Despite only launching internationally in 2017, TikTok (together with its Chinese-market counterpart,Douyin) was theseventh most-downloaded app of the 2010s. For entrepreneurs and marketers, that’s a lot of marketing potential.
If you’re looking to leverageTikTok’s massive user basein building your audience, here’s a look at the strategies of the social media platform’s top creators and marketers.
How to make money on TikTok
- Join the TikTok Creator Fund
- Sell merch to your fans
- Go live and collect virtual gifts
- Partner with influencers or other brands in the TikTok creator marketplace
- Create in-feed ads with the TikTok ads manager
- Crowdfund projects by collecting donations from fans
- Collect “tips” from your audience
- Start a Patreon and offer fan subscriptions
To start making money on TikTok:
- You must be at least 18 years of age
- You must be based in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, or Ital.
- You must have a minimum of 10,000 followers
- Your videos must have 100,000 video views in the past 30 days
- Your account must adhere to theTikTok Community Guidelinesand terms of service
Deciding how to monetize TikTok users becomes easier once you’ve gained a deeper understanding of yourtarget audience. There’s no single approach to monetization, but the highest earners usually maintain a number of complementary income streams. From sponsored content to organic marketing, the opportunities with TikTok are virtually endless.
Let’s go over some of the most common ways users earn money on TikTok.
1. Join the TikTok Creator Fund
Users who’ve built up a substantial following might consider making money through theTikTok Creator Fund.
Revenue from the Creator Fund can vary from user to user, and is calculated based on factors like the size of your audience, the quality of your user engagement, and the frequency of your TikTok posts.
The Creator Fund is a great idea if you’ve already established a following, but it can be very exclusive, and steady payment is not always guaranteed.
If you’re just starting out, there are a lot of other ways to monetize your account. And even if you’ve joined the Creator Fund, it’s still a good idea to have additional streams of revenue.
2. Sell merch to your fans
Selling your own products on TikTokis great for monetizing nearly any type of content. Any creator—whether they’re a dancer, singer, or comedian—canmake and sell merchto their most loyal fans.
And with a wide variety ofprint-on-demand companies, there’s a ton of merchandise to choose from. You might sellt-shirts, tote bags, pillow cases, hats, coffee mugs, stickers, notebooks—or any combination of products.
Sellingprint-on-demand productseven has benefits beyond revenue. Owning branded merch gives your fans a morepersonal connectionto your work, and every follower that wears your merch spreads the word about your business.
Get inspired:Unxpectd
Clothing brand Unxpectd was originally conceived as a school project by six high school seniors. But when the group took to TikTok to promote the clothing they were hand-crafting in their parents’ basements, their lives changed forever.
Unxpectd’sTikTok accounthad itsfirst viral hit in December 2020, and in just a few months, the size of its following skyrocketed. Since graduating, the team has relocated to Los Angeles, where they still dye and embroider their own products—when they’re notcreating fresh TikTok content.
What works with Unxpectd’s TikTok account is that it’s rarely used to directly promote its products. Instead, Unxpectd invites followers to get to know the brand’s founders on a more personal level, bringing them along for its brand-building journey.
3. Go live and collect virtual gifts
Live Giftingis one of TikTok’s most useful features for creators looking to monetize their content through livestreaming.
Most social networks have a livestreaming feature, but what makes TikTok unique is that it allows followers to show their appreciation in real time by sendingvirtual gifts, which can be redeemed for payment.
Here are a few tips to help get the most out of going live on TikTok:
- Pick the right time.You’ll want to go live when most of your followers are online. Check your audience insights by going to your profile settings and selecting the Analytics tab to see when your audience is most active.
- Stay live longer.Not every user will stick around for the full duration of your livestream, but staying live longer will give more users the chance to log on and catch a glimpse of your broadcast.
- Post during your livestream.When you post a short video while live, TikTok prompts users who see the video in their stream with a link to your live broadcast, helping to grow your live audience.
- Use TikTok hashtags. As with other social media networks, users frequently browse hashtag pages looking for new accounts to follow. Use TikTok’s hashtags to increase the reach of your videos.
- Test your internet connection and other equipment.不要忽视技术方面的活. Make sure your internet connection, lighting, and sound equipment are capable of being used for prolonged periods of time.
- Stay safe.Remember that TikTok gives you the ability to filter comments, mute users, and block viewers. Don’t be afraid to use these features with users who aren’t contributing to the conversation in good faith. No one should have to put up with bullying or harassment.
