Faisal Shafique is an Instagram famous social media Guru and Entrepreneur. Having worked for years on his brand and page @fact on Instagram, he has become known in the digital space as a professional growth expert for both social media as well as entrepreneurship endeavors.

Shafique says, “Currently, there are 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram and that number is still growing. That’s 1 billion customers for your business to potentially target! How and why use Instagram as a platform to target your customers and make your business successful?”

We had a chance to chat with Shafique on how to make money online and monetize your following.

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

Shafique:

If by now you’re wondering how many followers you need to make it happen, the short answer is “not as many as you think”.

The long answer depends on factors that range from:

• What niche you’re in and how easily you can directly tie it to a product category (fashion, food, beauty, and fitness are popular niches, based on top Instagram hashtags)
• How engaged your followers are (100K fake followers won’t amount to much).
• Which revenue channels you explore.

Naturally, the more engaged followers you have, the better. Check our tips on how to get followers on Instagram.

While top Instagrammers make thousands per post on the photo-sharing platform, even those with a smaller-but-engaged following of 1000 have the potential to start making money.

How to make money on Instagram in 2019

Shafique:

Depending on your unique brand of Instagram content, your audience, and your level of commitment, you can make money on Instagram in the following ways:

• Doing sponsored posts for brands that want to get in front of your audience.
• Becoming an affiliate and making a commission selling other brands’ products.
• Creating and selling a physical or digital product, or offering a paid service.
• Selling licenses for your photography or videos.

The beauty here is that chasing one revenue stream doesn’t necessarily rule out another.