Are you looking for an easy way to sell your digital products? Or who else wants to make money on the side?
With the growing popularity of social media, it’s no longer a problem. Over the last few years, social media usage has grown significantly: 4.48 billion people use social media platforms. When done right, using social media for business can help you earn money, promote products, and gain popularity. If you are going to choose one social media platform to promote your products, make it Instagram.
The days when only big brands like Nike and GoPro could monetize Instagram are far behind us. With over one billion active users, Instagram has become a powerful sales machine for brands, influencers, solopreneurs, creators, etc.
Today, consumer buying behavior has changed, and people discover and buy products on Instagram. The numbers speak for themselves:
- 90% of accounts follow at least one brand on Instagram
- 83% of users discover new products and services on the platform
- 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one Business profile daily
Want to know the best part? There’s no need to create and sell your products to earn money with Instagram.
Who can make money on Instagram?
- Influencers: There’s no need to be a popular celebrity like Kylie Jenner to affect your Instagram following. Since modern users crave authenticity, they trust peer recommendations and they follow opinion leaders who can suggest products and services. For influencers, this means a great opportunity to make money on Instagram.
- Brands: More and more people discover and buy products in-app, so it’s no wonder that more than 25 million businesses use Instagram to reach their potential customers, promote their products, and sell on the platform.
- Digital creators: No matter how many followers you have, using Instagram is a proven way to connect with your potential customers and spread the word about your product. Moreover, everyone can set up shopping on Instagram, so this platform offers more opportunities for digital creators to sell their products in-app.
- Instagram experts: Since the platform attracts more and more people who want to make money on Instagram, it’s getting harder to cut through the noise. Thus, it’s no wonder that many people seek out professionals who can help them create a winning Instagram profile, develop a strategy, write captions, monitor brand mentions, etc. Simply put, Instagram experts are in demand.
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No matter how many followers you have, there are some proven ways to monetize your Instagram account. If you don’t use Instagram to make money, you’re missing out a lot.
To start making money on Instagram, it’s important to pick a popular and profitable niche that helps to attract followers, boost user engagement, and grow your revenue with ease.
Let’s find out the top 11 Instagram niches that are highly profitable.
The most profitable Instagram niches
1. Traveling
The travel industry is one of the world’s largest industries. Not only do modern travelers love to travel, but they also want to share their experiences on social media.
Just imagine: 60% of travelers (and 97% of Millennial travelers) share their travel photos on social media, 87% use social media for travel inspiration, 40% of consumers under 33 prioritize ‘Instagrammability’ of the potential destination when choosing holiday decisions.
In other words, Instagram offers more opportunities for people who want to become travel bloggers. If you’re fond of traveling, there are many ways for you to make money on Instagram.
Let’s take Salt In Our Hair blog, for example. This couple travels the world together and makes a living by writing travel blogs, creating travel photos for brands, and making travel videos on their YouTube channel.
Source: @saltinourhair on Instagram
With a cohesive and eye-catching Instagram feed, it’s no doubt that the couple knows how to take beautiful photos. To monetize their Instagram, Hannah and Nick promote their photo filters on the platform:
Source: @saltinourhair on Instagram
2. Beauty
Social media has a great influence on the beauty industry: Today, 65% of teens discover and buy beauty products through social media and influencers, so it’s no wonder that 96% of beauty brands are on Instagram.
Modern users search for beauty tutorials, makeup hacks, and product reviews before making purchase decisions. Thus, this niche offers many ways for brands and influencers to spread the word about their products, connect with the target audience, and boost eCommerce sales.
