For many TikTok creators, the main goal isn’t necessarily to gain a huge following; that’s just a means to an end. Rather, their main goal is to turn their creative efforts into a steady (and generous) monthly income. As it turns out, TikTok is a pretty good choice compared to other social media platforms. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, but plenty of creators have turned their TikTok accounts into revenue streams. However, you may want to know which platform is really the best for making money. After all, each one offers their own ways for users to make money; are some better than others? Keep reading to see how they compare!
TikTok
With billions of users worldwide, TikTok has taken the world (and the internet) by storm. This not only translates to a ton of fun content, but also plenty of moneymaking opportunities. Some people think that it’s harder to make money on TikTok because the content can’t be monetized with advertisements, but that isn’t necessarily true; you just have to take advantage of other resources.
One of these resources is the TikTok Creator Fund, which is available to creators with over 100,000 followers. What if you don’t have that many followers, though? Don’t worry; you still have options! For example, you could start your own business and sell merchandise; this is best for creators with loyal, enthusiastic fanbases.
Sponsored posts are also a great way to make money on TikTok. This is where companies pay influencers to promote their products, whether it’s a brief mention or a full-length video about the item. The bigger your follower count, the more you’ll get paid.
TikTok is all about videos, and Instagram is all about photos (although it supports videos as well). This is another social media platform that doesn’t support content monetization, but it does make it easy for users to sell products to their followers. The Instagram Shop feature has all the essential capabilities, and doesn’t take too long to set up and figure out. Even if a lot of your followers live in other countries, this feature will make the purchasing process seamless and convenient.
Promoted posts are another fantastic way to make money on Instagram. Influencer marketing is growing in popularity, and this platform has a ton of creators who are willing to partner with brands. In fact, many companies actively search for up-and-coming influencers on various platforms, since their promotions can be instrumental in bringing in new clients.
This platform may not be the most popular compared to giants like TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook, but it still has millions of regular users. Pinterest is focused exclusively on sharing pictures, and people often use it to inspire their latest projects, get unique recipe ideas, or simply see what their favorite creators have been up to.
Creators can sign up for the Pinterest Creator Reward program, and get paid for making engaging and original content. Another way to generate revenue from Pinterest is to advertise the products you’re selling, then link to an external ecommerce site. If you’ve built up a sizeable following that loves your personality and style, you should be able to make consistent monthly sales this way. And of course, sponsored posts are a must for any successful Pinterest creator.
YouTube
Although TikTok and YouTube are both focused on video content, they’re two very different platforms. Even though TikTok creators can make videos up to ten minutes long, the optimum video length is between a few seconds and three minutes. With YouTube, on the other hand, monetization is actually easier on videos that are a minimum of ten minutes long. On this platform, monetization is the name of the game. Some creators go overboard, putting in ads every two minutes for the maximum amount of revenue. However, most of them realize that this drives away viewers, and are more moderate with the advertisements. The more views a video gets, and the more followers a creator has, the more they’ll be paid in ad revenue.
A lot of YouTube creators struggle with getting a decent amount of ad revenue, though. This is because certain types of content aren’t eligible, meaning they have to look for alternatives. One great option is to get video sponsors, who are usually mentioned in a one- or two-minute segment at some point in the video.
Affiliate marketing is another way to make money on YouTube. The video creator can mention products or services they use, and then include a link in the description underneath the video. When viewers click the link and make a purchase, the creator gets a small portion of the sale.
By far the world’s most popular social media platform, Facebook offers several different ways for creators to make both content and money. It’s possible to post photos and videos on this platform, but users can also write a post, keep followers updated on where they are and what they’re doing, and more.
As with any other social media platform, having a large and robust following is essential. Highly viewed videos can be monetized with advertisements, and Facebook itself pays creators for certain types of content that top 1,000 views in 30 days.
Brand collaborations for sponsored posts are common on this platform; just like elsewhere, the larger your following, the more you’ll get paid. On Facebook, you can offer a lot of variety in the level of promotion that you do. It could be a simply text post with a link, or a several-minute video explaining how a product or service works. There’s also a paid subscription model, which is available for creators with large followings.
Whether you’re only on TikTok, or you’re on several different platforms, it’s a great idea to optimize your earnings. After all, if you’re putting in all that time and effort, you deserve to get paid! It might take a little extra work to get those revenue streams flowing, but the payoff is worth the cost.