395: How to Monetize Instagram Reels Without 10K Followers

[00:00:00] Hello friends. Welcome back to another episode. Today I am in a new place where I am filming for the podcast. So we do typically film episodes for the podcast. You guys probably have seen them on social media. It's me at my desk and it's, it's fine, right? But it's 2026. It's a new year, and we are really trying to grow this podcast to reach as many creatives as possible this year.

[00:00:33] So part of that means that I needed to step up my game with how we were filming these episodes, not just the amazing quality audio thanks to Hailey over at Gaffin Creative, but also the video quality because we want to push out even more social media content Also start to put our podcast on YouTube more, and if you're listening on Spotify, starting to see the podcast as a video on Spotify as well.

[00:01:03] So I'm really excited about this. It's, hopefully turning out. Okay, you guys have to hop over to YouTube and let me know what you think of this over there. And if that's something you guys are having fun watching because it's a little bit of a setup. I mean, I've got like some lights, I've got, you know, my mic, making sure everything looks just so, but isn't that just how it goes for us as content creators?

[00:01:28] I'm just proud of myself for actually following through. And hitting record and like doing all the things. I'm somebody that like, okay, I need some lighting. If I'm gonna be doing this and I need X, Y, and z. Do you do this as well for social media or for any type of content creation? Like you have this concept, you have this idea of what you wanna do and you like get all the pieces.

[00:01:54] Or maybe even like me, you go ahead and like record and film and then don't actually hit publish. So this is not, , what this episode is about, but just like a side note too. Publish the thing to hit record, to share it with the world, and that it doesn't have to be perfect. We've been doing this podcast for, oh gosh, seven years now.

[00:02:18] And it's just getting better and better over time, and I've been in the world of content creation and blogging for over 10 years, and my content has changed and evolved and improved drastically. It's never going to be perfect. The first go round or even the 20th or 100th go round. It's just slow and steady improvements over time, and that's how it is when you're starting any new endeavor.

[00:02:46] So just a little extra pep talk for you as we dive into this week's episode, because in this week's episode, we are going to be talking about reels and how to monetize on Instagram before we have a really large audience. Working with brands is kind of like one of the big goals we have when we're working on Instagram, right?

[00:03:09] Like, oh my gosh, I wanna work with this brand and I wanna make this much money and they're gonna send me stuff and I get to film for them and it's going to be so much fun and it's gonna be amazing. And it is, don't get me wrong, it's super fun.

[00:03:22] However, it is not the only way to make money on Instagram. In fact, it's not even the first way. I would suggest that you make money on Instagram because in order for you to get paid enough to make it worth your while, you do have to have, you know, a little bit of a following, at least like 10,000 followers, right?

[00:03:43] And if you wanna know how much. Can I charge based on how many people I have Following me, we have our pricing guide. You can go and download that for free. We'll link that in the description below, or just head to thrive together, blog slash pricing guide, and that's going to tell you we have a breakdown.

[00:04:01] Table for each platform, not just Instagram, where you can go and say, okay, I have this many followers. How much can I charge brands? Or, okay, once I get to this point and have this many followers, then I can charge this amount. Right? But what do we do until then? What do we do until it's worth our while? Or if working with brands is not even something that we want to do, but we love to create reels and short form video.

[00:04:28] So what we're gonna talk about today is how to use affiliates to do just that. And not just that, but to do that really well and to make yourself a lot of money so inside Bold Fluence, we teach you, okay, how to choose the platform that makes sense to you to grow your audience, right?

[00:04:47] And then. With that, we also show you, okay, here's your first step in making money, and here's the best way to do it when you're just getting started, and then, okay, now that you've gotten yourself a little bit more established, here's the next revenue stream that we recommend.

[00:05:04] This all helps so much to just take that guessing out of it and that frustration of like, oh, well this isn't working, and why, and so that's why we really show you, okay, here's your best step in order to start making money the quickest because I don't know about you, but I don't have time to pour so much of myself into a content creation journey without making money.

