A Fitness Influencer’s Guide to Making Money on Instagram
It is not easy to build a follower base of 100,000+ on Instagram, especially in fitness. If you have surpassed this milestone – congratulations! Your platform is powerful and will likely only grow larger in the coming months. The question on our mind is how are you monetizing this platform? Are you monetizing is through multiple revenue streams? There is no such as a get rich quick scheme. It takes time but the investment is worth the payoff. Our research shows that you could be earning $10,000 per month from your Instagram account with the right monetization strategies.
We explore answers to all those questions and highlight strategies in this post. And don’t worry; if you have yet to eclipse that 100k milestone, this goal is clearly on your mind if you are still reading this post!
1) Build your own fitness app
Why would you? Recurring, revenue stream. Influencers charge their customers either a monthly or an annual fee to access Premium features and get more workouts. Influencers with 1m+ followers can expect to earn $300,000+ per year in passive income based on their audience reach and activation rates.
Technology has advanced tremendously in the last few years. Now, it is easier than ever to launch your own, custom fitness workout app.
Tempo (shameful self-promotion) - partners with elite fitness influencers to build, launch and help market apps. Your custom app is 100% free (other than the time you spend creating content) and features your brand, your exercises and workout programs. In exchange for powering the technology, handling customer service and supporting marketing efforts (branding, digital marketing) - Tempo receives a percentage of the subscription revenue.
Trainerize - is a great option if you are looking to expand your in-person personal training business online in a 1:1 environment while boosting engagement with your clients. The app is a freemium model.
2) Create an online fitness course or class
Another way to generate recurring revenue is by creating an online fitness course or class. There are a few “marketplaces” and websites that exist which help you create these courses and classes.
Udemy - is a marketplace to find online classes. Their is a section for health, wellness and fitness. They claim to have paid out over $17m to their instructors with the average instructor earning $8,000 per course.
Yondo - is similar to Tempo, except instead of building a fitness app, they help you build a website to sell your live online classes and fitness videos. You can get set-up for free and then plans range from $27/mo to $297/mo.
Booya -- Booya creates online classes for fitness enthusiasts. You can apply to become one of their coaches and contribute to the community.
If you don’t want to create an app or a website to sell your fitness content, you can always create an ebook or guide for your followers to download. There are quite a few companies that help you create eBooks these days. A few to check out are:
LuLu - is a self-publishing company which helps authors launch their own books and ebooks.
Blurb - makes it easy to create and distribute ebooks.
ebookburn - is a no frills solution for creating ebooks.
1) Sponsored posts & shoutouts
As you may suspect, advertising rates vary. By vary we mean vary drastically. A general rule of thumb is than Influencers with between 1k and 10k followers can earn up to $50 per sponsored posts. Influencers with 10 to 50k followers can earn between $200 and $2000 per post. Influencers of 50k to 100k have the ability to earn anywhere from $2500 to $4000 per post. More than 1m followers? We have hard of Influencers earning up to $15,000 per paid post.
According to a recent survey from GroupHigh, the vast majority of Influencers charge between $200 and $400 per sponsored post.
Now a big factor here is engagement. You can earn a premium if you can demonstrate your audience is not just large but engaged. Why? Advertisers will want to ensure their posts are a) being seen and b) being engaged with.
In addition to sponsored posts, you can also:
Sell advertising in the caption space below your photos
Sell the links in your bio -- offer a company the opportunity to purchase the bio link. With the right call to action, this should send highly qualified visits to that advertiser’s website.
No matter which form of sponsorship you pick, there are all sorts of FTC disclosures you need to abide by when promoting sponsored posts. Make sure to read up on the most up to date policies directly on the FTC’s website!
Check out a few links to discover brands seeking Instagram sponsorship opportunities:
Ifluenz - all you need to get started is an Instagram account with 5000 followers or more and a PayPal account to receive your money.
ShoutCart - No minimum follower counts are required. The platform earns 10% or more based on the type of sponsorship. They keep track of stats and process payments on your behalf.
