About a decade ago, content creation was a hobby, and not many people were doing it. Today, creating digital content has grown into a career.
Content creators make millions of dollars every year, but the question is how do they make money?
You may not have noticed, but social media algorithms are changing all the time, reducing the organic reach of your content.
You put a lot of effort into creating a post on Facebook or any other platform, but you end up receiving negligible engagement. More and more content creators are facing this problem.
The point is how do content creators make money in this fast-moving and competitive environment?
Whether you’re an influencer, coach, or entrepreneur, you can create digital content and open up new revenue streams.
This post will explain what a content creator is and how content creators make money.
let’s start!
What is a content creator?
A content creator is someone who produces entertainment or educational material for a target audience. Or as we like to call it, “edutainment.”
Everything you see on the web is content.
For example, if you browse Facebook, you come across 200 million active users, most of whom are content creators.
You probably already create content on social media in the form of posts and comments. However, if you want to make money, you need to have a plan and create content that keeps your audience engaged.
YouTube alone has more than 370,000 channels creating content, and not all of them are making money.
But being a content creator can be a very exciting and fun job. Let’s say you’re a coach helping startups navigate their challenges. Now you can leverage your current expertise to create digital content.
If you’re already passionate about something, becoming a content creator doesn’t require you to learn anything serious. If you are a makeup artist, you can simply use your skills and create exciting how-to videos and blogs.
The most important thing is that you can earn as much income as possible. Since being a content developer is not a 9-to-5 job, you will have plenty of freedom and flexibility.
If you want to develop a personal brand, you must create content that tells your audience who you are and what you stand for.
Consistency is an inevitable strategy if you’re trying to build a personal brand—success doesn’t happen overnight unless you’re really lucky.
different types of content
As a content creator, you have the opportunity to become an authentic version of yourself and create any type of content you want.
Here are some popular content types to consider:
- Videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
- Blog Posts, Pinterest Boards
- podcast or audio content
- eBooks, courses and infographics
- Instagram stories, reels and guides
- Games and Live Streaming
- music and art
When it comes to choosing the right type of content, there are no hard and fast rules. It all depends on what you or your audience like to see.
If you like creating short videos, consider building a TikTok presence or creating an Instagram reel, which is hot right now.
If you want to mix different content types, you may want to start your own blog and share whatever you like.
But let’s face it.
Making money as a content creator can be very challenging.
Like I said before, a lot of people share their thoughts on the web, but not everyone knows how to create a long-term marketing plan to monetize their content or understand how to sell when their existing audience and buyers run out. Find new audiences and buyers.
So let’s move on to our main topic and explain 11 different strategies for making money as a content creator.
Here are 11 ways you can make money online as a content creator:
1. Create an online community
When making money online, you have to build a community or be part of other popular communities.
A community is a platform where you can attract and connect with like-minded people of all kinds. Here, your audience can get valuable advice, tips and tricks. If you’re a marketer, your audience should turn to your community to address their marketing-related needs.
For example, when people need advice on social media marketing, they visit communities like Social Media Examiner.
Likewise, when people need some DIY help, they go to channels like 5 Minute Crafts on YouTube.
To make real money you have to do something like a 5-minute craft or Ryan toy review. When you create a community, your ideal audience will feel comfortable and happy to be a part of it.
2. Offer exclusive content
This is an obvious question.
You’ll make money online when you offer something exclusive and exciting – it’s not a one-off job. If you think you can make a few videos on YouTube and start making money, it probably won’t happen.
You need to be consistent, relevant and results-focused. First, you create content to engage and build your audience, and then consistently create new content.
Let’s say you still don’t have followers online. This is where you need quality content to build your tribe.
If you have something amazing to share, there’s no shortage of platforms. Take Douyin or Clubhouse as an example. People are just taking advantage of their great content to quickly start building an audience.
If you get the chance to join Clubhouse, you’ll learn how people build communities and gain a lot of content exposure. Some are giving private rooms to artwork where they buy, sell and trade.
Creators are even doing special NFT (non-fungible token) drops.
Exclusive product launches are a quick way to grow a fast, loyal tribe, a group of people who just love your product and will make you a quick buck.
3. Collaboration
Success is so much easier when you collaborate. seriously!
Just go out and find some top brands, influencers and people in your industry. See how you can serve them before asking for anything.
Go like, comment, share their content and build them up the way you want others to do for you.
Collaboration works when you take the time to build a transparent and mutually beneficial relationship with someone whose audience aligns with yours.
Like-minded brands and people can become your ambassadors if you follow the right strategy for building relationships.
We understand that finding the right person takes a lot of effort and time. But it’s worth your time.
From helping and serving others, everything else begins to obey.
Building relationships online is like making friends offline. You meet someone and get to know each other. When you develop good chemistry, you can form a mutually beneficial relationship.
Your goal should be to be everywhere. Try to see every place where your content will be appreciated and liked.
4. Use social media advertising
While using paid advertising is not mandatory, sometimes it is necessary to use it depending on your goals.
Social media advertising is a must if you want to increase your reach.
No matter how good your content is, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to promote it organically.
Of course, moving from an organic social strategy to paid advertising can be challenging. But it must be understood that social media platforms are also looking to make money.
They don’t want your content reaching millions of people for no reason, unless your content is actually going viral. So, it’s imperative that you learn to run a profitable social media advertising campaign and get the extra help you need to grow your reach.
Paid social advertising is an ultra-direct way to reach the users you want. For example, if you’re a coach and you give your audience a great how-to, you can use Facebook or Instagram ads to reach the right people and warm up new audiences. After all, social media advertising is one of the best ways to grow your brand quickly.
