How to Make Money on Social Media
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Are you looking to turn your social media presence into a profitable venture? Learn the secrets of how to make money on social media in this comprehensive guide.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
In this article we’ll explore in more detail:
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How to make money on social media: getting started
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What you need to make money on social media
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Building a brand and becoming an authority in your niche
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Staying up to date with the latest trends and changes
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Getting a headstart with an established social media account
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How to make money on social media: monetisation methods
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Ads or featured posts
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Brand collaborations and reviews
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Affiliate marketing
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Exclusive content via memberships and subscriptions
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Selling digital products
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Flipping social media accounts
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How to make money on social media: finding paid opportunities
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How do you get these paid opportunities?
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How to make money on social media: managing your time and resources
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Creating a schedule
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Using social media tools
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Outsourcing tasks
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Establishing a budget
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Setting boundaries
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How to make money on social media: legal and ethical considerations
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Final word on making money on social media
How to make money on social media: getting started
Whether you’re looking for a new side hustle idea, or you already have an established social media account with engagement and lots of followers, you may be wondering how to make money on social media. How is it possible and what are the options for monetising social media content or turning a profit from an engaged audience?
Read on as we explore several of the ways you can make money on social media.
What you need to make money on social media
Firstly, you need a reason for brands to want to pay you for brand collaborations or advertising their products. Simply setting up a social media account and expecting to make money off the bat isn’t going to cut it. Brands want to see accounts with real followers and audience engagement so they know their products will be seen. Otherwise, there’s no point in them paying for brand awareness or generating leads from a social media account that will not perform.
You’ll need an account with a clear mission (such as a defined niche) and an expectation of who your audience is and what they want. You need to first build your brand and audience and become an authority in your niche. You also need to keep up with updates and trends on social media so your account stays relevant.
Once you have established yourself and have grown your social media followers and engagement that prove you can influence, then brands will want to start working with you and your social media accounts.
Here are some quick tips on how to go about this when building your social media for monetisation:
Building a brand and becoming an authority in your niche:
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Consistently creating high-quality content that aligns with your niche and resonates with your audience
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Engaging with your audience by responding to comments and messages, and creating opportunities for them to interact with your content
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Building relationships with other influencers in your niche by collaborating on content or promoting each other's work
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Developing a consistent visual aesthetic and tone of voice for your brand
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Utilising keyword research and SEO best practices to optimize your content for search engines
Staying up to date with the latest trends and changes:
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Keeping an eye on new features and updates on the platform you are using
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Analyze trends and changes in the industry and adapt your content accordingly
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Stay informed about new technologies, tools, and strategies that can help you to improve your content and engagement
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Continuously monitor your analytics and metrics to gauge your performance and make adjustments where necessary.
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Take inspiration from other successful influencers or entrepreneurs in your niche and see how they are staying current in the field.
Get a headstart with an established social media account
Just like you can buy an existing business that’s for sale or an existing website or blog that’s for sale, you can also buy an established social media account. There are online buying and selling platforms such as Fameswap which sell Instagram accounts, YouTube channels and Tiktok accounts. This can be a great way to get a headstart on a social media business if you’re starting from scratch and can find the perfect niche that’s already for sale. It might be that an influencer is quitting and they are selling their account and followers that they’ve spent years building up. For someone looking to start a social media profile purely to make money then it’s a great way to get an instant audience and engagement on your posts.
How to make money on social media: monetisation methods
Once you have an established social media account at the ready with a good number of real followers (think in the thousands at least) and engagement on your posts, then you could be ready to monetise your social media. But, the all-important question is, how on earth do people start making money from their social media accounts? In this section, we’ll explore the different monetisation methods available for social media including:
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Ads or featured posts
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Brand collaborations and reviews
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Affiliate marketing
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Exclusive content via memberships and subscriptions
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Selling digital products
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Flipping social media accounts
Ads or featured posts
This is where the brand provides its own ad, or featured content, for you to post on your social media. they will provide the wording and imagery. You may label this as ad (brand featured content) to make it clear it is not your own content and instead an advertisement for a company.
