FREE COURSE

How to Make Money on TikTok

The best tips, strategies, and resources for making money on TikTok in 2021.
Share this post:

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest
Learn how to make money on TikTok.

This free course contains the 7 key steps you need to take if you want to make money on TikTok.

Nowadays, it’s common to see influencers make millions of dollars on the popular video-sharing app called TikTok. From dancing stars like Addison Rae to fitness influencers like Demi Bagdy, the highest earners on TikTok are making fortunes from 10-second video clips.

Becoming successful with a career on TikTok can seem like it’s all based on luck and fame. However, there are also “nano-influencers” (users with less than 10,000 followers) who are getting paid anywhere from a few dollars to thousands for making TikToks. For some specific niches, even average creators have a high chance of making money. 

If you just went viral on TikTok and you want to know how to make money with your newfound attention; this article contains every tactic that influencers use to monetize their content.

Table of Contents

Why You Should Use TikTok for Marketing

If you didn’t already know, TikTok is currently the fastest-growing social media platform in the world. In fact, it already has more users than Twitter, Linkedin, and Snapchat—three platforms that have been around for years.

With instantaneously changing feeds, TikTok’s algorithm is constantly providing consumers with new content. Content creators have an unsaturated (but huge) sector to share ideas, grow an audience, and tell their stories.

Besides being the easiest platform to go viral on, here are 4 other reasons why you should be marketing your business or making money on TikTok:

  1. TikTok has surpassed 1 billion active global users, a 300 million increase since last summer. 
  2. Users spend an average of over 50 minutes on the app, per day. 
  3. Only 34% of users are posting content daily. The rest consume.
  4. You can get huge organic growth very easily (compared to other platforms)

How Much Can You Earn on TikTok?

The process of making money on TikTok is similar to other social media platforms like Instagram or YouTube. While there are official ways to earn money directly from the TikTok platform, a majority of influencers will make their money as a result of sponsorships, brand partners, and paid collaborations. However, unlike YouTube, TikTok users do not make money directly from ad revenue.  

TikTok users can expect to make anywhere from $200 to $5,000 a month if they have over 100,000 followers. (Source: Linkedin) Branded videos alone can make between $200 and $20,000. Of course, this all depends on how large your account is and how much people engage with your content. 

If you want a more accurate prediction of how much money you can make on TikTok right now, check out this TikTok money calculator at Influencer Marketing Hub.

Calculate exactly how much money you can make on TikTok with the money calculator.

How Many Views Do You Need to Make Money on TikTok?

In August of 2020, TikTok first announced and launched its Creator Fund program to help support independent creatives and reward them for providing content. Currently, it is only available for creators who live in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.

To make money from TikTok directly, you must adhere to their requirements. Paid creators must be:

  • At least 18 years old
  • Have 10,000+ followers
  • Accumulated 100,000+ views in the past 30 days

If you fall under all these guidelines, you are eligible to apply for TikTok’s Creator Fund and make money within the app. 

RELATED ARTICLES:

7 Strategies to Make Money on TikTok

With all the successful TikTok influencers that are popping out of nowhere, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Luckily, TikTok’s For You page makes it possible for new creators to share their content and eventually sell it. 

It’s important to note that the competition is also growing quickly. Niche creators are all searching for new ways to expand their fanbases. Here are 7 best practices to make money on TikTok.

1. Grow Your TikTok Followers

If you make binge-worthy compilations on YouTube, you might be able to make hundred dollars per video without a huge following base. TikTok is not the same.

Before you can expect to make any real money on the platform, you have to grow your TikTok account. Even if you already have a mid-sized follower count, getting more engagement should be your number 1 priority.

Brands will pay TikTok influencers well, but you will only make good money if you can generate a lot of engagement with your videos. This means maximizing:

  • Views
  • Likes
  • Comments
  • Shares

Getting a ton of reactions from your videos can bring dozens of partnerships to your DM’s every day. Of course, this requires consistency; you need to keep providing entertaining content and encouraging your audience to binge. 

Tips on How to Grow Your TikTok

Besides spending a decent amount of time on the app, here are a few tips that can help you get more followers, views, and likes. 

Understand Your Niche and Target Audience

Staying consistent with the type of content you post will help your target audience remember you and continue to engage with your content. Additionally, knowing the best way to interact with your niche will make it easier for you to generate content ideas.

