By Calynn M. Lawrence
@fairytalefacebycalynn
What does it mean to be an Instagram model? The pictures below are two examples of Instagram models Don Benjamin and Alana Noel. These are two examples of people who make the majority of the living from posting pictures on social media. Sounds like a great job right? Get paid just to post pics on the Internet right? Well this article is going to give you a synopsis of how it works and why it’s becoming increasingly popular! Speaking as someone who does this personally (@fairytalefacesbycalynn) I know first hand the ins and outs of the industry!
SPONSORED POSTS
What is a sponsored post? This is when a company reaches out to a social media person and offers fixed price compensation for that individual to post a picture with their merchnaidse and give it an honest, thorough review. This is one of the most common ways that people make their money on Instagram. You have online job boards such as Revluence and Grapevine, that offer to serve as a meeting grounds for content creators and vendors to meet and negotiate rates in exchange for the promotion. These tend to be very useful becuase it brings everything you need to one place! Therefore, the next time you see a celebrity post a pic with a product raving about thier love for it, be aware that they are more than likely uploading a sponsored post. A great way to tell if something is genuine is if they mention and acknowledge the flaws of a particular company in addition to the benefits.
AFFLIATE LINKS
Affiliate links are available for the general public. What this means is that a company will provide someone with a custom link leading to their website and they will track the traffic that they receive from that specific link and give you a commission percentage from that. Generally, percentage rates tend to stay around 2-10 % but depending on the cost of the product and the amount of purchasers you bring, bonus checks can be very generous and commission rates can very well increase! For example, if a product is $100, with 10% commission, the poster can make $500 just by getting 50 people to purchase the item! For individuals with hundreds of thousands of subscribers/followers, this is fairly easy.
PAID SHOUT OUTS
Lastly, paid shoutouts is certainly as simple as it seems. This is when an individual or a company pays for a mention on a more popular person’s social media. It may be something as small as one sentence but rates can go up to thousands of dollars just to provide a shout out!
Hopefully this article has helped you to realize that it’d be smart to take advantage of social media and use it to your advantage! There are tons of fun ways to make money and earn a living from the company of your own home.
