If you have a business that sells products or provides a service and you are not on Instagram then you are missing out big time! Below are my top 10 tips and tricks to making money from Instagram based on my experience working with hundreds of customers in both ecommerce and service based industries that have generated a shit ton of revenues.  These are some of my best Instagram marketing tips. This is so simple but the biggest problem I’ve seen people make is over-thinking things. Stop trying to make things perfect, just get shit done! Make it better tomorrow but take action right fuckin’ now and go “earn” that money that’s waiting for you.

1. Consistency
Set a schedule in your calendar or whatever reminders you use to do what you have to do and post it on that schedule. If you can do it every day great, every other day good but once a week then don’t bother. It’s not enough if you want to make that $$$.

2. Hashtags #
Use a mix of industry, brand specific, product specific, location. Keep is simple but don’t go crazy either with 50 damn #’s. For example #exoticcars #bugatti #bugattiveyron #miami

3. Images
Mix things up, don’t just post products of your catalog. Show a picture of that diamond engagement ring that your customer has been saving for 6 months. Showcase that very moment he drops down to one knee and proposes to his girlfriend and soon to be fiance. There she is in all her glory. balling her eyes out because she’s been waiting 6 long ass years of being a bridesmaid and never a bride but her time has finally arrived and her man “mans up”. That’s what it’s about.

4. Engage
Social media is a 2 way street. It’s not about posting photos and thinking your job is done. No way Jose, that’s just the beginning. If anyone actually comments on your photo you better appreciate that shit and comment back. Even a simple “thank you” will go a long way. And vice versa. Like and comment other peoples photos too.

5. Sponsored Posts/Product Reviews
This is some serious Ninja level, fish with a big ass net instead of one pole at a time stuff. If I could choose only thing on this list to make money on Instagram this is it. All you have to do is find other people with tons of followers in your niche, hit them up via email and ask them if they do product reviews and if so how much do they charge. It’s all relative though. The more followers they have the more they are going to charge. Someone that has only 10,000 followers may not want any money but just the product vs someone with 1 million followers may want $500 per post. But just because they have a ton of followers doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. Look at the quality of the followers.

For example, I have a client that sells lingerie, we did a promo with girl a that had 1 million followers and paid her a $100 for the sponsored post. We got a lot of followers, I would say about 1,000 in 1 day BUT most of those followers were GUYS. Their demographic is women. We got only 1 sale AND that 1 sale was from one of her relatives. Whatever, chalked it up as a learning lesson. Next time around we targeted someone who was really into fitness BUT most of her followers are women and she only has 10,000 followers. Good thing is she didn’t want any money, just the product. We sent her some lingerie, she took some selfies and posted it on Instagram. We barely saw an increase in followers BUT  the next day a few orders came in worth close to $1,000.

6.  Reposts
Depending on the device you have there a bunch of free apps for reposting on Instagram. This is great because if someone posts a picture of a product they just bought from you on their Instagram account and tags your account, this is the ultimate testimonial. Repost that photo on your account and tag them to show the love back.

7. Steal From Competitors
So how do you get more followers for Instagram? This is such a basic technique but it works. All you do is follow your competitors followers BUT be careful. I wouldn’t do more than 200/day. You will get maybe 10% follow you back. Also comment and like their photos. Also watch the ratio of followers vs following. You don’t want to have 5,000 followers but you are following 20,000 people. If you have 5,000 followers I wouldn’t follow more than 7,000 people. Once you reach 7,000 then I would unfollow about 2,000 people of those people BUT I wouldn’t unfollow more than 200/day. There are apps out there to automate this. But be careful, use this technique at your own risk.

8. Tell A Story
Don’t just post the title of a product with the photo. Come on now, Instagram is not Amazon or eBay. If you sell protein bars. Say something like “Time to stay focused, bikini season is right around the corner and I’m not going to give in to that bag of chips my co-worker is tempting me with.”

9.  Contests
Now for some Instagram giveaway tips. Don’t over think this. Too many people do and never end up doing shit. Here’s an example. Win a product or gift card, just pick something. To enter repost the photo, tag 2 friends, winner will be announced 4 days later. That’s it. Go ahead and mix it up but again, just do it.

10. Location Is Not Just for Locations

Use it as a call to action “Click on link in profile to shop”. You can also change the link in your profile. Say you have a new Youtube video, throw that link in there, then tell everyone to “Click on link in profile to see backstage footage”. Or if you want people to subscribe to your email list, first set up the link in your profile to be a link to a landing page to a email sign up. Then put that link on the profile of your Instagram page.

Anyway that’s all I’ve got for now. Hurry up and take action before Mark Zuckerberg starts charging you to get more followers and to show your photos to your followers. It’s not if it’s going to happen it’s just a matter of when.

Leave some comments to add to this list.

P.S. If you still don’t have time to do this but you need it done just hit me up.
John Cariaso
john@megatagmedia.com
(954) 616-1000

P.P.S. Follow me on Instagram @megatagmedia