Influencers like Huda Kattan have an army of loyal followers on the platform. This Iraqi-American makeup artist, beauty blogger, and entrepreneur has 39.3 million followers on Instagram, so Huda promotes her beauty brand on the platform:
Source: @hudabeauty on Instagram
When Instagram launched its new IGTV feature, users got another option to create and watch long-form videos in-app. It also gave another opportunity for the beauty industry to share makeup tutorials and product reviews on the platform. Huda Kattan also uses IGTV for sharing her reviews and beauty hacks, and her views get up to 3.7 million views:
Source: @hudabeauty on Instagram
3. Fashion
As a photo-sharing app, Instagram has become a powerful tool for world-renowned designers, fashion editors, and bloggers to bring the fashion industry to the next level. People use this platform to discover new products, follow fashion trends, and boost fashion inspiration. Moreover, the fashion niche is getting more and more popular: the revenue in the fashion segment is expected to reach $746,80 billion in 2024.
The popularity of the fashion niche is on its rise. Any proof needed? Let’s take Camila Coelho, for example. Her Instagram community has over 8.4 million followers. Pretty great, huh? Coelho has a great influence on her followers, so it’s no wonder various fashion brands want to collaborate with this fashion blogger to promote their products.
Source: @camilacoelho on Instagram
With an Instagram creator account, Camila Coelho can add shoppable tags that help her followers discover and buy featured products with ease. Here’s how it looks like:
Source: @camilacoelho on Instagram
When Coelho tags the brands she is wearing, both the creator and the brand have access to Instagram insights that make it easier to understand the performance of shopping posts. This feature encourages brands to team up with niche influencers, so creators get more offers from companies.
4. Health and Fitness
Today, people are concerned about their health. The fitness industry is booming: its total revenue achieved $244B in 2023. When it comes to Instagram, users are looking for health and fitness products, workouts, and tools. Thus, this niche is another great way to promote fitness products and services, and therefore make money on the platform.
Let’s take the fitness tracker tool Whoop, for example. The company shares useful tips on reaching athletic peak performance, and it helps to prove its niche expertise, promote the tool, and attract new customers.
Source: @whoop on Instagram
For Whoop, Instagram marketing is a great way to grow the subscriber base. However, the company also gives its fans an opportunity to use the tool for free. In partnership with Talkable, Whoop has developed a referral program that now drives more than 10% of new subscription signs ups. This offer is beneficial for all customers: advocates get a free month of service and referred friends receive $30 off the first-month subscription.
And here’s how cyclist Phil Cook promotes his referral link on Instagram:
Source: @phil.cook on Instagram
The fitness industry is flourishing on Instagram, so this platform gives all users an opportunity to make money: from selling fitness programs and equipment to promoting referral links.
5. Lifestyle
Believe it or not, we love talking about ourselves: 80% of social media posts are dedicated to our lives, thoughts, and opinions. It’s in our nature to compare our lives with other people, so it’s no wonder that an average Instagram user spends 53 minutes per day on the platform.
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The good news? There’s no need to put much effort into your lifestyle profile – just show off your life in an interesting way. Check out how Oliver Proudlock does it:
Source: @proudlock on Instagram
Oliver showcases his lifestyle, and it grabs the attention of Instagrammers – the influencer has over 716k followers. With a solid following, it’s no wonder brands of all sizes and shapes want to collaborate with Oliver. Here’s how he promotes products on his profile:
Source: @proudlock on Instagram
Although Instagram is not just about selfies and food photos, people have been always interested in other people’s lives, so the lifestyle niche is popular and profitable.
6. Parenting
Modern parents are more connected than ever. According to Business Instagram, 68% of Millennial moms use Instagram daily, the average mom checks Instagram six times every day, and 78% of moms take action after seeing inspiring content on Instagram. What is more, dads are also active on the platform: almost half of the dads on the platform follow businesses and 69% take action from the content they see.
Simply put, the parenting niche is gaining in popularity. For parents, this means a great opportunity to connect with other moms and dads, share their parenting tips, and make money on Instagram.
Naomi Davis, also known as Taza on Instagram, is a great example of a parenting blogger who celebrates family and motherhood on the platform. Raising her 5 kids, Naomi shows off her life, shares her tips, and inspires parents around the globe.
