Sell instagram photos online
How to Make Money on Instagram by Selling Photos (2023)
By Natalia Robert By Dora JokkelA- A+
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Your privacy is safe.These days, everyone is on Instagram. But did you know that you can make money on Instagram?
As a photographer, you’re already creating products that can be sold. Instagram is a perfect place to showcase your portfolio.
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Set Up Instagram Shopping to Make Money On Instagram and Sell Your Products in a Direct Way
The easiest way to make money on Instagram is by setting up an Instagram Shopping account. This way, you can integrate your product catalog into your Instagram account.
There will be a shop tab available under your profile intro. People can click on it and reach your online shop without leaving Instagram.
You can also tag products on your photos the same way as you tag your friends. When you do this, a small shopping bag icon is added to your photo.
When someone taps the image, they can see the products description and price. Users can also tap on the products label to go the product’s sales page.
You can tag up to five products per photo. You are also able to promote your products via Instagram stories.
Sounds amazing, right? So what do you need to do to set up Instagram Shopping? First, you have to make sure you are eligible for it.
You also have to switch to a Instagram Business account and connect it to a Facebook Page. Then, you have to connect your Instagram profile to a Facebook catalog.
Here you can read all the criteria and the step-by-step process to set up your Instagram shop.
Use Instagram to Sell and Promote Prints
The most direct and simple way to sell prints is to create an Instagram post that tells your audience about your offer.
You can create a graphic with a free tool like Canva. If you want to sell a particular photo, you can also use that image to promote your work in the Story section.
Under your picture’s caption, let your followers know that you’re selling prints. Be sure to include sizes available and a price for each size.
To keep things simple, you can ask them to comment on the photo that they want. Or they can DM you with the size they want to buy. To invoice, you can use Paypal.
Prints can be offered at different sizes and price points.Link Your Instagram Account to a Sales Website
If you’re ready to take it up a notch or if you want to make the print shop a bit more official, there a simple way to do so. First, you’ll need to set up a separate site to house your e-commerce.
You can use free sites such as Wix and WordPress, or you can invest in a paid site like Squarespace. Either way, you will have a place to direct people to for shopping.
Be sure to add the site’s link into your bio.
Then create posts that tell people to go to the link in profile for your shop or website.
Buying products directly on social media is getting more and more common today. Instagram also has a shopping feature that allows you to tag products that are linked directly to your shop listing.
For best results, build up a following base for your Instagram account first. That way, you have an engaged audience when you start offering items for sale.
Offer Unique Instagram Photos as Stock Images
Besides selling prints, you can also offer digital photos for stock use. Loads of businesses need images for their marketing. They often seek out photos from big stock photography sites like Shutterstock.
So why not offer them another avenue for unique photography? You can sell photos individually or in themed bundles.
For individual photos, pick images that are bold and unique. For bundles, think of general themes that are popular and can serve different needs.
Like with prints, you can offer the photos from a post. Or you can set up an e-commerce site that people can be linked to for shopping.
Creating photo setups for stock photo sales can be easy to do at home.Use Sponsored Posts and Affiliate Links to Boost Your Income
If you’ve gained a lot of Instagram followers, there can be opportunities for affiliate or sponsored posts! These are posts that you create in your voice to advertise a product or service.
When it’s an affiliate post, it leads viewers to an affiliate link. If they make a purchase, this will give you a percentage commission and you make money in a simple way. It’s easy and quick to set up affiliate accounts for most products found online.
Once you have a product or company in mind, Google their name and “affiliate”. You’ll be able to find information on what affiliate program they work with.
When a company pays you to create a post for their product, it’s called a sponsored post. Below you’ll see a sponsored post from Jenna Kutcher.
She has a very large following and uses sponsored posts as a regular part of her monthly income.
Affiliate accounts can be created by anyone for free and are dependent on your driving sales and traffic. But a sponsored post relies on having a relationship with the sponsor company.
Once you have a large following, think of what brands or products you enjoy. Make sure they also fit in well with your brand.
Then you’ll want to reach out to that company, create a genuine relationship, and pitch yourself for sponsorship. Having a large, engaged audience will be crucial to getting sponsored. But it also needs to be a good match between your brand and theirs!
