Instagram Reels bonuses are gone and now you're freaking out because they were a great part of your income from Instagram. You might be wondering, how am I going to make money on Instagram now? By creating your own digital product
Well, my friend, I'm sorry to break it to you, but you should have NEVER relied on Reels Bonuses to really make money on Instagram as a creator.
To add some context here, last week, Meta announced they were discontinuing their Reels bonuses to creators on Facebook and Instagram, for now. The company stated that it wants to focus on building a sustainable monetization model for creators on the platform and will be exploring new ways for creators to earn money from their content.
But if you really want to succeed on Instagram and make REAL GOOD money, you were never going to achieve this through Reels Bonuses. What you should have done already, was to create your own products or programs and sell them to your own audience.
But Juan, I've got a small audience. So what? Are they engaged? Are you solving their problems, inspiring them, or teaching them something new with your content? Are they saving your posts? Are they sharing them? Then you've got something to sell.
And in case you've never created a digital product in your life, here's a step-by-step guide on how to create your first digital product to start making more money on Instagram.
1. Start with research & social listening
It doesn't matter how big or small your audience is. The fact is that you have one. And if you have one, you can already start making money on Instagram.
They all have similar struggles, issues, fears, dreams, goals, etc
The first thing you got to do is to ASK them, and Instagram is such a great platform for this.
You can stories about this and ask them what their biggest struggle is right now in relation to a specific topic within your niche.
You can also do a dedicated post to this and ask them directly in the caption.
You can also go to your competitors' pages and read what people are writing in their comments. What questions are they asking?
2. Find the most common pain point to start developing your product further
You've done the research, you have the ideas, and you're ready to go!
Remember that the best products not only solve problems but cater to emotions.
Let's say you're a food blogger for moms and you found out that most women are struggling with a lack of time to cook healthy and balanced meals for their kids. What is the emotion behind that? The fear of malnourishing their kids and that this will affect their health and future.
You will create your digital product around that.
What are some of the solutions for this?
Recipe ebook with recipes that take less than 10 minutes to complete
Effective & efficient healthy Cooking for Moms video course
A membership with weekly recipes & other benefits
Do you get my point?
Once you know your ICA's biggest problem, you can create any product that will solve this problem.
3. Choose the product type
When it comes to the type of product, there are tons of options and it will depend on your availability to create a new product from scratch and also on the types of products your audience likes to consume.
Many times you can repurpose content from your coaching programs or other material into creating this new product.
Here are some of the products you can create in order of difficulty, from low effort and pricing to high effort and pricing.
Templates
Ebooks
Paid challenges
Mini-courses
Memberships
Courses
4. Decide on the pricing
This can be quite tricky too, especially if it's your first time creating a digital product. My first product ever was a $47 mini-course and it sold like hotcakes. Why? Because it solved a specific problem most of my audience had and it was pretty affordable.
Here are a few things you should consider when deciding the pricing of your digital product:
Consider the value it will provide to the customer: If the product will help your customer have a tangible ROI like earning more money or making their money back fast, your price can be higher. If your product offers a signature framework or process, the price can be higher. If your product offers only information (like our recipe book example) the price should be lower.
Consider your competitors' pricing: Research the pricing of your competitors who offer similar digital products. This will give you an idea of the market rate and help you determine a reasonable price point for your product.
Target market: Consider the demographics and budget of your target market. If you are targeting a budget-conscious audience, you may need to price your product lower. If you are targeting a more affluent audience, you can price your product higher.
5. How to create your digital product
Once you've decided on what product you will create and its price, you can start creating it.
Depending on the product of choice, it might take you a couple of weeks up to months. If this is your first time creating a product, I'd suggest you start with something easy like a template or an ebook.
You can easily create these on apps like Adobe Express, where they have ready-made plug-and-play templates where you can add all the information about your product, add your branding, and package it ready to be distributed.
If you're creating courses, challenges, or memberships, you might want to use tools like Kajabi (click here to get a free trial), Thinkific, Teachable, Searchie, etc (Please let me know in the comments if you'd like a post on how to create a product on any of these tools).
6. Market your product
Once your product is ready, it's time to market it to start making more money on Instagram. Luckily for you, Instagram is a perfect tool for this.
The first thing you need is a website where you can create a landing page where you will send your traffic from Instagram to buy your product.
There are tools like Stan.Store that allows you to do this with ease and you don't even need a web or landing page. Click here to try Stan Store for free.
Once your product is ready, your need to promote the hell out of it, but don't worry, Instagram has so many placements where you can do this, that it will never get repetitive.
And guess what, the more you talk about it, the more you will sell.
Promote it on stories 3 - 4 per week
Create a highlight
Add it to your link in bio
Create content around the problems your product solves (Reels, Carousels)
Go live to talk about the benefits your product will bring
Now, there is definitely more behind a successful product launch on Instagram, but here we've only covered the basics. If you want to learn more about launching products, comment LAUNCH and I will create a new post about this.
In the meantime, the waitlist for my signature program is open and doors are opening soon!
If you're looking to turn Instagram into your full-time business, this is the program for you.
