TikTok is arguably the most popular social media platform in the world, with over 1 billion active users.
Many people use the app for entertainment and to connect but did you know that there are ways you can monetize your TikTok account to turn it into a source of income?
In this article, we’ll explore some of the techniques you can use to make money on TikTok whether you’re an established content creator or just starting out on the platform.
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How to Make Money on TikTok
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Can You Make Money on TikTok?
Making money as an influencer is the dream job for most young people with the rise of platforms like TikTok.
You can make money online with TikTok content in a couple of ways, such as through brand deals, live streaming, selling merchandise, and affiliate marketing.
Having said that, building a successful TikTok following takes time and effort and you need to consistently create engaging content and interact with your audience to increase your chances of making money on the platform.
With that out of the way, here are the ways you can earn money on TikTok:
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TikTok Shopping
TikTok Shop was introduced in 2021 to enable businesses and influencers to sell their goods products directly on TikTok.
TikTok users no longer have to be redirected to another website to purchase your merchandise. A TikTok shop makes shopping convenient because you now have a shopping tab on your profile that enables your audience to browse products from your catalog.
There is also the tag feature that you can attach to your content that directs people to your TikTok storefront where they can buy your merch just like you can do on Instagram.
You can base some of your content around marketing your products but be careful not to over-promote because it can be off-putting to your audience.
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Sponsored Posts
Posting sponsored posts is arguably the most popular income-generation technique on TikTok.
Companies will pay you to feature their products and services — this is what you call sponsored content. You don’t have to have a massive following to start getting paid with sponsored content.
Smaller businesses and brands will pay to work with microinfluencers if they have an engaged community. Engagement rates are important than numbers in social media marketing because it is better to have a small, engaged audience than a large dormant following.
To get clients, approach brands if you are not big enough to be approached by them.
Also join the TikTok Creator Marketplace, a platform that connects brands with creators. The requirement is to have at least 100,000 followers and 100,000 video likes in the last 28 days.
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Affiliate Marketing on TikTok
Affiliate marketing means promoting someone else’s product to your audience and then getting paid a commission every time your followers buy with your link.
You can do affiliate marketing on TikTok by placing an affiliate link in your profile or in your video descriptions and then telling your followers about the product.
Alternatively, you can redirect your followers to other platforms or a landing page where you can more generously place affiliate links.
The main advantage of affiliate marketing is you don’t need your own products and services to make money on TikTok. When someone buys through your link, the merchant handles everything, including shipping, customer support, and returns.
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Sell your own products
If you own an ecommerce store, a dropshipping business, or make your own products, you can use TikTok to advertise your products. You can use it to market your business and attract new clients.
Additionally, if you have a loyal fan base on TikTok, you can sell merchandise such as t-shirts or stickers featuring your branding or catchphrases.
You can drive sales with TikTok Ads in clever ways. For example, you can place in-feed image ads or TopView ads promoting your products or growing your following.
As you promote your products, do not be overly aggressive because it is frowned upon and can drive people away. Balance your marketing initiatives with your organic content for the best results.
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Join The TikTok Creator Fund
TikTok Creator Fund is a program that was created to pay users for creating engaging content.
If your account gets more engagement, TikTok pays you more money. TikTok rewards creators who get more engagement because that boosts the traffic metrics on the platform.
The Creator Fund is only available to creators with more than 100K video views in the last 30 days. It’s still a relatively new concept and it is expected to evolve over the coming months and years.
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Become a Brand Partner
When you become a brand partner (or brand ambassador), you will have a long-term relationship with the brand or organization you are promoting. Therefore, you will be involved in their marketing campaign(s) rather than publishing one-off sponsored posts.
The brand you partner with will require you to post a certain number of videos every week or month. Therefore, you should only work with brands that you love because you won’t find it to be too much of a chore.
To find partnership opportunities, find out whether your favorite brands run such programs. That shouldn’t be hard since businesses now know the value of partnering with social media influencers and they most likely have exclusive ambassador application pages.
