It is estimated that all the social media networks have a totality of about 3 billion active users. Many people’s lives have been shaped by social media in so many ways. In the area of communication, social media platforms are great communication tools that could instantly get you connected with other users, irrespective of your location. Using social media platforms will help you to keep in touch with friends, know the current trends and affairs as well as learn ways to improve on yourself.
However, it is not all you can do on social media. You can also make money online too using special strategies and marketing tools. You may not need thousands of followers to do so, though it is of great advantage to you if you have one. There are creative and strategic ways you can make money online using social media networks, with or without many followers. The following points will be very helpful to you if you want to up your game on social media.
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- Create a niche: A niche is your area of expertise that will help you stand out on social media. People post random thoughts or stuff that are not relevant in targeting a specific audience. Do not follow the crowd if you have a specific plan. Focus on a particular field of interest or a single subject and channel all your posts to fit into the niche.
Assuming you are one passionate about selling hair products, you can channel all your posts to fit into the subject matter. This makes people to understand that you are a remarkable personality in that niche. As you keep posting, your followership base keeps increasing.
- Be active: You do not just post on social media; you must be consistent in your activities. Being inactive or posting once in a very long while makes you an unserious person. Keep updating your timeline with relevant posts. Perhaps, you could post something outside your field once in a while if you lack what you can post. Make sure your posts are very interesting and relevant to keep people longing for more.
- Current trends will stand you out: Each day, new trends emerge on social media. people want to know the latest and when you keep dwelling on the past, your stories will look stale and old-fashioned. Stay informed on current trends to remain relevant.
The next points are creative ways you can make money through social media.
- Affiliate marketing: Anyone can buy and sell anything on social media today, as long as they are not prohibited products. Most offline businesses have a strong online presence which makes it possible for anyone to patronize them from anywhere in the world. Today, a new marketing technique has emerged and it is known as affiliate marketing.
An affiliate marketer does not necessarily have a product or service he is selling or marketing, rather he is directing clients towards a particular vendor and receives a commission for each sale made. So, if you are an affiliate marketer, what you need to do is to get a strong social media platform, build a considerable number of followers and promote people’s products or services. Create links that will direct your followers to your affiliate website for easier accessibility to the products. For each product bought, you will receive a commission. If you lack the relevant skills, all you need to do is to sign up for online affiliate programs and get certified.
- Sell your own products or services: There are products or services you offer to the public, you can use your social media platform to promote them and make sales. Products like clothes, fashion accessories, foodstuff, electronics, or other stuff could be sold online. In the same vein, you can write an e-book, create an audio or video course and sell them to your friends. You can also offer such services as training people online by developing courses relevant in your field. Provide easy contact through which your prospective clients could reach you.
- Promote your skills: Your skills are very relevant if they are unique and anyone can pay for them. Today, skills like graphic design, video animation, content writing, and so on are sought-after skills online and people are hiring the individuals that possess them while paying them handsomely.
Provide concrete evidence that you are good at what you do. People are not just going to part with their hard-earned money just because you said you are good at a particular skill, your proof of your abilities should be convincing enough to get them to patronize you. The proof could be samples of your work, videos or pictures displaying where you are doing the work, and so on. Ensure you have a quick avenue through which prospective clients could reach you.
- Manage a social media account: Celebrities and prominent individuals and organizations have leveraged on social media to reach their fans and clients. As a result of their prominence, their accounts usually have large followers. These followers usually try to reach to them for one reason or the other which could lead them to receive tons of messages.
These account owners may not even have the time to respond to their followers or update their accounts to make them more lively. This would prompt them to get a social media personality who can manage their accounts and they pay them at the end of the month. There are several of these jobs online. People are looking for social media managers to manage their accounts. However, to stand out, you must possess relevant social media, good communication and excellent language skills.
- Promote other people’s products or services: You can share sponsored posts that promote other people’s products or services on your social media platform. Here, you will require a substantial number of followers in order to do so. Create a convincing content that will be able to influence the minds of your followers into buying the products. The difference between this and affiliate marketing is that you are paid based on your advertising fee, while affiliate marketing requires commitment. Do not always create posts that advertise products; if not, your followers may grow weary of you and unfollow you.
- Join the YouTube Partner Program: Frankly speaking, building a sellable YouTube channel is not something that could be done overnight. Nevertheless, you can build your own audience if you are determined to do so. Joining the YouTube Partner Program can help you to achieve this dream. The core of this program is advertising and so many people have made a lot of money using this avenue.
- Promote your coaching or consulting services on social media: Any field you have shown expertise as a result of constant practices over the years has a way of making you stand out if you can leverage on social media to promote them. You can create compelling contents that could convince your audience of your capabilities and draw them to you. You can use videos, audio, pictures, animation, and the rest of them to show your level of expertise in the field. You can become a coach and get younger and promising talents in your field. Similarly, you can offer consulting services to individuals and organizations while displaying your professionalism. Be fair in your price tag and make sure you are not undercharging or overcharging.
Popular Social Media Platforms
The following social media platforms are the most popular ones and they allow you to reach your potential clients easily.
- Facebook: Facebook is a very large social media network that allows you to reach your audience anywhere in the world. You can post your content, like and share them with just a click of a button. Contents could include pictures, videos, articles, and so on and they could be as many characters as you want, without any restrictions.
- LinkedIn: This is a social network for professionals in various interesting fields. Individual professionals share articles, look for job updates or watch informative videos to increase their industry knowledge.
- Pinterest: Pinterest enables users to discover new contents in the form of pictures, articles or links, depending on their favourite interests.
- Twitter: The messages to be shared on Twitter is limited and concise. Individuals can retweet contents to their followers, who would, in turn, retweet them too.
- Instagram: Instagram is used mainly for sharing photos and videos. You cannot post an article without a video or picture on Instagram.
There are various other platforms on social media with different modes of operations. It will be good to understand how to relate with your audience on different platforms and try to build a large follower base.
There are lots of other moneymaking websites and platforms you can leverage on. it may not be so easy making money on social media, but with consistency and improvement, you will be able to master the skill and smile to the bank at the end of it all. Learning more about what interests your audience is very important in knowing the social media platform to engage in the most.
To evaluate your audience, these questions are very vital
- Who is my target audience? Who am I trying to reach with my contents? Can my business gain a general following or do I need a specific audience?
- Which social media platform will be ideal for my audience?
- What are the popular trends among my audience?
Knowing the answers to the above questions will give you more confidence to interact with your audience. Ensure you embrace diversity in your content, using various topics, content structure, and so on. It will also be good if you can focus on just one or two platforms and maintain an online presence than to be in all of them and will not be able to meet up with your tasks.
Social media networking has come to stay. It is left for you to jump into the train and get moving.