[00:05:31] Relatively quickly, and I mean within like 90, 120 days, right? Like gone are the times where we have years to spend growing something and then hopefully it magically makes us money because we have all the time in the world and it's just a fun hobby. If I want a fun hobby, I'm gonna read my book, or I'm gonna go watch Gilmore Girls, or I'm gonna go work on my crochet.

[00:05:57] Right? Like I, for me personally. Creating content or is not going to be how I'm going to spend my leisurely time. I'm doing this to make money, and I want you to be doing this to make a crap ton of money. I want everyone to make so much money this year. So if you need step-by-step plan, if you want coaching, if you want community, bold fluence is where it's at.

[00:06:22] So with affiliates being one of the first ways to make money with reels. Also, I forgot to mention, bold Fluence Link is of course in the description below. I think that's a given at this point. Also, thrive Together, blog slash bold. Fluence. Okay, affiliates. All right, let me get back on track here. We can make so much money with short form video and affiliates.

[00:06:47] It doesn't have to be just Amazon, if Amazon is not your jam. But there is an affiliate program for literally every brand out there. So affiliates really is a very versatile, income stream for any niche. So no matter what niche you're in, you're going to be able to find brands that will give you a commission whenever you share your affiliate link.

[00:07:08] Now why we recommend it for short form video and for Instagram reels specifically is that as we know, you do not have to have a large following for a reel to do well. We have accounts where we're helping people who have. Under 200 followers on Instagram and their reels are getting, you know, 500 plus views.

[00:07:31] Right? And that's on the low end. But that shows like, oh, my reel is reaching far beyond just my followers. And that's true no matter how many followers you have on Instagram. So whenever we are strategically sharing things in. Affiliate real, and I'll give you some examples, to help you kind of brainstorm this for yourself and how you can make this work for yourself based on what you like to do.

[00:07:55] But no matter how big your following is, you can make money doing this and your reels can reach beyond your audience, which is great, which we love. So let's make those views count towards dollars, right?

[00:08:09] So when we're talking about affiliate reels, we're talking about a reel that will subtly or very plainly be showcasing products that people would then in turn ask you for, or you would say, Hey, comment this word below. They would click the link. Hopefully they would go and buy something if at the minimum we're grabbing their cookies.

[00:08:30] Cookies. What are cookies other than a chocolate chip cookie, which Brie loves? We are talking about cookies specific to a website, so whenever anyone clicks your link, it attaches what the internet calls cookies to link your account with that person that clicked. Typically, these will last anywhere from like 30 to 60 days, so that means if somebody clicks on your link.

[00:08:57] They don't click on anybody else's affiliate link, so right. Let's say that you're sharing an Amazon link, and from the time that they have clicked on that link, and let's say they don't click on another Amazon link for three or four days, and over those three or four days, they make several different purchases.

[00:09:14] Could be purchasing anything. It does not have to be purchasing what you shared. You will in turn, make a commission. Based on what they purchase, you will make a commission all the way up until they click on somebody else's link, which would then transfer the cookies to them. So sometimes the goal can be, yes, I want somebody to go and click on this, and hopefully buy the thing that I'm promoting.

[00:09:41] Right? Because that's why I'm sharing it is because you love it. But really the goal with a lot of this, especially Amazon, is that you are grabbing the cookies and that you are gonna make a commission on all of their purchases until they click another link. This is a strategy not only with reels, but also with, you know, wherever you share that Amazon link.

[00:10:04] And it's also something that I am testing with a couple of clients to run ads on meta with. , Let me know if that's something that you guys are interested in. Um,, And we could potentially do a whole episode on that, or maybe even a Facebook live on that. I'm having a lot of fun working with this, so I'll have more information as I keep experimenting, but it's a lot of fun.

[00:10:27] So, like I said, Amazon is one that you see quite often, but there is an affiliate program out there for almost every single company out there. So you can find an affiliate program with any brand that you love, which is great. We love this. This just means that the world is open to you making more money.

