As an incredibly popular app, TikTok lets creators make money on their platform. In fact, depending on the audience you’re wanting, this can be more lucrative than Instagram. Even new accounts can find ways to profit from TikTok with the right strategies. With this in mind, here is a GoRead.io guide all about how to make money on TikTok.
Can You Make Money on TikTok With Ease?
There are several ways you can profit from your TikTok profile, even if you’re just setting up your account. Some people even devote their entire online brand to promoting products in exchange for money. If you want to go down this route, you can become an influencer. It’s possible to secure great industry deals even with just 1,000 followers.
Content creators of all kinds have plenty of opportunities to make money. To get the most out of this, it may help you monetize across every platform you have. For example, the same content or deals could be just as useful on Instagram and even YouTube. If your account is specifically for promoting your business, it might be easier to access these features.
How To Make Money on TikTok: Key Requirements
Even though there are many options available to TikTok accounts, many of them have eligibility requirements. In addition, there are certain steps you’ll need to follow in order to have any level of success. This is especially true for a new account. Here are eight factors that could affect how to make money from TikTok:
- Followers: In many cases, you need people to follow your content regularly to be eligible for official TikTok creator opportunities.
- Age: You may only make money from your TikTok profile if you’re 18 or older.
- Account type: Business owners can access more of TikTok’s features and monetize their profile, even with a low follower count.
- Regular content: TikTok’s official money-making features are usually for profiles that post regularly. Brands will also prioritize deals with these accounts.
- Location: Certain monetization options are only available for accounts from the US, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, or the UK.
- Engagement: Along similar lines, your level of engagement affects if you have enough views to make money from your content.
- Industry: Depending on the sector you work in (and its audience), brands might not give TikTok space in their marketing strategy.
- Bot accounts: If companies (or TikTok) see many bots on your account, they’ll likely not let you monetize your content.
How Do People Make Money on TikTok?
Like nearly any social media platform, TikTok offers several official and unofficial ways of making money. Learning these methods will help you find the one that works best for your account. You should always choose a route that you’re eligible for and that will help your profile succeed.
The usual answers to ‘How do people make money on TikTok?’ are as follows:
1. Creator Fund
The TikTok Creator Fund is only available to accounts with 10,000+ followers. Your posts will also need to have reached 100,000 views across the last month. This lets you use your account’s engagement to make money every day.
2. Direct Selling
It’s possible to sell goods directly from the TikTok Shop when running a business account. If you choose this, you’ll have to provide information about your company. These accounts can even run ad campaigns to promote the products.
3. Brand Deals
As a creator, you can arrange deals with companies to promote their products. This could be via a how-to video or a review. The money from this deal is usually yours, even if your post doesn’t improve sales.
4. Affiliate Marketing
Some TikTok deals involve putting a product link in your bio or video description, often alongside a unique discount. If you’re an affiliate, the sponsor only pays when your viewers click the link or buy the item.
How To Make Money on TikTok LIVE
It’s possible for you to receive ‘gifts’ from followers while on a TikTok LIVE. Users can then convert this into their local currency and withdraw it. If your followers send 1,000 Diamonds during a TikTok LIVE, you can withdraw $5. To maximize the rewards, you must identify which types of content your followers want.
You can manage LIVE Gifts via the Settings button while setting up your stream. To go LIVE, to begin with, however, you need to be at least 18 and have over 1,000 followers. These Diamond gifts are the main answer to how to make money on TikTok LIVE.
Beyond this system, you could use LIVEs to promote products as part of a sponsorship. This is an opportunity to connect with your audience while answering any questions they have about an item. In these arrangements, your average number of live video views can affect your payment.
What Are TikTok’s Moneymaking Guidelines?
TikTok only grants access to its official monetization features if your account is in good standing with the platform. This means you need to follow their Community Guidelines and make sure the content you post fits a broad audience. In addition, if your account is only for adults, you have to age-restrict each mature post.
The platform aims to build a welcoming experience for all users, with a strong focus on balance, dignity, and fairness. If your profile violates any of these principles or TikTok’s Terms of Service, they may even close your account. So long as you respect other users across the app, you shouldn’t have any issues.
If the goal of your post is to promote a brand, even your own, you must declare this. You can do so via the Content Disclosure and Ads setting while preparing a new TikTok post. Label your post as Your Brand or Branded Content, depending on which fits best.
How Many Followers Do You Need To Make Money on TikTok?
TikTok’s official Creator Fund is only available to accounts with 10,000 followers or more. This is a major barrier for new TikTok profiles, but creating high-value content can help you grow. If you want to sell products on the platform as a business, you won’t require any followers. However, a regular creator needs at least 1,000 followers to access TikTok Shopping.
The number of followers you need to access sponsorships varies from one sector to another. It’s even possible to become a ‘nano influencer’ with only 1,000 followers. A HubSpot report shows that 61% of marketers use TikTok influencers in their ad campaigns. These businesses intend to reach as many people as possible, so more followers could easily mean more money for you.
The answer to ‘How many followers do you need to make money on TikTok?’ depends on which path you take. However, profiles with more followers often have a far easier time finding the best opportunities. When trying to get extra TikTok followers, avoid trusting bot services. These offer very few real benefits and could even ban you from making money on the app.
How To Make Money on TikTok Without Followers
It’s possible to make money on TikTok even with a low number of followers. Most people on this platform find videos through their For You page, which heavily promotes unfamiliar accounts. In contrast to Instagram, TikTok is far less dependent on followers for engagement. It’s still a factor that brands take into consideration, but you could be a successful nano influencer.
The type of content you create will help TikTok find the right audience for it via its personalized algorithm. If you use the right hashtags in your post description, you can easily get onto the For You page. This will make it easier to convince brands to sponsor your low-follower account. However, you still need to build your content beyond branded posts.
The TikTok Rewards system, where you refer friends to the app, has no follower requirements. If you see no luck in building your brand, this could be a simple (but time-consuming) way to make money. You may even join an affiliate program with a low number of followers. So long as you’re able to make sales, you can reap the benefits.
When wondering how to make money on TikTok without followers, the answer might be another platform entirely. Instagram lets anyone set up a livestream or even an online storefront. On top of this, it’s much easier to set up paid non-bot followers on Instagram. These let you boost your follower count and engagement, opening you up to brand deals.
Is TikTok or Instagram Better for Making Money?
According to DataReportal, over 70% of TikTok’s adult users are under 35, and 38.5% are under 25. If your goal is to find a relatively young audience for your sponsorship deal, TikTok might be your best bet. However, the introduction of Instagram Reels (which are highly similar to TikToks) might shift these demographics.
Instagram generally has more content variety. For example, you could broadcast a sponsorship across a feed post, story, reel, and livestream. TikTok has equivalents for each format but generally focuses on short-form (often informal) videos. While the answer to ‘Can you make money on TikTok?’ is definitely yes, check if their format works for you.
In terms of actual payments, however, research by Epidemic Sound shows that TikTok might be much more creator-friendly. The platform you use ultimately depends upon your industry, as the sector you represent might not be popular on TikTok. However, spreading content across both of these platforms could easily help you get results from both.
Learning how to make money on TikTok is essential if you plan on seeing any major profits from the platform. If you want to blend this with Instagram, paid organic followers could help you get even better deals.
Increasing your account’s follower count while maintaining high engagement will boost your overall social media presence. Use GoRead.io today to start investing in your Instagram account’s long-term success.