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Collect tips or donations during Live Streams
When you live stream on TikTok, your followers can send you coin donations that are convertible into cash.
You should have at least 1,000 followers and be above 16 years old to go live on TikTok. To earn gift points, you must be at least 18 years old.
Remember, TikTok does not condone actively soliciting gifts hence the gifting should come natural and organically. The key to that is to create exciting live streams that have big, active audiences.
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Promote Songs
A large number of TikTok videos have a background song that people are lip-syncing or dancing to.
TikTok creators have a mutually beneficial relationship with musicians. If an artist’s song is in a viral video, the song goes viral thus getting more downloads and hits.
You’ll find that musicians sometimes pay influencers with a large audience and tons of engagement to promote their music. If you have a large following, you can cash in on such an arrangement.
On the other hand, if you are a musician, you can use TikTok to promote your music.
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Join Patreon
Patreon is a platform that allows creators to offer exclusive content and rewards to their followers for a monthly subscription fee. The key advantage of signing up for Patreon is that it gives you more consistent income than one-off donations or sporadic brand deals.
If you have a following on TikTok, you should consider creating a Patreon account as it provides a way for your fans to support you financially on an ongoing basis.
You can offer exclusive content and rewards to incentivize your fans to become patrons. Therefore, having a Patreon not only provides financial stability but also strengthens the relationship between you, as the creator, and your audience.
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Promote your consultancy business
If you have a freelancing or consulting business, TikTok can help you build your client base. All you have to do is create content that promotes your services.
When you promote your consultancy business on TikTok, you will reach a large audience and build your brand.
Use TikTok’s creative tools to make eye-catching videos that showcase your expertise. You could offer quick tips, share success stories, or provide insights into your industry.
You can also boost your business by building a community. To do that, engage with your audience by responding to comments, participating in challenges, and engaging with other users on the platform to build relationships and grow your following.
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Help Businesses Grow Their TikTok Accounts
If you know how TikTok works and can build an audience quickly, you can do it for a living.
Many businesses would love a headstart on TikTok but don’t understand how it works. You can help them build an audience and create content that will resonate with their followers and prospective customers.
Creating a TikTok marketing consultancy can be lucrative. Follow these steps to get started:
- Identify your niche: Determine the specific area of TikTok you want to focus on. For example, you can focus on a certain product or service where you have expertise in.
- Develop your services: Once you know your niche, develop a list of services you will offer to clients. You can create content plans, optimize profiles, or manage campaigns.
- Build your brand: Create a brand identity that communicates your expertise and professionalism. You can go as far as create a website that showcases your services.
- Network with potential clients: Reach out to potential clients through other social media platforms and tell them how you can help them grow their presence on TikTok.
Once you have secured clients, deliver and exceed expectations. Word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied clients is one of the most effective ways to grow your TikTok marketing business.
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Tips for success on TikTok
Be authentic
Without sounding cliche, being authentic on TikTok is needed if you are to build a loyal following and grow your presence on the platform. Why should you be authentic on TikTok?
- When you are authentic, you build trust with your followers. When you’re genuine and transparent, people are more likely to connect with you on a deeper level.
- It differentiates you from the other millions of creators on TikTok. When you share your unique voice, experiences, or perspective it is easier for people to remember you and recognize your content.
- You are likely to get more engagement on TikTok when you are authentic. This will increase your visibility and reach on the platform.
- Authenticity encourages creativity because it allows you to tap into your unique experiences and perspectives. By sharing what’s true to you, you may inspire others to do the same and create a TikTok community of like-minded individuals who support each other’s creative endeavors.
- Finally, it aligns with TikTok’s mission of self-expression, creativity, and authenticity. By staying true to these values in your content, you’re more likely to resonate with TikTok’s audience.
In short, being authentic on TikTok helps build trust with your audience, differentiate yourself from others, increase engagement, foster creativity, and aligns with TikTok’s culture. So don’t be afraid to be yourself – it could be the key to unlocking success on the platform.
Partner with influencers
You can build your following and increase your reach on the platform by partnering with other TikTok creators.
