how to make money on instagram

This post was originally published in [2025] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools. You’ve seen the viral videos of creators traveling the world, but have you ever wondered how they actually pay for it? It’s not just luck; it’s a strategy. Most people don’t realize that earning with Instagram Reels is one of the most accessible side hustles in 2026. Here are 10 practical ways to turn your views into income, starting today. Sell photos and videos Affiliate marketing Landing page Reels Ad revenue sharing Sell your own products Brand sponsorships & partnerships Promote a website Patreon Buy me a coffee UGC Keep reading, and I'll share how Instagram really works and a way to get paid on day 1, even with 0 followers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHuv5NNQHFg How the Instagram Reels algorithm works: 4 tips to get more views as a beginner There are 4 different types of posts on Instagram.... Reels - Up to 90 seconds, and can be seen by everyone. Stories - Up to 60 seconds and ONLY seen by followers. Posts - (long form and carousels) can be seen by everyone. Lives - Up to 4 hours long and can be seen by everyone. The algorithm works very similarly to TikTok. Things that can help get more views would be.. If people make it till the end of the video, the better it does. Likes, comments, and shares are all good for the video. The more watch time, the better. The more people who click on your video, the better it can do. How to sell stock footage from your phone: Passive income with Reels clips A great way to earn extra money is by signing up to this place HERE and selling your photos or video clips. This place owns 70% of the market, so it's the first place to post to. A video should be 6-10 seconds long, and they sell for more money than photos. All of this is based on supply and demand. So if you see something strange when traveling or in your area, take a quick photo and video of it. Who knows, maybe there are NO photos or videos of it. The hardest part is the metatags and stuff, and ChatGPT can help. All you have to do is enter the following information into the AI and copy and paste what it gives you. Following the following format (city, state, or country) – date it was taken: description. Write a description for a Shutterstock photo, including ideal first and second categories and ideal tags. I took a photo/video of (..) in (...) on (..) . Oh, and landscape photos do better than portraits, and editorial content is better since you can film people without waivers. Commercial content is more complex, and waivers need to be filled out. 📸 Reels Revenue Projector See your potential 2026 earnings. Monthly Reels Views: Follower Count: Primary Strategy: Ad Revenue Sharing (Passive) Affiliate Marketing (Recommended) Brand Partnerships (Nano/Micro) Calculate Payout Potential Monthly Income $0.00 Instagram Reels Affiliate Marketing: How to make money with zero followers Affiliate marketing is probably the easiest way to make money online, even with 0 followers. All you do is recommend a product, and if someone buys something, you get paid. How it would work is you can put an affiliate link in your profile and then make videos around your niche. At the end of your video, you could say, "Check out my profile for more." In your profile, you would talk about the benefits of the affiliate product. If someone clicks on your link and purchases it, then you could get paid. How to build an email list with Reels: Why you need a landing page link in bio Even better is to have a landing page set up, where you collect emails in exchange for a free guide that you give away. You can make WAY more money by collecting emails than with just affiliate marketing. Here are a few of the benefits... You own the list Can promote multiple offers Can contact someone WAY in the future Promote your other content Do list swaps Easier to get accepted into affiliate programs MUCH higher conversion rate Great for launching products Get valuable feedback Protects you from algorithmic changes More personalized marketing The key to sending emails is that you have to know what you're doing. Otherwise, nobody will open up your emails or even read them. This is where copywriting comes into play, and it's VERY valuable. I'm giving away free guides on how to do this at this place HERE. Oh, and the cool thing is that there are even free or almost free ways to collect and send emails. Instagram Reels Ads Payout: How to qualify for the 2026 revenue sharing program When ads are shown, you can earn a percentage of the revenue. The creator receives 55% of the ad revenue while Instagram keeps 45%. In order to qualify for this program, the following conditions must be met. Someone needs 10,000 followers on their account. It's only available in the U.S., Japan, Canada, and South Korea. Someone needs to be 18 years old or older Account in good standing Need a professional account or creator account, NOT a personal account. If you do qualify, then you will get an email invite and an in-app notification to your Instagram account. How to sell digital products on Instagram: Using PLR and eBooks for 100% profit Selling your own products is a great way to use Instagram. You might be thinking it's a complete pain in the butt to create a product, and "it doesn't have to be." A wonderful idea is PLR (private label rights). This means you own the product and keep 100% of the money. Even better, you do NO work in creating the product. A place like this HERE is what I recommend. Even better news is that they have tons of flexibility. You can give them away, bundle them up, use them to grow a list, and SO many other uses. For example, you can give them away if someone leaves a comment on your video or as a bonus if someone buys a