In today’s social media-centric world, you might think that there are no opportunities to earn money online. But if you look carefully, you’ll find many ways to earn money using your social media accounts
If you are using social media only for connecting with friends and family, you’re missing out on more than half of the opportunities available to you. Many experts say that social media isn’t about selling, but at some point, if you don’t have your own product to sell, you’ll want to leverage the connections you create in order to earn money from your followers.
Whether it’s selling yourself, or selling other people’s products, if you want to earn money online, you may need to leverage your connections on the networks you use to keep in touch with friends and family.
When you figure out how to earn money online from social media, you have the opportunity to sell products and services directly to your current followers, as well as grow your base of fans who will be interested in your future products and services. Here are the most effective ways to make money from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more!
What is social media?
Social media is a networking platform that connects like-minded people. Many social media sites focus on customer service and PR—Facebook, for example, posts community announcements such as weather advisories or updates about local events.
When you’re trying to earn money online from social media, though, it pays to think strategically about how your brand can fit into your audience’s daily lives. It might be tempting to use every network available, but you shouldn’t friend everyone.
Is social media worth your time?
Some entrepreneurs like to dabble in social media, while others dislike it with a passion. There are businesses that will tell you how much money they’ve made from social media—and then there are studies that say it’s not worth your time. Most people fall somewhere in between these two extremes; experts say that social media is for connecting with people, and not for selling, but at some point, you're going to want to leverage those connections.
Strategies for building audience on social media
While you’re building an audience, it’s all about strategy—both online and offline. If you treat social media like a game, it’ll be one you win.
The main thing is that it takes time to build your network and start earning money from social media. But once you do, there are many different ways to earn income from social networks.
Ways to monetize your audience
There are several ways to monetize your audience depending on your strategy and what type of content you’re producing.
1. Offer Affiliate Products
Affiliate marketing is one of my favorite ways to earn money online. Affiliate marketing involves selling other people’s products for a commission. You can use affiliate links in your social media posts, or build a fully-fledged site and sell affiliate products as your main source of income.
The best way to earn money online with affiliate products is by offering high-quality information through your own content, which makes people want to click on your links and buy from you.
2. Freelancing
You may have heard freelancing can be a great way to earn money online from home. It's true.
There are so many different ways of making money with freelancing that it would be impossible for me to list them all here in just one post, but if you're interested in becoming a freelancer, we have a lot of posts on freelance alone! Have a look around and see what opportunities suit you best. The possibilities are nearly endless.
3. Use Sponsored Posts
One of my favorite ways to make money on social media is through sponsored posts. In a sponsored post, you’ll partner with a brand that matches your audience and promote their product or service within your content (usually on Instagram or Facebook).
As long as you have high engagement numbers and a clearly established following, it’s easy to find brands who want to collaborate with you.
4. Offer Advertising Space
Many brands and businesses are turning to social media platforms for their advertising needs, because it’s much more cost-effective than TV ads or billboards. By setting up a business account on these sites, you can offer ad space that targets your audience directly. And if your content is interesting enough, viewers will stop by—and might even buy something from you!...
5. Promote your Services or Products
Most businesses have a core service or product. Promote that by posting videos, images and messages on social media. Make your posts interesting so they will be shared as well.
If you get followers, you’ll gain free advertising for your services or products and can help build brand awareness around your brand. At some point in time, you may also want to promote special offers or discounts just like any other online retailer or marketplace would.
You can sell products, but don’t promote other companies or people on your social media profiles. People come to you for your own unique and valuable opinions, not just because they like you but also because they respect your opinions and experience.
When you begin promoting other products and services alongside yours, your followers may get confused about whether or not you’re being honest with them. Plus, it could be seen as spammy by Facebook and Twitter.
Tips for getting started
If you’re just getting started on social media, you can start with building a profile. You can also use it as an opportunity to promote your business or content.
1. Build an email list
Many people think that social media is all about getting as many followers as possible. However, it's not all about vanity; there are several methods you can use on social media that can earn you money.
One of those methods is email marketing. In order to grow your email list and turn your followers into subscribers, though, you need an email service provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact.
2. Make More Connections
Remember that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Learn how to really speak with photos and videos, and make sure you’re including at least one photo or video in every post.
Additionally, make sure you follow your followers and even some of their friends; they’ll be more likely to follow you back if they see that your profile is an active part of their social media feed. This also gives you more opportunity for potential connections!
3. Turn Connections Into Customers
Knowing how to capitalize on social media shouldn’t be relegated to digital marketers—if you want your business to grow, you have to learn how use what you already have. You know all those connections and friends? You can ask them for feedback, share valuable content and get their perspective—and hopefully turn connections into customers.
4. Provide Valuable Content
To make money online, you must provide valuable content that your audience cares about. If your followers aren’t engaged with your social media posts and accounts, there’s no way they will click on any of your ads or affiliate links.
Ideally, you want to post high-quality images and engaging content that brings in a steady stream of targeted traffic. If you can do that consistently, then money will follow.
5. Collaborate with brands
On YouTube, brands have created countless marketing campaigns centered around collaborations with popular influencers. And when done correctly, it can be a mutually beneficial partnership that provides both parties with valuable exposure and engagement.
Keep in mind that even if you’re not working directly with brands to monetize your content, you should still disclose any monetary relationships you may have with products or companies you talk about or feature on your videos.
6. Build relationships with influencers
To maximize your chances of earning money online, you’ll want to build relationships with influencers. Start by searching for influencers in your industry on social media; once you find an influencer with a large following, reach out via email and ask if they’d be willing to exchange contacts.
Remember that not all influencers are interested in exchanging contact information with strangers—and some may not even know how valuable their contact list is!
Final word
There’s no way we can cover every way of making money online here, but you have enough information at your disposal to get started right away.
Start by implementing a few strategies, put in some hard work and time, and soon you’ll be well on your way toward earning an income from social media. Good luck!