With over 1 billion active users on its platform, TikTok has opened up new avenues for creators to turn their passion into a full-time career. As per a Forbes article, TikTok creators earn between $100,000 and $250,000 per post – that shows some serious cash potential.
But, what does it really take to get there? Is it just creating unique, trend-worthy content your audience loves? Nope, that’s not enough. Your efforts and hard work might get you nowhere if you are not using the right ways to monetize it.
So, we have put together 10 proven ways to monetize TikTok content that can help you do just that. Here’s what you’ll learn by the end of this blog:
- Can You Make Money On TikTok?
- How Do You Make Money On TikTok: 10 Proven Ways
- How to Make Faceless TikTok Videos Using invideo AI?
Let’s get into it and explore how to make money on TikTok in 2024!
Can You Make Money On TikTok?
Short answer – yes. But you need to be consistent with quality content your audience can actively engage with. Once you develop a strong organic relationship with your audience, the path isn't very hard from there. The more organic engagement you have on your videos, the more money you can make.
How Do You Make Money On TikTok? 10 Proven Ways
Making money on TikTok is easy once you figure out the right way to do so. Let’s look at how to make money on TikTok with your content!
Join the TikTok Creator Fund
Source: Sprout Social
The TikTok Creator Fund is a program specifically designed to financially reward creators for their content on the platform. It was initially launched with a commitment of $200 million to support creators and expand funding over the years. This fund pays creators based on the performance of their videos and engagement.
Your payout depends on several factors including the number of views, the authenticity of these views, and the engagement level with your videos. Roughly, the payout ranges between 2 to 4 cents per 1000 views but you can transfer your accrued funds to the link digital payment account only if your minimum balance reaches or exceeds $50.00.
Once you have reached the threshold, you can apply for the payout, and the funds are typically reflected in the dashboard 3 days after the views have been accumulated. To be eligible for the TikTok creator fund, you must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Reside in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, or Spain.
- Have an active TikTok account that complies with all of the official community guidelines in terms of service.
- Have at least 10,000 followers.
- Have at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.
Run TikTok Ads
Brands often look for popular creators to promote their new launches by making them a part of the campaign. One of the most common ways is organizing Branded Hashtag Challenges, which encourages users to create content around a specific theme using a designated hashtag.
With this, your content becomes part of a larger trend that many users are exploring. This increases the chances that a broader audience may discover your videos which would eventually get you more likes, views, and followers. When your videos gain traction, brands may approach you for collaborations, sponsorships, and paid promotions which can open new opportunities for you to monetize TikTok content.
Chipotle’s #LidFlip challenge is a good example of how participating in these campaigns can lead to more TikTok monetization opportunities and improved engagement for creators. To complete this challenge, the participants had to flip the lid onto a Chipotle bowl without using their hands. It was launched in collaboration with YouTube Star David Dobrik and became an instant hit with over 104 million views within the first 6 days and 230 million views after a month!
Sell Digital Products
Another way to make money on TikTok is by selling digital products such as eBooks, online courses, digital art templates, or any downloadable content. It is quite an easy option because digital products usually have low production costs and can be delivered instantly to customers.
If you are already creating content on TikTok and want to start selling digital products, here's how you can do this:
- Analyze your existing content and figure out the interests and needs of your audience. This should give you an idea of what type of digital products would resonate most with them. Some of the options include eBooks, online courses, templates, presets, etc.
- Use TikTok Analytics to understand what content format performs the best and sits right with your audience.
- Once you are certain about the products, compile them considering the identified pain points and how your resource will solve these problems for your audience.
- Create a Shopify account to manage your digital products as this integration can help you seamlessly promote and sell products. You can also go with other options as long as you find them easily manageable.
- Create a landing page with links to your digital products that will direct your audience to them. Once you have it ready, add it to your TikTok bio.
Here’s how Kat, a digital media strategist has implemented a similar strategy to monetize her TikTok presence. Her content focuses on digital media strategies, business growth, and social media tips which attracts a target audience interested in these topics.
In her TikTok bio, she provides the link to her online store where she sells various digital products designed to help people learn marketing. This placement ensures that anyone who visits her profile might stumble upon these links and check out the products if they are interested.
Sell Your Products and Merchandise
Making money on TikTok by selling products and merchandise is a popular way to monetize your content. This approach is all about leveraging your following to promote and sell custom items directly through the platform. Thanks to TikTok’s integration with e-commerce, it has now become easier for people to purchase items directly from your videos and profile.
To sell your products to your audience you can create shoppable videos, LIVE shopping events, and have an in-app store where users can browse and purchase products without leaving the app. However, to sell products directly on TikTok, you will need to set up a TikTok shop account where you can list products, create shoppable videos, and manage orders within the app.
You can manage your e-commerce activities on the platform via TikTok Seller Center – a portal to set up your shop, add products, track sales, and access analytics to optimize your performance. However, to become a seller on TikTok shop you need to:
- Be at least 18 years of age
- Have a US passport or US driver's license
- Have proof of legal US residency
- Not fall under these 3 categories – governments, politicians, and political parties.
