You can make a lot of money on Instagram without millions of followers. In fact, you don’t even need thousands of followers to make money on the platform. All you need to have to get started is 1,000 followers, and the ability to buy real Instagram likes for your posts. 

It is common for Instagram newbies to assume that having more followers will allow them to make more money. However, the quality of the followers is more important than the quantity. If you have 1,000 highly engaged and highly targeted followers, then you can make much more money than someone with 100,000 untargeted followers.  

Once you have 1,000 engaged followers, the next step is to implement different money-making strategies into your Instagram posts. It will involve a combination of selling products and services to your followers. You could promote your own products or services, or other people’s products or services as their affiliate. We discuss these techniques in greater detail below.  

Below are the top four ways to make money on Instagram with just 1,000 followers. 

1) Choose a Niche

If you post random content on your Instagram channel, your followers will not be engaged or focused. That is why when we talk about “1,000 engaged followers,” these are people who are interested in the topics of your Instagram posts. To ensure your followers are interested, all of your Instagram posts must relate to a specific niche. 

For instance, if you want your Instagram channel to revolve around the fashion industry and promote fashion-related products, you should not make posts about other topics like dog grooming or work-at-home opportunities. Stay consistent with the theme of your channel so that your followers stay interested. Then you will increase the likelihood of them buying something.   

2) Become a Nano Influencer

A nano influencer is an Instagram influencer with between 1,000 and 5,000 followers. If your channel has reached the 1,000-follower mark, then you technically qualify to become a nano influencer. 

What does this mean? Well, it means you can start promoting other people’s products or services to your 1,000 followers. In exchange, you will get paid for your promotional services as a nano influencer. 

You could probably get away with charging your clients anywhere between $2 to $20 per post, depending on the quality of your followers. It might not seem like a lot, but it will add up quickly. Just remember to only promote products or services within the same niche as your channel. 

3) Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an effective way to make money on Instagram. Rather than sell your own products, you can promote other people’s products and earn a commission each time someone purchases them through your affiliate link. The earning potential from affiliate marketing is unlimited. 

You can use an affiliate platform like ClickBank and start promoting products instantly. The vendors don’t even need to approve you as an affiliate. After you sign up on ClickBank, you can browse their digital product catalog immediately. Once you find a product that you’d like to promote, you can generate a custom affiliate link for it. Then post relevant content on Instagram and include your affiliate link in the description box under the image.  

4) Sell Your Own Products

Do you want to sell your own products? Whether they’re physical or digital products, you can promote them to your Instagram followers. The easiest products to create and sell are digital products, such as eBooks, educational courses, video tutorials, and templates. 

Alternatively, you could also sell customized physical products, such as T-shirts and coffee mugs. There are plenty of custom t-shirt creation services on the internet that let anyone create and sell personalized t-shirts. 

The most prominent service provider is Teespring. They let you upload images that can appear on your T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, and more. Create images that relate to your niche and would look attractive on these products.

Each time someone places an order through your product link, Teespring will print the custom imagery onto the product and ship it to your customer. Then you will earn a commission on the sale after the company deducts their fees from the total cost.