

8. Earn from ad revenue

Monetize your account by enjoying Instagram's ad revenue. A few select Instagram content creators can make money on Instagram by being paid directly by the platform through ad revenue. However, this Instagram marketing model isn't available to every creator.

Even if you do meet the minimum criteria, it is currently based on an invite-only to a select group of Instagram accounts.

Typically, creators enjoy making money on Instagram through the ad program by allowing the platform to place video ads in their Instagram page feeds and reels.

When people scroll through your content on your profile feed or reels, they get to see ads in between them.

Here are the qualification criteria for creators to start earning ad revenue:

• Have a professional account on Instagram
• Be at least 18 years old and reside in the US, Canada, South Korea, or Japan
• Understand and meet the platform's Partner Monetization Policies
• Receive an email invitation or in-app notification about your eligibility

9. Instagram bonuses

Like the ad revenue program, the platform is also testing a bonus reward program for Instagram influencers and creators. According to the platform, this program helps compensate creators for their performance on the platform, based on their reels and photos.

If you qualify for this program through an email or in-app notification, you get to receive a limited-time bonus.

All you have to do after completing the onboarding process is to continue engaging your followers by sharing public reels and photos, including single-image posts and carousels.

Instagram automatically counts up to 150 content pieces shared from the week you activate to the end of the bonus opportunity and compensates you based on them. Creators earn more by receiving more plays and views on their publicly shared content.

In addition to being an invite-only program, you have to meet the following requirements to be eligible for the bonus rewards:

• Reside in the US, Japan, or South Korea where the platform currently is testing the program
• Operate a professional account (for Instagram creators or businesses)

9. Offer services: coach, mentor, train, or offer masterclasses

Maybe you are a successful business owner or skilled chef, Instagram offers an excellent platform to share these skills and capacitate others to be just like you. When you gain followers and cultivate enough influence, you can attract potential customers easily.

With this influence and credibility, you can create services, like coaching, mentoring, training, or even, setting up master classes.

The best part? You get to share your skills and capacitate more people. On the other hand, you get to earn extra income–all while doing it online through your social media account.

Other factors to consider beyond the number of Instagram followers

The number of followers plays a critical role in helping boost your earning potential with your account on Instagram. However, making money on Instagram isn't solely dependent on the followers you have alone. Other factors play an essential role in opening you up to earning opportunities.

These include:

• Engagement rate: Engagement is the second most important factor Instagram depends on after the number of followers. Accounts with a high number of followers without any engagement are less likely to enjoy opportunities. Ever come across an account with 250,000 followers, but only 8 video views or 2 likes on a post? Such accounts tend to show the same pattern across all its shared public content. Chances are followers aren't generated organically and thus, don't have any value at all. Brands are less likely to approach such account owners and neither is it easy to sell through these accounts.
• Content quality: Audiences want to see content that is high quality, attractive, and relevant. You are more likely to pull more engagement to your account with good quality content than subpar content.
• Account niche: Your choice of niche will also determine how easy it is to find brands to collaborate with and to pull engagement to your account. Beauty, pets, fitness, lifestyle, parenting, and food are among the most popular and profitable niches on Instagram.
• Audience demographics: Audience demographics are important in helping you determine the type of content to create. They help you craft the right content, and target, and segment the right audience. Accounts on Instagram that have nailed this feature will enjoy a larger following, and more engagement, and easily attract brand collaborations - since it's a signal you know what you are doing!
• Name recognition and popularity: Name recognition and popularity can also impact your revenue on the platform. For instance, an Instagram influencer with the same number of followers as celebrities, such as the Kardashians, will not earn as much, as they don't have such a big name and influence. But, this doesn't mean that influencers don't stand a chance to earn big. You can still find a long list of high-earning influencers who started small just like. Examples include Jordan The Stallion, Khaby Lame, and Adam Mosseri.