与用户实时有利于成矿ding valuable relationships with your fans. Audiences that have a strong connection to a creator tend to develop a personal stake in their success, which means going live can help to boost other monetization streams as well.
Get inspired:Habits 365
Founded by teenage brothers Eli and Spencer Zied,Habits 365is a New York–based apparel company centered around the mantra that success is built by nurturing positive habits—with the brand’soptimistic young foundersacting as the perfect ambassadors of this philosophy.
The success of Habits 365 lies in its founders’ willingness to let users get to know them personally. They make frequent use of TikTok’s live feature, often posting short videos of themselves working on their brand late into the night, which has helped them become one of the most popular TikTok accounts in the world.
4. Partner with influencers or other brands in the TikTok creator marketplace
One of the most innovative ways TikTok allows its creators to make money is through itsCreator Marketplace.
The Creator Marketplace helps connect the right brands to the right influencers, facilitating partnerships in a way that’s fast and easy for both parties. TikTok makes it incredibly easy to create valuable sponsored content.
Brands looking to run anaffiliate marketingcampaign can browse the marketplace and quickly shuffle through content made by creators they can be sure are open to collaborations with brands.
The creator marketplace acts as an influencer agency, letting both sides indicate their willingness to work with one another, relieving some of the awkwardness of approaching influencers that marketers might experience withinfluencer marketingon other platforms.
Get inspired:Peace Out Skincare
Like so many great businesses, skin care brandPeace Outwas created when its founder encountered a problem that didn’t have a solution—until he created one.
After struggling with acne and hyperpigmentation, among other skin issues, Enrico Frezza started researching the skin care product development process and building his own brand of skin care products.
Wanna hear more about how Peace Out partners with TikTok influencers to grow its brand? Check out our interview with founder Enrico Frezza on theShopify Masterspodcast.
5. Create in-feed ads with the TikTok ads manager
TikTok has a ton of greatorganic marketingopportunities, but if you’re willing to spend a little to expand the reach of your content, you might consider creating your own in-feed ads with the TikTok ads manager.
TikTok ads appear in users’ “For you” feeds and auto-play like any other TikTok video. With paid ads, you can make sure your videos are reaching audiences that are most interested in your products.
But the best part? TikTok’s ad manager seamlesslyintegrates with Shopify. That means you can create TikTok ads, select a target audience, and track your ad’s performance—all from your Shopify store. TikTok really can be one of the best online marketing tools at your disposal.
Get inspired:Luxe Collective
Luxe Collective is a Liverpool-based luxury fashion outlet offering up-to-date, pre-worn luxury goods for a fraction of the price you’d find at other retailers. It was onInstagram, not TikTok, where Luxe Collective originally saw huge success growing its social media audience.
Over the last several years,Luxe Collectivehas fostered a huge TikTok following, seeing it grow to nearly triple the brand’s number of followers on Instagram.
@luxecollective Unpacking the met w/ Josh#kimye#kanye#kimkardashian#kimkardashianwest#donda#metgala2021
♬ Donda - Kanye West
Luxe Collective’s TikTok account is full of fashion tips, tutorials, and the latest news about all the biggest luxury fashion brands. Allowing the character of its audience to dictate its content, Luxe creates a social media account that doubles as a news source for the exact audience that would be interested in purchasing its products.
6. Crowdfund projects by collecting donations from fans
Crowdfundingis one of the most accessible money-making avenues for creators. You put a lot of time and effort into creating content for your fans, so offering an easy, no-pressure way for them to give back is great for securing a regular income stream.
Crowdfunding can take many forms, depending on what type of funding you’re looking for. If you’re looking for startup funds for a specific project, you couldrally your followersby setting up a funding goal and hosting live fundraising events.
If you’re looking to fund a specific project, here are somecrowdfunding sitesto explore:
- Kickstarter.Kickstarter is the web’s most widely used crowdfunding platform, so its biggest asset is the volume of supporters and knowledge of the brand.
- Indiegogo.如果你不哈ve a set funding target, you might prefer Indiegogo, which offers a more flexible fundraising goal, letting you receive funds after your deadline.
- Fundable.能否允许创业企业提供股权作为OB欧宝娱乐APP交换for funding, making it a great tool for finding investors. Currently, though, Fundable is only available to users in the United States.
