Nowadays, it’s easy to make money using social media.
All you need are a stable internet connection and a media device like a phone or laptop, then you’re good to go!
And with the constant rise of social media, the online jobs movement is gaining more and more momentum.
In fact, there are now 4.76 billion social media users worldwide as of January 2023, with an average spent time of 2 hours and 31 minutes. No wonder many business owners have found ways to take advantage of that.
But the good news for us social media users, not only business owners can earn a good amount of money through these platforms.
So in this article, we will show you 7 different methods how to make money using social media.
Let’s hop right into it!
7 Ways to Make Money Using Social Media
1. Become an Influencer
Anyone can become an Influencer and monetize their content once they’ve reached a high following on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, or Twitter.
How it works
Typically as an influencer, you would reach out to businesses you would like to promote content for.
This can be online fashion stores, course creators, software, or anything else that needs your audience to get more sales.
Another way to get deals as an influencer is if businesses approach you by themselves.
They may feel like your follower base matches their target audience and want to work with you.
So if you’re a fitness TikToker with a big and engaged audience, you might receive a cooperation request from one or the other supplement brand every once in a while.
Requirements
Now, you may ask yourself: “But don’t I need millions of followers to do that?” And the answer is: No, you don’t.
In fact, many brands prefer targeting smaller influencers since they often have a more engaged audience than the big names.
So if you have a couple of thousand followers on Instagram or TikTok that are highly engaged with your content, you can definitely go ahead and make some money as an influencer.
2. Create User Generated Content (UGC)
“What if I would like to create content like an influencer but have no followers?” No problem.
Perhaps, creating UGC is for you!
How it works
In this case, you can create User Generated Content for brands.
These are videos where you showcase and discuss a product while making it all look natural.
The brands then use your content in their ad campaigns, social media accounts, landing pages, and so on.
And there is such a high demand for this type of content because conversions are really high with UGC.
In fact, research has shown that people are 2.4x more likely to trust User Generated Content as more authentic than content created by the brand.
Requirements
Brands of all sizes are looking for people willing to create content around their products.
So if that sounds interesting to you, definitely give it a shot!
And you don’t need to be a cinematic filmmaker for this.
The content should look like an authentic video from a customer, so you can easily record them with your phone.
How to find work
In terms of finding work, your best bet is reaching out to brands or even marketing agencies via email and offering them your service.
Make sure to create a portfolio around your work and send it over to them.
This will increase your chances of getting the job enormously.
3. Affiliate Marketing
Another method to make money with your social media account is Affiliate Marketing.
There are many types of Affiliate Marketing, but for now, we will explain the social media method.
How it works
Affiliate Marketing is basically selling other businesses products or services and getting a commission from every sale.
By providing a unique link for the sales page, the sale can be tracked and credited to you so you can get your commission.
Requirements
Obviously, this works best with a huge audience, so the more followers you have, particularly followers that trust you, the more money you can earn.
That’s also why affiliate marketing is such a popular business model for content creators in particular: The sky is the limit!
You can earn as little as a couple of hundred dollars monthly or as high as seven figures.
It depends on your audience, affiliate program, and persuasion skills.
Bonus
And if you have a few followers, there is a new affiliate marketing method you can try that can make you $10,000 per month and more.
The method is creating short-form content on TikTok and Instagram and going viral with your videos.
By following the latest trends and putting some things in place, getting a couple of thousand views on a TikTok video is easy.
Then, suppose you have a few videos performing well. In that case, you can provide an affiliate link in your bio and see the money coming in!
4. Social Media Consultant
If you have a lot of knowledge about social media but neither have a big following nor the ambition to present yourself in front of the camera, then being a Social Media Consultant may be just right for you.
How it works
As a Social Media Consultant, you help clients improve, optimize, and grow their social media presence.
The best thing you can do here is to specialize in a niche you’re passionate about and help business owners get more traffic.
You can offer plenty of services as a social media consultant. Some of these are:
- Creating Strategies
- SEO Training
- Account Creation
- Community Management
Requirements
To sharpen your expertise, you can buy a few courses on social media marketing and start working as a marketing strategist at a social media marketing agency.
