How do content creators make money?
Discover how to monetize YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitch, and Snapchat as a content creator. Boost earnings with metrics and engagement strategies.
Before diving into the subject of monetization, it is crucial to understand the significance of this powerful force in the digital landscape. An estimated 50 million individuals are identified as content creators, contributing to a vibrant and lucrative industry known as the creator economy. According to the 2022 State of Creator Economy Report, this sector is valued at over $104 billion, with around 2 million creators earning their income exclusively through their content.
But how do you really make money? How much can you earn, and how does it work across different social media platforms? These are the questions we will explore today.
Use our summary to understand how to make money on:
Stay tuned, because we’ll introduce you to better ways to use metrics on your behalf, turning them into actionable insights and your key to financial independence with our cutting-edge AI features at Filance AI. Let’s embark on this journey to thrive in content creation and secure a financial future together!
How to Make Money on Instagram?
This free photo and video sharing app lets you distribute your content to your followers, whether it’s just your family and friends or a larger audience. Created by Kevin Systrom and launched in 2010, Instagram was bought by Meta two years later. Unlike YouTube, Instagram doesn’t pay you based on views, likes, shares, or followers.
However, you can definitely use these metrics to monetize your content through sponsored posts. This involves posting content that highlights a brand or product through feed posts, reels, or stories. In exchange, you can gain exposure to the brand’s followers, receive free products, gifts, and, most importantly, money—even if you don’t have millions of followers.
How Many Followers Do You Need to Collaborate with Brands?
Brands don’t necessarily look for influencers with millions of followers. Some have tight budgets or their products don’t match with those influencers' audiences. What really matters is your engagement. The greater your engagement, the more attractive you become to brands.
How Much Can You Charge for an Instagram Post?
There isn’t a fixed price you can charge for a post, but influencers are broadly categorized by their audience size. Here’s a benchmark from Shopify to help you out:
Nano (1,000 to 10,000 followers): $10 to $100 per post
Micro (10,000 to 50,000 followers): $100 to $500 per post
Mid-Tier (50,000 to 500,000 followers): $500 to $5,000 per post
Macro (500,000 to 1 million followers): $5,000 to $10,000 per post
Mega (More than 1 million followers): $10,000 to $1 million or more per post
Other Ways to Monetize Instagram
Besides collaborating with brands, you can create your own store with your merch, sell other brands’ products like a marketplace, offer subscriptions to personalized content, and earn badges if you’ve surpassed 10,000 followers.
Have you heard about UGC (User-Generated Content) creators?
This is another way to earn money by partnering with brands to produce lo-fi, authentic content about products or services you've used. Unlike traditional influencers, UGC creators aren't expected to show their face or produce high-end productions; instead, they focus on genuine, relatable reviews.
But again, having followers is important, but having strong engagement is much more crucial. The more connected you are with your audience, the higher your conversion rates for sales.
How to Calculate Your Engagement Rate on Instagram?
Here’s the formula:
Seems a bit complicated, right? Now, imagine calculating this for each post manually. But don’t worry! With Filance, you get weekly AI-powered reports on all your engagement metrics (likes, comments, views, watch time), not just for Instagram but all your social media platforms combined, in a single place.
Discover more about your audience, compare your progress with past weeks and market standards, and get AI-personalized advice to improve your content monetization across all your platforms. This helps you retire your calculator, Excel sheets, and Google Sheets, and achieve your financial goals. All entirely for free!
Use tools like Filance to track your metrics and continuously improve your content monetization. Start leveraging your influence and creativity to secure your financial future today! Download Filance now and take the first step towards mastering your social media strategy and boosting your earnings.
How to Make Money on Facebook?
Despite its "cringe" reputation among Gen Z, Facebook remains viable with its expansive user base. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes over two decades ago, Facebook is more than just an app—it's a social networking powerhouse where you can connect with family, friends, and communities, share photos, videos, and engage with a diverse range of content.
While Facebook is part of Meta and shares similarities with Instagram, it offers a unique monetization opportunity through its performance-based payout program. This program rewards high-quality content such as on-demand videos, reels, stories, and live videos that display Facebook ads. To qualify, you need:
A professional page
At least 5,000 followers for on-demand videos
10,000 for live videos
and over 600 hours of watch time
Create original content
Follow Facebook's community standards, in other words, videos free of graphic violence and hate speech
Once approved, you'll receive 55% of the revenue generated by ads shown with your content but you can also monetize your facebook by charging subscriptions having at least 1000 followers or 250 return viewers and 50.000 posts engagement or 3.000 hours of watch time.