Brand collaborations and reviews
Another way to monetise a social media account is by collaborating on content with a brand. They may send you a brief and you create the content together, or they may allow the content creator to take full creative control. This can be on a topic important to the creator, or it may be a product or service review if the brand provides this to the influencer to showcase the product/service on their social media.
Sometimes brands will offer products in exchange for the content and other times they will offer payment plus product. It’s down to each individual creator to decide what their time is worth and whether they are happy to have product only, or if payment is a requirement. If you’re in this to monetise as a business, then you’ll likely want to always only accept payment for your time and social media services.
This can be a great way to make money on social media, but it's important to make sure that the content is relevant to your audience and that the brand aligns with your values. Additionally, you'll need to have a significant following and engagement to be able to command high rates for any sponsored content. It's important to be honest and transparent in your reviews and to disclose any compensation you receive.
Affiliate marketing
Just like with blogging, you can use affiliate marketing to monetise your social media channels too. You can sign up to affiliate marketing networks like Awin as a content creator and apply for the brands you wish to work with. Then you can share the affiliate links on your social media channels to promote the products and services, generating a commission every time someone shops from your affiliate link.
You can add affiliate links to individual posts where possible on sites like Twitter, or for Instagram, you may wish to add a link in bio which takes you to a page of links to direct your audience to various products or services.
As well as affiliate schemes, you can also share refer-a-friend links on your social media. Some refer-a-friend schemes offer money for each referral.
Exclusive content via memberships and subscriptions
Another way to make money on social media is to offer exclusive content to your followers through memberships or subscriptions. This could include behind-the-scenes content, exclusive videos, or other perks. This can be a great way to monetise your social media account, but it's important to make sure that the content is valuable enough to justify the cost. You’ll need to be highly influential and have content of high value to your audience before they’ll even think of paying for it.
Selling digital products
Social media can also be used to sell digital products such as ebooks, courses, or templates. This can be a great way to make money on social media if you have a niche or expertise that others are interested in learning about. Additionally, it can also be a way to diversify your income streams.
Build up and flip social media accounts
Flipping is also another way to make money from social media. If you are able to successfully build up accounts with real followers and genuine engagement in niches that are profitable, then you can use marketplaces like Fameswap to sell your social media accounts to others to make a profit. So if you have a knack for quickly building engaged followers and creating viral content, this could be a secondary income stream from your social media talents. This can be a way to monetise your social media efforts, but it's important to note that it's a risky and less common way of making money on social media.
How to make money on social media: finding paid opportunities
Now you have an established social media account and have chosen some ways to monetise your content, how do you get these paid opportunities?
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Display contact details: Firstly, make sure you have a way to contact you in your bio. Display an email address or link to a contact form, or say something along the lines of “DM for collaborations” so brands know how to contact you.
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Have DMs open: Many brands will stumble across your account and may naturally want to work with you once you’ve established a following and have some worthy content. You may find you’ll start getting messages directly from brands for collaborations without you having to outreach. Just make sure you have your Direct Messages open to receive mail from non-followers to ensure you don’t miss any brand opportunities.
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Sign up to networks for brands and influencers: There are loads of websites and apps that network between brands and social media influencers for paid opportunities. Check out our huge list of where to find paid blogging and social media opportunities for a start.
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Search for opportunities: I’m not a big fan of cold outreach to companies for opportunities and many bloggers and influencers get a bad rep for it, sometimes even shamed publicly! Instead, I recommend outreaching out only to those brands you know work with social media influencers and are looking for accounts to work with. You can sign up for many Facebook groups where opportunities are shared, as well as search various hashtags on places like Twitter using relevant search terms such as “looking for influencers” “Instagrammers wanted” “Tiktok wanted” and “vloggers wanted” and so on. Search for any type of wording you can think of that brands might be using when looking to work with social media accounts and influencers.
How to make money on social media: managing your time and resources
Managing your time and resources is crucial when it comes to making money on social media. With so many different monetisation methods available, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and spread yourself too thin. It's important to balance creating content and engaging with your audience with the time and effort required to monetise your account. So how can you mangage your time and resources effectively? Let’s explore.