Source: @taza on Instagram
7. Business
Today, people have various business opportunities at their fingertips. It’s easier than ever to make money online or start your home-based business. Thus, people are looking for business tips, tricks, hacks, and how-tos; they also follow successful entrepreneurs and businessmen to draw inspiration from them.
When it comes to business accounts, no matter what you choose, whether you promote public speaking tips, online marketing tools, or startup ideas and failures, the main idea is to share valuable tips and tricks on how to make money. Here’s how Gary Vaynerchuk uses his Instagram account to promote his personal businesses:
Source: @garyvee on Instagram
Gary creates massive pillar content (videos, IG stories, posts), sharing tips and tricks on running a business. But if you’re not one of the world’s most well-known fashion entrepreneurs, you may have trouble posting high-quality visuals of your business activity. However, you can use business stock photos in your marketing content to grab the attention of your followers and share your expert thoughts on niche topics.
8. Music
Who else loves music? Most people are fond of music, and 20% of the population claim that music can literally feel like a friend. Thus, people love listening to music and playing musical instruments.
Ariana Grande (167m), Selena Gomez (161), and Beyoncé (135m) are among the top 10 most-followed Instagram accounts of all the time. With the popularity of the music industry, there are many ways for musicians to monetize their Instagram accounts.
Here’s how Sellfy’s user, Adam McInnis, makes money as a music industry entrepreneur. Being one of the top Sellfy sellers in the music niche, he has earned 20K in two months, and Instagram helps him promote his products:
Source: @musicindustrycontact on Instagram
9. Photography
As a photo-sharing tool, it’s no wonder that Instagram is all about photography. Today, users upload 95 million photos and videos daily. Whether you’re a brand or influencer, you need to take eye-catching photos to create a cohesive Instagram feed and therefore stand out from the crowd. Thus, the photography industry is so popular (and profitable) on the platform.
For example, Keydrin Keylo Franklin is experienced at photography, so he uses Instagram to promote his tutorials:
Source: @924photography on Instagram
And here’s another example from Depositphotos. As a large library of stock images and videos, the company uses Instagram to promote its products among 25 million businesses that need to create eye-catching and coherent Instagram feeds.
Source: @depositphotos on Instagram
10. Food
Here comes the ugly truth: food is an important element of our lives. Most people are obsessed with food, and half of US Millennials call themselves “foodies”.
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Instagram has influenced the food industry, so it’s a perfect place for food bloggers, restaurants, and chefs to attract new fans. Take a look at Melissa Hie’s Instagram profile. With a love for eating and traveling, she runs her food & travel blog that has 384k followers on Instagram:
Source: @girleatworld on Instagram
When it comes to Instagram, we take photos of our delicious dishes and read yummy recipes. People even use special food hashtags to make it easier for other users to find relevant images on the platform. Top 5 Instagram food hashtags include:
- #food
- #foodp*rn
- #instafood
- #foodphotography
- #yummy
11. Animals
Today, there’s no need to be a world-renowned celebrity (or even a human) to attract an army of followers on Instagram: It’s the rise of pet influencers. The pet industry reached $143.6 billion in 2023, and people can’t help liking cute images of cats, dogs, hedgehogs, foxes, etc. Pet celebrities like Jiffpom have millions of followers on Instagram:
Source: @jiffpom on Instagram
JiffPom sells its collectible plush toys, books, and calendars. In collaboration with Target, Jiffpom has developed a puzzle collection that can be found in all Target stores across the U.S.:
Source: @jiffpom on Instagram
We all love pets, so Instagram is a perfect place to share cute animals to promote grooming products, breed tips, pet toys, pet insurance, animal clothing and costumes, treats, etc.
Conclusion
As one of the fastest-growing social media networks with the most engaged users, Instagram has become a powerful sales machine that offers various ways for all people to make money on the platform. With a variety of profitable Instagram niches, it’s no longer a problem to turn your passion into a business, so don’t miss your chance to monetize your Instagram account.
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