So many of us are already creating social media content for fun. It makes sense we’d all want a piece of the monetization pie. In this installment of our Making Money Online series, we’re diving into influencers, content creators, and monetizing your content.
Set Yourself Up…for Success
A lot of content creators don’t put much thought into their profiles, but this is such an important piece of the influencer puzzle. It’s the equivalent of the shopfront we talked about in last week’s installment. It’s a central hub for people wanting to learn more about you and your content: the difference is that you only have so long to hook someone in. When it comes to shopping or looking at products, people tend to have a little more patience. They don’t mind clicking around and exploring too much. But social media is a much quicker game. You have seconds to get someone’s attention; if they choose to visit your profile, you have to distill everything you do into a few hard to miss pieces.
The problem is that there’s not much in the way of customization. You can’t change the interface or aesthetic to fit you and your brand, so it’s down to what you put into the page to really sell your content. We’ve posted enough about brand and content creation that we’re sure you have a solid idea of what you create. Now we’ll talk about ways you can make your profile a solid glimpse into you and your brand. It’s a lot easier than you think!
Your Profile Picture
Whether or not someone visits your profile, they’ll see your profile picture. You want to make sure it stands out and/or is a good representation of your brand. (Sadly, you can’t always do both: try to, but don’t worry if you can’t.) Does your picture capture your personality or represent the style of content you create? Is it attention-grabbing, or something you wouldn’t mind seeing?
You can also look at other creators in your niche to see what their profile pictures look like. If you’re an artist, consider having a piece of art you’re really proud of as your profile picture. If you do organizational or cleaning content, you may want to use a picture of you that’s very clean, streamlined, and professional. For a comedian or humorous content, try using a professional headshot or a funny picture of you. So long as your picture captures the essence of your content, tells a story, or grabs the viewer’s attention, it’s perfect.
Your Bio
This is the part of your profile that will do a lot of heavy lifting, so don’t ignore it. You only have about 150 – 250 characters to communicate your brand, who you are, and what kind of content you create, so make them count. Consider using just a few words to describe you: spray-paint artist, comedian, business and finance expert, etc. These are short, sweet, and leave little room for misunderstanding. You can also include a quick summary of your content and/or credentials if you have space. “Bestselling author who’s published 10 books” will make anyone looking for writing advice pause.
If you aren’t sure if your bio is doing it’s job, take a close look at it and ask yourself a couple questions. Does your bio give us a good idea of the content you create? Does it tell us what we can expect from your page? Or reflect your personality? Does it make us want to watch your content and learn more? So long as it does at least 1 of these things, it’s getting the job done.
Your Links
Just about every social media platform will have space for you to add links to your other profiles or a website. Take advantage of that! It won’t take but a few minutes to add your other profiles, and it encourages your followers to add you on other platforms. You’ll grow your following in new places and ensure you can connect with them no matter what happens to your main page.
You can also add a link to a website. So if there’s something you want followers to go to (a newsletter, an online store, a listing) you can add it there. And if you have multiple links you want people to access, you can create a Linktree and include all of them. Having profiles and links on your page give us a more full picture of your brand, and let interested parties explore what you have to offer on multiple platforms.
Profile Tags
On Clapper, you have the option to add up to 20 tags to your profile. These can be related to your content, your interests, or your personal life. Profile Tags help us get to know you and can be a great glimpse into your content. If you haven’t already, log in and add a few to your profile.
Create an Introduction Video
Whether you’re literally just starting our or you’ve been creating content for a long time, it’s never too late to introduce yourself. Since most social media pages let you pin videos to the top of your profile, spend sometime creating an intro video. This is a great way to introduce yourself to any new followers and quickly sum up your content into a quick, visual package. People visiting your profile will get a great idea of the style of content you create, and it brings your personality to life in a way that only a video can. You can learn more about making an intro video from this @ClapperAcademy tutorial.
Now that you’ve got your profile set up, we can move into the real meat of the article: how you can make money online.
Monetizing Your Content
There are a number of ways that you can monetize your content – or earning extra money from things you’re already doing. These won’t always be immediate (in fact, they probably won’t be immediate at all) but depending on the platform you’re creating on, you may be able to make money just from posting your content.
