You are hunting tail on Facebook, or crack yourself up for cats on TikTok, or indulge in some quirks on Reddit, or lend your ears out to some fake news on X-Twitter. And before you know it, seven hours are gone! Yep, that's the average time that people spend per day on Facebook, a study says. For most people, a waste. For clever people like you (I hope): a goldmine.
Four billion people hangs out on social media nowadays, so why not make some money while you are there yourself? Just as a side gig, perhaps by posting a link to an affiliate offer, or go full-blown in as an emerging influencer. There's people cashing in millions of dollars each year thanks to social media alone.
You have a 'cause', right? Something you vent about all the time on social media, or you're into food, or fitness, or finding the perfect partner that won't cheat on you. So why not turn that passion into money? Time is valuable. Check your timeline, your cause is what you post about the most.
But…
Monetizing social media takes more than just having a large following; it requires a well-thought-out strategy. A plan! My whole blog will tell you to draw up a plan, and to then work the crap out of that plan, no matter how hard it gets. The rewards will be there, for those worthy of it to enjoy for 55 years. I wrote a detailed book, almost like a manual, on all the small details. But let's take a look in this article at some actionable steps to help you transform your online presence into a thriving source of income:
1. Affiliate Marketing:
It's the number one moneymaker for internet marketers. Partner with brands and promote their products or services to your audience. You earn a commission for each sale made through your unique referral link. It's not difficult, there are a gazillion platforms like DigiStore, WarriorPlus, JVzoo, Impact Radius, CJ, and many more where you can sign up. The bossy Clickbank's days are numbered, and they've got 'bank' in the name, and everyone knows what I think about traditional banks. (Get my free ebook about that here.) I'm making a smelly sewerage farm connection here, okay. So try out any of the many better affiliate marketplaces to sign up at. (CB will learn that I'm a man of revenge when I got wronged.)
2. Sponsored Posts:
Collaborate with brands to create sponsored content that aligns with your audience's interests. This can include product reviews, tutorials, or giveaways. You may need a bit of a following for this. But if your followers are all in, say, one dusty mining town full of fake diamonds, why not cut a deal with the local bakery to show photos of cakes and specials on your timeline? The road to a man's
3. Influencer Marketing:
Leverage your influence to promote products or services to your followers. This can be done through sponsored posts, shoutouts, or product reviews. This is almost like sponsored posts at point 2, but a bit more informal. People like you for who you are, and they'll buy what you recommend. Like a blue chair with a moving rubbery part in the center of the seat. Or delicious cookies and brownies. If you follow this strategy you can expect freebies from your baked sponsors, yay! But beware, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.
4. Sell Digital Products:
Create and sell digital products such as e-books, courses, or software. You can promote these products to your audience through social media. I'm doing this because I love writing. I also have an extensive vocabulary of 223 big-boy words that I'm trying hard to keep out of my writing. The pen is truly mightier than the sword, when the enemy is silence.
5. Offer Consulting Services:
Share your expertise and offer consulting services to individuals or businesses in your niche. If you had built up a reputation as an expert in a field, start playing consultant. Companies pay big for that objective outsider opinion, like mine.
6. Create and Sell Physical Products:
Design and sell physical products such as t-shirts, mugs, or other merchandise. You can use social media to promote and sell these products. There are so-called 'print on demand' companies that produce T-shirts on order, you first get the order on your Shopify or Etsy store, pass it immediately to the PoD company, and they take care of everything, including delivery. Your only job is advertising your store on social media. Big sports event like rugby coming up? And ten people want customized shirts with the name of their favorite pub on there? You're in the money with this. Everyone wants to be unique, they're just funny like that.
7. Run Online Courses:
Share your knowledge and expertise by creating and selling online courses. You can promote these courses through social media and other online channels. Teachable is one such a website where you can list your course, but there are many others.
8. Create a video channel:
Videos started to take off properly during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Today, people spend 80% of their time on social media watching videos. Apparently. Monetize your video channel through ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. YouTube, TikTok, and several other social platforms actually pay you, depending on the number of views, followers, and more. You help them, and they help you. And of course your sponsors will pay you too, so don't just rely on that platform.
9. Start a Podcast:
Monetize your podcast through ads, sponsorships,
and merchandise sales. Joe Rogan is just one famous podcaster cashing in
big, go take a look at what he's doing.
10. Offer Coaching Services:
Share
your expertise and offer coaching services to individuals or businesses
in your niche. This is almost like playing consultant at point 5, but
with a more hands-on approach, and it is more often aimed at
individuals. Tutoring, like playing English teacher, is a great way of
making money at times that suit you.
11. Create a Membership Site:
Offer
exclusive content, resources, and community access to members who pay a
monthly or annual fee. Before social media came along, good old
bulletin boards, or forums as we also know them, sometimes charged such a
fee for access. If you get just a thousand subscribers, each paying 10
dollars a month, then you earn some easy money for just playing admin
and keeping members at bay. It's like moderating a Facebook group with a
100k members, but you actually get paid, quite a lot too. Take your
cause that fuels you, put up a forum on the freemium model, and recruit
members for seeing exclusive content. I'm not talking adult stuff, it
can be a health club or anything else.
12. Sell Stock Photos:
If
you have a talent for photography, sell your stock photos on platforms
like Shutterstock or iStock. Yes, yes, I know AI is taking over, putting
photographers under pressure. But there will always be a need for
special events photographers, experts knowing how a camera, lighting,
angles, ambience, and those difficult things make a picture perfect. A
good idea is to start posting free photos on sites like Pixabay, Pexels,
and Unsplash. I gave a friend this advice in 2020, and last year she
bought a house as a result of giving photos away. She's also super hot,
like me. LOL.
13. Create a Mobile App:
Develop and sell a
mobile app that solves a problem or meets a need in your niche. Stop
saying there in the back that programming is too difficult. There are
several no-code and low-code platforms now where AI can create your app
for you, you just fork out a few small bucks, and you've got yourself an
app. Then upload it to Google Play Store or the expensive one of Apple,
and market it on social media.
14. Become a person of loose morals:
Yeah…
This is not the kind of idea you expected to read here, right? And you
may need to be loose of character already for this to work for you. But
it's happening, there are a gazillion women—mostly—who sell 'the
goodies', using social media in various ways. Some are happy to get just
a tank of gasoline out of the deal for a weekend of fun, others are
more upper-class. Sites like OnlyFans 'normalized' adult fun and made it
go mainstream. And cheating, to be honest. Frankly, this idea will
cause a lot of hurt, and it rots away the souls of all parties involved.
So if you really value true love and have the guts to make a
relationship work, simply don't sleep out of town.
Monetizing
social media takes time, effort, and creativity. I would like to add,
you don't need a big following to make money, though. Not even at all,
if you do your marketing right. But do focus on building a loyal
audience and providing value to them, and the opportunities will follow.
My
golden advice: Don't enter a niche, as all marketing experts would
advise; instead, chase a cause. Think about it! It's all about creating
value for people (like I hope this article did for you), and getting
your marketing right. Monetize your passion.
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More articles like this will be coming, so make sure you follow my page on Facebook, and on my other social media platforms.
