4 Ways to Monetize Your Social Media
I want this to be an episode that can serve you to Monetize Your Social Media, and show you the pros and cons of the most popular ways. But I also created this podcast episode and blog so that you can use it as a tool. When you have friends who aren’t sure how to monetize their social, I want you to be able to send them this link and have it serve as a helpful discussion.
Why monetize your social media account?
– The way people buy now is totally different than 5 years ago.
Online Shopping Statistics according to drip.com:
❤️As of 2020, there are roughly 7.8 billion people in the world. And just over a quarter (26.28 percent) of them are online shoppers.
There’s been a considerable increase in the number of digital shoppers over the years- it’s climbed from 1.32 billion in 2014 to 2.05 billion in 2020.
❤️An INCREDIBLE stat – 63 Percent of Shopping Journeys Start Online (Think with Google)
Six out of every ten shopping journeys begin online. Whether a person ends up buying from an e-commerce store or from a brick-and-mortar one, most of the initial research starts online.
❤️Brands HAVE to have an online presence. This is really non-negotiable these days.
Influencers / Friends / Family / Co-Workers can introduce you to a brand very easily.
❤️Nearly Half (49.2 percent) of E-Commerce Sales Are Made Through Mobile Devices in 2020. This is only going to increase over time. You also see that Instagram has some retailers selling straight through the app… this will be more and more popular.
❤️Retargeting Website Visitors Makes Them 43 Percent More Likely to Buy (stat via PR Newswire). Why am I telling you this? Repeated exposure is a good thing. I’m going to assume that this translates to influencer / affiliate marketing (I’m basing this off experience)… where talking about something more than once encourages followers / friends to make a purchase.
Way #1: Affiliate Marketing
What it is: When someone else has a product, and you introduce it to your audience / followers for some sort of commission. This is usually done through a coupon code or a specific link, where the person whose product it is gives the person promoting it a cut of the profits. Think about an Amazon link, think about influencers promoting a clothing brand, or think about BIG influencers getting brand sponsorships.
Pros: Simple to do. It used to be that only BIG influencers with massive followings got brand sponsorships, but now in 2022, basically anyone can do this. You can be an Amazon affiliate, you can usually connect with smaller brands if you have a smaller audience. So many brands have affiliate programs. Also, links used to be reserved for bigger influencers. No longer… links are available to everyone.
Cons: Just a link won’t cut it – or at least not in any significant way.
The bigger an audience you have and the more consistent you have, the more successful you’ll be.
Usually sales are 1 time things. You share a link for your favorite pens, and you’ll make money that one time.
Way #2: Network Marketing
What it is: Think affiliate marketing, but the customer is attached to you permanently every time they buy from that company. Network marketing is when someone either purchases from you as a customer, or joins your business opportunity where they become a customer, too, but they also help share the products to other people as well. Ideally, in network marketing, as you continue to make sales to customers and have other people join your business, you continue to make commissions off each purchase. So… imagine that the person who first introduced you to Target got 5% of everything you ever spent at Target (ridiculous example, but just go with it). That could be really really lucrative over time, right? It’s the same concept.
Pros: Increased ability to earn income. Also the ability to earn things like incentive trips, bonuses, and other rewards as you build a bigger team and business.
You don’t need a massive audience, although if you have a big audience with a lot of earned trust, that would be fantastic, too.
You don’t need to be an influencer… just be willing to continue to promote your product and business.
You can also build a relationship with your customers. So say you’re promoting a weight loss program or hair products… you can help make recommendations, and help them with their overall experience.
You don’t need to be an expert at anything… in fact, it’s an advantage to NOT be an expert in most cases. Most people just want to get to know YOU, and then when they trust your recommendation, they’ll buy from you.
Cons: Lots of people join network marketing thinking it’s a quick ticket to money – and it takes work and consistency just like anything else.
Most people don’t want to put in the work to make it happen… even if they know what’s possible.
Many people are scared away, thinking that you need to be an influencer or have sales skills… and that scares off people that would otherwise be really good at it.
Takes an investment to start, but a VERY small one for what’s possible (usually a few hundred dollars).
Check out how I use Network Marketing to Monetize My Social HERE.
Way #3: Coaching / Courses
What it is: In this case, you take your expertise, and package it up to sell it.
Pros: You can basically monetize anything. I love this because if you are an expert at WHATEVER, there’s someone usually willing to pay you for it. Know how to cook a specific type of food? Have a craft skill? Know how to tutor math? These are all things that you can easily monetize with a course or coaching package.
Cons: Takes expertise, a huge time investment to create the program or course, and then you have to market it. Takes digital marketing experience, a course platform, sometimes sales pages or funnels, etc. Can be cost prohibitive for people who don’t have up front money and time to invest.
For coaching, it’s usually trading time for money, as where courses you do once and then sell multiple times. But for both, you’ll need to learn marketing in addition to your skill, and be able to grow your network and make sure you have people to sell to.
Way #4: Services
What it is: This is where instead of you selling your expertise, you actually sell your service in doing the thing you’re good at. This is where you can market your skills as a web designer, a social media manager, a virtual assistant, a photographer, etc. and sell your time and expertise.
Pros: You can definitely build an awesome business this way.
Cons: This – in my opinion – is one of the hardest ways to make money online. You need an expertise, you need to be able to communicate and market that expertise. Also usually takes some sort of digital marketing experience- a sales platform, sometimes sales pages or funnels, or maybe even ads.
Can often be selling time for money – harder to scale, as at some point you run out of time and have to raise rates.
So after ALL of that – and that’s just an overview, I hope you realize that there are LOTS of ways to make money online and monetize your social media.
But Soraya… which is your favorite?
I’ve done all 4 of these types of marketing, but my favorite is by far Network marketing (followed closely by affiliate marketing). Network Marketing has the lowest barrier to entry for a complete business, and is something most people can do with full time jobs and without being influencers.
AND, what’s even better, is now some network marketing companies – mine included – allow you to basically do affiliate marketing and do not require you to build a team. So that’s great for someone who likes the idea of recurring income, but doesn’t want to promote a business opportunity.
My Advice in Choosing a Way to Monetize…
1. Try something. It’s not permanent, and you can always pivot.
2. Don’t try to do two or three at once – master one, and move on to another.
3. Almost all of them require some sort of personal branding if you’re going to make sales online. AND, when you brand yourself, you can pivot easily.
4. Find a mentor who has done what you want to do, and follow their advice.
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