There is nothing worse than someone sharing all different kinds of sponsored posts without any consistency. People will know when you share something only to make money, and you can lose followers in no time.
For example, as a photographer, you wouldn’t be doing sponsored ads for cleaning products. But you would do sponsored ads for photography-related products such as camera bags.
To maintain authenticity with your audience, be fully transparent about any sponsored ads. Include Instagram hashtags such as #ad or #sponsored.
Conclusion
Instagram is a fun and addictive social media platform. But you can also use Instagram as a marketing tool for extra money.
As a photographer, you are already creating visual content regularly. Why not use that content as another income stream?
Through prints, digital products, and partnerships, an Instagram account can open doors you never imagined.
Check out our post on how to sell photos on Etsy next!
You can boost your social media skills with our ebook – Social Media Strategies!
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How to Sell Your Photos on Instagram & Make The Most Money
Do you know how much time goes into creating that perfect Instagram post?
A lot, that’s what.
The average influencer spends between 30 mins to 1.25 hours shooting, editing and captioning an Instagram post.
With all that effort, it’s a pity they almost instantly get buried under a tidal wave of oncoming traffic and thus, disappear from relevance.
But what if you could sell Instagram photos to make money off of them?
Well, you can!
And we’re talking major money – not just the cents you’ll get from selling stock photos.
We’ll cover:
- Selling images online via eCommerce
- Selling branded content opportunities
Selling your images as tangible prints
We’ll show you how.
Sell Instagram photos onlineBrands love authentic images, and yet find it difficult to come by them. This is an incredible opportunity for Instagrammers who have tons of great images and don’t know what to do with them. Fill a niche by providing authentic images available to brands and get paid for it!
There are two methods you could go by:
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- Sell individual images
- Sell thematic image packages
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Each has its merits, and they can be used either in tandem or individually.
Individual images might be the kind that is distinctive, excellent, breathtaking, and very specific.
Thematic images might be more of a generically classifiable image, for example, nature, sky, workplace, flat lays, and more.
Love taking pictures of your food? How about selling your food pics.
How to make it happen?
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- Create an account on Sellfy – it’s the most appropriate sales platform for digital goods and will make the process super easy
- Identify which images you think would be interesting for brands to purchase.
- Decide which images you can group together thematically, and which images you want to sell individually
- Upload the products to Sellfy and set your price
- Make sure to mention in the description the status of the images the brands are buying – ex. commercial use, editorial use, etc. Take a look at legal licensing terminology here.
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Say you’re great at creating flat lays.
You know who probably isn’t?
Brands.
Make it easy for brands to get their products placed in incredible images by offering up the opportunity proactively. Then, all it takes for the brand’s side is to accept the offer. By having a ready-made offer for brands, you make it super easy for the brands to say “yes”. You’re saving both time and effort, reduce the friction of negotiation, and therefore become much more likely to land corporate cooperation with them.
Take this scenario, for example:
You have a great flat lay planned, and you would be able to easily insert a branded item into it. Place that opportunity for sale online, and let brands know about it.
How to get brands to know about branded content opportunities?
Put together a sales sheet including some examples of your work, the opportunities that you have available (aka planned content for your channel), and then include pricing to it.
Note: This certainly falls under the “influencer marketing” category, and a prerequisite for this to work is to have a considerable social following.
A good place to start would be if you have several thousand followers.
Letting brands know that you’re open to collaboration is also important, and can be signaled by entering your contact info in your bio like influencer Emily Beatrice Jackson has done.
How to make it happen:
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- First, develop a social following (admittedly, this is easier said than done, and this has to be done over time, and continuously and systematically building a presence, making use of all of the good case practices of developing a social presence)
- Develop a proposal detailing the opportunities and costs for brands
- Identify which brands would be likely to be interested in reaching the same audience that follows you
- Send the proposal to the brands on your list, negotiate, and repeat.
- Make sure to put your contact info in your bio so that brands know how to get in touch if they’re interested.
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When all else fails, how about selling your images as prints to your dedicated fans and followers?
All you need is excellent photographs (check), as well as a group of people who adore your style.
With both boxes ticked, you’re set to get selling Instagram photos in physical form.
There’s a variety of ways you can make this happen.