product. Another way to create products is with an eBook. eBooks have more uses than TV in a retirement home. Plus, you can actually stick affiliate offers in the eBook, give them away, sell them, and grow a list. I made a full guide on TONS of uses for an eBook HERE. Another cool trick is this place HERE, which allows you to sell a product anywhere. It's free until you sell something, and the fee comes out of your profits. Oh, and you can change the refund rate to whatever you want, even make it so refunds are not an option, "if you want." I just scratched the surface of the type of merchandise you can sell, and there are TONS more ideas. How to get brand deals on Instagram: Finding sponsorships as a micro-influencer Sponsorships are when you do a shout-out for a brand. It could be a one-time thing or a few times. Partnerships are built on mutual interest and are more long-term. I'm sure you have LOTS of questions such as... How much do you charge for sponsorships? How do you find sponsorships? What is the minimum number of followers needed? To get an idea of what you could charge and how many followers are needed, you can take a look at this calculator HERE. Not bad, 1,000 followers at 10% engagement, you can get $62 - $93 a post. As for how to find sponsorships and brand deals, usually a company will DM (direct message) you or send you an email. This is why having your contact info on your profile is important. Of course, you could always reach out to the brand and make an offer. Most companies usually have an affiliate program available. Another tip is that after you have given the company some business, you can ask for an increase in the percentage you get. The company doesn't want to lose you. Just remember... Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease and sometimes it gets replaced. How to drive traffic to your blog from Reels: Connecting social media to your website You could use Instagram to promote a website, and this is what I do and recommend. It could be a blog or e-commerce website. I like blogging because you can get traffic from the search engines and still promote products in the blog. If you're curious about how to start a blog, I created a 10-step guide to it in this post HERE. The great thing about owning a website is that it's more stable. Nobody can take it away since you own it. Plus, there are many other benefits, such as higher ad revenue. Still, the number 1 place is a landing page to collect emails. Then, using emails, you can promote a website, affiliate offers, your YouTube channel, or anything you want. How to use Instagram to earn money with Patreon To tell you the truth, I've never been a fan of Patreon. To me, it's always been sort of begging for money. Still, some people use it, it works, and they enjoy it. How it works is if someone signs up, they pay a fee every month, and in return, you can give them bonuses. These bonuses could include.... Early access - (share content before other people) Behind-the-scenes material Livestreams Other personal experiences It is a way to upgrade your content after you grow for a while. How to earn money with Buy Me a Coffee on Instagram Another way to get paid on Instagram is just to straight up ask for it. It does sort of remind me of a cardboard sign. But hey, at least you're being transparent this time. via GIPHY You can check out Buy Me a Coffee HERE, and the good news is you keep 95% of the money. How it works is you basically tell someone to buy you a coffee, but in reality, you're asking for money, like a tip. In order to get the cash, you need at least $10 in your account to withdraw it. So you can either ask for.. A 1 time fee of $5 Memberships -different tiers with benefits Shop - you can sell various products. How to become a UGC creator: Selling user-generated content for brands on Fiverr UGC content is (user-generated content), and companies pay people to create more ads for them. They benefit because they get an ad (that doesn't look like an ad), and you can earn a lot of money doing it. Fiverr, this place HERE, is another great way to advertise that you can do this. A few tips with Fiverr are that you can't change your username, so choose wisely. Also, a professional photo of your face is important. You can use reels to showcase your work and then offer to create content for companies not posted on your account. This works EVEN better if it's a product you use and really enjoy, that way it's genuine. Then you would reach out to the company and offer to create the UGC content for them (the ad). How much would you charge? You could go on Fiverr and see what other freelancers are charging, and that could give you an idea. If you're new, you could always start a little lower, too. You just want to be careful of creating an ad for a shitty product like the celebrities that were making ads for FTX before it collapsed (you know that crypto exchange). You don't want to lose your soul just to make a few extra dollars. The golden rule is... Would you recommend the product to your mom or close friend? If not, don't recommend it to anyone else. Conclusion There really are TONS of ways to make money with Instagram. What I recommend (and I do this) is first create a TikTok video, post it, and then download the video and repost it to many platforms like Instagram, YouTube shorts, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MUCH more. You can view a 10-step process to earning more income with short videos at this post HERE. Everything is BETTER if you collect emails with a landing page. If you know what you're doing with email, you don't even need that much traffic; it's that powerful. I have free guides on how to send emails, get them opened, and how to collect emails for FREE at this post here. Hope this post was helpful, bye for now.