FameBit - you can select from sponsorships posted by brands (Marvel, Adidas) and get paid for creating great content. Influencers with 5k+ followers are eligible.
There are dozens of Influencer networks which allow you to sign up and connect with brands (or brands can reach out to you).
RevFluence - claims to have powered over 100k connections. They partner with top flight brands who spend big money to reach Influencers. You’ll need to apply to join the network.
Speakr - More than 60 major brands monetize their own network along side Speakr's network to scale influencer media buying capabilities.
Influicity - claims 3m+ influencers are on their platform. Influicity connects their influencers with big brands, start-ups, agencies, talent management firms and publishers. It is free to sign-up.
HypeTap - is an Australian based company which connects Influencers with brands. The company earns a 10% commission on all paid campaigns. You have to apply to join the community.
2) Get agency representation
ViralNation - is a top influencer talent agency, professionally representing and securing endorsement deals for social media’s top creators.
MediaKix - is a leading influencer marketing agency connecting the world’s top brands with passionate socially-engaged audiences through social media influencers, influencer marketing, YouTube influencers and Instagram influencers ("Instagrammers”).
Socialyte - is a full-service agency that will develop and manage a customized influencer digital marketing program.
Mobile Media Lab - a leading creative agency which connects brands with Instagram Influencers.
3) Join an influencer marketing network
TRIBE - is a marketplace where brands can easily invite and brief these Influencers to activate powerful 1:1 campaigns and engage audiences they’re desperate to reach.
4) Sign up for affiliate marketing programs
One of the easiest ways to quickly start making some extra spending money is to sign up for affiliate networks and promote products from companies you believe in which you believe your audience will love. The idea is to curate. Help introduce awesome companies and products to your followers. To get started, all you need to do is sign up on the affiliate network (see more below) as a publisher and search those networks for companies you are interested in.
If you find success, it is very likely that you will have leverage to contact the companies directly and become a brand advocate!
Here are a few affiliate networks that are worth signing up for:
Amazon Associates - sign up to market any product featured on Amazon. Amazon pays you a commission on the shopping cart value for visitors who click on the links you promote. Meaning, you earn a commission on their entire basket value, not just the product they ordered! Depending on the volume of referrals, you can earn up to 10% per sale.
Shareasale - a popular (and easy to use) affiliate marketing program which features nearly 4000 brands. Once you are approved, you can browse the available brands and decide which ones you want to promote! Sales commissions vary and are set by each brand.
1) License your Instagram fitness photos
There are also a few sites that you can use to actually put your Instagram photos for sale. You can expect to license your photos for $5 to $10 each. A few websites to check out are:
Foap - a marketplace to buy and sell “stock imagery.” You’ll split the revenue 50-50 with the website.
Twenty20 - has 300k+ photographers in the real-world and has 45million+ images available available for licensing.
2) Sell branded merchandise
Design your own, branded apparel for the gym! There are a few companies which offer tools to design and customize your own merchandise and make those items available for sale. As the designer, you don’t need to worry about manufacturing, shipping or customer service. Once you design the product, you can make it available for sale on the website and earn a percentage every time it sells. Check out a few of our favorites “merchandise as a service” platforms.
Print All Over Me (PAOM) - is a marketplace which allows you to upload your own artwork to silhouettes and then offer your design for sale. You will get a storefront on their website and every time someone purchases your item, you will receive at least 20% of the sale. PAOM has 100+ products (many of which are made in the USA) to customize. Here are a few interesting ones that gym lovers might love!
Printful - Claims that if you have 1 million social media followers or an existing store with $5000 or more in monthly sales, Printful for Brands can build and manage your ecommerce store. With a revenue-share payment model, you run no risk in participating. Each order is printed on demand, so you don't pay any upfront costs. We'll take care of every step of the process, leaving more time for what's important to you. For those without 1 million followers, you can still open a merchandise on demand storefront with no minimum requirements.
Spreadshirt - allows you to design, customize and sell over 200 products from apparel to technology and home goods. You’ll get your own webpage on their website to sell merchandise.
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