Since Instagram released Stories, it has been a great tool to help boost engagement and make money. It has become one of the most powerful weapons on Instagram to help promote your business, website, blog, YouTube channel, etc.
When and What to Post:
Be steady with posting to your Story. The more people see your post, the more chances you have of them deciding to engage with your content. Any business should post about 1-3 times per week for optimization. Do not get in the thinking of quantity over quality because the users only choose to engage with content that they find appealing. Therefore, you have to keep in mind that your Story is among the top lists that a user is flipping through. In order to capture the attention of a user, your content has to catch their eye and stand out.
One of the most important things to consider is also WHEN to post your content since you want to make sure that your Story is receiving the highest number of impressions as possible. So this is done by knowing the days of the week and times with the highest traffic so that you can post when the MOST people are on Instagram.
Using Instagram to Make Money:
Any individual person with an Instagram account has the ability to make money using the app. The best way to market your skills on IG is by posting on your Story because most people now rely more heavily on looking at Stories because it is quicker than scrolling through their feed.
By showcasing your skills or products on your Instagram Story,
- You can see who is viewing your content.
- If you post quality content to your Story and do so frequently, people will even begin reaching out directly to you.
- You can always start by putting up content you find yourself most attracted to and then instantly you will begin to receive messages from people offering to pay money to help them in the same context you have posted about!
Ways to make money using IG Stories:
Selling Your Own Products/Services:
- Promote items that you make and sell them using IG Stories to promote them. Keep in mind to: Include related hashtags in the Story so it is easy for more users to find your post & Include locations, which will also help more users to find your post.
- Create and put your website and mention the link in your Instagram bio for people to find it easily.
- Post Stories of things in your daily life that you would consider your “niche” and encourage people to reach out to you for your expertise/services.
- You can pretty much get paid for whatever you charge without losing any percentage through a third party.
Sponsored Posts, Affiliate Links, and Brand Partnerships:
There are numerous companies that look to work with Instagram influencers. Becoming an affiliate involves promoting items including links to buy them (for which you receive a commission from people using the link to make a purchase). This is known as “Affiliate Link”. Influencers can partner with brands to post Stories promoting their products (for which you receive a flat fee). These are what are known as “Sponsored Posts”.
Promoting Your Other Personal Sites:
You can use your Instagram bio to include a link to your own personal website, blog, YouTube Channel, etc. Using appropriate Story works very well to drive traffic to your external site.
Once you upload a new blog post, YouTube video, or anything else, you can post a Story promoting your new content by encouraging users to check it out. You can do this for users to drive to your work by either including a link in your bio or using a “Swipe-up” post, which you can do if your account has 10k followers and is a Business Account.
Conclusion:
Stories are a quick and easy way to help new people find your Instagram account and make money from it. Just make sure to post your quality content during the busiest traffic times on the site, and try to engage with your audience as much as possible. If you take these tools and begin to use them when creating and publishing content, you will begin to see changes in your account’s engagement.