Mr. Beast, the richest YouTuber, has an estimated worth of $54 million! He is just one of many content creators who have made a great living from social media.
But of course, Mr. Beast and others are in the minority. Many social media content creators work hard and never earn handsomely for their efforts. But if you’ve decided to call it quits — don’t!
If you are a talented social media content creator, then you can make money online with your work.
Here’s what you’ve got to do:
Stick to One Platform First
A common mistake that many new content creators make is that they spread themselves too thin. While you should have a YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok account, you may want to create content for one platform first.
Use the other platforms to share your content. For example, take the Indian content creator Mohak Mangal as a great example.
He creates documentary-style and explainer videos for his YouTube channel. He then uses platforms such as Twitter to share the links to the videos. He’ll then take short snippets of his videos and share them on Instagram.
This is the best approach at first. Later, you can decide if you want to also create original content for different platforms. But first, you must master one platform that’ll suit your content the best.
One strategy you should consider early on is how much you’ll earn from each platform. For example, you might want to learn how much TikTok will pay for a million views compared to Instagram or YouTube.
This helps you decide which platform you should focus most of your energy on. Now let’s look at some individual strategies on how to monetize your social media presence.
Promote Products and Services
If you’ve got a decent following on social media, you might qualify as an influencer. Depending on your market, a decent following can range from 1,000 followers to 1,000,000 followers!
At a bare minimum, however, you want to always have 1,000 followers consistently. Focus on getting this number of followers first before you start promoting products and services.
Once you’ve reached this number, you can reach out to brands to offer your promotional services. For example, let’s say you discuss books like Leaf by Leaf or Better Than Food.
You can reach out to publishers or independent authors to promote or discuss their books. In exchange, they’ll pay you a fee to read their books and create content about it.
This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to make money as a social media content creator. It’s one of the best ways to increase your prominence on various social media platforms.
As with the previous point, you want to stick to one platform. Some influencers, such as Ali Abdaal, will use YouTube to promote a product or service that he uses.
Others, such as Joshua Lisec, will use Twitter to promote other creators whom he admires. Once again, choose which platform is best suited for you. It’s better to be known as an influencer on one platform than to spread yourself thin.
Sell Your Original Content
If you want to think in the long run, you must own the assets that you profit from. For example, as mentioned earlier, Ali Abdaal might earn some money by promoting a product such as his favorite travel bag.
But what happens if that company closes down? He’ll no longer receive a consistent paycheck for promoting the bag.
To ensure he has a consistent income, he must own digital assets, which he does. For example, he owns the videos he releases on YouTube. He can consistently earn ad revenue from these videos.
He’s also writing a book and can earn lifetime royalties if he owns the publishing rights. Since he has a large social media following, he already has several potential customers.
Sell Your Services
Social media can also be a great platform for you to sell your services. For example, Nomad Capitalist uses content to discuss living an international lifestyle.
They’ll then use their content to promote their consulting business which helps their customers internationalize their life.
You can do the same with your social media profile. Another example is what Lawrence King does with his content. He will discuss how to make money online and then sell his coaching program.
If you already have a great service, consider creating relevant content for social media first. This helps you establish yourself as an authority in your niche. Lawrence Francis has created a lot of content about the wine industry. He can now offer consulting and marketing services to winemakers.
Paid Memberships
Another option to make money as a social media content creator is to create exclusive content. You’ll share exclusive content with your paid members. This is a great way to make money once you’ve developed a bigger following.
For example, the British YouTube channel Triggernometry has an account on the platform Locals. Through a paid membership via Locals, their fans can get longer interviews not available on the YouTube channel.
Likewise, there are creators who make all their content exclusive. The British entertainer Danny Baker sells episodes of his Treehouse Podcast solely on the Patreon platform.
You should only consider this option if you find your audience to be loyal. Do they listen to every episode of your podcast, for example? Do all your YouTube videos get lots of views? Do all your Instagram posts have several thousand likes?
These are all factors to consider if you decide to proceed with paid memberships for your social media content.
Earn Money as a Social Media Content Creator
Now you can join the ranks of Mr. Beast and succeed as a social media content creator.
The first step is to stick to one platform. Research each social media platform to decide which one works best for your needs.
You can earn money from your content creation by being an influencer, selling your products or services, or selling exclusive memberships. Be consistent with one method before you test out other methods.
You’ll find more tips to build your social media marketing strategy on our website.