For example, if you create fitness content, people will follow you for workout routines and eating plans. If you were to start making unrelated videos, you could confuse your audience and lose followers. Watching other fitness influencers inspires your new content.

Keep up with current trends and new features

As a popular platform, TikTok receives updates quickly. Oftentimes, the updates come with a new feature. The photo crop challenge became a trend after TikTok added the effect during the summer. Staying on top of trends like these can be an easy way to go viral and boost your profile over time. 

Post at the right times

While there is no “best time” to post on TikTok, you always want to be active when your audience is awake and you can engage with them. When someone leaves a comment on your TikTok, you should immediately reply and keep the engagement going. This is an effective way to get more shares and grow your relationships with your followers.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

2. Seek Brand Partnerships

Most paid TikTok creators earn their money by partnering with brands and businesses that pay them for sponsored videos. For example, a brand could pay you to create a TikTok where you showcase an entertainment product for college dorms or a makeup kit that has just been released. 

In 2021, marketers have been spending their influencer marketing dollars on TikTok like no tomorrow. According to a study by eMarketer, the number of marketers who plan to use TikTok for influencer marketing increased by 52% in the last 2 years. 

Businesses are turning to TikTok users for influencer collaborations.
Source: eMarketer

TikTok made the biggest leap over the last two years in terms of influencer marketing. The only other platform that demonstrated serious growth is Instagram Reels—which is an Instagram feature that essentially remade the TikTok app.

You may be thinking:

“So how exactly do I get brands to partner with?” 

Let’s cover that right now.

How to Get Brand Partnerships as a TikTok Creator

Here are strategies to use for finding and securing brand partnerships for your TikTok.

Decide on Your Niche and Find Relevant Brands

For example, if your niche is college dorm advice, look for brands that sell dorm lights or decorations. Make a video that shares all the products you use for your current room. Then, send that video to the brand’s Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok with a message like:

Hey (brand), I just made this TikTok video sharing (similar product). I could do a similar thing and share your product if you’d be interested in a collaboration. 

Write in Your Bio That You’re an Influencer Looking for Collaborations

This is a quick step you can do to help business contact you if they find your TikTok profile. Simply enter your vital information like email address, name, best place to contact you, and niche.  

Use your TikTok bio to make money and generate leads.
Source: Hubspot
Design an Email Outreach Template

It is always useful to have a email template ready to go in case you find new potential brand partners. Be sure to include stuff like:

  • Your username and vital information
  • Why your target audience would like their product
  • How many views you’ve gotten in the last 30 days
  • Follower count
  • Your target audience’s demographics
  • Potential video ideas

Marketing managers get hundreds of emails each day. If you want your message to be noticed, make sure to specifically communicate how you are going to drive traffic to their business.

It will be helpful to include case studies and details from past partnerships. If you haven’t partnered with any brands before, focus on pitching a great idea. 

Sign up for influencer platforms

Influencer platforms are websites that help businesses sift through influencers and discover good partners. Getting your profile on multiple influencer listings will increase your chances of landing a paid partnership. 

Here are some influencer platforms you should join if you want to make money on TikTok: 

  1. Upfluence
  2. Influencer
  3. Insense
  4. Izea
  5. Klear

3. Apply to the TikTok Creator Fund

After you manage to build up a following of at least 10,000 followers (and can consistently generate 100,000 views per month), sign up for TikTok’s creator fund. 

If you get accepted, your account will be advertised to businesses on the TikTok Creator Marketplace. This is TikTok’s official platform for brands to discover creators they may want to partner with. Then, brands will reach out and pay you directly through TikTok for sponsored content. The amount you are paid is directly related to the amount of engagement your content gets.

For example, this is Hank Green‘s creator fund dashboard after he earned his initial 1,000 dollars. 

TikTok's Creator Fund will pay users directly if they have enough followers and views.
Source: Hank Green

TikTok originally started this program with a $200 million dollar fund, and they’re hoping to reach $1 billion in the next 2 years. With the way TikTok is growing, this is a modest prediction.

