Instagram has a few ways to let you monetize your content – and one of them is Instagram Gifts. If you want to know how they work and if they’re even something to look into, here’s a quick guide into everything Instagram Gifts.
- What are gifts on Instagram?
- How do Instagram Gifts work?
- How to send gifts on Instagram
- How to enable gifts on Instagram
- Are Instagram Gifts worth it?
- Speaking of engagement on Instagram
- Frequently asked questions
- How to earn gifts on Instagram
- How to set up gifts on Instagram
- How much do Instagram Gifts cost?
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What are gifts on Instagram?
Instagram Gifts are one of the features that let you earn money on Instagram. You can use them with your Instagram reels, with your audience – both followers and non-followers – being able to buy and send you virtual gifts that you can later turn into revenue.
In reality, they’re cute little images you can send to the creator to show your appreciation. But what matters more than the image is the possible payout to the creator, which makes their content efforts worthwhile. (Not that engagement is not rewarding in and of itself. But you know, creators have to live off something, too, and engagement doesn’t pay the bills. Unless it’s this kind of engagement.)
By the way, it’s something else from Instagram badges that you can use to earn money on your live video content. Instagram Gifts work only with reels, so if you want more options to monetize your Instagram account, creating reels is definitely a good idea.
How do Instagram Gifts work?
People who watch your reels can buy stars and use them to send you gifts on Instagram. When they do that, Instagram provides you with a revenue share from your reels that got the gifts monthly, with $.01 USD for every star you received.
And then it’s just simple math. 100 stars will equal one US dollar paid to the creator, and so on. (Mind you, the viewer pays a little over twice more – Instagram has to earn their share, too.)
Sounds pretty simple, right? And it is, but there’s also a list of conditions you need to meet to be eligible for using Instagram Gifts. You need to:
- Have a professional Instagram account.
- Be at least 18.
- Have at least 500 followers on Instagram.
- Meet Instagram’s Partner Monetization Policies
- Comply with those policies as well as Instagram’s Community Guidelines.
- Agree to the Instagram Gifts Creators Terms
- Live in one of the countries where Instagram Gifts are available – you can check out the full list here.
- Not have an account focused on content for children, as these are not eligible to earn gifts or receive them.
You get paid out when your overall balance reaches $25, which includes earnings from other Instagram monetization programs.
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How to send gifts on Instagram
To send a gift on a selected creator’s content, you need to:
- Tap “Send gift” at the bottom of the reel you’re watching.
- Then select the number of stars you want to send – and send them to the creator.
If you’re doing it for the first time, your star balance will be zero, so you need to pay the right amount of money first using your app store’s in-app payment method. You will need to set up a payment method for in-app purchases in the App Store or Google Play Store if you don’t have one.
When you have enough funds within the Instagram app, you can buy and send the stars, a.k.a. Instagram Gifts to the creator.
With one star being one US cent for the creator, you need to send 100 stars to send one US dollar, and so on.
How to enable gifts on Instagram
If you’re eligible, here’s how to turn on gifts for your Instagram reels:
- Go to your profile in the Instagram app.
- Tap Professional dashboard.
- Scroll down and tap Gifts.
- It will show you if you’re eligible to receive gifts.
- Switch on the Allow gifts on reels toggle (It will probably be switched on by default, but it won’t work unless you complete the next step.)
- Tap Start earning from gifts and then Continue. This is where you set up the thing.
- You’ll need to enter your country and business type.
- Then, set up a payout account. Since you’ll need to report your taxes on Instagram revenue, Instagram will ask you to provide a bunch of information for tax verification purposes.
- Then you choose how you want to get paid (PayPal or bank account.)
And voila, you can now receive gifts and get paid for your Instagram reels.
You can turn off Instagram Gifts for individual reels, and if you turn the toggle off, you’ll switch gifts for all your reels.
Are Instagram Gifts worth it?
Now, that’s for you to decide. Essentially, if you have an engaged audience, Instagram Gifts might be a nice way to monetize the engagement and provide additional revenue from the social media platform without doing pretty much anything (other than continuing to post your engaging content).
And, since you’re posting your reels anyway, you might as well have them on in case people want to reward your content and show appreciation using gifts.
Of course, you can let them know that this is an option to encourage them to use Instagram Gifts and send you stars. Or even make it like a loyalty program, where people who reward you get something in return.
You can also use it along with other monetization opportunities on Instagram, like Instagram Live badges or Instagram subscriptions.
In any case, they don’t cost you anything, while they might be a nice way to let people show their engagement in a meaningful way.
Speaking of engagement on Instagram
If you’re into Instagram for the long run and serious about building an engaged community on the platform, look for Instagram management tools for business like NapoleonCat that will help you:
- Plan and schedule Instagram content in bulk, including reels, weeks in advance to post automatically
- Moderate the engagement your content generates, including answering comments and messages and removing spam from organic posts and ads (even automatically)
- Moderate what’s going on under your Instagram sponsored content (there might be comments you need to react to that you might overlook with how complicated the Instagram inbox is. If you know, you know.)
- Analyze engagement and find ways to improve it, so that you know what to post and when (and so you can earn more on your Instagram Gifts monetization, too).
We highly recommend you test NapoleonCat for free – no credit card required 😉
Simplify Instagram Business
Management with One Tool
- Manage & reply to comments and DMs in one place.
- Monitor ad comments from multiple accounts.
- Automate answers to repetitive questions.
- Schedule posts to multiple accounts, on desktop.
- Analyze performance and monitor hashtags.
- Keep track of your competition.
- Create or schedule in-depth reports in seconds.
Frequently asked questions about Instagram Gifts
How to earn gifts on Instagram
Earning with Instagram Gifts is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is set up the feature in your Professional dashboard > Gifts and make sure you’re eligible, which means:
- Have a professional account
- Have at least 500 followers on your Instagram account
- Be at least 18 or older
- Be in one of the countries that are eligible for earning with Instagram Gifts:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- The Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
How to set up gifts on Instagram
Here’s how to set up gifts on Instagram, so you can earn on your Instagram reels.
- Go to the Professional dashboard in your Instagram profile and scroll down to Gifts.
- Make sure you’re eligible per Instagram’s guidelines
- Tap Start earning from gifts and complete the subsequent steps. Instagram will ask you for your biz information. You’ll also need to set up your payout method, which requires an in-app purchase payment method in the app store you’re currently using.
- When all that’s done, you’re all set, and you can start receiving gifts from your reels.
It’s probably a good idea to let your audience know that they can send you gifts and encourage them to do so.
How much do Instagram Gifts cost?
Instagram pays creators one US cent per star, but Instagram users can buy 45 stars for $0.99. Do the math, and you’ll see that Instagram takes about $2.20 per 100 stars and pays out less than half of that to the creator.
To send Instagram Gifts, you need to have a Stars balance on Instagram. When you’re purchasing stars, you’ll need to update your balance on the Instagram app, and you’ll be prompted to check out with payment methods stored in your Apple App Store or Google Play Store account.
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