How to Make Money on Instagram with Under 10K Followers
Making money on Instagram doesn’t have to be tied to follower count – even if you have less than 10K. It may seem too good to be true, but you can jumpstart your path to being an influencer or even growing your brand while making some extra cash along the way with the tips we’ll go over in this blog post.
Types of influencers
To make money on Instagram, you first have to know what having under 10K followers can mean for you in terms of your influencer status. Although follower count doesn’t have to limit your success, the different classes of influencers are categorized by account size:
- Nano influencers – 1K to 10K followers
- Micro influencers – 10K to 100K followers
- Macro influencers – 100K to 1M followers
- Mega influencers – 1M+ followers
If you’re under 1K followers, don’t worry – you can still use these tips to grow your account! It’s important to know the types of influencers so you know who to network with – accounts with similar sizes to yours are the ones you should be looking to collaborate with.
Figure out what kind of content you want to focus on
When building your social media profile on any platform, you should know that content is king. Not just when you post or how often, but what you post. Many influencers have a specific “niche” they fall into, like makeup, health, and wellness, or gaming. It can be whatever you feel most passionate about!
The key to being a successful nano influencer is all about your niche. Brands are aware of the benefits nano influencers can bring to social media marketing, so don’t let that stop you from focusing on how to make your content as awesome as it can be without a large following. Once you have your niche figured out, you are more likely to build up a small (but loyal) audience who comes for your content.
Having a group of loyal followers who are seriously willing to support you through anything might actually be more useful for making money on Instagram in the long run – as long as you know how to meaningfully engage with them.
Stay engaged
Keeping engagement up is important for all influencers of any size – but it’s especially important for nano influencers looking to use their platform to make money. Replying to comments, screening and responding to your DMs, and following back some other creators of your size and in your niche are all ways to show your audience that you’re not just a content creator – you’re invested in them as well.
When your audience sees you as a genuine and committed creator, they’re more primed to support you in any smaller monetization efforts – like if you choose to start a Ko-fi, Patreon, or Cameo.
But when you’re ready to move on to the bigger steps in making money on Instagram – like brand deals – how exactly do you get them? It’s actually a lot less complicated than you might think.
Partner with small businesses
The most common way to make money on Instagram is by scoring some brand deals. The process of getting a brand deal might be a little intimidating if you’re a layperson, but the good news is this: you have complete control over obtaining brand deals, ambassador positions, and the like. You don’t have to wait for brands or small businesses to come to you.
First, to get a brand deal or perhaps some free products in exchange for an honest review, you need a rate card and a pitch template. A rate card is essentially a document explaining to the brand how much you charge for a sponsored post (most nano influencers charge anywhere from $25 to $200 per post). A pitch template is what you say to the brand to essentially sell yourself to them – it’s your introduction to them and an overview of what you can bring to the table, so it’s important to put in a decent amount of effort into your pitches.
You’re absolutely going to get some rejections when you start pitching – and that’s okay! It’s all a part of the process. The reality is, that you’re not going to make money on Instagram right away. But you can make money with less than 10K followers. This is why you should aim your sights on partnering with small businesses or brands first, so you both have something to gain. Eventually, you might even grow to have more than 10K followers!
Grow your Instagram with Power Move Marketing
At Power Move Marketing, we offer services that can help you grow your Instagram following, whether you’re an aspiring influencer or a brand. We nail the brand every time! Get started today and request a quote.
Author: Louise Irpino