How to Apply to TikTok’s Creator Fund

Once you fulfill all the terms, you will be eligible to be paid directly by TikTok. Here are the steps you need to take in order to apply for the fund:

  1. Open the TikTok App and Go to “Settings”
  2. Click on “Creator Tools”
  3. Find “TikTok Creator Fund” and Sign Up to Apply
Source: Later

4. Create a Sales Funnel

If you have a physical or digital product that you can promote on TikTok, creating a sales funnel is a smart way to reach more customers and make money. This means you need to:

  • First, start a business (it can be small) with a product that can be sold digitally or with an eCommerce website.
  • Then, create a 1-page funnel so that organic traffic from your TikTok link in bio can turn your followers into potential leads for your business. 

Most businesses, entrepreneurs, and creators who promote products on TikTok already have their business links set up in their bio. It’s a great way to get cold traffic to your business website.

However, putting a few links in your TikTok bio isn’t going to get you far.

You need those links to convert random visitors into paying customers.

Unless you know how to design a business website that converts well, use a tool like SamCart or GetResponse to create a sales funnel that can properly attract customers. SamCart is a software tool that helps creators build high-converting landing pages for any type of business.

Basically, you can make more money if you are a/an:

  • Author
  • Entrepreneur
  • Etsy/Amazon Seller
  • Online Coach
  • Nonprofit Manager
  • Small Business Owner
  • Instagram Seller

Being able to direct people from your TikTok bio to a beautiful sales page is a revenue strategy most creators don’t know about—and it’s one of the most profitable strategies too!

Take a YouTuber like Yoga With Adriene for example. As the owner of a popular channel, she has grown her net worth to over 3.5 million dollars, partly by using SamCart to sell online yoga courses.

5. Go Live

Hosting a live stream is one way to make money directly on the TikTok app. This is a feature they describe in their “LIVE gifting” release statement. It basically works like this:

  • Creators on TikTok are allowed to host live stream sessions.
  • Viewers are allowed to send virtual gifts (purchased with money) to creators.
  • TikTok will give “Diamonds” to creators which they can use to exchange for real money. Diamonds are awarded if creators receive gifts from their viewers.

Basically, TikTok will pay creators for hosting successful live sessions where their viewers are engaged and participating. However, we do not know exactly how much money TikTok keeps and how much they send to creators. 

Should you go live to make money on TikTok?

Although going live is one way TikTok monetizes your content, it may not be the best option. For one thing, you don’t get to keep the money you make from receiving tips. Instead, TikTok will send you a portion of it based on their terms. 

6. Show Off Your Products

If you already own a small business, take advantage of TikTok as a marketing channel. You can use the platform to:

  • Make product demonstration videos
  • Use your product in your videos (not as the focus)
  • Share details about your product
  • Show off different use cases

According to a survey by Adweek, nearly 50% of TikTok users are making purchases after seeing products on TikTok videos.

Adding on, people are more likely to make a snap purchase of an item they see on TikTok than platforms like Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, and Linkedin.

After seeing these results, it comes as no surprise that more and more brands are moving towards TikTok as a method of promoting products and generating sales. 

Using Paid Advertising

Utilizing TikTok’s advertising services is an effective way of penetrating their huge market. With a youthful audience (Gen Z, Millenial), you want to create ads that are creative, quickly digestible, memorable, and fun.

7. Audio Sponsorships

TikTok is a platform that is built around catchy music and repetitive sound clips. It seems simple but some artists have blown up in popularity simply because their songs were trending on TikTok.

Take Lil Nas X for example—his hit single “Old Town Road” went all the way to #1 on the Billboard 100 because it went viral on TikTok.

After seeing his success, up-and-coming artists have been paying TikTok influencers to use their audio clips in videos. For example, Skylar Krupa is a TikTok creator who makes videos of his relatives. He charges $25 per 25 thousand hits and gets paid by audio sponsorship. 

@its_j_dog

“Omg you fell? I had no idea”

♬ Street Fashion Game - JVLES

Now, Krupa’s account for his grandmother has over 2 million followers and generates hundreds of dollars per sponsorship.

The only issue with this method is that there’s no strict method of getting artist partnerships. Instead, creators have to independently reach out to artists or their agencies. 

Final Thoughts

Without a doubt, TikTok is a fantastic platform to connect with a new mass of people. It’s gaining popularity every single day and is likely to come out with new and improved ways to monetize content. 

If you want to make money on TikTok, you need to grow your audience and keep your engagement up. With that as your focus, only time will tell when you’ll start earning money as an influencer can. 

6 Responses

Leave a Comment