First, there was Vine, then TikTok, and then every social media platform added a way to upload short-form content. Instagram followed suit and introduced Reels, arguably the best way to monetize an Instagram page. It might also be the platform where you found success and have managed to gain a large following.
But, with new monetization features coming and going, what are some surefire ways you can make money from Instagram Reels? That’s what we’ll be answering in this article!
We’ll look into all the native methods you can use to get paid for Reels and some more lucrative ones with more lenient and achievable guidelines and requirements.
With that in mind, let’s get into it straight away.
Jump ahead to:
- Can You Earn Money from Instagram Reels?
- Instagram Reels Monetization Requirements
- How to Get Paid by Instagram
- 6 More Ways to Make Money with Instagram Reels
- Earn Money with Instagram Reels and Whop
- FAQs for Instagram Reel Monetization
Can You Earn Money from Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels can be a great moneymaker, and there are plenty of ways to monetize them, both native and third-party. For example, you could place ads on them and earn revenue depending on the CPM. Or, you could use your Reels to market your digital products and redirect your followers to your storefront.
If you think about it, considering that Instagram has around 2 billion monthly users, there’s no real upper limit to how much you can scale your Reels. So, ideally, as long as you create good content and come up with new things to sell to your followers, you can earn a pretty large sum.
However, to earn money from Instagram itself, you’ll need to meet some monetization requirements, which are rather restrictive, just like Facebook's.
Instagram Reels Monetization Requirements
Instagram has a few different monetization methods, each with its own requirements. That said, there are a couple of ones that are present in most, if not all, of them, which are:
- Residing in an eligible country
- Having a professional account
That being said, many of the methods we’ll mention below will also require you to adhere to some monetization policies and guidelines. So, we should take a deeper look at these:
Partner Monetization Policy
The Partner Monetization Policy is going to be one that you’ll have to adhere to for all of the main monetization methods. If you’ve been posting Reels for some time, you might already be familiar with some of these.
The policy itself is an umbrella of most of the platform’s guidelines and content policies. Basically, create authentic content that doesn’t promote hate or misinform viewers without spamming or creating fake engagement, and you should be fine. Within this policy, though, there are a couple of more that we should cover.
Community Guidelines
The Community Guidelines are equally important to the other policies, not just for monetization but also for keeping your account afloat. Once again, the key points are to be respectful to other users, create original content, share others’ posts only with their consent, and avoid any spammy tactics.
One more thing that’s mentioned within these is to create content that’s appropriate for diverse audiences. So, let’s go even deeper into this.
Content Monetization Policy
The Content Monetization Policy is especially important for creators like you. Since you’ll be monetizing your Reels, your content must always comply with the rules set within this policy. Basically, it’s against the policy to post in the following formats:
- Static content
- GIFs
- Engagement bait content
- Misinformation or misleading medical information
And you should avoid covering any of these topics, as they receive limited (or no) monetization:
- Explicit/sexual content
- Conflict
- Debated social topics
Obviously, all these guidelines and policies are pretty restrictive. One slip-up and you might get your account restricted. But, if you follow these to the tee, you’re in for a treat since Instagram has its fair share of monetization methods.
Wait… did we miss something?
What if You Don’t Meet These Requirements?
Oh, right, that thing. You see, the main issue is something we mentioned right at the start. While some methods have many eligible countries, others are only available in 3-4 country hubs.
That said, regardless of what requirement(s) you don’t meet, fear not. These are only true for monetizing your Reels natively and being paid by Instagram. You can still use third-party platforms, like Whop, to monetize your page by selling digital products or services, accepting donations, and much more.
But, more on that later. For now, let’s get back to what Instagram’s got to offer.
How to Get Paid by Instagram
Well, now it’s time to really understand how to make money off of your Instagram Reels. Let’s first cover all the methods you can use on the app natively and then move on to some of the more lucrative ones.
Instagram’s monetization methods for Reels are pretty good. Nothing too revolutionary, but great nonetheless. Before we cover these, we want to restate that you’ll need to adhere to the policies and guidelines we mentioned above to be eligible for them, as well as be 18+ years old, reside in one of the eligible countries, and have a professional account.
Subscriptions
First, we’ve got Instagram Subscriptions. With these, you’ll be able to monetize your followers by offering them perks and exclusive content in exchange for a monthly fee. You’re, more or less, creating a paid community within the app.