Other Ways to Monetize on Facebook
In addition to the performance-based payout program, you can leverage your engagement metrics to collaborate with brands, charging anywhere from $10 to over $1 million based on your follower count. You can also create a marketplace to sell products, including your own merchandise, offer subscriptions for exclusive content, and earn badges once you surpass 10,000 followers. And do not forget about affiliate marketing programs where you can earn rates range between 5% to 25% from a product or service sold through your affiliate link.
If you're concerned about not having thousands or millions of followers on Facebook or Instagram, remember that brands are increasingly interested in engagement rates rather than sheer follower numbers. A high engagement rate indicates genuine audience interest and better conversion potential for products. Do you know how to calculate your engagement rate?
How to Calculate Your Engagement Rate on Facebook?
The formula remains the same:
This calculation can be complex and time-consuming to do manually for each post. Fortunately, with Filance, you can receive weekly AI-powered reports that consolidate all your engagement metrics:
From all your social media platforms in one place. Say goodbye to manual calculations and multiple spreadsheets; AI can help you enhance your social media analytics to take your content to the next level and maximize your earnings. Download Filance now!
How to Make Money on Youtube?
YouTube, the world’s most famous video-sharing platform, was launched in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former PayPal employees. Owned by Google, YouTube is one of the few social media platforms that pay creators per view.
\In 2022, the average compensation for YouTube content creators was $1,154 per week, or nearly $5,000 monthly. Influencers like Mr. Beast earned over $54 million last year. However, before quitting your job to focus entirely on YouTube, it’s important to note that Mr. Beast started over a decade ago and had 201 million subscribers with 35 billion views last year. So, how much does YouTube pay per view?
How Does YouTube Pay Creators?
YouTube doesn’t pay for every video view. Instead, they pay for ad clicks or ad views. The Cost Per Click (CPC) is around $0.018, and the Cost Per Mille (CPM), or per thousand views, is $18 according to Influencer Market Hub. Not everyone can monetize their channel. You need to meet at least one of these criteria to join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP):
Have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year.
Have at least 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public Shorts views within the past 90 days.
If you’re unfamiliar with CPC and CPM, visit Financepedia to learn more about these crucial metrics and the creator world.
How to Calculate Your CPC and CPM on YouTube?
Like Facebook, Google pays 55% of ad revenue, so you earn from each click on your video ads or for every thousand full ad views (10/15 or 30 seconds) using the CPM formula.
Calculating this for every video and updating these numbers weekly is time-consuming, even with spreadsheets like Excel and Google Sheets. Save your time with Filance, where you receive weekly AI-powered reports on CPC, CPM, views, and all your metrics from all social media. Filance also provides AI insights to boost your performance and financial success.
Other Ways to Monetize on YouTube
Beyond views, YouTube offers several ways to monetize content:
Affiliate Marketing: Join programs to earn commissions.
Merchandising: Sell your brand’s products or other companies’ products.
Crowdfunding and Fan Funding: Subscribers can support your channel with monthly memberships, offering benefits like private content.
Super Chat and Super Stickers: Viewers can donate during live chats.
For these features, your YouTube account should be set up for ads. Additional methods include being a User-Generated Content (UGC) creator, licensing your brand, or collaborating with brands even without millions of views and followers.
How Much Can You Charge for a YouTube Video?
Similar to Instagram and Facebook, brands sometimes prefer influencers with smaller, more engaged audiences. According to Webfx, you can start earning with just 1,000 subscribers. Here’s a breakdown:
Nano (1,000 to 10,000 followers): $20 to $200 per post
Micro (10,000 to 50,000 followers): $200 to $1,000 per post
Mid-Tier (50,000 to 500,000 followers): $1,000 to $10,000 per post
Macro (500,000 to 1 million followers): $10,000 to $20,000 per post
Mega (More than 1 million followers): $20,000 to $1 million+ per post
Brendan Gahan, a marketing expert, suggests calculating your fee by multiplying your average views per video by $0.05 to $0.015. A higher engagement rate improves your negotiation power, indicating better conversion rates.