- Crowdcube.Crowdcube offers companies that succeed in their fundraising goals exclusive benefits from their partner organizations through itsCrowdcube Funded Club.
- Crowdfunder.Crowdfunder let companies raise capital through accredited investors, with a network of more than 12,000 venture capitalists and angel investors to connect with.
- Mighty Cause.With no fees or waiting period for approvals before launching your campaign, Mighty Cause’s easy-to-use platform is great for quickly creating a funding page to collect donations.
- SeedInvest.SeedInvest allows laypeople who aren’t accredited investors to invest in companies on their sites. On SeedInvest, your backers are investors, rather than supporters—so funds are given in exchange for equity.
7. Collect “tips” from your audience
如果你不哈ve a specific project in mind, or aren’t ready to offer equity to investors, crowdfunding platforms might not be the ideal avenue to take. For a fast and easy way to accept donations, consider using a tipping platform.
平台是一个更个人理财option. They work just like a real life tip jar. The option is available to fans, but not mandatory, and they can donate any amount they like at any time they want.
If this sounds more appealing to you, here are some great tipping platforms to check-out:
- Tipeee.Tipeee doesn’t offer subscriptions, but its strength is in its simplicity. On Tipeee, creators can set up a page for their fans to directly “tip” any amount they want, whenever they want.
- Buy Me a Coffee.Buy Me a Coffee prides itself on being built for creators, as opposed to businesses. Like Tipeee, its strength is its simplicity. Followers are sent to a page where they can purchase as many “coffees” for the creator as they like. “Coffees,” in this case, are $1 payments that are transferred to the creator via PayPal or online banking.
- Ko-fi.Ko-fi offers tips, memberships, and ways to offer users commissions for personalized content, like a custom tutorial or video chat.
8. Start a Patreon and offer fan subscriptions
Crowdfunding works for big projects, and tipping is the simplest way to collect funds quickly. But what if you’re looking to secure a more regular passive income stream? In that case, you might consider using a creator-based subscription platform, likePatreon.
Subscription-based models of income work great for content creators, because you can keep individual subscription costs low and focus on growing your number of subscribers.
A low-cost subscription of, say, one dollar a month is an easy sell to a single dedicated fan. If you have a lot of dedicated fans, those dollars start to add up.
Patreon was the first large platform built to let creators and influencers generate revenue through paid memberships from their most loyal fans. On Patreon, you can set up membership tiers that allow you to offer exclusive content to your biggest supporters.
Alternatives exist (most notably Ko-fi, which also includes a tipping feature), but Patreon has the added benefit of brand awareness, which adds a level of trust from prospective supporters.
If you’re thinking a subscription service might be the best way of monetizing your TikTok account, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
- Be transparent.Success on Patreon involves building a high level of trust with your audience, so be transparent about the amount you’re making and how your funds are being spent.
- Entice your fans with rewards.观众可能会增加他们的捐款f they get something worthwhile. Reward your biggest supporters with alluring benefits, like exclusive content and free merchandise.
- Thank your supporters directly.Make your fans feel appreciated and they’ll be more likely to keep supporting your work. Reply to comments, tag users, and give your supporters video shout-outs as frequently as possible.
- Promote your Patreon profile.Fans can’t donate if they don’t know you’re accepting donations. Link to your Patreon page from your TikTok profile and mention it in your TikTok videos, especially if you’ve recently gotten a lot of new followers.
- Keep subscription costs low.It’s easier to get $1 from 50 followers than to get $50 from one. Keep your subscription costs low and focus on growing your number of subscribers.
- Create new content consistently.Paying audiences have higher expectations when it comes to how frequently you release new content. Keep acontent calendarand release new content regularly.
Who makes the most money on TikTok?
According toHopper HQ, here are the highest earners on TikTok in 2022:
- Charli D’Amelio, $105,770 per post (147.6 million followers)
- Khabane Lame, $92,270 per post (150.2 million followers)
- Bella Poarch, $66,829 per post (91.1 million followers)
- Addison Rae, $65,194 per post (88.7 million followers)
- Will Smith, $53,741 per post (72.1 million followers)
Each of these users made over a million dollars in 12 months—but how did they do it? Let’s go over some ways the top-earning users make money on TikTok.
Do you get paid for uploading videos on TikTok?
