4 Ways to Monetize Content Creation
The creator economy is the new way of doing business—and business is booming. Social media influencers, videographers, bloggers, and other creators are producing content for practically every niche. The average internet user spends nearly two and a half hours on social media each day, and much of that time is spent looking for informative or entertaining content coming directly from the creator economy.
Despite these high levels of social media use and the presence of millions of creators online, not all of them are actively monetizing their content creation. The good news is that making a living as part of the creator economy is quite doable, as the creator economy has matured considerably in recent years.
Indeed, nowadays there are many monetization options that creators can use to increase their income. Here are a few worth exploring.
Ways to monetize content creation
1. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing can be an especially lucrative form of influencer marketing for both creators and the brands they partner with. In affiliate marketing, influencers share special codes or links for the sponsored company’s products. These links could be shared as part of a video or blog post, or in the description of a social media post. Each time a follower uses that code, the influencer gets a portion of the profits.
While influencers must ensure that any products they promote match their audience and standards, this can be a highly effective way for creators to monetize a platform as it grows. This can be especially effective for micro-influencers who have fewer than 100,000 followers. Thanks to their high engagement rates, many brands are eager to do business with micro-influencers to reach a specific niche audience.
2. Sponsored posts
Most social media users are familiar with influencer marketing—when a content creator shares a sponsored post in partnership with a specific brand or to promote a particular product. Brands often pay a flat rate for a single sponsored post, based on the number of followers a content creator has.
Of course, similar to affiliate marketing, brand collaborations for sponsored posts should always be a good match for a content creator’s target audience and original content. Successful collaborations could even lead to an ongoing partnership.
Mutual respect is key to ensuring the success of such relationships. Social media personality Charli D’Amelio, who has over 145 million TikTok followers, offers this advice: “It’s the best to work with brands that respect your time just as much as you respect theirs. I respect the brand relationship by having an understanding of the brand, what they want and how they want it delivered, and again it goes back to just being honest. Then on set, I just do what I’m there to do, read over the brief, understand what the brand needs from me and I know it’ll all work out.”
3. Subscriptions
With social media content essentially being available for “free,” creators may be unsure about whether their audience would be willing to pay a subscription for their content. But it turns out that many are willing to do just that—depending on the type of content, of course.
For example, a survey of creators found that on average, creators on the subscription platform Patreon earn 41% of their income through Patreon subscriptions. It should be noted that the type of content that fuels these subscriptions tends to be much more substantial than social media posts. The most popular content categories on the platform were revealed to be video, writing, and podcasting.
With this setup, subscribers typically pay a monthly or annual subscription fee to a creator in exchange for access to their content. Sometimes, this content is exclusive to subscribers. Other creators give their subscribers early access to content before it is released to the general public.
For example, popular horror podcast Last Podcast On the Left offers multiple subscription tiers with benefits like exclusive ad-free content, presale tickets, early merchandise access, and even the chance to interact with the creators on Discord. For fans who want even more of the content that they already get for free, such perks make a monthly subscription that supports creators they love an easy buy.
Subscription programs are also available through social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Instagram subscription options allow creators to provide exclusive live content and stories to their subscribers, enabling them to better monetize content creation using the primary platforms they already use to grow their audience.
More articles from AllBusiness.com:
- 5 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Content Development
- How to Find and Successfully Work With Influencers
- Dealing With Copycats on Social Media: What Online Creators Can Learn From Entrepreneurs
- 4 Business Partnership Personality Conflicts and How to Find Compromise
- Home-Based Business Opportunity: Online Affiliate Programs
4. Selling branded products
Many content creators use their brand to start selling their own branded products or services. For example, fitness instructor Cassey Ho turned her YouTube video channel, Blogilates, into a platform that also sells fitness products, including Popflex, a line of activewear.
As Modern Retail explains, “Creating content and running her brands are very much interconnected. Products from both Popflex [and] Blogilates frequently appear in her workout videos, and she often designs products herself based on her audience’s feedback . . . Ho’s ability to leverage her platform has allowed Popflex to double its sales year-over-year over the past two years, and she plans to do the same this year.”
Both brands directly tie into Ho’s fitness focus. Blogilates sells yoga mats, dumbbells, and fitness journals, while Popflex sells higher-end equipment as well as fitness clothing like leggings and crop tops. Ho says posting design videos of her products (in addition to the original fitness content that launched her career) has resulted in 100 million views per month, directly driving sales of her branded products.
Of course, not all creators have the ability to create and design their own mainstream fashion brands. But this doesn’t mean they are without products or services they could sell to their fans. For example, nutrition influencers often sell their own branded food products or dietary supplements.
Some products could allow you to monetize content creation by becoming a source of passive income. Personal finance expert Jeremy Schneider earned $550,000 in 2021 by launching a paid online course discussing personal finance tips. Other creators sell e-books focused on tips related to their industry. These types of content only need to be created once. While they may require some ongoing promotion, they can then become a source of passive income that supplements the rest of your content creation efforts.
How will you make a living as a content creator?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for how to make a living as a content creator. The right mix of monetization options will likely vary based on the type of content you produce, your target audience, and other factors. But by strategically using these and other methods of monetizing content creation, you can have confidence that your content won’t just generate clicks—it will also generate meaningful income.
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