Peyton Mikolayek, a TikTok creator with over 400k followers sells her exclusive merchandise on the TikTok shop, which features her product listings and other details. She often promotes these products in our content, which drives more traffic to her shop.
This approach not only enhances her connection with the audience but also generates revenue. That's yet another example of how TikTok can be an effective platform to monetize your personal brand with merchandise sales.
Offer Exclusive Content
You can also make money on TikTok by offering exclusive content to your paid audience by using the “Series” feature. It allows creators to create and monetize exclusive content only paid subscribers can access.
The “Series” feature on TikTok was launched in June 2023 which enables creators to offer exclusive content behind a paywall. This can include up to 80 videos per series but each video should be at least 30 seconds and a maximum of 20 minutes long. You can set your own prices but it must fall within the range of $0.99 to $189.99 per series.
If you want to use this feature, you would typically offer content that provides additional value beyond your regular posts. The main focus should be providing content that is engaging and worthy to encourage the followers to pay for access. This can include:
- Exclusive videos
- Personalized shoutouts
- One-on-one interactions with your viewers
- Tutorials and educational content
- Q&A sessions
- Behind-the-scene footages
Subscribers who pay to access this exclusive content get access to:
- Your content that is not available to non-subscribers
- A closer and more personal interaction with you
- Early access to your new content or new features introduced on the platform
- Special recognition in your LIVE sessions or videos
Here’s how Kelsey Impicciche, an American YouTuber and content creator has used a subscription feature on TikTok to offer exclusive content to her paid users. This feature appears right below the bio as “LIVE Subscription” which takes the user to a paywall where they can join the community to access the perks. The package includes priority in responding to the comments, special shoutouts during the LIVE sessions, subscriber-only chat, and many other benefits free users cannot avail.
Provide Virtual Gifts
Virtual gifts on TikTok allow viewers to buy and send virtual items to the creators during their LIVE streams or even on pre-recorded videos. These gifts are purchased using TikTok coins; and when a user sends a gift, it appears as an animation on the screen which highlights their profile among other users.
When a creator receives virtual gifts, TikTok converts these gifts into “Diamonds,” which later gets converted into real money. This system incentivizes creators to engage with their audience more frequently. The more gifts you receive, the more money you can earn. For example, a gift like a “Panda” might cost 5 coins but a more extravagant gift like a “Drama Queen” could cost 5000 coins. Here’s the coin package users can buy depending on their preference:
- 20 coins - $0.29
- 65 coins - $0.99
- 330 coins - $4.99
- 660 coins - $9.99
- 1,321 coins - $19.99
- 3,303 coins - $49.99
- 6,607 coins - $99.99
- 16,500 coins - $249.99
However, you can access the LIVE Gifts feature only if you need the following criteria:
- Be 18 years of age or older
- Be eligible to go live on TikTok
- Adhere to the community guidelines and terms of service
- Live in a region where the LIVE Gifts feature is available.
Colton Merrifield, a TikTok star known for his trampoline stunts often goes LIVE on the platform. During these live sessions, the viewers can show their appreciation by sending these LIVE gifts to him. These gifts can range from digital stickers to monetary tokens which enhance the interactive experience between the creator and his fans.
Collaborate With a Brand
Making money on TikTok through collaboration involves partnering with brands to promote their products or services in your content. If you have established trust and influence among your audience in your niche, you can use this influence to help brands reach their target audience organically.
So, how to make this work? Reach out to brands directly by sending a media kit that showcases your follower count, audience demographics, engagement rates, and other metrics. This way, you can secure deals with brands that align most with your content and audience.
The other method is joining TikTok Creator Marketplace (TCM) to improve your discoverability. It works as a matchmaking platform for creators and brands to discover each other and explore potential collaborations. As a part of the platform, you can access a network of brands actively looking for partnerships, leading to better visibility and opportunities.
To join the TikTok creator marketplace as a creator, you need to apply from your profile and wait for the application review. This process usually takes about 24 hours. If you do not get accepted right away, you can re-apply after 30 days. Here is the eligibility criteria for this:
- You must be over 18 years old
- You must be a resident of a country where TCM is available
- You must have a personal (not a business) TikTok account
- You should have more than 10,000 followers
- Your content should have received 100,000 likes in the past 28 days
- You must have posted at least 3 videos in the last 28 days
Diana, a TikTok creator often promotes products in her content as a collaboration with brands. This is a powerful strategy to introduce your audience to new products they might be interested in while strengthening your authority. Featuring products naturally within these videos creates a more personal connection with the audience, which is more effective compared to traditional advertisements.
Affiliate Partnerships
Affiliate partnerships involve promoting the products of a business and earning a commission on the sales made through your unique affiliate link. Your content should creatively showcase the affiliate products, which typically include:
- Unboxing videos
- Comparison between two products
- Product demonstrations
- Creative challenges featuring the product
The affiliation between you and the partner brand is typically based on a commission model. The brand provides you with a unique affiliate link or discount code and in return, you earn a percentage of sales generated through these links or codes. This can range from a few cents to a significant amount, but it typically depends on the product and the brand's affiliate program.