This will give you some experience and testimonials, so you have a bigger credibility and actually come off as an expert.
How to find work
As with UGC and being an influencer, you can get clients via cold email or DM outreach.
This means collecting many business owners’ emails, creating a template email, and sending it out in bulk.
And with cold DMs, you want to DM business owners or content creators on social media and turn them into paying clients.
Bonus
If you use cold email outreach, send your prospect a quick Loom video along with your email, where you explain how you could help them if you guys started working together.
This takes much more effort than just sending the same email to everyone without personalizing it. However, it increases your chances of landing the client gigantically.
5. Social Media Manager
Social Media Management is another possibility to earn money through social media without being a public figure.
How it works
As a Social Media Manager, your job is to grow your client’s social media accounts and handle all the communication.
So your duties are:
- Developing strategies to increase followers
- Creating daily social media posts
- Managing social media campaigns
- Answering questions in the comments & DMs
Requirements
This is not a position where a certain degree is required most of the time.
However, you must have the skills necessary to provide a good service.
So prospects will judge you on your experience and samples of your work.
If you have limited experience, watching a few courses and creating a few sample posts is a good start.
How to find work
You can start out as a freelancer on Upwork or Fiverr.
With a few clients and testimonials under your belt, you can find higher-ticket clients outside these platforms.
The same principles as in all service-based businesses apply here as well:
You want to do cold outreach, and once you have a great reputation, you can reach clients through referrals or ads.
6. Stream Live and Get Donations
Did you ever find out about the earnings of a Twitch streamer and thought: “What? You can earn more than a doctor just with live streams?”
Well, you’re not alone.
It’s truly remarkable how much money you can earn from broadcasting yourself playing video games.
How it works
First, you want to choose a platform you want to stream on.
This could be TikTok, Twitch, YouTube, Rumble, etc.
Then you want to think about a niche for your content.
Are you a gamer that likes to broadcast their gameplay? Try Twitch!
Or are you a content creator who wants to interact with your audience? Then you might want to use TikTok.
Possibilities
The reason why most streamers earn so much money is that they have a variety of income channels through their streams.
They can advertise their content, take subscriptions from followers, or even receive donations.
And many people will spend a lot of money on their favorite streamer, so with more viewers comes more money.
Of course, starting out will be hard for you, but you must be consistent and unique to succeed as a streamer.
7. Sell your own Products
Last but not least, you can sell your own products on social media.
This will once more require a big audience; however, it can also make you tons of money.
How it works
Whether you want to sell your own merchandise, courses, e-books, or anything like that, promoting it on social media is always a great idea.
You don’t even necessarily need to run ads. Just post regularly, grow your audience, and eventually, you will get more and more eyeballs on your stuff.
The best products you can sell are courses, mentorships, e-books, and coaching. So basically, digital products and services.
Possibilities
This is because these products have almost 100% profit margins.
Most of the time, you don’t need to invest money into creating a course or an e-book—you only need to invest time.
And the more you sell it, the more passive income it makes.
With physical products like merchandise, you must always take care of stock, shipping, returns, etc.
You have fewer headaches with digital products and make more money selling them.
How to Make Money Using Social Media – FAQs
What do I need to start making money on social media?
Not much. All it takes is a smartphone, an internet connection, and some dedication. Anyone can do it.
What is the best method for beginners?
The most beginner-friendly method to make money on social media is, without a doubt, creating User Generated Content (UGC).
You only need a few followers, equipment, or past experience.
Which social media platform is best for making money?
Honestly, you can earn big money with almost every social media platform.
But the best and easiest are Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
How to Make Money Using Social Media – Summary
So as you can see, there are many ways to make money using social media.
Even without a huge audience, professional equipment, or past experience, making a living with social media is more than possible.
You have to decide on your own which way you want to go.
Do you like being in front of the camera? Then being an influencer or content creator might be right for you.
Or are you more of an expert behind the scenes? Being a consultant is definitely worth a try.
Hopefully, this article gave you some insights into the possibilities of making money with social media.
Did you like one of the jobs in particular? If so, which one was it? Let us know in the comments!