Create a schedule
One tip for managing your time effectively is to create a schedule and stick to it. This can help you stay organised and ensure that you are using your time in the most efficient way possible. You should also set realistic and achievable goals for your social media account, and track your progress towards those goals. This will help you stay motivated and focused on the things that matter most.
Use social media tools
Another important aspect of managing your time and resources is to use tools and technology to automate certain tasks. For example, there are various social media scheduling tools that can help you automate the process of posting content on your social media accounts. This can free up more time for you to focus on other important tasks, such as engaging with your audience or finding new monetisation opportunities.
There are also many tools and apps that can help you track your analytics and metrics, such as follower count, engagement rate, and reach. This information can be extremely valuable in understanding what's working and what's not and can help you make more informed decisions about your social media strategy.
Outsource tasks
Another way to manage your time and resources is to outsource certain tasks to other people. For example, you may want to hire a graphic designer to create custom graphics for your content, or a social media manager to handle the day-to-day management of your accounts. This can help you focus on the aspects of social media that you enjoy most while leaving the more tedious or technical tasks to someone else. However, it's important to thoroughly research and vet any individual or company you plan to outsource to, to ensure they align with your brand and values.
Establish a budget
It's also important to establish a budget for paid advertising and other monetisation methods. This can help you avoid overspending on ads or other tools that may not be effective for your specific audience or niche. This can also help you plan for any expenses associated with creating digital products or outsourcing tasks.
Set boundaries
Finally, it's important to take care of yourself and manage your own energy levels. Social media can be incredibly time-consuming, and it's easy to burn out if you're not careful. Make sure to take regular breaks, set boundaries and maintain a healthy work-life balance to ensure you're able to maintain your energy and enthusiasm for the long term.
How to make money on social media: legal and ethical considerations
When it comes to making money on social media, it's important to be aware of legal and ethical considerations. Failure to comply with the law or be transparent with your audience can lead to serious consequences, such as losing your account or facing fines.
One of the most important legal and ethical considerations is disclosing sponsored content and affiliate links. It depends on which country you reside in, but most countries and social media platforms require influencers to disclose any compensation they receive for promoting a product or service. This can include sponsored posts, affiliate links, or other forms of compensation. It's important to be transparent with your social media audience and let them know when you are being compensated for promoting something.
Another legal and ethical consideration is avoiding scams or illegal activities. It's important to be cautious of any opportunities that seem too good to be true or ask for personal information. Also, be sure to check the terms of service of the social media platform you're using, as they may prohibit certain types of monetisation methods.
It's also important to protect your intellectual property and personal information. This means that you should be aware of copyright laws and trademarks, and be sure to get permission to use any images, videos, or other content that you didn't create yourself. Additionally, be sure to use strong passwords and two-factor authentication to protect your accounts from hacking.
Finally, it's important to be transparent and avoid misleading your audience. This means that you should not make false or misleading claims about products or services, and be honest about your results or experiences. Additionally, be sure to respect your audience's privacy and avoid sharing personal information without their consent.
The final word on making money on social media
Making money on social media is a viable and exciting opportunity for many people. By building a strong brand and audience, staying up to date with the latest trends and changes, and utilising monetisation methods such as ads, brand collaborations, affiliate marketing, exclusive content and even potentially flipping social media accounts, you can turn your social media presence into a profitable venture.
However, it is important to remember to manage your time and resources effectively, set goals, track progress and establish a budget, in order to make the most of your time and efforts.
It's also crucial to be aware of legal and ethical considerations such as disclosing sponsored content, avoiding scams, protecting your intellectual property and personal information and, of course, being transparent with your audience.
By following these guidelines, you could create a sustainable and profitable social media presence that will help you achieve your financial goals. Remember to stay informed and be open to new opportunities, as the social media landscape is constantly evolving.
Good luck!
Before you go…
Don't limit yourself to just social media monetisation, here are other ways to make money online:
Also, don't forget about freelancer insurance to protect your social media business!