Rachael Meaders, an internet personality in the lifestyle niche has added a Linktree link in her bio with all the shoppable links to her sponsored products. This includes Amazon Finds and other platforms where her followers can shop for their favorite products. You can adopt a similar strategy to promote affiliate links among your followers to recommend products that they would love to explore.
Publish Sponsored Content
Sponsored content on TikTok is when you create videos that feature a brand's product or service in exchange for payment. Brands pay you to showcase their products naturally and engagingly to your followers. This way, you can leverage your influence and creativity to promote a brand and make money with TikTok content.
Sponsored posts usually have the text “Paid partnership” at the bottom of the video, indicating that it is a promotional post. Jeff Lewis, a content creator promotes Field of Greens (a health supplement) in one of his videos by effectively showing how powerful the product is.
In the caption, you see a description of the product along with his unique code for the viewers to get a discount. If someone is interested in buying the product, they can apply this coupon during checkout to receive a discount. This is one of the most common ways to make money on TikTok through sponsorships where you partner with brands to promote their products and earn commission on each successful sale.
Collect Donations
If you have a supportive community of followers, collecting donations is a great way to make money on TikTok. Using Patreon is a common TikTok monetization strategy to do this. Creators usually add a link to their Patreon page in their profile bio, which makes it easier for their followers to find and support their work. This link directs the followers to a platform where they can choose to become patrons by subscribing to different tiers.
In exchange for their support, your followers get access to products or exclusive content that is not available on the main account for public access. It can be behind-the-scenes videos, early access to content, and other incentives exclusively for people who financially support your work.
In this example, the creator talks about their work available on Patreon for the followers in case they are interested in buying. The profile bio features a Linktree link with the Patreon link attached where anyone who wants to buy the work can easily access it. You can use a similar strategy to monetize TikTok content or even sell personalized products to generate a decent alternative income stream.
How to Make Faceless TikTok Videos Using invideo AI?
If you are new to content creation and still exploring content options, faceless videos can be a good choice. It is also one of the simplest video formats to connect with your audience and earn money. Why? Faceless videos focus on visuals rather than faces, they are popular as your privacy stays intact while still engaging viewers with your compelling content.
This gets a bit more easy with invideo AI, which lets you create professional-quality faceless videos for TikTok within minutes. It streamlines the complex video creation process by automating complex tasks like scripting, shooting, and editing, saving you hours of effort and time. Here's how you can put things into action:
1. If you are a new user, sign up on invideo AI with your Apple or Google account. If you are an existing user, simply log in with your email id.
2. Once logged in, you will see the dashboard as shown below. Navigate towards the downside and click on “Explore all.”
3. Now you will see a few options to choose the video format. Click on “TikTok Video.”
4. You will now see a box to enter details which will be used as a prompt to create your video based on the given instructions. Fill in all the necessary details you want to include in your video starting with the video topic, background music, language voiceovers, subtitles, etc. Once done, click on “Continue.”
5. The dashboard will now show you the final prompt. If you want to add or change anything, you can edit in the prompt box as shown below. Once done, click on “Generate a video.”
6. To confirm the details regarding your target audience platform and look and feel, you will now see your dialogue box with a few options. Choose your preferred ones and click on “Continue” to proceed.
7. Invideo AI will now process your request and create the requested video. Let the request process for a few seconds until the video is ready.
8. Once your video is ready, review it for changes. If you want to make any further changes, you can do so using the “Magic Box” feature that makes the changes directly based on your command. Simply type in what you want to modify and click on “Generate” to make the changes.
9. You can do this alternatively using the “Edit” option right above the magic box.
- Next, click on “Edit media” to add your own images to the video to any frame you want. Click on “Upload media” to upload the desired image for a more personalized touch. Once done, click on “Apply Changes” to finalize the edits.
- You can also make changes to the script by clicking on “Edit script” option right beside the option to edit media. This will open the entire script where you can make the changes you want to implement. Once done, click on “Apply Changes” to save it.
- Invideo AI offers a large library of audio to help you set the right tone in the video. Go to “Edit music” to browse through the collection of audio and select the most appropriate one. Once you have found the right fit, click on “Replace” and save the changes.
10. Once you are done with all the changes, review the video to finalize it before the download.
11. Choose your preferred download settings to ensure the final quality. If everything seems fine, click on “Continue” to proceed.
12. You will now see the final video with the description and the title. Click on “Download” to save it on your device.
Wrapping Up
TikTok has taken over the short-form video content space by storm and evidently, its impact is hard to ignore. Evidently, content creators on TikTok have seen immense success in the past few years – both financially and professionally and now it's your time to step up your game. If you are just getting started, content monetization might look tricky but with your unique content and the monetization options we explored so far, you too can get there.
If you want to learn more about creating videos with AI & growing your income, you should definitely check out our YouTube channel.
Here are some other helpful resources to learn how you can do a lot more with AI to make money online:
