It is true that having many followers would make it easier to earn money online. Because more followers means more exposure for you as a content creator and for your skills and services. However, if you don’t have a lot of followers, it doesn’t mean you can’t work with brands or be a content creator! Here are ways to work as a content creator with no followers.
Before I start, if you speak Persian you can go ahead and watch my YouTube video below. If not, please keep reading.
1. Create “only content” for brands
Content creators don’t always post ads on their social media accounts. Sometimes they only create and deliver content to different brands and get paid for it. In many advertising campaigns these days, there are influencers or content creators with very small numbers of followers who create images and videos for brands and never publish them on their own pages. Ads are not at all the only way you can make money from brand deals on Instagram.
If you have a small following, you can make your Instagram page look like an online portfolio displaying your content creating abilities. So you can post enough samples of the work you can do, then create pitches for brands and reach out to them for content collaborations.
2. Sell your photos
Instagram is an important platform for content creators, but it is not the only opportunity. Another option for photographers would be selling stock photos online. There are several platforms where you can sell your photos online and make money. Some of these platform like Shutterstock specialize in selling photos and some other online markets like Etsy are alternatives marketplaces for artists.
On such marketplaces, you would need to optimize your content and create based on the needs of the users. For example on Etsy, you can lean towards taking decorative photos that can be printed and framed for a wall since this marketplace is known for artworks and handmade goods. Make sure you use keywords in order to let people searching for your content find it easier.
Here you can find a list of websites where you can sell photos.
3. Write content for your clients
Not everyone is good with creating visual content. But you might be a great writer! If that is you, another option is to write content for businesses and make money out of words. On freelancing platforms like Freelancer and Upwork, you can create your profile and search for content writing projects. These can include any kind of content from social media captions to blog posts and website descriptions.
These were three of the possible ways to make money without having many followers. If you do have some followers on Instagram, there are still more ways for making money rather than only relying on ads. Here you can find my suggestions and six ways that I made money using my Instagram account.
