Sometimes it’s funny, occasionally cringy, and mostly outrageous, but definitely addictive!
TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in the world – it has over 800 million monthly active users, and each user spends an average of 52 minutes per day on the app! Many of the statistics associated with TikTok are truly mind-blowing! With TikTok increasing in popularity, many of you must be wondering if they can monetize the platform.
The answer is a big yes!
TikTok is a social channel that allows you to create and share short videos online. Anyone can become an influencer on the platform. All you need is unique content, a dedicated following, and the right tactics to grow and spread your influence. And similar to other platforms like Instagram and YouTube, content can be monetized on TikTok. While TikTok doesn’t have an established system for making money, you can still use several strategies to earn a living on the platform.
If you are wondering how to go about making money on the super popular viral platform, you come to the right place. Continue reading to know more.
Here we go!
Setting Up Your TikTok Account
First things first – download the app and create your TikTok account. And don’t forget to identify your niche (aka, your superpower!). It’s best to choose a niche that interests you to ensure you can consistently produce content.
Once that decision is out of the way, start with creating your profile. Fill in your bio information and add a profile picture. You can also use a profile video instead of a profile picture. But, note that the profile photo will not be visible once the video is set. It’s also advisable to link your other social media accounts to your TikTok profile. From your profile page, add links to your Instagram and YouTube channel.
Now, you’re all set!
But Wait! First Let’s Understand The TikTok Algorithm
TikTok assesses the videos you’ve liked and shared in the past to determine the content for your ‘For You’ page. When a video is added to the platform, TikTok shows it to users in between viral clips. The algorithm then calculates how many times the video has been watched, liked, and shared.
When a video receives a lot of engagement, TikTok circulates it to more people. This increases the chances of your video going viral because TikTok has more than one billion users. With the chances of trending higher on TikTok than any other platform, you can seize this opportunity to become a TikTok influencer and start earning money.
Take These Steps To Start Earning On TikTok
Step-1: Create Engaging Content
The best influencers on TikTok are known for the content they create. As such, the only way to stand out on the platform is with unique content. This will give users a reason to follow you, thus growing our follower count and influence.
Be authentic, unique
Analyze the content in your niche to see what you can do to stand out. If you notice a particular pattern with the content, try different things to make your videos memorable. You could try a different way to present the content or merge styles to create an awesome video. If your content is different from what users are accustomed to, it will get noticed.
Post consistently
After figuring out the type of content you will create, you need a content plan to ensure you’re posting consistently on the platform. TikTok users are happy to follow you if they are sure they will regularly find interesting content on your page. So, don’t disappoint them. Besides the regular content, post something about your regular life to create a personal connection with users.
Know your audience
Since you want your videos to appeal to your audience, take time to understand them. What are their interests? What content do they like? What content creators do they follow? The answers to these questions will help you create unique videos that your users will like and share.
Know your competitors
Lastly, check out other influencers that are targeting a similar audience. Try to figure out what’s missing from their content and provide it to stand out from the rest in your videos.
Learn more about the attributes associated with virality on TikTok!
Step-2: Turn the content into money
Creating valuable content will see you earn loyal followers who cannot get enough of what you have to say. You can turn your content into money and grow your career as a TikTok influencer when this happens. Brands want to be where their customers are, and TikTok’s rapid growth makes it the perfect place to promote products to a young audience. TikTok influencers who their followers adore can help brands connect with their target audience in a voice they trust.
Grab brand partnerships
Through a TikTok influencer marketing arrangement, you can promote a brand’s products that match your audience. The top content creators earn between $50k – $150k for a brand partnership. For your collaboration with a brand to be successful, you need to speak in the same tone and share the same values with the brand. If not, your fans will see through the whole arrangement. As a result, they will ignore the products you’re promoting, and you’ll fail to meet the KPIs of your brand partnership.
Get livestream collections/donations
Another great way to turn your content into money is with livestream donations. When you go live on the platform, TikTok users can gift you virtual coins for the fantastic work you are doing. When you accumulate enough virtual coins, you can trade them for real cash.
TikTokers can buy virtual coins to support the content creators they are following on the platform. To be worthy of their coins, you need to create helpful content that adds value to them. Followers use the coins to buy special emojis they will use in the chat when you go live.