This means collaborating on content and creating content that showcases both your personalities and skill sets. You can achieve that with duets, challenges, or Q&A sessions.
A partnership lets you cross-promote each other’s accounts whereby you share each other’s content on your respective channels and encourage your followers to follow each other as well.
If you are wondering how to go about it, these tips will help:
- Find relevant creators: Look for TikTok creators within your niche or industry that have a similar target audience to yours. This will make the partnership feel more natural to you and to your followers. You can use the partnership to promote your products to a wider audience as they promote theirs to your followers too.
- Engage with each other’s followers: You should respond to comments on each other’s posts and engage with each other’s followers to build a large supportive community.
If you have a larger following, consider paid partnerships with smaller creators who are looking to grow their audience. This will be a win-win situation where the smaller creator benefits from increased exposure and you get paid.
Partnering with other TikTok creators can be a way to grow your following and increase engagement on the platform. Just remember to stay authentic and true to yourself while collaborating with others.
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Learn from other creators
You can improve your content and grow your following on TikTok by observing other creators. Here are some tips for learning from other creators:
- Follow relevant TikTok creators in your niche or industry who are creating content that resonates with you.
- Study the videos by other creators in your niche that are performing well. Pay attention to elements like video format, music choice, hashtags used, and engagement levels.
- Engage with the content from other creators in your niche by liking, commenting, and sharing videos to show support and build relationships.
- Attend events that bring together TikTok influencers. At these events, people share tips and best practices for growing on the platform. Consider attending one of these events to learn directly from successful creators.
Although it’s important to learn from others, it’s equally important to stay true to yourself and create TikTok posts that align with your brand identity and values. By incorporating what you’ve learned into your own unique style, you can create engaging content that resonates with your audience and helps you grow on TikTok.
How many followers do you need to make money on TikTok?
There is no fixed number of followers you need to have to start earning money on TikTok. A more helpful answer is that the number of followers you need to make money on TikTok varies depending on the way you want to monetize your account:
For example, if you want to make money with the TikTok Creator Fund you need at least 100,000 followers. The number of followers you need to successfully sell merchandise depends on your niche and how engaged your audience is and for brand sponsorships, the number of followers required varies depending on the brand’s preferences and budget.
Meanwhile, you could have zero followers and still drive traffic to your ecommerce store through TikTok ads.
In general, having a larger following increases your chances of making money through these methods, but it’s not the only factor that matters. Engagement levels, niche relevance, and the quality of your content all play important roles in attracting opportunities for monetization on TikTok.
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How many views and likes do you need to make money on TikTok?
You need a specified number of views to access unique features. For example, TikTok Creator fund users need at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days to join TikTok’s Creator Fund.
How are TikTok Creator Fund earnings calculated?
The precise formula used to calculate earnings has never been publicly disclosed by TikTok, but here are some of the key factors that are likely taken into account:
The number of views your videos receive is a major factor in determining your earnings from the Creator Fund. The more views you get, the higher your potential earnings.
TikTok also considers engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and shares when calculating how much they pay content creators. Videos with high engagement rates may be rewarded with higher payouts.
Your geographic location can also affect your earnings from the Creator Fund, as different regions have different payment structures and payout rates.
The amount of money available in the Creator Fund pool at any given time depends on how much advertisers are spending on ads on the platform. This means that payout rates may fluctuate over time depending on market conditions.
It’s worth noting that these factors are just some of the potential variables that could be taken into account when calculating Creator Fund earnings. Ultimately, TikTok has not provided specific details about how its algorithm works or how it calculates payments for individual creators.
Before you leave
If you’re tired of scams and want a real solution for making money online check out my no.1 recommendation.
It’s helped me earn over $300,000 in the last 12 months alone:
Go here to see my no.1 recommendation for making money online
(This is a 100% free training)
David Fortune has been the editor NoBSIMReviews.com since 2019. He is an expert at writing content on stock advisory services, side hustles, reviewing online business opportunities and many more topics. You can learn more about David on our about us page.