Are you trying to find ways to make extra money online? Do you know your way around social media platforms from your own personal use? If you answered yes to both of these questions, you can use your skills to make money from social media.
When it comes to in-demand services, social media marketing takes the cake. Businesses are continually hiring people to manage and moderate their pages and profiles. Brands are also hiring social media influencers to spread the word about their products.
You can make great money on social media if you have the know-how… and that’s what we’re going to talk about today! These are ten specific ways to make money on social media.
1. Profit from Your Selfies with Stylinity
1. Profit from Your Selfies with StylinityDo you enjoy taking selfies and sharing them with your followers? Stylinity connects bloggers and social media influencers with brands to create content that consumers can shop. When your audience makes a purchase after you’ve posted something, you earn a commission.
The web tools provided by Stylinity make it easy to create shareable posts with integrated “Buy now” buttons. Then you can share across your favorite social platforms. You can also earn money by referring friends to join the fun.
2. Promote Affiliate Products
This is one of my favorite ways to make money online period, not just on social media. As an affiliate for a particular business, you get a commission whenever people make a purchase through your specific link. You can make affiliate money without even having a website of your own!
Many companies allow you to promote their products on both your personal and business-related social media accounts. Make sure you read the fine print so you don’t accidentally violate any terms and conditions, though.
Once your affiliate account is set up, you can create posts sharing your favorite products. To maximize your earning potential, take a look at these pointers:
- Only promote products you truly believe in
- Share how you personally use them
- Use personalized pictures instead of just grabbing the stock ones
- Write a full review, including positives and negatives (these are seen as more honest)
- Don’t spam your followers with affiliate post after affiliate post. Rotate through sharing other news along with the great deals you find.
- Always disclose your relationship with the company. Hashtags like #afflink or #affiliate can help when characters are limited.
Want to learn more? I take a deep dive into affiliate marketing here.
3. Share Your Referral Links
Affiliate products aren’t the only way to earn money from sharing opportunities with your following. You don’t need a blog or website to profit from referral programs. These are a bit like affiliate programs,
Many shopping sites like Groupon, Zulily, Swagbucks, and Ebates will give you cash or store credit for referring your family and friends to their service. This is a great opportunity to not only make money, but also save it!You can even build a “rainy day” savings account by referring friends to Capital One 360.
Remember to let people know you’re sharing your referral link, and to only share services you think are beneficial.
4. Freelance Social Media Manager
Social media is constantly changing for business owners. Between all the platforms, there seem to be new algorithm changes almost every week. For the average business owner, keeping up to date with the changes and best practices is far too time-consuming. Creating content that resonates with their audience is also a challenge.
This is why social media management is one of the most in-demand freelance specialties of the moment. It often falls under the heading of virtual assisting. It also pays well. Most freelancers charge $500 and up per month per client for daily status updates, responding to customer service concerns, removing spam, etc.
As a freelancer, you can decide what your business looks like. Want to focus on Pinterest? Brand yourself as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant and offer service packages helping clients create branded Pins and grow their following.
Prefer to spend your time on Instagram or Facebook? Set up your packages accordingly. You can even call yourself a comprehensive social media manager, and help clients create a social media strategy for all their active platforms.
To find clients, let your network know you’re starting a new side-hustle. Share what services you’re offering and ask them to share your name with anyone who might be interested. You can also create a website with all of your services, so people can click through to learn more.
5. Independent Contractor or Employee Social Media Manager
Don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding your own clients or marketing your business? No worries. Freelancing isn’t the only way to manage social media accounts for clients. Many companies hire social media managers, evaluators, or moderators to work as independent contractors.
Here’s a handful of companies for you to check out. Remember they each have their own requirements and benefits, so read the job description carefully to see if it’d be a good fit.
- ModSquad
- The Social Element
- Belay
- Appen
- $99 Social
You can also find companies hiring full- or part-time social media managers as employees. These positions often come with benefits. To find out which companies are looking for someone with your social media skill set, check out the job boards below.
- FlexJobs
- Indeed
- We Work Remotely
Don’t forget to check social media for open positions as well. Many companies utilize LinkedIn, Twitter, or even Facebook to announce that they’re hiring. If you can land a social media job interview through social media, you’ve gone a long way toward proving your qualifications!
6. Sell Your Services
Are you a great writer? Do you sell handmade crafts? No matter what service or handmade or digital goods you offer, your audience is on social media. Connect with them and watch your sales increase.
Remember the importance of pictures and client testimonials when it comes to selling on social media. If you can get some video clips from satisfied buyers, that’s even better than just a written statement!
Many people use a Facebook Page instead of a website when getting started. They’re easy to create, and while you don’t own the space like you do a website, it’s a good way to build a quick social presence. Offer your followers some sort of freebie in exchange for their email address, and you’re building a list!
Share plenty of engaging content. Curate content your audience is interested in. And then pitch your own products or services occasionally.
7. Become a Social Selling Consultant
Direct sales looks a whole lot different these days than it used to. The name of the game is now social selling, which means you can have your direct sales business run entirely online — from your smartphone, even!
