Introduction
Today, many influencers disseminate information via social media platforms. They earn money from their activities, but the flow of money is not as clear. How do they make money on social media, particularly YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok?
About influencers
Being an influencer means having the ability to influence others’ purchasing decisions and having followers in a specific area. Furthermore, social media influencers are people who place a high value on specific topics due to their knowledge and professionalism. They gain attention by posting regularly on the social media platform (Geyser, 2023).
Categories of influencers
According to Geyser (2023), there are some ways to categorize influencers: by the number of followers, by types of content, and by influence levels.
By the number of followers:
Mega-Influencers: They have a massive number of followers on social media, commonly at least more than one million followers on one platform. Some are celebrities, and others get followers through online activities. Their services cost one million dollars per post.
Macro-Influencers: They have between 40,000 and one million followers on a social platform. The number of macro-influencers is bigger than the number of mega-influencers.
Micro-Influencers: They have 1,000 to 40,00 followers on social media. They are becoming more common and more famous.
Nano-Influencers: They have less than 1,000 followers; thus, they are often professionals.
By types of content:
Bloggers: They attract people in a specific field.
YouTubers
Podcasters: Podcasting has been popular in recent years and has produced some celebrities.
Only social posts: Because of the high focus on Instagram, they post beautiful pictures to attract followers.
By levels of influence:
Celebrities
Opinion leaders: including journalists, academic professionals, industry experts, and expert advisers
YouTube
There are seven tips for earning money through YouTube.
- Join the partnership program.
People who want to make money on YouTube should agree with YouTube guidelines and live in an available county or region. To apply for a monetization program, you must have 1,000 subscribers and more than 4,000 views within a year.
- Selling goods or merchandise
- Crowdfunding
- Fan-Funding
For instance, super chat, membership (monthly payment), Patreon (subscription), Tipeee (donation), and Buy Me A Coffee
- License own content to media
- Work with brands
WebFX shows the typical values of influencer marketing: for YouTubers who have 10,000 subscribers, 200 dollars per video; for YouTubers who have 100,000 subscribers, 2,000 dollars per video; and for YouTubers who have 1 million followers, 20,000 dollars per video.
- Becoming an affiliate
Advertise or review other brands’ goods or services.
The top YouTubers earn $28.5 million per year from their channel. As a result, the small channel can sustain life. For example, according to Influencer Marketing Hub’s YouTube Money Calculator, a fashion channel with 913,000 followers and 91 million video views is estimated to earn 256,304 dollars/ 979 dollars per video from only advertisement revenue (Kumar, 2022).
Because Instagram lacks a payment system like YouTube, influencers post sponsored posts to earn money in general, and the rate of those contracts varies depending on the person. A creator with 1.8 million TikTok followers and 340,000 Instagram followers, for example, has a baseline of 3,000 dollars; on the other hand, a nano-influencer can make up to 600 dollars per post. According to Bradley, they can also earn money through affiliate links, product sales, and Meta monetizing tools (2021).
- Affiliate marketing
Influencers use affiliate links and discount codes from platforms and get a fixed percentage of sales.
- Monetizing tools
One of the monetizing tools is “Reels Play Bonus,” an incentive program that pays creators based on how many times videos have been watched within a month.
Others have subscriptions on Instagram or sell original products inside the app.
- Shopping feature
Instagram has a shopping function to sell goods and advertise influencers’ brands.
- Selling clothing for resale
Reselling apps are becoming business tools for Instagram creators to earn money.
TikTok
TikTok started internationally in 2017. Thus, it was the seventh most downloaded application of the 2010s.
According to Ferguson (2022), for people to make money on TikTok, they should:
- be 18 years old;
- have more than 10,000 followers;
- have more than 100,000 video plays within 30 days; and
- follow the TikTok community guidelines and terms of use.
Here are the common ways to make money on TikTok, as stated by Ferguson (2022):
- Participating in the TikTok creator fund
Profits from this fund are based on audience, the quality of user engagement, and how users post on TikTok
- Selling products to followers
- Collecting virtual gifts while streaming live
- Utilizing the creator marketplace
- Connecting with influencers or brands through this platform
- Getting in-feed advertisements
The TikTok advertisements manager works together with Shopify, so it can make TikTok ads, pick up target audiences, and monitor their performance through the Shopify store.
- Crowdfunding
- Tipping platform
- Subscription platforms, such as Patreon
Conclusion
Influencers on social media are people who have a large number of followers and use their special knowledge to attract them. They are classified according to their number of followers, type of content, and level of influence. On Instagram, influencers should use affiliate marketing, monetization tools, a shopping platform, and sell used clothes. How to make money on YouTube and TikTok, on the other hand, is similar. That is, joining the partnership or creator fund, selling products, raising funds through crowdfunding or other means, and collaborating with brands to promote goods or services. As a result of their skills and the cost of hiring them, marketers prefer to work with influencers.
References
Bradley, S. (2021). How much money Instagram influencers make. [online]. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-instagram-influencers-earn-examples-2021-6 [Accessed 27 January 2023].
Ferguson, E. (2022). How To Make Money On TikTok: 8 Easy Ideas. [online]. Available at: https://www.shopify.com/blog/make-money-on-tiktok [Accessed 31 January 2023].
Geyser, W. (2023). What is an Influencer? -Social Media Influencers Defined [Updated 2023]. [online]. Available at: https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-an-influencer/#toc-0 [Accessed 26 January 2023].
Kumar, B. (2022). How To Make Money on YouTube in 2023: 7 Simple Ways (+Video). [online]. Available at: https://www.shopify.com/blog/198134793-how-to-make-money-on-youtube [Accessed 1 February 2023].
