You are really good at making great content for your audience. But how do you actually make money doing it?
Whether you are a YouTuber, an online publisher, a blogger, a vlogger, or even a podcaster, there are plenty of ways to make money in your business.
In this blog, we have put together the best information on money-making strategies for content creators of all kinds. Let’s get started.
How to Make Money as a Content Creator?
Are you all set to generate revenue being a content creator who is passionate about what you do? Well, we will help you with that. First, let’s clearly define who is a “content creator.
A content creator is anyone or any business that works around creating quality content, generally around a specific niche. Photographers, influencers, bloggers, podcasters, video creators, email newsletter authors, etc., are considered as content creators.
In general, the industry comprising content creators is called the “creator economy”.
With that said, let’s jump into effective ways to make money as a content creator.
Brand Collaborations and Influencer Marketing
Since the inception of the creator economy, brand collaborations have been the largest source of income for most creators.
For instance, this survey found that over 77% of content creators who participated in the survey depend on brand deals to make money.
So, what are brand deals?
Brand deals are of different types, but generally, businesses pay a fee for you to market their brand. You will also receive free products or services to display to your target audience through your content. However, content creators need to have a substantial following for creators to benefit from brand sponsorships.
Another straightforward way to benefit from brand deals is through affiliate programs. In affiliate programs, creators have to promote a specific brand in their content. If their audience follows their links and purchase products from that brand, creators get a commission.
How much creators receive from brand deals varies considerably? It depends on different factors like:
- The niche you work around.
- Brand’s willingness to pay.
- Your content and your target audience.
- The number of followers you have and the overall reach and engagement.
Converting Personal Brands to Business Brands
As a content creator, you must work on shaping your personal brand- how you present yourself to your audience and how they perceive your brand.
One way to make more money is to turn your personal brand into a business brand.
For example, if you have a highly successful YouTube channel, you can turn it into a business brand where you can sell your services and products through a professional website built under the same brand name.
Monetize your Instagram Content
Instagram is a popular social channel leveraged by millions of content creators to share images, videos, and other forms of content.
If you are a content creator looking to make more money, Instagram can be a great platform to share your work, build an audience and sell to them to make more money.
You can also use Instagram for brand deals where you can charge brands per post or reel, which means you receive money for each sponsored post or reel you create for them and share on your Instagram account.
Exclusive Content, Subscriptions and Membership Programs
Content creators can make money by providing exclusive content and experiences with subscriptions and memberships to their most loyal fans and followers. Creators can develop a suite of perks for fans who subscribe.
Fans who subscribe will also get access to video content, photo gallery, blog posts, podcast episodes, special newsletter series etc. You can create subscriber programs the way you want. Consider what your most loyal fans would like to see from you and make your membership program around that.
Membership programs are where members receive benefits upon joining. Members can get the following benefits after signing up for the program.
Exclusive content: After joining the membership programs, creators can receive newsletters, exclusive blogs, videos, podcasts etc.
Community access: Members can be a part of the online community.
Exclusive services: Consulting, coaching or other professional services.
Physical products: Members can also receive physical products based on their niche.
A subscription is the ongoing recurring payment your subscribers pay to access a product, service or even exclusive content that isn’t available elsewhere.
For example, newsletter creators charge a small monthly fee to receive their content.
Starting a Subscription Platform
Now that you know what memberships and subscriptions are, you can implement a subscription business by building a subscription website to offer exclusive subscription services to your fans.
When developing a subscription website, begin with your audience and their unique requirements. Think about your target audience.
Here are the questions to consider when launching a subscription business.
- What do your target audience need?
- What problems do they face?
- What are they looking for?
- How can you help them?
- What are their online activities?
Once you understand your audience’s needs, you can focus on delivering value-based services.
Here’s a quick overview of how you will deliver the value you intend to give:
Content
Decide what type of content you will include in your subscriptions. You can provide blogs, videos, podcasts, and downloadable products into a collection of premium content that is only available to your customers.
Community
Is offering access to an exclusive online community a part of your subscription business strategy? Do you think your audience would benefit from connecting with other members? If yes, build a place for them to connect and include in your subscription service.
Perks
Access to an exclusive community is one of the benefits of subscription services. What other advantages will you provide? It could be premium content, online courses, training programs, professional services, physical products, and even professional services.
Setting up your Subscription Platform
Once you have identified who your ideal customers are, what their needs are, how you are going to help them with what they need and what you will charge as a subscription fee, you can get started. But how to build a subscription platform in the most effective and cost-effective way?
The simplest way to build your subscription-based creator community platform is to use a readymade script like Fans. Fanso is not only customizable, but it also comes with pre-installed payment gateways to build your subscription-based creator community platform with the features and functionalities you need.
Conclusion
How to make money as a content creator online is simple, but as with any venture, it needs planning and effort to execute it so that you can have excellent results.
If possible, you can start with a few or even a handful of strategies at once and work towards establishing your brand, and eventually, you will start making money.
The key to finding success as a content creator is to understand your niche and your target audience, deliver great content, and you will be unstoppable.
