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Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Spotlight

For Some “Instagramming” Can Be A Lucrative Hobby

One user’s physique has brought both fame and money from the social media application.

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Instagram has recently started to make money by launching sponsored advertisements. However, some of its users have already been profiting from the phone application.

@MichaelRomeroJr has more than 70,000 followers. Many of them are part of a unique Instagram health and fitness culture. After constant requests from his followers, Michael started selling meal and workout plans to his thousands of fans.

“In the beginning I gave them out for free, but my friend convinced me to start charging. I don’t want my followers to think I did this for money. I didn’t. It was just for me to post photos of my progress. But so many people ask you a day, it's almost like a waste on your part if you don’t get something in return,” said Michael.

Michael also makes money from being a sponsored athlete. He is sponsored by a nutrition shop and gets $300 a month for posting photos with their products.

In the past, only competition body builders were sponsored athletes. For Michael, his Instagram popularity has helped him sidestep this process.

“It's something you can do for free on your own time and not have to worry about spray tans and all the politics that go into body building and what not...You just do what you want, and it’s a whole separate avenue that just popped up this year and big enough to where you can make money off of it,” said Michael.

“There are a lot of reasons why companies are now looking at popular Instagram profiles to promote their products. You can really cater into people’s specific interests, people follow certain non-celebrities because of the type of photos they post,” said social media expert Professor Burghardt Tenderich. “So in other words, you’re going to be very targeted with your audience reach.”

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