Leverage sponsored posts
When your live session ends and you’ve collected a large number of virtual coins, don’t stop there! Head over to your profile and publish sponsored posts as a way to generate more income. Brands pay an average of $0.01 – $0.02 for each view on a sponsored post – which means if your video gets 100,000 views, you can make $1,000!
Make/sell merchandise
And finally, create merchandise and sell to your loyal followers. Leverage your followers and set up a small business as a way to earn more money on TikTok. Well-established TikTok influencers have turned their image into brands, and you can do the same. You can create branded t-shirts, jackets, and mugs to sell to your fans. Alternatively, you can make craft pieces or DIY items and promote them on your channel.
Step-3: Increase followers and reach
Let’s assume that through consistent efforts you’ve grown your follower count to 100,000 strong. This is a massive milestone in your fledgling TikTok influencer marketing career, and you’re so proud of yourself. A few months back, you had less than 1,000 followers, and your posts couldn’t even get 50 likes. But at the moment, you have thousands of passionate followers who are excited to engage with your content. You have even managed to attract a few brand partnerships and monetize your content. Life couldn’t get any better, could it?
Well, we are here to let you know that it could! Here’s how:
Cross-promote
You can increase your followers on TikTok to boost your reach and attract better, high-paying brand partnerships. One of the effective strategies for increasing your followers is to cross-promote your videos on other platforms. If you already have a significant following on other social media platforms, share your videos on those networks to let people know about your TikTok profile.
Engaging your audience
Engaging your audience is another strategy that will help you grow your following on TikTok. When you post a video, interact with users by replying to their comments. When your followers make suggestions of the type of content they’d love to see, grant their wishes and make those videos. This will help you develop a stronger bond with your target audience and pull more people to your profile.
Use trending hashtags
Also, don’t forget to use trends and hashtags in your content. Jump on popular trends to reach a large audience and show your creative side. Use hashtags in your content to make it easy for people to find you when looking for content in your niche. For example, if you post content about food and healthy living, use the #food hashtag to attract users interested in food-related content. Also, use the #fyp hashtag to optimize your content for the For You Page.
Post at peak hours
And finally, make sure to schedule your posts for the peak times. When you notice your audience is most active on the platform at a specific time, strive to post your videos during that time interval. This will ensure your content gets maximum engagement in the form of likes, comments, and shares.
Now, Let’s Talk About Earning That Money!
Once you have “arrived” on TikTok (read, have a good number of followers) – you can start to earn real money! Here are five ways to earn that income you’ve been dreaming of!
- Go for good old’ Influencer Marketing where a brand hires influencers to use their videos to promote their products/services to generate sales. Consider the success of Mucinex. They used several influencers to promote their product in the time between Halloween and flu season. In their videos, influencers wake up looking like goofy zombies – and then they grab Mucinex. After that, the influencers looked fabulous and dressed for the club! Their idea – Mucinex can help you recover in time for a weekend party!
- Sponsored Content Posts where influencers create content for the brand. Did you know that Loren Gray earned $2.6 million with over 45 million followers? How? She landed a major Revlon deal where she creates content for her TikTok account and Revlon-sponsored posts.
- Get your own branded merchandise: Create your own branded merchandise once you become a popular TikTok star! For example, you could create your line of makeup products, like Item Beauty, by Easterling.
- Use your stardom to launch your music or acting career. Did you know Baby Ariel, with 34 million TikTok followers, was the first to surpass the 20-million-followers mark on TikTok, and her fame has only grown from there. Her fame has landed her multiple gigs on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon TV shows.
- Become a TikTok consultant: Think you’re an expert on all things TikTok? Well then help out the ones in need of your guidance! TikTok is still a relatively new social platform, and people will pay money to hire you as a consultant to help them build their brand and boost followers.
To become a TikTok influencer, identify what you’re good at and use that passion to create content that will attract users’ attention. Try to be different from other creators on the platform to boost your chances of going viral. Here’s a quick recap!
- Know what you are good at. Identify a niche that’s related to your passion. This makes it easy to create amazing content your followers will be happy to consume.
- Be consistent and post regularly to keep your users engaged and entertained. Find a designated time for your uploads and stick to this time interval.
- Know your audience and competitors. Study your audience to know the type of content they like. Also, analyze your competitor’s content to see what you can do to stand out.
- Put yourself out there for brands. Identify the brands that target a similar audience. Reach out to them for a TikTok influencer marketing collaboration.
- Market your brand. Market yourself as the ideal content creator for influencer marketing activities.
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