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- You can go through the effort of creating a store and selling online
- You can put them up for sale on an existing market (learn about the pros and cons of this)
- You can go through the effort of creating a store and selling online
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- Totally freelance it
- Totally freelance it
Take the case of photographer Daniel Arnold, who made $15,000 in one day selling his photos on Instagram.
He had $91 to his name on his 34th birthday, but thousands of images on Instagram. He decided to give selling his images a go. He posted this message to his Instagram followers:
“Hello, I just turned 34 this second. For one day only I am selling 4×6 prints of whatever you want from my Instagram archive for $150 each. I swear I will never sell anything this cheap again. If you’re interested, send a screenshot of the photo(s) of your choice to arnoldaniel@gmail.
com (one d) and I will send a PayPal invoice, followed by a signed print. Easy peasy. Happy birthday. I love you”
By the next day, he had over $15,000 in orders. As a self-proclaimed business idiot, if he can do it, so can you.
Then there are individuals, such as photographer Bren Ruiz Rojas, who has a link in his bio that directs visitors to where they can purchase the images in physical form. The link can stay there indefinitely, thereby making it more likely to become a regular source of income.
How to make it happen:
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- Decide which platform you will host your sales on. They can be either Sellfy, Etsy, Shopify, or any custom built website
- Choose how you will print the images – either a DIY approach and go to your local photo printer, or have that outsourced by print fulfillment services such as Printful
- Enter your sales URL in your Instagram bio to let visitors know where to find your photos
- When orders come in, make sure to promptly print and send them to your customers
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As you can see, the more creative you get when thinking about how to sell pictures on Instagram, the more opportunities there are, and the higher the profit margins there may be.
Now if selling your Instagram photos turns out not to be your cup of tea, no worries. There are plenty of ways to use Instagram as a platform to make more sales. Take a look at our in-depth article on how to sell on Instagram.
4 applications for making money on mobile photography
December 15, 2022
Let's be banal: photos from smartphones have not been inferior in quality for a long time. This means that they can be sold on a par with professional shots. In this article, we have collected applications that are geared towards selling photos from smartphones. They don't need perfect shots or deep retouching in Adobe Photoshop, so anyone can try to turn a simple hobby into something more. nine0006
Twenty20
Authentic travel photos are appreciated on this stock, no one is against even banal cats and food. The application itself has a nice interface and a lot of tips, so it's very easy to use.
In the application, you can simply upload photos and participate in challenges - these are contests for the best photos under certain conditions.
For example, you need to take a beautiful picture of berries or make a colorful picture of a person in flight. Such contests last for several days, and according to the results, the authors of the best shots can receive up to $50. nine0003
Feature of the application: you can view pictures of other participants and form your own "news feed". Members can also nominate their favorite work to the Signature Collection to sell photos faster.
DOWNLOAD FOR IOS
Home screen example with next steps and open contest in Twenty20 app
Snapwire
If you travel a lot, we recommend you try this app, it's perfect for selling pictures from your trips. Here you can also simply upload photos or participate in various challenges - you will definitely find where to attach almost any travel photo card. nine0003
There are always many interesting challenges. Stock buyers nominate the best shots, their authors receive points, and the winner receives a cash prize.
The conditions are often set by big brands, so you can get good pay for a photo. At the time of this review, the budget was $75-$100, but the spread can be large - from $25 to $1,000 for the winning photo.
Feature of the application: there is a rating system for authors. For each sale you get points, the more points - the higher your level, which means more earnings. This is how photographers are rewarded for their hard work. ⠀
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An example of a popular Expert photographer and an open challenge in the Snapwire app
Foap
The app has an interesting rating system: every time you upload a photo, you have to rate other authors. After that, the photos get into the Foap Marketplace and then are sold. To get really high income, you need to complete missions. So you can win cash prizes of $50-500. nine0003
This photo stock also boasts that its customers are big brands like Mastercard, Motorola or Volvo.
But to participate in generous premium tasks, you need to get coins - they are given for viewing ads in the application.
Feature of the application: any user can collect albums from other people's pictures. And if someone buys a photo through your album, they give a bonus for the purchase.
DOWNLOAD FOR IOS
DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID nine0003
An example of popular photos and an open mission in the Foap app
EyeEm
This app was originally created as a social network for visual content - like Instagram. Here you can still like and comment on photos, search for pictures near your location.
