Social media has become huge in recent years. Almost everyone online will have heard and use some if not all of the big names in social Networking:
- YouTube
Most people will use these sites to keep in touch with their friends, upload pictures, share videos or follow their favourite celebrity. But there are plenty of ways to use Social networking sites to make money.
The key to making money is to create content on social media sites around a niche. This could be something you are passionate about, have a skill in or even posting pictures/videos of yourself. Then grow the number of followers or fans that you have. This is the hardest part about making money with social media because it can be time consuming and requires persistence. The way to build your audience and increase the number of followers you have can be done through several methods listed below.
- Create quality regular content – This is the most vital point for gaining followers. Whatever your niche and whatever medium you produce it in, whether it is videos on YouTube, pictures on Instagram or posts on Facebook, if you produce good content that people get value from then you will be much more likely to become popular. This is why you should choose a topic that you are passionate about.
- Be active – Whichever site you choose to produce content on, make sure you are active. Social networking is all about interacting with the community. Whether that’s commenting on other peoples posts, liking videos or sharing pictures, by being active people will see you. Ultimately the more active you are the more likely you are to get noticed.
- Be controversial – No matter who you are or what great content you are producing, the larger your following becomes, the more critics or “trolls” you will have to deal with. You will have your fans of course and chances are they will outnumber the critics. However if you put out controversial content that goes against conventional wisdom, it may increase the number of haters you have but you will almost certainly get attention. Some people will also agree with you.
- Pay to be visible – A short cut to building your followers, all the social networking sites have paid options to advertise, promote your page, increase your followers, show your video to more viewers etc. If you have cash to invest, done correctly it can allow you to make much more money than you put in.
As mentioned, the more followers that are interested in what you are producing, the more money you will be able to make. There are lots of different ways to make money on social networking sites once you have a solid fan base. You can do any or all of these:
Sell products, courses, ebooks or software directly on your social media page.
Affiliate Marketing – Promote other peoples products and receive a commission.
Network Marketing – Build your network through social media.
Promote a blog – Share your blog with your followers and in turn make money through your blog.
Become an Influencer – The people with the largest number of followers have the potential receive a lot of money for promoting companies products or services.
Displaying adverts – Some social networking sites such as YouTube have the option to display adverts which you then receive a cut in the revenue.
Shout outs – When you have a larger following you can promote other peoples channels or pages for a fee.
Offer services – coaching, consulting, public speaking, training.
Donations – Asking donations through an online payment processor such as PayPal or set up a recurring subscription with a service such as Patreon for access to exclusive content.
Recommended Reading
500 Social Media Marketing Tips – Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More!
Profitable Social Media Marketing – How To Grow Your Business Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn And More
Sites to use
Facebook – The most widely used social network.
YouTube – The largest online video sharing site. (Owned by Google)
Twitter – News and social networking service.
Instagram – Photo and video social networking site. (Owned by Facebook)
Pinterest – Image based social network.
Patreon – Earn revenue from your biggest fans.