Money / Entrepreneur

How Much Do Instagram Influencers Make? 2023 Top Earners

April 20, 2023

7 min Read

Written by Cynthia Bowman

Edited by Elizabeth Constantineau

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If you’ve been on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed some of your favorite accounts recommend products. Some do so more subtly than others — you may see a full infomercial or find that the poster uses hashtags or tags products in the photo. It’s likely the Instagrammer is getting paid. And the more followers they have, the higher the “influencer” status and the more money they can make.

You don’t have to be Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Ariana Grande — with over 300 million followers apiece as of April 20 — to make serious cash for promoting a product or to get freebies, such as an all-expense-paid trip. Read on to learn how much Instagram influencers make — and how you can earn some money, too.

How Much Do Instagram Influencers Make?

Celebrity accounts with the biggest followings are capable of making well over $1 million per sponsored post. Hopper HQ maintains a rich list of how much Instagram influencers make. The biggest earners are:

Cristiano Ronaldo | cristiano | $2,397,000 per post | 442M followers
Kylie Jenner | kyliejenner | $1,835,000 per post | 338M followers
Lionel Messi | leomessi | $1,777,000 per post | 327M followers
Selena Gomez | selenagomez | $1,735,000 per post | 320M followers
Dwayne Johnson | therock | $1,713,000 per post | 315M followers
Kim Kardashian | kimkardashian | $1,689,000 per post | 311M followers

The top six earners have the luck of being high-profile celebrities. It’s easier for them to get to million-follower status than the average person. But you’d be surprised — Instagrammers with a small niche following can make money as an influencer, as well.

Don’t Rule Out Instagram as a Side Hustle

Micro-influencers — those with followings of 2,000 to 50,000 — can make money on the platform as a side hustle. A survey of 5,000 influencers found that almost half charge $200 to $400 for a sponsored post. USA Today reported that some micro-influencers are charging thousands. As your follower count grows, so does the potential to earn more.

How To Make Money on Instagram

Making money as an influencer is all about having an audience willing to hear you out and try the products you recommend. To catch the attention of advertisers and make money on Instagram, you’ll need to have at least a few thousand active followers who like and comment on your posts. You might only get freebies at first, but as your following grows, so can the income potential.

Here are ideas on how you can make money on Instagram:

Affiliate Marketing

If you have a blog or a following, you may be able to upsell what you do by promoting a product or service and getting a commission on the sale. Affiliate marketing is different than sponsored posts because you make money if your followers buy the product.

It may be an easier way to cash in on your Instagram account. Instead of hoping to get approached by a brand for a sponsored post, you can apply to affiliate programs, such as Amazon, to make money selling their goods and services.

Sell Your Own Products

If you have a business such as a hair salon, retail store or Etsy shop, Instagram can be a good way to sell your products. All you need to do is take some quality photos and upload them to your feed. Instagram has business accounts and tools such as Shops that make it simple to set up a store and accept payments directly from the platform.

How To Grow Your Instagram Following

As mentioned, you’ll need followers before you can make money on Instagram. The hardest part is getting to 100 followers, then 500, then 1,000. Some people think they can buy fake followers and skip the hard work, but brands and advertisers are savvy — the quality of the follower is just as important.

Besides hitting the right number of followers, your audience needs to be active and engaged. Engagement means your posts receive many likes as well as comments, saves and shares. Here are some tips on how to grow your Instagram following with a quality audience:

Grow Your Audience

You’re probably aware that hashtags, an optimized bio and marketing your Instagram page on other social media platforms are good ways to start growing your audience. But nowadays, the competition for followers is hot. Finding creative ways to get followers is critical. Some ideas include the following:

Make sure your photos are beautiful and unique to your style.
Post regularly. Creating multiple posts at one time and scheduling them according to a consistent schedule makes this easier.
Host product giveaways for followers who invite others to follow you.
Interact with followers commenting on posts of larger accounts in your niche.
Befriend other influencers and ask — or pay — for shoutouts.

Interact With Your Followers

Engagement is just as important as the number of followers. Creating posts that get followers to share or comment should be as much of a priority as growing your audience. To get an idea of the level of participation your posts should have, the average branded engagement rate is less than 2% and declining, according to a study by Rival IQ. Instagram Insights, available for business and creator accounts, can help you evaluate your posts’ performance.

Some ways to have your audience interact are by posting questions or asking for advice or opinions. Don’t forget to respond to your followers who take the time to interact.

Do Occasional Follower Maintenance

It’s a mystery, but many Instagrammers complain that vague accounts that look like bots follow them. These accounts do bump up your follower numbers but affect your engagement rates since they don’t comment or like your posts.

As your follower count grows, you may want to periodically clean up your account and get rid of inactive followers. It will improve your engagement rate — and your chances of landing a lucrative sponsorship.

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Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article.

GOBankingRates collected data on account followers on April 20, 2023. Figures are subject to change.

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