How To Monetize TikTok Influence
As I've been saying and demonstrating for 10+ years, you can monetize your traffic, heck that's how the Internet works at large. You can monetize your social media profiles too.
The hot term right now is influencer. So and so is an influencer, this person over here is a micro-influencer, you've heard it before.
Eyeballs. Views. Clicks. That's the beginning part of being an influencer, essentially, traffic. Do you have an audience that watches your content? Then you're an influencer.
It doesn't matter if you have 117 million followers and almost 10 billion likes as Charli D’Amelio does, or if you have 3000 followers and 10,000 likes. You are an influencer.
And believe me, I'm not keen on the term "influencer" term or the connotation and rapport behind it. But it is what it is.
Influencers and Influence
What matters is how many of those people who follow you are true fans and will follow you across networks and across time. How many of those people are willing to listen to you when you tell them to go check something out or to visit some other website or property because you like it or endorse it.
There are two factors that really matter when making money online. Traffic, and conversions. You can have a viral video get a million views, but it could also net you $0.00. That means you have traffic, but no conversions.
On the other hand, you can have a video that gets 10 views every day but makes you a few hundred dollars each month, which means you have a little bit of traffic, but it converts.
Now, what if you had a video, or several that get hundreds of views AND convert into money? That's what we're after. Making money as an influencer, or making money online for that matter takes fine-tunning. It takes some practice and trial and error, but if you don't have the basic elements to work with then you'll never be able to fine-tune them.
Are you waiting for a viral moment?
You could blow up and become an Internet sensation and capitalize on that. Like Nathan, the guy with the Oceanspray juice and Dreams song. You could also win the lottery. But who's actually counting on that?
Even after all the success Nathan experienced when his video went viral, I know he left hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars on the table.
Let me tell you what you need to have a steady income, a long-lasting legacy, and a path to go from a lucky (or unlucky) influencer to a true digital entrepreneur.
Be Prepared
Part of going viral, getting free stuff, getting sponsors, making money, and all that could be luck, but the other part is preparation. And as they say, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
The following are the things you need to do to make money from your social media presence. I'll go through them in a quick list kind of way. If you'd like me to expand on any of these, let me know, leave me a comment or send me a message here, or on Instagram and I'll be happy to answer your questions in greater detail, in a video or in a dedicated post.
What you have
An audience
Don't worry if you only have a few followers. Everybody starts at 0. You don't need to have a million followers. Don't worry if you don't have 10,000 followers. Really, you can start this with 50 followers. The part that is important is that you have a profile and you're going to develop it.
A little bit of time
Let's face it, we're busy. Everybody's busy. I recently posted on Facebook about this and the common response is that we have 1000 things to do. But if you've got time to scroll through Tiktok for 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, check Instagram for 15 minutes, then you can make time. If you're up to speed with the latest bingeable Netflix show, then you have time. Especially if you can get paid for this time.
A desire
This is key. I can't force you to do this. I can't compel you to do it. You either want to or you don't. Could I persuade you to do what I'm saying here? Of course, I could use psychologically powerful words to convince you; I could promise you riches; I could offer all the assistance in the world, but if you don't have a desire, then you might as well scroll on by and keep spending time on TikTok without earning any money.
What you need
A website
I will tell you until I'm blue on the face. You. Need. A. Website.
A website does a few things. Number 1, It legitimizes you in the eyes of reputable companies. Number 2, it locks in your fans and audience. Number 3, it establishes the foundation for your legacy, independent of the social network you want to use.
With a website, you aren't subject to the social network's terms and condictions, your posts aren't banned, your comments won't get you shadowbanned, you control the narrative.
A list
This has evolved overtime, but the principle is the same as it has been for 100 years or more. You need a list of interested parties. A mailing list. The easiest and most common is an email list, yes believe it or not, people still read email and it's in fact the most trusted and relied upon messaging system in the planet.
Not everybody has a Facebook account, not everybody has an Instagram account, some people don't even have a phone number that can receive a text message. But almost every person that has access to a computer has an email account. It's how banks, hospitals, doctors, schools, and other institutions keep in touch with you.
Get an email list. Plug it into your website and this will let your audience and your fans stay in touch with you no matter what platform is hot today, and no matter what you're promoting (see the next item). Remember when Snapchat was all the rage? Yeah... who cares about them anymore?
An item or something to promote
This is the trickiest part because it is a universe in and of itself. I can't quickly tell you what item to promote, but the opportunities are endless. There are three big areas that you could explore to make money with this. One is affiliate relationships, two is sponsored promotions, and three could be your own product. There are a few other notable mentions, but they pretty much fall into these three categories.
A good amount of companies that you use everyday have affiliate programs. Take for example, the trends on TikTok. One of the trends is summervibes, summer bodies, etc. If you're a girl and you're already posting bikini videos or dancing videos, one easy way way to make money is to become an affiliate for those products. Shein has an affiliate program that pays 10 to 20% commissions.
Sponsors work in a couple of different ways. You can get paid just to be an ambassador or spokesperson for a brand --this requires a highly engaged audience and generally a large audience. But you can also do one-off sponsorships, where a company will pay you a flat fee for posting a number of posts.
Your own product can mean that you develop and engineer an actual physical item. That's a lot of work, but it is profitable in many situations. You could sell your art, or crafts.
You could also create a digital product, like a course, a book, or even a private membership site. You could become the product, or you could offer your services.
I know what you're thinking, but no, I'm not suggesting that you go out and join OnlyFans, but you can have a private membership area on your own website where you give your audience what they're looking for or an extended version of what you post in your public social media profiles.
While OnlyFans is making all the headlines right now, the private membership area concept isn't a new thing and there are many other platforms besides OF that you can use for this. Your website for one, but there are also others like Patreon, SubscribeStar, Thinkific, Kajabi, and the list goes on.
In Conclusion
You can monetize your social media profiles. I know people that make 4 or 5 figures per month; that's nothing to sneeze at as a side hustle. Others make over $100,000. You can do it from anywhere in the world where you have an Internet connection.
You don't need to be a huge celebrity. It takes a little bit of effort, some time, and preparation, but at the end of the day, the opportunities are endless, the payouts are fantastic. You can do this, doesn't matter if you're 16, or 73.
Dedicated to my TikTok fam, You guys are killing it. Shout-outs to you guys @ayuputurossa @marivic59mommy @dumb_bricklayer @iamtiktokelle @findingmea