Like other applications, there are contest missions in which buyers form tasks. You can also upload your photos to the library, from which the system itself selects photos and puts them up for sale. In general, creative stylish photos are valued here: of course, you can even upload an ordinary object on a white background, but these shots will not pass the test and therefore will not be sold on EyeEm.
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Feature of the application: there is a photo editor and many built-in filters to improve photos.⠀
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Example of EyeEm popular photos and open competition
Selling your photos on apps isn't as stressful as it is on full photo stocks like Shutterstock, but it really works! Therefore, we advise you to try any application from the selection or test everything together. Also put ❤ and share with friends - we will be pleased :)
Prepared by Anna Akulova
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Useful and inspiring articles 2 times a month.
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Alternatives to Instagram for photographers and artists | Articles | Photo, video, optics
Source: richardbernabe.com
Every photographer wants to share their work, get feedback from the public and critics, and finally achieve recognition.
But when your favorite social media turns into ad machines that show only promo posts, it's time to look for alternatives. nine0003
The world's most popular social media, Facebook and Instagram, are no longer the best place to showcase your photos. They have become a territory for corporations, advertising, politicians and big bloggers. Moreover, if you carefully read the terms and conditions of these platforms, you will know that they can use your images in any way they like. Instead of bringing people together and making digital art available to a wide audience, the media giants are more concerned with big data algorithms and paid services. nine0003
However, social media is an important part of our lives and posting your photo is still the easiest way to showcase your work to the public and get feedback. All creative people appreciate the reaction of the public to their work. But sometimes building a popular social media account takes too much time and effort. And often success is based not on the value of the work, but on the work of the algorithm by which the most famous social networks show publications to the audience.
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Why Facebook and Instagram are no longer good places to post your work
Although Facebook is still quite popular and can showcase your work to a huge number of people, many photographers prefer Instagram because it is more suited to visual content and also does not allow download photos (although this, of course, has its own tricks), which helps protect intellectual property rights.
Among artists and photographers, Instagram has earned a reputation as a place to find potential clients and sell your work. An Instagram account can serve as a portfolio, and the number of followers and likes increases the credibility of the photographer. nine0003
At the same time, Facebook and Instagram manage a huge amount of information and decide who sees messages based on internal algorithms. In addition, the popularity of social media has created a new problem: fake news.
Source: naturettl.com
Last year, Instagram launched an algorithm to hide fake retouched photos, but along with the fakes, the algorithm also removed a number of works by digital artists and photographers.
New Instagram algorithms get information from sites that verify information and do not display photos marked as fake. However, works with various post-processing can also accidentally fall under the rink of the algorithm, which is why they will not be shown in the hashtag search and the Interesting tab. nine0003
Source: sproutsocial.com
On the other hand, promotional posts receive special attention. Marketing agency Omnicore reports that Instagram has approximately 2 million advertisers and 25 million business profiles every month. And these numbers will grow. The competition for photographers and likes has become too difficult for regular photographers. Now it’s not enough to take a good picture and use the right hashtags. You need to be active online, follow and comment on the posts of profiles with similar interests, know the basics of search engine optimization, online marketing and PR, and invest in advertising. Thus, maintaining a profile takes much more time than taking a photo.
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In response, photographers are increasingly turning to alternative social media that encourage creativity. When choosing new channels to distribute their work, they seek copyright protection and equal opportunity for all users. Photographers want to showcase their work to audiences and spend less time figuring out algorithmic intricacies and marketing strategies. If you want an easy and effective way to showcase your photos, paintings or designs, get feedback and find opportunities to sell your work online, check out the list of alternative media platforms we have prepared for you. nine0003
Alternative social media for photographers and artists
A new type of social media has emerged over the past few years. These platforms do not seek to reach the largest audience, rather they try to bring together the most engaged users. Niche social media is targeted at a specific audience: you can share your work with photographers, artists and other users who are interested in digital art.
While this reduces your audience reach, you get more helpful feedback and engage with a more professional community. nine0003
VERO
VERO's motto is “No ads. No data mining. No algorithms. VERO aims to be a responsible mobile app that brings networking and content sharing to everyone. You can use VERO to share photos, videos, music, books, links, and places of interest. Notable photographers who use the platform include John Rankin, Greg Williams, Ben Staley, Clay Enos.