How to Calculate Your Engagement Rate on YouTube?
Calculating engagement on YouTube involves summing likes, shares, and comments to get total engagements and then using this formula:
For sponsorships, brands may also consider:
Watch Time: Total minutes watched indicates content engagement.
Average View Duration: The average time viewers spend watching the video.
Subscriber Growth: New subscribers gained from the video.
Manually calculating this weekly is tedious. Filance provides AI-powered weekly reports on all engagement metrics across social media, allowing you to compare your metrics to industry standards and receive AI advice to improve your performance. Download Filance today to elevate your YouTube channel.
How to Make Money on Snapchat
Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy, Snapchat is known for its ephemeral messaging where content disappears shortly after being shared. Alongside this, Snapchat offers opportunities for users to earn rewards and money.
Before delving into Snapchat-specific methods, consider general social media strategies to profit from your content:
Create a Marketplace: Sell other brands' products and services.
Licensing and Merchandising: Develop and sell your own merchandise or license your brand.
Brand Collaborations: Partner with brands for sponsored posts.
Subscription Models: Offer exclusive content through membership subscriptions.
User-Generated Content (UGC): Create content that brands can use.
Affiliate Programs: Earn commissions by promoting products.
Other Ways to Monetize on Snapchat
Snapchat offers unique monetization avenues such as the Snapchat Spotlight program, rewarding creators with monthly prizes of $250 for videos on specific themes. To qualify, you need at least 1,000 followers and over 1,000 views per month.
You can also earn $500 to $10,000 by posting Stories on Snapchat. The app rewards users who publish over 20 stories daily for at least 10 days, sharing ad revenue generated. Eligibility requires:
50,000 subscribers on your public profile.
25 million views or 12,000 hours of view time in the last 28 days.
Posting 20 snaps daily for 10 days on your public story.
Utilize Filance’s AI-powered reports to meet these criteria and maximize your Snapchat earnings. Gain insights to create engaging content, expand your reach, and increase followers and views for better rewards. Download Filance now!
How to Make Money on Twitch
Twitch is a leading live streaming platform launched in 2011 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear. Renowned for live broadcasts of video games, esports, and a range of creative content, Twitch has become a hub for gaming enthusiasts and streamers worldwide, offering live interactions and diverse entertainment beyond just gaming.
If you’re looking to monetize your Twitch live-stream videos, it’s important to understand the various programs Twitch offers.
Twitch Affiliate Program: Twitch automatically invites you to join the Twitch Affiliate Program once you meet the following criteria:
50 Followers
8 Hours of Streamed Content
Streaming on 7 Different Days
Average of 3 Viewers per Stream
Once you join the Twitch Affiliate Program, you unlock three primary ways to earn money:
Twitch Subscriptions: Charge your audience to access your content with three different pricing tiers: $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99 monthly. Offer perks such as custom emotes, badges, ad-free viewing, and subscriber-only streams based on the subscription level.
Twitch Bits: Viewers can send “cheers” during live streams using Bits, a virtual currency. Each Bit is worth $0.01. Set the minimum Bits you want to receive per user and create custom Cheermotes to encourage viewer engagement.
Twitch Partner Program: For streamers with an established audience, the Twitch Partner Program offers even more benefits. To apply, you must meet the following criteria:
Stream for 25 Hours
Stream on 12 Different Days
Average of 75 Viewers per Stream
Twitch may have additional criteria for partner eligibility that are not publicly disclosed.
How Much Money Can You Make as a Twitch Streamer?
Your income on Twitch depends on the number of viewers your streams attract. Here’s a rough estimate of potential earnings:
5-10 Average Viewers per Stream: $50 - $200 monthly
20 Average Viewers per Stream: $200 - $400 monthly
50 Average Viewers per Stream: $500 - $750 monthly
100 Average Viewers per Stream: $1,000 - $1,500 monthly
1,000 Average Viewers per Stream: $5,000 monthly
5,000 Average Viewers per Stream: $13,000 monthly
10,000 Average Viewers per Stream: Over $30,000 monthly
For more detailed comparisons and insights into other influencers' earnings, you can check resources like Streamer Facts.
Other Ways to Monetize on Twitch
Create a Marketplace: Sell products or services from other brands.
Licensing and Merchandising: Develop and sell your own merchandise or license your brand.