Now, where do Reels come into this? Well, for one, you can create subscriber-only Reels where you share more insightful news or tips. But their main purpose is to build awareness of the fact that you’re offering a form of subscription. They’ll basically be your main lead magnet for selling your membership.
That said, Subscriptions do come with an extra requirement, alongside the ones we mentioned above. You’ll need to have at least 10k followers, which will take some time to reach.
Ads
If you haven’t reached the 10k follower mark, you should consider monetizing your Reels with ads. Well, to be fair, even if you have 100k followers, you should still think about ads, as they can be a great moneymaker.
Ads do come with some more requirements, though. For one, you can’t use any licensed music within your reel; otherwise, it won’t be eligible for monetization. Same goes if it’s branded, boosted, or a collab with another creator.
But there’s a caveat. Ads are only available for creators based in the US, Canada, South Korea, and Japan. So, while the requirements are somewhat more lenient, most of you might still not be eligible to use Ads.
Gifts
If you still want creative freedom and don’t feel that placing content behind a paywall doesn’t suit your brand, you can always go for Gifts. Enabling Gifts is basically a way to accept donations from your followers.
You can also use your Reels to really promote the fact that you’re staying true without censoring your content for monetization, asking your followers to support you through Gifts.
Now, Gifts might be great, and they’re available to a fair share of countries. However, one of the requirements is to have at least 500k followers. At that point, you’re better off creating and selling a digital product to your audience.
Branded Content
Sponsorships and branded content are always great monetization options, regardless of the platform you use. We’ve got to give props to Instagram, which has a built-in creator marketplace where you can connect with brands.
On top of that, there are no additional requirements besides adhering to the policies and guidelines we mentioned above. Okay, the only one that should be mentioned is that you must note when a reel is branded.
The only issue is that it’s not available in many countries. Still, the process of getting a deal is pretty simple. Sign up on the marketplace, select your interests and brands that are relevant to your Reel content, and wait for brands to connect with you. When they do so, you’ll get detailed deliverables for a specific per-project rate.
Bonuses
The last native Instagram monetization method is Bonuses. We wanted to briefly mention this, as, chances are, you won’t be eligible for it. It’s an invite-only program exclusively available for creators residing in the US, Japan, and South Korea.
These bonuses are based on how many views your Reels get. Instagram picks a few of your Reels (up to 150), and they will send you bonuses accordingly.
6 More Ways to Make Money with Instagram Reels
Now, we get into the real moneymakers. Sure, Instagram’s native methods are great, but they can be very restrictive, both in terms of location and follower count. With these methods, despite having to use a third-party platform, you’ll be able to make money with Reels from your first few followers, regardless of where you reside.
1. Create a Paid Community
First off, we have to go with creating a paid community. While you can do something like that with Instagram Subscriptions, you don’t really exude that level of community, it's more just a group of individuals subscribing to you. But, if you create a paid community on a third-party platform, like Whop, things are different.
To really create that community feeling, you’ll have to actively engage with your followers on there and provide them with great value. You’ll also need to let them chat with each other and share their ideas within a general channel.
One of our largest creators, Cody, does just that.
Cody has created a paid community within Whop and actively promotes it on Instagram Reels. In return, he shares his best sports picks with the members, as well as general betting tips. He basically funnels most of his audience from Reels directly to his whop, where people pay for subscriptions.
2. Sell Digital Products
Then again, you might not be the biggest fan of moderating a community. But you do have a lot of value to share with your followers about the niche you’re an expert in. So, say, if you know a bunch about digital marketing, you can create a marketing course and share it with your followers through Reels.
Amy does exactly that.
She’s created a few different courses and actively shares them on Instagram. In this specific Reel, she’s also created an exclusive offer for her followers on the platform, offering an extra course for free.
In general, there’s no limit to what digital products you can sell. Courses, templates, ebooks, and anything else that’s easy to create and will be in line with your brand. You can use Whop to host all the different digital products you’ll sell, but we’ll cover that a bit later.
3. Sell Digital Services
Now, if you’re already offering your services as a freelancer or a contractor, you could use Instagram Reels to market yourself. It’s pretty simple when you think about it.