TikTok does not directly pay creators to produce and upload videos. TikTokdoesoffer funding for creators in the form of theTikTok Creator Fund(more on that above). Still, payment varies based on factors like the number of video views, engagement rates, and the authenticity of users engaging with the post.
In some cases, brands might pay a popular micro-influencer tocreate videos, but TikTok’s highest-paid users usually monetize their accounts through multiple income streams.
Multiple income streams provide greater security, but your audience is the biggest factor when deciding how to make real money on TikTok.
Understanding your audience
On TikTok, your audience islikely to skew younger. A majority of users (62%) are under 30, and a whopping 32.5% of active users are under 20. Many people think of TikTok’s popularity with Gen Z as its defining characteristic, but this could change quickly.
Recent surveys fromFortunemagazine show agrowing number of millennialsjoining the platform, and social networks tend to be most popular with teens at their inception—so a head start on catering to TikTok’s older users could give you a big advantage in a few years.
TikTok content widely varies. What works for one audience might not for others. The type of content you post should be guided by your audience’s interests, but there are some common features of TikTok content that its user base is likely to be more receptive to:
- Authenticity.最受欢迎的TikTokers故事的可能范围nts—from dancers to comedians to philosophers—but what they all have in common is their willingness to be their authentic selves.
- Audience engagement.TikTok offers a ton of unique ways to engage with your audience—like itsQ&A feature,Duet, andvideo replies to comments. TikTok users expect a more “personal” touch, so use these features frequently.
- Frequent posting.A consistent stream of content will keep you at the forefront of your followers’ minds, add value to your content in the eyes of TikTok’s algorithm, and give you more opportunities to go viral and expand the scope of your audience.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to TikTok, but having a solid understanding of your audience will put you in a better position to find the best ways to monetize your following.
How to “sell” without annoying your audience
The tricky part of using social media to sell products is not overdoing the amount of promotional material. Your fans understand that you need funding to keep creating the content they love, but no one wants to follow an account that just feels like it’s advertising constantly.
This is especially true with TikTok, since the platform itself is so geared toward forming personal connections with your audience.
Users appreciate goodcontent, so it might help to take a “content-first” approach. Rather than starting with your sales pitch and building content around it, create the content first and let it inspire the best ways to monetize your account.
Get inspired:Partly Sunny Projects
Partly Sunny Projects is an online plant distributor shipping stunning California greenery across the country. Founder Sonja Detrinidad started the business as a distraction from the stress of her day job as a mortgage professional.
When she quit her job and decided to work on her small business full-time, she started thinking about ways to drive traffic to her store. And that’s when Sonjaturned to TikTok.
It didn’t take long for TikTok audiences to fall in love with her captivating personality. Sonja’s no-nonsense approach to gardening is just the type of authentic content that perfectly resonates with TikTok audiences.
What makes Sonja’s use ofTikTok for her businessso successful is that she is focused on creating content she knows her viewers enjoy. Sonja covers topics related to gardening, effectively capturing the attention of the exact type of follower that can be turned into a customer.
Join the TikTok creator economy
Creators are rarely driven by the prospect of making money. Creators are artists—and as such, their fulfillment in creating doesn’t come from the money they make but from the creation itself.
But to be a creator in 2022 means a lot more than it used to. Creators aren’t just artists anymore. They’re artists, entrepreneurs, marketers, salespeople, accountants, founders, CEOs—and everything in between.
In thecreator economy, stars are self-made—their big breaks aren’t born out of wealthy gatekeepers’ pocketbooks but out of their own creativity, passion, and desire to build something unique.
Time is money—and making more money from your art grants you more time to create art. If the money itself isn’t rewarding enough, the extra time it buys will be.
If you enjoyed this guide, check out our tips forhow to make money on YouTubeandhow to make money on Instagram!
Illustration by Eugenia Mello
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Making money on TikTok FAQ
Can I make money on TikTok?
Yes! Anyone can make money on TikTok with the right tools and an effective strategy. If you’re looking to make money on TikTok, take a look at the tips above and start considering which strategies are best for you.
How do I make money on TikTok through the Creator Fund?
If you’d like to apply to the TikTok Creator Fund, simply follow these steps:
- Open the TikTok app.
- Go to your account settings.
- Click Creator Tools.
- Select TikTok Creator Fund and follow the prompts.
How do creators make money on TikTok?
The mostsuccessful TikTok usersmake money through a combination of revenue streams that can include sponsorships, fundraising drives, product sales, and working with brands and influencers.