Can I Get Paid to Post?
As we said, it depends on your platform. Social media is a business for all parties involved, so not every platform will pay you to post your content. And if they do, you’ve got to be a very, very big creator. Platforms like YouTube and Snapchat do offer monetization opportunities if you meet a certain threshold or set of requirements; a lot of platforms will provide ways for your followers to send you money. If you’re on a platform where you can potentially make money just from your content, fantastic! Make sure you’re familiar with the requirements and continue to grow your audience and content.
We’ll move onto some of the ways followers can send you money. This can take on a variety of forms, but the most popular (and often easiest for you) is Livestream or Radio gifts.
Livestream Gifts
On platforms like Clapper, viewers are able to send gifts in a Livestream that equate to money you can withdraw. Apps will keep a portion of this money (for themselves and for the app store, which requires a percentage of every payment) but the bulk of it will go back to the creator. This is one of the most popular ways for followers to pay creators for their content: its fun to pick just the right gift for the moment, and who doesn’t love to see a fun animation popup on screen?
This method is also great for content creators because it’s like you’ll be going Live anyway. You don’t have to do anything extra to monetize your content this way. And depending on the app you use, you can start going Live right from the jump. Clapper lets users Livestream right away, while other platforms make their users wait to reach 1,000 followers before they can go Live. Either way, if you’re wanting to get some money from your content creation, this is a fantastic place to start.
That’s a tip we want you to take note of: look for things you already do. Work smarter not harder and find ways to make money from your content creation. If possible, work from what you’ve got before you add new deadlines and responsibilities to your to do list.
Brand Deals or Partnerships
Let’s be honest: you’ve been waiting for this section. And we can’t blame you – it’s an exciting one! With this kind of monetization, you work with a brand to promote their product and receive some kind of perk. It might be free product, a referral link where you earn a commission, or even flat out money for the content you create. It all depends on you, the brand you work with, and the kind of deal you strike up. If you work with a big company, like Amazon’s Storefront program, you’ll just earn a commission on anything people purchase using your link. If you work with a smaller brand, they may send you a few free goodies if you create content about their stores. And you’ll find some brands are willing to pay you to talk about them.
We can see the stars in your eyes from here, so let’s break this down into two key pieces.
1. Build Your Audience
You don’t get a brand deal just because you send a really nice email or love a product: you’ve got to have a following. Your content is an investment for this brand, and they want to reduce their risk as much as they can. It’s unlikely they’ll send you free product or straight up cash if you don’t have an audience to advertise to. Before you even start to go after brand deals, really build up your audience and make sure they’re engaged with your content. It will make brands more excited (and likely) to work with you, as your reach and engagement is high. That means more people will see their product and be influenced to buy it.
How many followers do you need? That all depends. If you’re wanting to work with big, big brands, you’ll need a lot: if you’re in a specialized niche, the number might be a lot smaller. The brand may also have guidelines or expectations when working with creators, which will effect whether or not they want to work with you. Do your research and see! Some brands may post their influencer requirements, and if not don’t be afraid to shoot them an email and ask.
2. Finding Partnerships
In the beginning, you’ll have to find brand to work with. They won’t start sending you emails right away wanting to work with you. That’s fine: it gives you a lot of opportunities!
Think of your niche, your audience, and the communities you fit into: what kind of brands or products work with that? If you’re a cleaning content creator, maybe you want to work with a brand of products you use often, or an audiobook platform that makes the task more fun. A writer might reach out to writing softwares or coffee roasters. And if you can go granular, look at the analytics of your profile. If you followers are largely female, what are some products they might be interested in learning more about?
You can also consider products you use or already enjoy. Do you use specific products or services in your content often? Going back to the writer example: if they already use a kind of writing software or worked with an editor in the past, those are great places to start. Even if you don’t create content in a product’s niche, consider reaching out if it features in your content a lot. Some creators have content a brand deal just because they eat a specific kind of snack a lot.