Brand Collaborations: Partner with brands for sponsored posts.
Affiliate Programs: Earn commissions by promoting products.
Accept Donations: Use third-party services like PayPal to receive monetary tips from viewers, especially if you haven’t yet qualified for Twitch’s monetization programs.
By leveraging these strategies, you can turn your passion for gaming or creating content into a lucrative venture on Twitch.
How to Make Money on Tik Tok?
If Facebook is considered “cringe” by Gen Z, TikTok is the latest trend for posting and sharing content on the Internet. TikTok features everything that's hot in various societal fields like culture, politics, fashion, and more. With nearly 108 million users in the United States alone, the short-video social media platform, launched in 2016 by ByteDance, offers endless ways for creators to make money.
Before diving into monetization, it's crucial to understand your target audience. Knowing your audience’s demographic information, such as nationality, location, gender, age, and common interests, is key to achieving financial success on TikTok.
Creator Fund: TikTok's Creator Fund rewards creators based on engagement and views. Earnings range between $0.02 to $0.04 per 1,000 views, which may seem low compared to platforms like YouTube and Twitch. However, factors like content type, engagement levels, views, followers, comments, and overall engagement can significantly impact your earnings.
How to Calculate Your Engagement Rate on Tik Tok?
To understand your performance and optimize your content, calculate your engagement rate using the formula:
Manually calculating this for each post can be time-consuming. Tools like Filance provide weekly AI-powered reports that consolidate all your engagement metrics, including:
This allows you to enhance your social media analytics and maximize your earnings without the hassle of manual calculations.
Other Ways to Monetize on TikTok
If you have more than 1,000 followers, you can start live streaming to increase engagement and receive gifts from your audience called Live Gifting Rewards. These virtual gifts can be exchanged for real money, valued at 50% of the gift’s coin value ($0.05 each). You need to accumulate at least $100 to cash out. Other ways to monetize your Tik Tok content are:
TikTok Shop: Create and promote your own brand, products, and services directly on TikTok Shop. Utilize sponsorship challenges, live streams, and other creative methods to drive traffic to your store.
Referral Reward Programs: Earn benefits by referring users to TikTok through your referral link or code. Additionally, you can earn virtual points by encouraging users to watch videos, join challenges, and complete tasks. These points can be exchanged for extra money.
Donations and Tips: Use TikTok’s native tipping feature to receive financial incentives from your followers
Create a Marketplace: Sell products or services from other brands on your profile.
Brand Collaborations: Partner with brands for sponsored posts.
Affiliate Programs: Earn commissions by promoting products through affiliate links.
Use Filance to leverage these strategies. Download our App now to take your TikTok game to the next level!
How to use Filance to make money as a content creator?
Using Filance can significantly enhance your ability to monetize your content creation efforts on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitch, and TikTok. Here’s how you can leverage Filance to maximize your earnings:
Track Engagement Metrics: Filance provides weekly AI-powered reports on your engagement metrics such as likes, comments, views, watch time, and more across all your social media platforms. This comprehensive tracking helps you understand what content performs best and where improvements are needed.
Analyze Audience Insights: Filance's AI insights offer a deeper understanding of your audience, including demographic information and engagement patterns. Knowing your audience better helps tailor your content to their preferences, increasing engagement and the potential for monetization.
Enhance Content Strategy: Based on the data and insights from Filance, you can adjust your content strategy to improve performance. Whether it's posting at optimal times, using specific types of content, or engaging more effectively with your audience, Filance helps you make data-driven decisions.
Save Time with Automated Reports: Instead of manually calculating your engagement metrics, Filance automates this process, saving you valuable time. Use this time to create more content, engage with your audience, and explore new monetization opportunities.
Optimize Monetization Tactics: Filance can guide you on the best monetization strategies for each platform, such as sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, product sales, and more. By understanding which strategies work best for your content and audience, you can maximize your earnings.
Increase Brand Collaborations: Brands look for influencers with high engagement rates rather than just large follower counts. Filance helps you showcase your engagement metrics, making you more attractive to potential sponsors and collaborators. You can use the detailed reports to negotiate better deals for sponsored posts and collaborations.
Beyond all these benefits, Filance AI acts as your credit bureau, transforming your content creation metrics into an understandable credit score and reliable risk profile shared with financial institutions. This facilitates your access to affordable products and services, helping you thrive and achieve your personal and professional goals.
