Making Money on Instagram in 2025: How Many Followers On Instagram To Get Paid?

Instagram is a popular social media platform. It helps people connect with their favorites. Other than celebrities, this app gives opportunities to other creative minds to prove themselves. 

These people are known as “Influencers” or “Creators.” By availing this opportunity smartly, they can even get paid for each post they make. Rather than the audience, do you also want to be part of the creators list?

Do you want to know how to get paid on Instagram? How many followers to make money on Instagram? This guide will discuss everything including some strategies to earn and gain more followers. 

Instagram Monetization Requirements

You are only eligible for monetization on Instagram if you fulfill these requirements:

• Age: You must be 18 or above to monetize your account on Instagram.

• Account Type: The account must either be a Creator’s or a business account.

• Residence: If you are in any partnership program, you must live in a country where that product is available. 

• Authenticity: The content you are posting must be authentic with no misleading information. You must have organic traffic and real followers. Any creator who artificially inflates follower and view counts will be considered ineligible for monetization.

• Content: Content: Creating content in Instagram always has to be in line with the policy for monetization on Instagram. Avoid mentioning any social controversies, substance abuse, crimes, and sexual content. This will decrease or eliminate all opportunities for monetization.

• Format: There are some formats that make you ineligible for content monetization. These include static posts, looping videos, videos with static image and overlaying texts, and content that already has ads. 

Moreover, monetization is also prohibited for any person related to politics or government. These include political officials or candidates, any political parties, and government agencies.

How Many Followers On Instagram To Get Paid?

There is always a concept that you need to have many followers on Instagram to earn money. But the question arises, exactly how many Instagram followers do you need to get paid? Content monetization in this short-form video platform is possible for someone with even 1000 followers.  

But, Instagram does not directly pay for the reels. A creator makes money through paid partnership programs, ads and sponsorships, and by selling products.

The payment mainly depends upon your engagement rate and content quality. Influencers with less followers like 1000 to 10,000 are mostly offered payments up to $100 per post. For more famous creators, brands even offer $1000, $5000, or $10,000 for each post they make. 

Currently, Instagram has also introduced a small “bonus reward” program in which it will pay you a bonus for a limited time based on the performance of your content. 

8 Ways to Earn Money on Instagram

Here are 8 ways that can help a creator make money on Instagram. 

1. Collaborations and Sponsorships

The first opportunity for you to earn money on Instagram is through collaboration with brands. Most small businesses and big brands use Instagram as a selling platform. That is how such collaborations occur. A business is able to introduce their products to a wider audience while the creator earns money for it. Thus, it will be a win-win situation for both.

Depending upon the category of the creator and the scale of business, they can pay $10 to $5000 per collaboration. Share honest reviews and creative visuals. Brands prefer influencers with active engagement, not just followers.

2. Join Affiliate Programs

Have you ever heard of an affiliate program? In this, a person promotes a certain product. Every time someone buys a product by clicking on an affiliate link provided by the creator, he/she will be given a bonus. A creator with high engagement can help drive traffic to a brand and get paid in return.

Since Instagram only allows you to share one link in bio, you can share links in your posts or stories. 

3. Start a Business

If you do not want to wait for other businesses to contact you, how about starting your own business? You can open a shop on Instagram. It will work like any other online website people shop from. You just need to choose a product to sell, upload its images, and then enter the price. 

Sponsored content needs to appear organic in order to gain trust. It lets users check out items directly while staying on the app. You can also promote your business more actively or work with other brands to introduce it to their audience.

4. Paid Subscriptions 

Once you have built a loyal fanbase, you can also start earning money through paid subscriptions. In this system, a creator makes exclusive content that is available to those who have availed the paid subscription. 

Instagram has its own subscription program. Creators above 1 year of age and having above 10,000 followers are eligible for it. You can set a monthly subscription fee and those who pay will have a batch in front of their name. 

By actively interacting with your subscribers in comments or surprising them with exclusive lives, you can make their subscription worth it. This will also encourage others to be a part of your subscription program. 

5. Instagram Reels Bonus Program

Instagram introduced an invite-only bonus program through which creators can earn money. It gives creators a chance to get rewarded for making engaging reels as part of the program. It starts the program by sending an email or in-app notification.

After onboarding, all you have to do is continue creating reels. As the audience engages and likes the reels, it will analyze the activity. Based on data from 150 content pieces of the week, the platform will pay you. 

However, the program is still in its testing period and available in Japan, South Korea, and the US for now. 

6. Earn Badge or Gifts from Followers 

Livestreaming is not only a way of improving interactions with the audience but it can also help you earn money. During the live stream, Instagram allows the viewers to buy badges for you. As they pay for it, you will be given a share. 

Badges come in three tiers ranging from $0.99 to $4.99. Once someone buys it for you, their contribution will show in front of the user’s name. Similar to this, your audience can also buy a star for your reels. With each star bought, Instagram will pay you $0.1. TO get paid, you must fulfill the eligibility criteria first. 

7. Create Your Merchandise

When you get enough popularity on Instagram, you can design your merchandise and sell it to your fans. The products of your merchandise can be niche-specific. For example, if you are a beauty influencer, then you could make their own beauty products or collaborate with brands on a limited-edition line of products.

The majority of creators do this to generate additional income and also to connect with their supporters. It does not even require any extra effort. Just design the merchandise and promote it. 

8. Provide Services 

If you are good at something, use your skills to earn money. You can be a creator and a gym trainer, mentor, teacher, psychotherapist, or an account manager at the same time. 

Similarly, once you get a high number of followers, you can choose to mentor, train, or set up master classes for them in a particular subject or field. Be a chef or a gym trainer, anyone can offer their services to their followers and earn money. 

At start, you can offer exclusive discounts for the first few followers or start with lower rates. This will make your followers take their decision faster and be your client.

Tips to Get More Instagram Followers

Most creators face a static Instagram following when they newly create their account. This does not mean you are not good. You just need the right strategy to gain followers. Here are some proven tricks:

• The very first thing is to create accounts on every social media platform. Promote on Instagram accounts everywhere to gain followers from every app.
• Instagram offers a built-in analytics option. Creators can check their engagement rates, profile visits, and the peak time of engagement. Posting on the time users are most active will increase the chances of your reel to reach more people.
• Continuously interact with your followers through livestreams and comments. In this, the audience feels appreciated. There is a high chance that they will mention you to others as well. 
• Maintain a consistent schedule. Posting once or twice a month will not help you gain followers at all. Post regularly at least 3-5 times per week. 

Conclusion

The number of followers on Instagram do not determine your success. The relevance of your content. Even if you have less followers but high engagement rate, there are high chances that you can generate a great revenue from this app. 

The forms, in which monetization is possible, include sponsorship, affiliate programs, paid subscriptions, and sponsorships. You can also sell your merchandise to your followers. Moreover, Instagram is also experimenting with a short-duration bonus program for creators who manage to maintain a high engagement rate on their posts. 

Combining all these methods can help to increase your follower growth. You just need to be genuine and adhere to the monetization policies consistently.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Do Instagram reels get paid?

Instagram offered payment for reels but this option is not available anymore. Now, reels can help earn but through sponsorships, collaborations, or paid subscriptions, etc. The earning entirely depends upon the work of the creator. 

2. How much can a person with 1000 followers earn on Instagram?

A nano-influencer with 1000 followers can earn a minimum of $10 per post. At maximum, it can even go up to $100 per post. It depends upon the engagement rate of the reels he/she posts.  

2. How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?

The number of followers does not have much significance in Instagram content monetization. The earning is rather decided by the engagement of the audience on your platform. You can start earning on Instagram with even 1000 followers.