VERO allows you to upload photos in full resolution and collect them in collections. You can choose your audience by sharing your photos with everyone or a specific group. Like Facebook and Instagram, VERO has built-in chat and tools for referrals, purchases and donations. The platform aims to be a community, not a business, and people value it for its sincerity and authenticity. nine0003
While VERO isn't just for photographers, the platform offers an ad-free service and can be one of the easiest ways to share your photos and build your fan base.
The system is very interactive and pro-social, some even think it could be the new Facebook for artists.
All VERO services are available free of charge. The app works on Android and Apple.
YouPic
Dedicated photography platform YouPic is used by many famous photographers such as Joel Meyerowitz, Steve McCary and David Hearn. This site works like an online portfolio and allows you to show and sell your pictures. nine0003
Just like any other social network in YouPic you complete your profile including your skills, leave comments, share content and follow others. Like Instagram and Facebook, YouPic uses tags to filter and serve relevant content. It also provides statistics to help you keep track of your best photos.
On YouPic, you add a description to each photo, along with information you want to share with other photographers, such as camera and lens model, shutter speed, ISO, or location. You can upload an unlimited number of photos to YouPic, organize them the way you want, and add stories.
To protect photos, you can add copyright information or share them privately. nine0003
YouPic is a free service, but there is a paid subscription that opens up various advanced options such as website personalization, getting a custom domain, etc. Plans cost from $5 to $30 per month.
Exposure
Exposure is a social platform for photographers who want to share their story. It not only provides a place for your photos, but also allows you to share the stories behind them. You can use Exposure as your own photography blog and a place to find inspiration for your next photography project. nine0003
Although Exposure only has a web version, the platform is very interactive and allows you to comment, subscribe, like and share. At Exposure, the story behind a photo or an entire project is as important as the photos themselves. On the platform you will find travelers, adventurers, photojournalists, street and portrait photographers.
Exposure provides simple tools to add photos, text, videos, embedded media from other platforms, and geolocations to your posts.
You can also choose the design options for your messages - layout, colors and fonts. Exposure does not limit the number or size of images you can upload. At the same time, the platform does not protect your images in any way, and anyone can download them. nine0003
You can register and publish three story projects for free. To publish an unlimited number of stories and access more design and branding tools, as well as additional business options, you can subscribe for $9 per month for personal use or $99 for commercial use.
Behance
Behance is one of the most popular digital portfolio sites. The resource covers all creative areas and provides simple tools to showcase your work. The platform was specifically created for photographers, illustrators, graphic designers, architects, filmmakers and artists. It even has a job page where you can find creative jobs and start your career. nine0003
Like any other social network, Behance allows you to communicate, leave feedback and follow the work of your favorite artists.
Behans also has views and likes counters so you can gauge the popularity of your work. The platform is owned by Adobe, so Behance places a particular emphasis on digital processing tools.
On Behance you can meet professional artists and photographers, critics and clients. Works published on Behance are available to everyone, and you can easily get feedback from the pros. The platform does not change the uploaded images in any way, the ability to upload in high resolution is available. In this case, anyone can download your photo at will. nine0003
Behance works for free. You can upload photos from your device or directly from Lightroom, add text to create additional context, and create galleries. You can add technical information, such as camera and lens model, and exposure settings, to each photo. Behance is available as a web version, as well as apps for Android and iOS.
Going beyond Instagram and Facebook
Of course, these are not all social platforms that provide a platform for artists and photographers.
Popular resources also include DeviantArt and Tumblr, Patreon for those who have already been able to gather an audience of loyal fans who are willing to pay for work, and Twitter remains popular among many NSFW artists. nine0003
The social network VKontakte, created in the image and likeness of Facebook, is also popular in our country. However, this platform is mainly used by a Russian-speaking audience, so it is not very suitable for a wider promotion of their work.
Source: fstoppers.com
The success of Facebook and Instagram has transformed them into business tools and created an entire industry around them. Each time it becomes more and more difficult to bypass the algorithms and find a loyal audience, and achieving success is no longer associated with the artistic value of your work. As a result, photographers and artists are turning to alternative social platforms that promote values such as authenticity, equal opportunity, and the importance of the community.