Download Filance now to take your content creation to the next level and turn your passion into a profitable profession!
FAQ:
General Questions
Q: What platforms can I use to make money as a content creator?
A: You can monetize your content on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitch, and TikTok. Each platform offers unique opportunities and revenue models.
Q: What is the first step to becoming a successful content creator?
A: Determine if being a content creator is the right path for you by understanding the role and its demands. Consider taking tests and learning more about what a content creator does.
Instagram
Q: How can I make money on Instagram?
A: You can monetize Instagram through sponsored posts, creating your own store, selling products, offering subscriptions, and earning badges.
Q: How many followers do I need to collaborate with brands on Instagram?
A: Brands focus on engagement rather than just follower count. However, influencers are broadly categorized by their audience size, from Nano influencers (1,000-10,000 followers) to Mega influencers (over 1 million followers).
Q: How much can I charge for an Instagram post?
A: Charges vary based on your follower count. For example, Nano influencers can charge $10-$100 per post, while Mega influencers can charge $10,000-$1,000,000 or more per post.
Facebook
Q: How can I make money on Facebook?
A: Monetize Facebook through its performance-based payout program, brand collaborations, creating a marketplace, offering subscriptions, and affiliate marketing programs.
Q: What are the requirements to join Facebook’s performance-based payout program?
A: You need a professional page, at least 5,000 followers for on-demand videos, 10,000 for live videos, over 600 hours of watch time, original content, and adherence to community standards.
Q: How can I calculate my engagement rate on Facebook?
A: Use the formula for engagement rate and tools like Filance for AI-powered reports to track your metrics.
YouTube
Q: How does YouTube pay content creators?
A: YouTube pays for ad clicks and ad views. You need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year, or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million valid public Shorts views within the past 90 days.
Q: What are other ways to monetize on YouTube?
A: Besides ads, you can earn through affiliate marketing, merchandising, crowdfunding, fan funding, Super Chat, and Super Stickers.
Q: How can I calculate my engagement rate on YouTube?
A: Calculate it by summing likes, shares, and comments, then use the engagement formula. Tools like Filance provide detailed reports.
Snapchat
Q: How can I make money on Snapchat?
A: Monetize Snapchat through the Spotlight program, posting Stories, brand collaborations, creating a marketplace, and affiliate programs.
Q: What are the requirements to earn from Snapchat Stories?
A: You need 50,000 subscribers, 25 million views or 12,000 hours of view time in the last 28 days, and must post 20 snaps daily for 10 days.
Q: How can I calculate my engagement rate on Snapchat?
A: Use the engagement rate formula and tools like Filance for AI-powered insights.
Twitch
Q: How can I monetize my Twitch live streams?
A: Join the Twitch Affiliate Program, which requires 50 followers, 8 hours of streamed content, streaming on 7 different days, and an average of 3 viewers per stream. You can earn through subscriptions, Bits, and the Twitch Partner Program.
Q: What are other ways to monetize on Twitch?
A: Other methods include creating a marketplace, licensing and merchandising, brand collaborations, affiliate programs, and accepting donations.
Q: How much can I make as a Twitch streamer?
A: Earnings vary based on average viewers per stream, ranging from $50-$200 monthly for 5-10 viewers to over $30,000 monthly for 10,000 viewers.
Tik Tok
Q: How can I make money on TikTok?
A: Earn through the Creator Fund, live streaming gifts, TikTok Shop, referral programs, donations, creating a marketplace, brand collaborations, and affiliate programs.
Q: What is the TikTok Creator Fund?
A: The Creator Fund rewards based on engagement and views, paying between $0.02 to $0.04 per 1,000 views.
Q: How can I calculate my engagement rate on TikTok?
A: Use the engagement rate formula and Filance for AI-powered weekly reports.
Using Filance
Q: How can Filance help me make money as a content creator?
A: Filance provides weekly AI-powered reports on engagement metrics, audience insights, and content strategy enhancements. It saves time with automated reports and helps optimize monetization tactics, increasing your attractiveness to brands and maximizing earnings.
Q: What specific features does Filance offer?
A: Filance tracks likes, comments, views, watch time, organic impressions, reach, CPC, CTR, and more across all your social media platforms. It also offers AI-personalized advice to improve your content and metrics.