Monetize your Instagram: tips from a pro influencer

If you’re a blogger like me, you live and breathe blogging, every minute of it pure joy (well, almost. The days when your stats dive aren’t fun), and you really don’t mind doing it for free. But … especially if you have a family, you realize it’s not just about what you enjoy, and at some point you gotta start bringing home the bacon. 

My first attitude towards brands wanting me to promote their stuff was annoyance. Didn’t they realize my time was valuable? Why do they just expect that I’d do it for free? Gradually I realized that even doing the free posts was getting me noticed by future brand collaborators, and it was good practice for me. 

Still. I want to get paid!

My friend Inez from fortheloveofmom.org is a master at sponsored posts. She’s got the magic. She’s done so many, she’s got nearly a legitimate income just from her Instagram account. Fortunately for the rest of us bloggers, she put together a course called Influential Mama where she lays out the basics of getting discovered, finding brands, and actually getting paid. 

As a rule, I don’t pay for stuff for my blog. I pay for hosting, for upgrading my blog so I get my own domain name, and the cheapest Board Booster plan. But when Inez released her course, first of all, she had already helped me out so much, because she’s just a helpful, generous person, that I felt like I owed it to her (BTW, I met her in her Facebook group the Mom Blog Tribe). Second, I really wanted to make money!!!

The course was perfect for me. Simple and concise, easy to understand and follow. The best part was that I was able to immediately apply some of her principles to turn a free post into a $95 deal! You know the feeling, someone contacts you wanting you to promote them, and you roll your eyes. I remember actually talking to my blogger friends about how amazing it was that people thought they were doing you a favor by letting you post about their stuff on your blog!

But what I needed was a mindset shift, plus the confidence of someone who’s been doing this successfully on a regular basis. Backed by these two things, I used Inez’ secrets to seal the deal, and I continue to use them regularly as I pitch brands. 

You might be thinking, I would love to monetize, but my following is so small! First of all, Inez started making money off her Instagram at around 2,000 followers. Second of all, that number is not too far off for you, as patience and consistency can turn even a small following into something more. It only took me a few months to go from zero followers to 2,000, and I wasn’t even trying that hard. 

My advice to you is this: pick a day each week where you spend at least 30 minutes working towards monetization. Apply on brand networks like Socialix, Full Bottle (please mention that Susan Croox referred you), Famebit, Blogher, Influenz, Social Fabric, Izea, and Tapinfluence. Once I hit 6 months on my blog, I realized I needed to make it a priority. Now I have one day a week at least where I check my networks to see if there are any campaigns I qualify for, and I seek out brands to pitch. You need to take the Influential Mama course (if you’re not a mama, it’s OK; the principles are the same). The course is selling for only $19, but if you use my code GMB10 at checkout you can get 10% off. Don’t wait! Start making money today.