Many home party plans now offer consultants the opportunity to earn a living without ever holding an in-home show. Social media tools and virtual party technology like scheduling apps and graphics creation are widely available (as are the tutorials for figuring out how to use them). And almost every company today offers their reps a replicated website for selling and sharing online.
But, you can’t just fill your feed with dozens of ads or party invites and expect people to buy. People want more than that. Think creatively of how to share the benefits of your product with others instead of just always asking them to buy.
For example, if you’re selling a health product, share some of the things you’ve noticed. Share a picture of you drinking the energy drink or eating the bars. Let people see the product in action.
Respond to comments and ask questions to get people engaged. Ask about their struggles and wishes. Consider posting a poll on a related topic to increase engagement. Monitor what others are saying about the brand you work with and provide insight when appropriate.
Let people see you behind the product. Share some more personal posts instead of always focusing on what you’re selling. Aim for variety in your content.
When done correctly, social selling isn’t seen as a desperate plea for money. It’s you sharing ways to solve a problem your ideal client has, just when they’re looking for that information.
A few companies to consider:
- Avon
- Alice’s Table
8. Social Media Auditor
Some freelancers focus only on optimizing a business’ profile as opposed to ongoing management and maintenance. For example, Carrie Aulenbacher works with authors to ensure their social media profiles are providing the best first impression.
She has a variety of low-priced packages to choose from, to help authors establish a solid social media presence. As she evaluates your social pages, she provides feedback on:
- Your unified profile names (your ‘brand’)
- Relevant cover pictures
- Suggestions on a variety of content (photos, videos, posts)
- Possible customized tabs and/or widgets
- Overall feel of what you’re presenting”
As a social media auditor, you could provide a similar service in the niche of your choice. Think about who you would enjoy working with, and how you could help them improve their social media profiles.
9. Sell on Facebook Marketplace
Did you know that you can accept money directly from other people on Facebook? You don’t have to use a third-party service like PayPal or Google Pay unless you prefer to do so.
You’ll find Facebook’s method of sending and receiving money in Facebook Messenger, the chat window you can access from Facebook or via a mobile app on your smartphone. There is no fee for sending or receiving – it’s free. Basically, your customer would be sending money from their debit card to your debit card (or PayPal account).
To set it up, you’ll have to add a debit card (Visa or Mastercard) or PayPal account to the Payments section under your Facebook Settings. Then you’ll be able to request money from other users in Messenger, or pay others as warranted.
Have more questions about payments on Facebook? Here’s the breakdown on everything you might want to know.
How to Make Money on Facebook
Sell your stuff
Facebook is where your friends, family, and even neighbors congregate, making it a prime place to sell your stuff in a digital yard sale. You can write a post directly on your timeline detailing what you have on offer, and attach photographs of those items. You can even sell things auction-style, holding out for the best offer before you make a sale – and save on auction fees from sites like eBay. Use hashtags to draw in a wider audience.
You can also reach a wider audience by searching Facebook for local buy and sell groups: join these groups, follow their rules, and post what you have for sale there. Or you can go straight to Facebook’s Marketplace, where they let you list an item to sell – including vehicles! You can also list homes for rent in the Marketplace, and shoppers can filter offers by location.
Flip things for resale
If you find you enjoy doing the yard sale thing on Facebook, you can do a brisk business in picking things up for resale. You can search through local yard sales, rummages sales, thrift stores, and similar places for valuable items you can flip for a profit online. You can also engage in retail arbitrage, finding items at retail outlets for incredibly low prices and selling them for a profit on Facebook. Leverage your timeline, Facebook groups, and Marketplace as above.
10. Get Paid to Pin
Have you grown a great following on Pinterest? As an influencer, you can sign up with a company like Loop88 and get paid to pin.
The company matches brands with active pinners in their niche. Then, the pinner creates content (while disclosing that it’s sponsored) and shares it to their account.
This connects the brand to your audience and hopefully new buyers. Your pin gets shared, and you get rewarded financially. General Tips for Making Money on Social Media
No matter which method you use to generate an income on social media, there are some general tips you should keep in mind.
- Create platform-specific content. An engaging Facebook post looks different from a pin that might go viral. Make sure you’re utilizing best practices for each of the platforms. This increases your chances of getting shares. Remember that using high-quality images also helps.
- Hang out where your audience is. You can’t be active on ALL the social platforms at once, especially when you first start. Instead, take time to do some research and learn where your people are – the ones who are likely to buy what you’re selling or react to what you share. Then go there and build your following.
- Be genuine. Allow your personality to shine through your posts. Don’t come across as a spammer who is only looking for a quick buck. Your followers will be able to tell, so don’t give them a reason to block you or report you.
- Follow the rules. Rules change, especially when working online. Take time to read the fine print and stay up to date on changes. And always provide disclosure so your audience knows how you are benefitting.
I hope this post inspires you to try making money from your time spent on social media platforms. There really are so many possible ways to put it to work for you. Which option looks most intriguing?
