10 ways to make money on TikTok

Step 1: Create a unique and organic following (the hardest part)

Find your niche, work damn hard to be the best it can be and grow your followers. We’re glossing over this most important step here but to reiterate the importance this is where you should spend 99% of your time!

Step 2: Monetise it

Once, you have that dedicated following (or during the build-up process) consider the following:

1. Link to donation pages or places you provide more content/benefits
   (e.g. this website) and add a custom clickable URL in your profile that links to:
   1. A donations page (e.g. check BuyMeACoffee)
   2. Virtual gifts
   3. Your IG / Twitter etc
   4. Links to affiliate stores/links
   5. Offer ‘Name your price’ on things like ‘Follow you back on social media’
   6. OnlyFans (doesn’t have to be sexual)
2. Sell it
   If your content isn’t ‘You’ then companies and people are desperate to buy your account, you can simply sell the account to someone else (although be cautious here as it likely breaks TikToks terms).
3. Promoting brands / products / services via affiliate / influencer deals
   Approach the brands you and your followers will like, and offer them a deal/promotion where they provide you free stuff &/or money to promote their business.
4. Design and sell your own merch
   Loads of sites offer this service and many are now global. Check your other favourite TikTokers to see which sites they use to sell
   
   
5. Creator Fund (once you hit 100,000 unique views) & Tiktok ads platform
   Tiktok will pay you for every view
6. [Once you become TikTok Famous] Appearances/signing etc
   Once you get to a certain level your fans will want to meet you, events will want to book you. Consider how you best do this as a lot of work will be involved, you may find you have the time to run this yourself (to maximise your profits) but you will need to consider everything from security to ticketing and everyone in between!
7. Schedule posts across social media to maximise your profits
8. Grown a following? Teach others and sell that information
   Whether it via ebooks or YouTube
9. [Selected users only] Do live streams and earn diamonds (convertible into Paypal)
10. Sponsored content – When you’re invited to go and post on someone else’s account for money

How much do the big TikTok stars earn?

Between June 2019 and June 2020 Forbes¹ estimated the top 5 TikTok stars earned between $1.2million & $5million.

At what point can I start earning?

Technically from day one but obviously there is a fine line between pushing things that will earn you money and producing interesting content. TikTok creator fund only turns on once you hit 100,000 unique views.

You may find these useful:

• BBC: Can I make money on TikTok

1. TikTok’s 7 Highest-Earning Stars: New Forbes List