How does the Instagram algorithm work in 2025? Your ultimate guide
Luke McCarthy
December 23, 2024
Instagram is a powerful platform for influencers and brands to connect with their audiences. But with its massive user base and engaging features, Instagram also provides brilliant opportunities for monetisation.
Whether you’re a creator looking to turn your passion into a profitable venture or a brand aiming to leverage Instagram’s vast reach, Instagram monetisation could be a great way to generate income.
In this guide, we’ll delve into everything you need to know about Instagram monetisation, including eligibility requirements, monetisation options, and how both influencers and brands can tap into this exciting revenue stream.
Although the online world is full of different platforms, Instagram has become more than just a place for sharing photos and connecting with friends. It’s evolved into an effective business tool for creators and brands alike.
Instagram monetisation is the process of earning money through the platform by leveraging your influence, content, or brand. Your strategy can involve partnering with brands, promoting products or services, and generating revenue directly or indirectly from your Instagram presence.
The best bit is that you can easily implement Instagram monetisation whether you’re working with a social media agency or doing everything by yourself.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, have backed up their commitment to making it easier to benefit from Instagram monetization. They pledged to invest over $1 billion by the end of 2022 in programmes to provide new ways to earn money on their platforms.
Let’s explore some of the different ways you can monetize Instagram so you can decide which are the best fit for your account.
Paid partnerships give brands and creators the opportunity to collaborate over a period of time, with the creator being paid to promote products or services to their audience. Brands can offer to pay in monetary value or provide free products in exchange for exposure and endorsements. If paid partnerships are something you want to explore in more detail, then Vamp can get you started with your first influencer campaign.
If you go live on Instagram and have an engaged audience, viewers can buy badges to support you. This feature allows your followers to show appreciation during your live streams and can provide an additional revenue stream.
If you produce exclusive content or offer valuable resources, you can use Instagram’s subscription feature to provide access to premium content for a recurring fee. This option can work really well for educators, or professionals in specialized fields.
Through affiliate marketing, you can benefit from Instagram monetization by promoting products or services through affiliate links on your Instagram posts, stories, or bio. When your followers make purchases using your unique affiliate links, you earn a commission.
The link in bio is a really easy way to monetize Instagram. You can direct followers to your website or online store, where they can then buy your products and services. We recommend testing different bio descriptions and monitoring your analytics to see how each variation performs.
If you’re a creator making engaging and popular Reels content, you may be eligible for Instagram monetization through ads. By enabling ads on your Reels, you can earn a portion of the revenue generated from the ads that your viewers see.
Through sponsored posts, creators can feature a brand’s product or service in their posts or stories and receive payment for the promotion. Instagram monetization through sponsored posts can be a one-off or a series over a set period of time.
By using Instagram’s shopping feature, brands can showcase and sell products directly from their profile. We recommend planning product campaigns using a social media calendar so that you have a well-planned out strategy that makes the most of popular shopping times like Christmas and Black Friday.
If you’d like to benefit from Instagram monetisation through an Instagram shop, here are the steps you’ll need to take:
Once your shop is up and running, you can add product tags in reels and stories or run a live shopping event.
Before you dive headfirst into Instagram monetisation, let’s go through how to become eligible. The criteria does vary for different features (which we’ll go into in just a moment), but there are some things to keep in mind that can help your Instagram monetisation to be more successful.
If your account is a personal page, switch to a Business or Creator Account: Having your page as a professional one will give you free access to useful insights that will help you to improve your content and track results.
Now you know all the different options for Instagram monetization, let’s go through the requirements for each one. For all the options, you’ll need to comply with Instagram’s partner monetization policies, community guidelines, and content monetization policies.
Instagram shopping: There are a few more policies that you’ll have to comply with to be able to run Instagram shopping. These include commerce eligibility requirements, commerce policies, commercial terms, seller agreement, and platform terms.
Some of the monetization options do require a certain number of followers, as we’ve listed above. However, it’s still possible to make money on Instagram as a brand or creator with fewer followers, for example through affiliate marketing.
If you’re a brand who’s ready to run an influencer campaign as part of your Instagram monetization strategy, it could be tempting to just focus on the number of followers when choosing influencers. But here’s the thing, a successful collaboration doesn’t always have to be about the quantity of followers. Quality and engagement matter just as much, if not more.
Even with a smaller following, the right influencer can still get the results you want from Instagram monetization. They may have spent a long time focusing on building an engaged and niche community. Try to find an influencer who is authentic, creative, and who has a good connection to their audience as they’re more likely to have the trust of their followers and be able to promote your brand effectively.
Instagram monetization has so many opportunities for creators and brands to transform your Instagram presence into a profitable venture. Embracing Instagram monetization can unlock new revenue streams and propel your success in the digital landscape. Stay creative, authentic, and strategic to make the most of its potential.
If you’re ready to plan an influencer campaign with predictable outcomes as part of your Instagram monetization strategy, then take a look at our platform. It enables you to create, manage, and report all your influencer marketing campaigns in one place.