Emailing Brands
As much as people groan about templates, they’re kind of a life saver for you and the people reading them. It gives you a clear foundation to build from and gives the reader a map to navigate. Don’t be afraid to create a template, personalize it for each brand, and rely on that when reaching out. Below, you’ll find a few templates to help you when you’re starting to connect with potential partners.
Partnership Inquiry
“Hello!
My name is [Influencer’s Name], and I’m reaching out to you with great excitement and a mutual passion for [relevant industry/interest].
I have been following [Brand’s Name] for quite some time now and love your products/services. [Include something from your professional or personal life explaining why you love this product or service and how it’s helped you. Make it impactful but keep it short!] As an influencer with [mention your number of followers/subscribers], I strive to create engaging and authentic content that adds value to my community. That’s why I believe there could be a fantastic opportunity for us to collaborate and spread the word about [Brand’s Name].
I think my audience would love [Brand’s Name] because [explain why. What value can the brand add to their lives? Why would this be a valuable market for this brand?] I would love to hear your thoughts on a potential partnership and explore how we can align our visions to create something extraordinary. If you’re interested, let’s meet to discuss the possibilities further.
Thank you for your time!
Warmest regards,
[Influencer’s Name]
[Influencer’s Contact Information]”
Inquiring About Requirements
“Hello!
My name is [Influencer’s Name], and I’m reaching out to you with great excitement and a mutual passion for [relevant industry/interest].
I have been following [Brand’s Name] for quite some time now and love your products/services. [Include something from your professional or personal life explaining why you love this product or service and how it’s helped you. Make it impactful but keep it short!] As an influencer, I was interested in learning more about your partnership opportunities. Do you currently work with influencers and content creators? Are there any follower or engagement criteria they have to meet?
Please let me know if there is a better contact to reach out to. I would love to work with [Brand’s Name] and want to ensure I’m a good fit for a partnership. Thank you in advance for your time!
Warmest regards,
[Influencer’s Name]
[Influencer’s Contact Information]”
Rejection
“Hello [Name],
Thank you for your response. I appreciate your time and consideration, and I hope that we can work together one day. Best of luck!
[Influencer’s Name]
[Influencer’s Contact Information]”
So long as you’re polite, feel free to say whatever you’d like here. Just make sure you’re courteous to them and keep that potential line of communication open.
Create Exclusive Content
A lot of creators are making exclusive content for paid subscribers. If you have the time or the passion, this is a great route to go down! You would set up some kind of service where followers can subscribe to your content and get access to extras, like bonus videos, monthly merch, or a group chat. What you offer is up to you, depending on how much time you can commit to it or what works best for your content.
A lot of content creators will make additional content outside of their niche (or just bonus content that’s related to their niche) and share it on a 3rd-party platform like Patreon. Similarly, they’ll create chats on Discord or Facebook with a special password only known to people who subscribe to their content. On Clapper, you can combine these all into your profile.
With Clapper Support Tiers, you can offer multiple kinds of subscriptions to your account, including access to a Groupchat you can create on your profile. This is a great way to connect with followers and monetize you’re content. You’re already creating on Clapper and using the features to build an audience, and Support Tiers allow you to offer special benefits right in the app. No need to make them go somewhere else; as long as they can go into your profile, they can subscribe to a Support Tier. Learn more about the support feature on Clapper here.
Open a Shop
If you have or develop some useful expertise, consider creating a guide, offering lessons, or somehow selling your skills. Your audience will know and trust you, and buying a physical representation of your skills can be really enticing. A lot of cooking content creators have recently started selling cookbooks related to their niche, and people with successful social media accounts are starting to offer guides and lessons on how they did it. You have the same option! So long as you have an audience to start marketing to, you’re golden.
That will mean you have to open a storefront, so you’ll want to check out part 2 if this route sounds interesting.
In Conclusion
Is your head spinning yet? If not, maybe this will do it: these are a just a few of the ways that you can make money online as a content creator. There’s much more you can consider, more doors that will open as you grow, and more opportunities that will arise as social media expands. Because social media is still in its infancy! As more platforms pop up, more creators start creating, and there’s more innovations, there will be more routes to making money online.
And the best part? It’s never too late to start.