[00:10:51] We just have to put that out there and start grabbing it. So how can we share affiliate links? There's different things that I'm sure you are seeing, and what I wanna do is just kind of bring some of these to the forefront of your mind. And then what I really want you to do is after you're done listening to this episode, or even while you're still listening to me, jot some of these ideas down for yourself.

[00:11:12] What. Sparks your inspiration based on what I am sharing with you right now. Because what we wanna do is we wanna take that inspiration and run with it. So things like try on halls, right? You see people do this in fashion. I also love when they just literally sit on the floor and open their packages and.

[00:11:32] You can tell by the metrics that a lot of people like this opening your package and sharing what you purchased. Whenever I go to Trader Joe's in the fall and Trader Joe's is unfortunately one I can't really do an an affiliate link for, but whenever I go to Trader Joe's in the fall, everybody always loves when I share everything that I get, share all the pumpkin goodness, right?

[00:11:52] So just think of that type of thing. Think of it as like sharing with your bestie of like, here's what I got at the store today, or here's what I got in the mail. It's interesting, it brings us into your community and it's really super fun, to just be a part of your life that way. And then the goal, of course is like, Ooh, I want a link for that, or I wanna link for this.

[00:12:11] And then they're asking for their code. They're clicking the link and they're going and exploring and sending the cookies your way.

[00:12:17] Another one that I really love is listicles. So we think of listicles in terms of like a blog post or even like a cute little graphic on Pinterest, right? Where it's like 10 things for blah, blah, blah. Well, I want you to think of that for yourself. So for me, I am trying to put out more motherhood content and I have a very active toddler.

[00:12:39] So one thing I could do is. 10. Activities or 10 things that my toddler loves to play with when we're stuck inside and we're stuck inside a lot right now because it is very cold here in Minnesota. But like think in terms of that, like 10 things you could do on a rainy day or here are my five must haves when I'm getting cozy with a book.

[00:13:04] It could be literally anything, but sharing multiple things at a time. This would also work for a really good carousel and we're seeing carousels take off a lot more lately. So definitely like mix it in. You could totally do an affiliate carousel and having each slide be a different product that you're sharing.

[00:13:25] But what I am wanna point out here. Is that reels, carousels, whatever it may be, perform really well when there is multiple things in the video, when there is just one thing in the post, it's going to be hit or miss with your audience. How, when you have multiple things that you were talking about,

[00:13:49] the odds of somebody wanting a link to at least one of those things in your video goes up so much, so you are going to get more people clicking, more people commenting for the link. More engagement on that video or that carousel whenever you are sharing multiple things. So try to get away from just sharing one random thing at a time, and instead have at least a few in there to really increase your return.

[00:14:21] The key with this is really consistency. We love that word, right? So if you are wanting to make affiliates a part of your income stream, I want you to challenge yourself to post at least one affiliate piece of content every single week. So one real or one carousel, and stay consistent with it.

[00:14:42] Also, if you have trial reels, do that as well. Post like a couple, two, three, as many as you can, trial reels every single day because those ones are not going to blow up your audience. I know a lot of people are like, Ooh, I don't wanna just like jump into sharing so much of this. Maybe it's like a new type of content for you.

[00:15:04] But sharing it on trial reels, if that is available to you, is a great way to attract a new audience and potentially increase your income by getting those clicks that way.

[00:15:15] You've got this. And remember, if you want support with this, if you want coaching, if you want community, if you want trainings and tutorials, then come join us inside of bold fluence. Before we go, I wanna give a shout out to three new members that we have. Inside Bold Fluence, our newest members, Brittany Huber, Lindsay Herbert, and Caitlyn Wicker.

[00:15:39] You guys we're so excited to have you inside. Bold Fluence welcome, and I can't wait to get to know you guys more. Thanks for being here, and if you guys are interested in joining, of course, click that link below and also. Come and DM me if talking about meta ads is something that you guys are interested in, because that is something I wanna hear from you guys about.

[00:16:02] Is that on your radar? Is it not? Should we do something there, let me know and we can explore some more. All right, you guys have an amazing rest of your day. Go take that inspiration, write it down, run with it, go create those reels, and I'll see you back here soon.