All you’ll have to do is create Reels that attract your potential clients and get them to reach out to you for your services. To do so, you’ll have to provide tons of free value through your Reels as you slowly build your business relationships with your followers in the comments.
Alex does a pretty good job here.
He offers SEO services to his clients but also posts some great Reels offering advice, results, and tips around his expertise. To funnel his followers/potential clients, Alex has a link to a landing page on his website right on his profile.
4. Affiliate Marketing
Realistically, if you have a large following and you want a monetization method that doesn’t require too much effort, affiliate marketing would be your answer. Sure, you’ll need to test out any products before you vouch for them to your followers.
Besides that, your only other duty is to communicate with reputable brands. Don’t get affiliated with any of them that use scammy tactics or seem untrustworthy. Also, make sure that the products or services you promote are 100% relevant to your general content.
For example, take a look at metlasmithsociety below.
As a jewelry-focused page, they became affiliated with jewelry tool maker and created a Reel for it. Since they can’t post links on the post itself, they ask their followers to send them DMs where they’ll share more info.
That said, you can really do this with anything: books, gardening tools, digital products, and everything in between.
5. Partner with Brands
If you’ve really hit influencer status, at least within your niche, you can try out partnerships instead of affiliate marketing. The latter is going to be profitable in the long run, as you get a commission from sales. But, with brand deals, you can set a flat fee upfront to promote a brand’s new product.
Once again, there’s really no limitation here. As long as you have a large following, brand deals will come. To be fair, though, the majority of these deals come in the lifestyle/fashion space.
Hence why we’ve mentioned Giuseppe here.
Giuse generally uploads branded Reels, where he showcases collections from the brands with which he’s partnered. He’ll usually finish up the Reel with a question to get that engagement going in the comments, which will increase his loyal following even more.
6. Sell Physical Products
To finish off the list, we’ve got physical products. Now, this is where there are literally so many examples. Brands like Versace or Gucci will always post their new collections on their Reels. Ray-Ban will post a new pair every week or so. And you can do the same.
The great thing about selling physical products is that you can take two different routes. You can either grow your following and then start selling merch. You can also create your own online store and use Instagram Reels to get your products in front of the entire platform. With both options, you don't even have to pay for stock or fulfillment up front - you can use print-on-demand services to sell merch online.
Regardless of which way you go, your Reels should always be brand-related and showcase one of your products. So, for example, if you’re selling expensive watches, keep your Reels professional and showcase the luxury that comes with wearing these timepieces.
Earn Money with Instagram Reels and Whop
With so many different methods to get paid for your Instagram Reels, you’re probably overwhelmed. You’ll most likely need a few different platforms to get all these in place, and then you’ll have to connect all of them with your Reels and funnel your audience to each platform. This is a nightmare.
But what if you didn’t need to do all of this? What if you could take care of all that from one platform? Well, you can do so through Whop.
When you create an account on Whop, you can immediately make your own whop. This hub will be home to all of your operations. You can embed your Instagram on it, add our Courses app to upload your course, use the Chat app to host your paid community, even accept donations (and payments) through a Whop Checkout link.
And, your Reels are still equally important, as they’re now your main marketing channel. You’ll use them to redirect your viewers to your whop, where they can pay to get access to your offerings directly on the platform through Whop Payments.
All of these features won’t cost you anything upfront, and you can start monetizing your Reels without worrying about how many followers you have and where you’re from. We only charge a 3% transaction fee for all of these features.
So, what do you say? If you’re ready to earn money with Instagram Reels through Whop, join us today. Creating your whop, connecting it with your Instagram, and setting up Whop Payments will take mere minutes.
FAQs for Instagram Reel Monetization
Why monetize Instagram reels?
Monetizing your Instagram Reels can be a great moneymaker. After all, you’re providing tons of value, be that comedic or educational, to your followers, and you spent so much time creating these. It’s only right that you make some money off of them.
How many views do you need to get paid with Instagram reels?
Since the Instagram Reels Play Plus program isn’t a thing anymore, there’s no threshold for how many views you need to get paid with Reels. But, the more views you have, the higher you can charge for Sponsorships and Brand Deals.
What was the Instagram Reels Play Plus program?
Reels Play Plus was a monetization program for Reels that paid creators according to the number of views they’d get. The program was initially invitation-only but was discontinued in March 2023.
