Making money on TikTok

So you've got your tax return back, and it's not as big as you hoped - after all the work and effort you put in! Seriously, it makes you just wanna crawl back into bed and scroll through TikTok all day instead of having to work hard for money... wait. Did we just have a really good idea?

TikTok is the world's 6th largest social media platform, with over 1 billion users as of January 2022. It's a goldmine for creating new faces and is well-known for rocketing stars like Addison Rae and Charli D'Amelio to millionaire status.

But if you asked your mum and dad, or anyone from the older generations, if being a TikTok influencer was a viable career choice, they'd laugh you all the way to their boring 9-5 office job they've had since 1982. But it doesn't have to be like that. Thousands of famous people made their start on social media like TikTok, Vine, Youtube and Instagram and got millions of dollars and even record deals and TV show contracts out of it.

But - contrary to popular opinion - making money off of social media actually takes a whole heap of time, effort, and determination, and it might not pay off right away. Be prepared for it to suck for a bit.

Of course, this isn't financial advice, and nothing's ever a sure thing. But if you've got what it takes to work hard and show off your unique little somethin'-somethin', you just might be able to make it big. 

Do what you're good at, do what you love, do what you're already doing. That's the best tip to success. If you try and chase trends or do whatever's popular at the time, due to the shifting nature of social trends it's likely to have lost its clout by the time you get there, leaving you looking like a try-hard. Best to try and make your own trends and be on top of them rather than copying others. Reach out to other creators who are doing the same or similar things to you and see if you can do a collab. Try stuff out and always keep an eye on what works and what doesn't in terms of likes.

But the most important part about making money as a TikTok influencer is that you're not going to do it right away. Building a loyal brand who engages with your content, likes and comments on it, uses your sounds, and buys your merchandise and the things you advertise is hard! There's no shortcuts to that kind of success - purchased bot followers are only going to hurt you in the long run.

When a potential advertising partner looks at your account, they're not just looking at the static numbers of your likes. They're looking at your engagement: how many real, live people actually comment on, share, and like the stuff you post. If you've got a big follower count but tiny actual engagement, more often than not they're gonna pass.

Once you've built up a sizeable following you're really able to capitalise on it. Estimates for what numbers you really need to actually make some cash range from 10,000 followers in the low end, to nearly 1million in the high end! To get some cashflow from the TikTok Creators Fund, you've also got to be posting new creative content (according to their community standards) and you've got to have at least 10,000 followers and 10,000 total views in the last 30 days. That's easier to do when you post more content, but it's doable even if you only post once a week or month.

TikTok will pay its creators for posts once they reach a certain level of engagement and likes. There's a calculator that you can use to figure out what you're likely to get depending on your follower count and yearly likes total.

For an account with 10,000 followers and 59,000 total likes, a TikTok creator can earn up to $22 to $32 per post. Doesn't sound like much? That's why many creators post once or even twice a day, taking their weekly totals up to $200 - $400 a week. But that's only $1600 a month, or $20,000 a year.

Not enough to retire on, for sure. Not even enough to quit your day job for. So how do TikTok creators make up the rest?

Sponcon, or sponsored content, is the way most TikTokers make their biggest bucks.If you've ever seen a post tagged with #ad, you've seen sponcon. Working with brands is a very lucrative way to monetise your following. Depending on your reach, and what market segment your followers fall into, brands might approach you to work with them and provide discount codes, advertise yourself using their wares, or basically just call them out. You might get paid a flat rate, an amount per number of likes or comments, or an amount per time one of your followers uses your discount code.

You'll have to work all of that out in a contract - make sure you get a contract!

In the early stages, you might have to be the one doing the legwork, reaching out to small or independent brands who might have similar followings to yours and seeing if you can help each other grow. There's a lot to be said for community when it comes to growth! It's not a race to the top by stepping on other people - you can really help each other out by working together to try and target similar or different demographics. And you'll get some good karma as well.

What else can you do with your TikTok stardom?

A music, acting or modelling career. Once you're able to leverage your fame in one form of media, it only makes sense that your fans will move over to other ways to see you. Many TikTok stars have their own reality TV shows about them, or have even moved into the realm of paid acting. Lots of famous Vine and Youtube stars have actually moved into professional voice acting in animation and video games because of their comedy chops.

TikTok consulting. If you can prove you've got what it takes to make a popular TikTok account, who's to say you can't replicate that success? Lots of big businesses and brands are looking to cash in now that TikTok has proven itself to be more than just a dancing app for teens, and they'll hire consultants to give them advice on what works, what doesn't, and how to spot the next trends. Keep on top of the market, since it's always changing, and always make sure you can prove you have the numbers to back up your success.

What are you waiting for? Get out there and become the next big thing. You might just be the next big TikTok millionaire!