By Raja Anjana Kothapalli
TikTok is an app to make and share short videos. It is one of the few apps that took the social media buzz to a next level. It redefined the way of using social media. The app might look tough to maneuver on your first go. However, once you get used, it tends to get addictive. Gen Z takes a larger chunk of the platform as creators and viewers. It is simple, it is fun, and yes, you can earn money on TikTok. Before we jump in to know how to earn money on TikTok, just be aware that it is currently banned in India and Pakistan. So without any further ado, let’s begin.
How To Earn Money On TikTok
1. Grow to sell
Many individuals and businesses do not prefer investing time to cultivate their own social media following. They are aware that it is easier to buy an existing popular account that falls under their niche. But to sell an account, you need to grow it first.
You have to choose a niche and open a TikTok account in that niche. You need to focus on making relevant and creative content that can go viral on this account. Once the account gathers a good number of loyal followers and/or the content becomes viral, approach brands that operate in the same niche and sell your account to make good money.
For example, if you create and grow a TikTok account in a specific niche, say videos of workouts, you can easily sell the account to businesses such as gyms, workout apps, etc.
Cultivating and growing social media accounts in order to sell them to brands for money is in fact not a new trend. This is a practice that most online creators had successfully adopted on various other social media platforms.
To earn more money for your account, the formula is to generate quality content that attracts a huge follower base and user engagement. It will turn the tide in your favor when you pitch the account at a higher price to potential buyers.
Usually, the sale of a TikTok account with 1-10K followers will generate approximately $100, 10K-50K followers fetch ~$100-$500, 50K-100K fetches ~$500-$1000, 100K-500K fetches ~$1000-$2000, 500K-1M+ fetches $1000-$4000. These are just approximate amounts for your reference and they tend to change based on content quality, competition from fellow creators, and demand from brands.
You can successfully sell even a small TikTok account with say only 1000 followers if you manage to grow it with quality content and not diverging from your niche. However, the money you make will be comparatively less than that amount generated by the sale of a larger account, say one million.
Moreover, you need not go knocking on the doors of every brand that falls under your niche. Instead, you can approach influencer marketing platforms such as Hobo Video that will be better equipped at providing you with leads to potential buyers.
You can follow up the leads and collab with brands that offer you more money. Also, you can simultaneously grow and sell multiple TikTok accounts to maximize your earnings.
2. Coins and diamonds
You can earn money on TikTok by going live and collecting donations from your viewers. The concept is similar to many other social media platforms (For example Twitch).
Users can add coins to their accounts through the balance tab on their TikTok profile. Users can buy 100 coins for approximately 1 USD. When you go live on TikTok, your live viewers can donate their TikTok coins to you during your live video. You can only go live on TikTok if you have a minimum of 1000 followers.
These coins when given to you by your viewers will be converted into diamonds. The diamonds are worth 50 percent of the value of coins (in USD), i.e., it takes 200 diamonds to earn around 1 USD.
The diamonds are worth US dollars, no matter where you leave. The monetary worth is 0.5 cents (USD) for each diamond. However, in order to earn diamonds, you must be 18 years or older.
You can only withdraw your funds as a creator once you have reached the hundred dollar threshold. The maximum money that you can withdraw daily is 1000 USD.
It takes TikTok around 15 days to process the withdrawal as they have to make sure that the coins were not bought fraudulently.
3. TikTok Creator Fund
The Creator Fund Program, worth an initial fund of $200M, is an initiative by TikTok that promises to pay qualified creators for their videos. In order to qualify to get paid from the TikTok Creator Fund, you should have a minimum of 10,000 followers, must be at least 18 years old, should have received at least 10,000 video views in the previous 30 days, and your TikTok account must be a Pro account.
Open your TikTok app and go to your channel page. Click on the Pro Account in the settings and privacy tab and apply for the TikTok Creator Fund. Once it is accessible, you can view the total estimated balance and a list of amounts that you have earned in previous days.
Your balance for each day is calculated 3 days after the day in which the video views were accrued. Your balance for each month can be withdrawn approximately 30 days after the end of that month. It means TikTok tallies the numbers for 30 days and you get paid 30 days after that, i.e., a 60-day net.
The daily amount you get paid increases relative to the videos that you post. If you make good videos, you get paid more money. If that video continues to trend, you will continue to make money. Similarly, the daily amount you get paid will decrease when you stop uploading videos.
Uploading more videos every single day to get a lot of views from all the videos can be one strategy to get paid daily. Taking time to make the best possible video every single day to get a lot of views from that one video can be another strategy.
4. Become an influencer
Becoming an influencer on a social media platform and earning money is not a new concept in the world of e-commerce. An influencer is a person who has a loyal group of followers and thus can possess the power to influence their purchasing behavior. Brands want to harness these online influencers to meet their business goals by developing mutually beneficial relationships.
“If brand lift or awareness is the desired outcome, recruiting individuals who are popular, or have earned affinity or goodwill, will do the job. If the result is to entice voting in a particular direction or attempting to establish thought leadership, individuals who possess authority or trustworthiness become instrumental in steering potential outcomes.”- Brain Solis (He is a digital analyst, author, and speaker)
Once your TikTok account has gained a trusted group of followers and has become popular, you can earn money by becoming an online influencer. You can approach relevant brands and negotiate deals with the concerned companies. The interested company will then hire you as their brand’s online influencer to drive their influencer marketing campaigns.
Instead of searching and approaching one brand after another until a mutually beneficial deal is struck, you can utilize the services of the middlemen of the influencer marketing networks, i.e., the influencer marketing platforms such as Hobo Video. It is a go-to place for online influencers to collab with brands. By becoming a TikTok influencer, you can monetize another opportunity and maximize your earnings.
Earn from Hobo Video
You can make money on TikTok by becoming a VIP member on Hobo Video for free. Hobo Video is one of its kind social e-commerce platform driven by short videos. It is a vernacular fun video-based localized community. Further, it is a driven marketplace for Gen Z and millennials. It helps influencers to earn money on TikTok via an engaging video commerce ecosystem. You get a share in the revenue from the sales you generate. The percentage of revenue share is highest at Hobo Video.
With its unique business model, Hobo Video protects the interests of both influencers and brands. It is the only platform that offers as high as 35% share in revenue. Hobo Video is a global network of over 24,000 micro and nano influencers. It has products in 63 categories with a following of 310 million. With Hobo Video, you can not only earn money on TikTok, but you can also own an online store, sell products, build a follower base, make viral content and connect with trusted brands. Read more on how to make money Hobo Video here.
5. Get sponsorships from brands
Nowadays, brands want to have an active presence on TikTok for publicizing their product or service. You can plan on creating sponsored videos on your TikTok account once you have a consistent number of loyal followers.
However, by getting sponsored by brands, you will not be receiving the entire amount. A certain part of this amount will go to TikTok as a commission. It is for serving as an online platform to collab with brands. This commission is one of the main sources of income for TikTok.
You have to take care that creating sponsored videos will not become your go-to source of earning on TikTok. It is in order to not lose your credibility and eventually your followers.
When you are just starting out as a creator on TikTok, it will be in your best interest if you initially work with smaller brands, especially the smaller local brands. This will help in building a better portfolio for when you have a huge group of followers and the capability to work with bigger brands.
6. Consultation services
In case you have good expertise in a specific niche, it will be easier for you to turn your knowledge into a source of profitable income. You can also offer consultation services on how to effectively operate the day-to-day TikTok accounts. You can create easy-to-understand, informative, and helpful videos on your consultation services that showcase the value you bring to the table.
Once you gain a thorough knowledge of the TikTok platform, you can offer consultation services to other users on TikTok who want to optimize the earning capacity of their respective accounts. For example, through your consultation services, you can advise a budding creator on how to make effective videos and help increase the number of views.
By offering your consulting services and charging the interested fellow creators, you can leverage your expertise and experience on the TikTok platform. You can support people who want to become successful and famous creators on TikTok. You can help strategize the content so as to accelerate their success on the platform by multiplying the number of video views.
Professional expertise and experience, coupled with relevant educational qualifications and skills, will boost your chances of earning more through consultation services. As a result of your consultation services, if any of your customers sign any influencer agreements, you can negotiate your payment to be either a fixed percentage of the profit from the deal or a cut of that deal.
7. Management services
You can also earn money on TikTok by offering management services for other creators using the app. A creator on TikTok can gain millions of followers in a short span of time due to a viral video. To support such creators, you can offer services that include managing the potential opportunities that come their way.
Additionally, a lot of well-known creators and/or celebrities do not have enough time to manage their growing TikTok accounts on a day-to-day basis. You can use this as an opportunity to step in, offering management services, and simultaneously earning money.
As part of your management services, you can assume the role of a TikTok manager and help the new users with content creation, account monitoring, managing any possible deal opportunities with brands, etc.
Professional background and relevant educational qualification, along with good experience of working on TikTok accounts can boost your chances of getting paid more for your management services.
8. Sell merchandise
You can earn money on TikTok by selling your own merchandise. One of the advantages of selling your own merchandise is that you can start selling before you acquire huge followership on the platform.
You can promote your own business on TikTok and the key is to create content that draws the attention of your targeted customers. Even if your account has fewer followers, you can start earning money through sales. By creating engaging videos, you can also generate leads for your business.
You can also sell merch of the brands from other businesses by adding a product link frame in the last few seconds of the video. Initially, it will be easier to collab with brands from small local businesses.
To conclude
Being one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, TikTok presents many opportunities to make money for the creators. After taking in the information on the eight ways to earn money on TikTok, Hobo Video suggests you choose the ones that are right for you. Go forth and conquer.
