How to Make Money on Social Media

Wanna make some money on the side? Know how to use social media? In 2023, there are plenty of ways to make money on social media, while also generating some super interesting thanksgiving dinner conversation when your family asks what it is exactly you do for a living. Two birds one stone!

So we have five different ways you can use social media to make money. For a couple of these, you don’t even need to have thousands of followers. As long as you’re skilled up and can use social media, you can make money helping others who don’t have the same skills.

And by “skills,” we literally just mean that you’re proficient in using apps like Twitter, Tiktok, and Pinterest. Because many millennials and Gen Z grew up with social media, we take our ability to use it for granted. But those are solid skills.

What this means? All those hours of your youth you sacrificed to the Tiktok gods was actually upskilling. And your side-hustle doesn’t have to feel like “real” work. Niice.

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How to make money on social media - 5 ways

1. Virtual assistant

We’re starting with this one because it’s potentially the most accessible. You absolutely do not need tons of followers to make money as a virtual assistant, in the same way you might for some of the options later in the list.

A virtual assistant does social media admin for a business or individual - things like scheduling posts or responding to emails. Basically, stuff you probably do everyday without even thinking about it.

Don’t take your social media skills for granted. You might be a digital native. But not everyone is. This means you can help businesses that want to break onto social media but don’t have the skills, or companies that simply don’t have the time to do social media administration work.

Want to know more about virtual assistant work? Check out virtual assistants Lily May and SocialGirlMagic’s Instagram pages for resources.

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2. Affiliate marketing

If you listen to podcasts, you’re probably familiar with affiliate marketing. It usually sounds like, “use my code for 20% off [random brand].” Content creators make money from affiliate marketing by referring their followers to brands. And in turn, brands gain a wider audience while only having to pay for real results.

What this means is that for every customer that follows through with the content creator’s link, the content creator will make a commission. In business terms, this is known as a pay-for-outcome or cost-per-action model.

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This is how you can get started:

1. Join a network like Impact to access multiple affiliate programs
2. Go directly through a company - nowadays, many brands have their own affiliate programs
3. Pitch an affiliate relationship to a brand - if you have a lot of numbers behind your platforms, you have more leverage for creating your own custom contract

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3. Brand Partnership

Gone are the days when brand partnership just meant the Kardashians selling “diet tea” that actually just made everyone sh*t themselves.

A brand partnership is where you… partner with a brand… to create campaigns selling their products. As we learned with the whole Kardashian-sh*t-yourself-tea fiasco, something super important to brand partnership is making sure the brand aligns with your values, your vibe, and what your followers need.

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These are some questions you can ask yourself when considering a brand partnership:

1. Do you have any personal experience with the product?
2. Does the product match up with what your audience’s main demographic wants?
3. Can you create authentic, quality content endorsing your product (not through gritted teeth, or as a massive reach)?
4. Do you have enough followers to position yourself to brands as a partner?

Once you’ve asked yourself these questions, you can use this information (along with showcasing your most successful posts) to pitch yourself to brands. Don’t be afraid to use specific stats about your engagement or audience demographics.

One thing to remember: as with most things in life, brand partnerships are all about balance. Because the secret sauce to them is authenticity, you don’t wanna alienate your followers by posting too much branded content in relation to your regular content.

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4. Selling merch

Selling merchandise is a great option if you have a dedicated following. It’s also helpful to have a strong visual aesthetic. This can mean anything from having a catchphrase to being an artist that uses social media to share your art.

It’s up to you how involved you are with making and shipping the merch. For example, you can use a site to print your merch, and then sell it yourself on a platform such as an Etsy store.

Check out our article on making money on Pinterest to find out how you can use the app to share your merch.

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5. Premium services or coaching

If you have a skillset or interest in a particular area, and you already share content around it, you can use this as a foundation to launch paid content.

That could be a course, an ebook, or a mentoring service. And it can be as niche as you like: from teaching guitar to workout routines.

For your paid content, try using a platform like Patreon or OnlyFans (yep, it’s not just adult content on the latter).

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One last thing…

Use Cleo to help up your money game

If you’re looking to make money on social media, are interested in starting out in the influencer game, or are someone who… uses money… you’re gonna need a budget. And that’s not in the notes app on your phone. And definitely not just in your head.

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With Cleo’s free budgeting feature, you get:

💙A personalized budget designed for you

💙 Visuals showing you how much you have to spend per day

💙 Roast mode, for any late night, unhinged Amazon purchases

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Enjoy this post? Give it a share or send it along to a friend. You never know, it could make a big difference. Big love. Cleo 💙