Even though it’s a relatively new industry, there are already a number of ways to make money with social media. Every major social media outlet has in some way helped users turn their hobby into a business or turn their business into a bigger business. Here are 15 common ways people make money with social media.
1. Tantalize Customers With Your Product On Pinterest
Small businesses can benefit in big ways from getting users to “pin” photos of their items on to their Pinterest boards. Create an account, engage in the community by pinning other people’s photos and upload photos that entice people to buy your product.
2. Run An Online Instagram Shop
If you have items that would be attractive to Instagram users, it’s relatively pain-free to set up a shop by connecting your account to the service inSelly. WikiHow has a great guide walking you through all the steps.
3. Copywriting
Twitter and Facebook can be great ways to show off your language and grammar skills. Prove yourself to be adept in the language of your choice to get yourself hired to write for a living.
4. Editing
Editors in particular have found success marketing themselves on social media, since services like Twitter and Facebook are great proofs of concept for their skills with the written word
5. Manage Social Media
There are a lot of companies seeking someone to handle their social media presence. Sadly a fair share of those positions are internships, but there are also many paid opportunities out there. Search “social media” on job boards to find results in your area.
6. Comedy Writing
A lot of new comedians birthed their career on Twitter. 140 character jokes or funny insights can gain you a lot of attention, so if you’re a particularly clever wordsmith consider giving comedy a shot to make money with social media.
7. Creative Writing
Fantasy author Neil Gaiman broke ground with A Calendar of Tales, for which he asked his large Twitter following to submit questions and turned some of their answers into short stories. You can do something similar that involves interacting with your audience, or even serialize a whole novel or short story over many posts.
8. Airbnb
Anyone can become a renter via Airbnb, which gives users a chance to rent places to stay in 190 different countries. Fast Company has a great write-up on how someone made a six-figure income through Airbnb.
9. Monetize A YouTube Channel
Not only can you make money with social media, you can turn yourself into a phenomenon. Just ask Grace Helbig, who’s developed a large audience through the hilarious videos she posts every week. She makes a significant sum just off ad revenue from her YouTube channel.
10. Become An Amazon Affiliate
When you join Amazon’s Affiliate Program, any sales made from a link you provide to Amazon will net you a small percentage. Cultivate a following and promote specific items on your blog, then include an affiliate link to the item on Amazon so that when a follower purchases something you’ll get paid.
11. Promote Posts
Get your sales pitches in front of more eyeballs with promoted posts, available through almost any social media service. It’ll cost you a little cash, sure, but it could net you huge rewards.
12. Sell Your Art
Tumblr and Instagram (Tumblr especially) are great places to post original artwork and get a lot of responses and shares. If your art starts going viral, you can turn that interest into income by selling prints and other merchandise through an online store like Etsy or Big Cartel.
13. Sell Rights To Your Photos
If you take good enough photos, people will pay you to use them! Flickr is a popular place to view photos, and this WikiHow explains how to sell the photos you’ve posted there. You can also license them under Creative Commons, which won’t net you any money but will expose your photographs to a wider audience.
14. Demonstrate Your Musical Abilities On SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the best places to get your music noticed, and I’m not just talking about the near-impossible goal of becoming a rock star. If you know how to come up with a catchy jingle, you can post it on SoundCloud to get clients flocking to you to create music for their commercials, radio ads, etc.
15. Innovate
These are just the known ways to make money with social media. The field is so new that many more avenues are likely to open up in the future. Consider how you can utilize social media services to grow your career or even create a new one altogether!
Featured photo credit: mkhmarketing via flickr.com