All major social networks offer advertising options. However, you shouldn’t use all of them. Just use those platforms where your employees like to spend their time.
For example, if your audience is business CEOs or entrepreneurs, it might help to follow LinkedIn. Likewise, if your audience is Gen Z or millennials, TikTok can be a great place to showcase your content.
Consider advertising on social networking sites that can give you good results naturally.
5. Provision of products or services
Offer something your audience can’t resist. This is a proven marketing strategy to attract more attention to your content.
For example, if you have a super exclusive set of sneakers, then create a limited supply of private/exclusive sneaker drops. Or offer a subscription service with content specific to specific people.
Or offer exclusive NFT drops.
The aim here is to motivate your audience or give them something that will drive them to subscribe or sign up for your offer.
There are many things you can do to make an irresistible offer. Let me give you some hints:
- Free Guide or eBook
- Exclusive Disposable Drops
- free subscription
- Exclusive offer for a limited time
- free membership
- free sample
- lifestyle discounts
Be sure to offer something of value and appeal. This is a great way to grow your audience quickly.
6. Use brand partnerships
If you want to create a sustainable revenue stream, you need to work on improving your audience’s perception of your brand.
Creating a one-of-a-kind experience that sets you apart from the rest of your competition is critical. Still, creating powerful and memorable experiences yourself is challenging.
solution?
Build strong brand partnerships that give your content a real boost. Brand partnerships are the process of collaborating with other brands to share and cross-promote your content with audiences.
For example, if you’re a fitness instructor, it might be good to partner with a brand that makes weight loss products. This way, you can expose your content to new audiences who may be interested in whatever you have to offer.
7. Sell what you’re good at
Don’t try to be everything to everyone on the internet.
The Internet is a competitive world where everyone wants their attention.
Making money online can be difficult if you don’t have a clear idea of what you’re offering and who your audience is.
So, only sell what you are good at so you can stand out from the competition.
Ask yourself a simple question: Why should people buy my product and use my content when there are other reliable sources for the same information and product?
Here, you can understand the importance of targeting a specific niche.
When you try to cater to everyone, you end up talking to no one. So, do what you’re good at, and find the right people to consume your content.
8. Create content consistently
Consistency is the key to success.
Just research some of the highest-paid content creators to see how important it is to be consistent in your content creation efforts.
When you consistently create great content, you follow a specific process that improves over time.
As a content creator hoping to make a living, you can’t afford inconsistency. If your audience likes your content, keep giving them more so they keep coming back.
When you stop meeting their expectations and stop crafting content consistency, your audience and followers are sure to turn to someone else.
At Digitalmarketing.org, we grew our readers from zero to 50k in a few years. That’s because we produce great content on a regular basis, and we know how to deliver content our readers love.
9. Get Tips: Use the Tip Feature
Tipping people’s content on social media is starting to become very popular and mainstream.
So, this is another way to make money as a content creator. Get tips!
Facebook recently launched a tipping feature that allows Facebook users to tip their favorite content creators. People can simply buy a pack of stars and send them to streamers during live broadcasts. However, this feature is limited to game streaming.
More and more social media platforms will introduce this tipping feature to help content creators earn more money. So be prepared to create content that will generate the greatest number of prompts.
OnlyFans is also a great platform for content creators. It enables you to earn money through subscriptions, tips and selling pictures. Your followers can send tips during your live stream or directly through your messages.
Platforms like Clubhouse may introduce this feature to make users more excited.
The tipping feature also helps to understand what kind of content your audience likes the most.
Plus, check out Creator Coins and how these creators are innovating new ways for their fans to earn cool perks, NFT drops, rewards, and trade coins on the blockchain.
10. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a huge earning potential for content creators. Yes, you can make money while you sleep.
Affiliate marketing is when someone pays you a commission for sales or leads your efforts to generate.
Here’s what you need to consider:
Before buying anything, people love to take expert advice online. Now, let’s say you’re popular with your audience and people love hearing your tips and tricks.
You have the power to influence your audience’s buying behavior or motivate them to make a purchase with your enticing content. There, you can generate passive money through affiliate links.
Track the number of sales or leads you generate through affiliate links.
Not sure how affiliate links work? Let me help you!
You place an affiliate link on your blog or website, linking to the product. Now, every time someone clicks on that link and buys a product, you will receive a commission.
For example, if you create content about education, you might consider selling some educational products through affiliate marketing.
Another example might be placing links to Amazon books in your blog, or partnering with well-known influencers to sell their products and services.
We also use affiliate marketing all the time to make money. For example, we help Kartra Agency sell their products on our blog. We earn a commission every time someone purchases their offer by clicking on an affiliate link on our blog.
11. Become a Social Media Influencer
Social media influencers make millions of dollars. I’m not talking about Cristiano Ronaldo or Kim Kardashian.
An average person with talent and limited resources can become a social media influencer and make some serious money. For example, TikTok is a platform where anyone can showcase their content and grow a following.
The internet has all kinds of influencers. But we can divide them into the following four categories:
- Nano influencer (1k-10k followers)
- Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers)
- Macro influencers (100k – 10k followers)
- Super Influencer (1M+ Followers)
Epilogue + Resources
While there are many ways to make a living as a content creator, start with the strategies I mention in my blog. Feel free to experiment with different methods to see which one works best for you.
If affiliate marketing isn’t working for you, try something else. However, be sure to establish yourself as an authority on social media.
Work hard every day to expand your network and build a strong personal brand. Use every possible opportunity to promote your content.
Build an audience and monetize your content the right way. Most importantly, do what you love. money will follow you
