With the threat of a TikTok ban in the US off the table, you can post and pray for an engaged audience. This is what it takes to earn from content.
No matter your approach to business, your goal is to capture people’s attention.
Table of Contents
1. Use TikTok to promote your business
TikTok, like other social media sites, can be your free personal marketing tool.
“It’s an incredible way to drive traffic to other channels — your website, your email list, or your YouTube channel,” says Keira Jones (@thekeirajones), a Phoenix-based TikToker who also manages and advises brands on the platform.
This is how California-based TikToker Connie Rietdyk (@conniegooglequeen) earns most of her money. As a side hustle, she worked as a website designer and search engine optimization consultant for several years, earning “just enough to cover an additional bill.”
Rietdyk began offering tips on these topics to small businesses in TikTok posts. Starting with around 200 followers in May 2021, she now has more than 21,000 – and several followers have become paying customers.
Brand deals/sponsorships are a viable way to make money on TikTok if you have a following.
Let’s say most of your TikTok posts are about a specific topic, such as caring for dogs. Dog food and toy brands may want to appeal to your puppy-loving audience.
It can work in different ways.
Through sponsorships, Jones makes most of her money on her personal TikTok account, where she shares marketing tips. Brands began contacting Jones when she reached around 15,000 followers.
Note that creators must identify branded content by enabling the content disclosure setting.
3. Earn with Creator Rewards (after 10,000 followers)
TikTok’s monetization tool is the Creator Rewards Program, which allows users to earn rewards for posting longer (a minute or longer) high-quality videos that are well-received.
To join, you must have 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.
Videos are rewarded after 1,000 qualified views. The content must also meet TikTok’s originality requirements.
How much money can you expect? TikTok’s response is clear: “The reward formula for the Creator Rewards program has been reformulated to provide a higher average gross revenue for qualifying video views, giving creators the potential to collect higher rewards,” the website says.
I guess you have to go viral to really know.
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4. Go live and receive video gifts
Content creators who use the TikTok Live feature may receive “gifts” from viewers 18 years of age or older. Viewers pay for gifts that appear as stickers and animations in a creator’s live session.
Gifts sent by viewers are part of TikTok’s formula for rewarding creators with “diamonds.” According to TikTok, “Once you collect diamonds, you may be entitled to rewards, such as digital goods or services.”
Don’t do live streams? TikTok also awards diamonds for short videos. Viewers can leave gifts in the comment section.
More diamonds mean more money, but only if you redeem them. You can track your diamond earnings and see their potential monetary value in your TikTok account balance.
TikTok Shop helps creators and businesses sell to viewers through live streams, shoppable videos, and by displaying products in an in-app shop.
Companies can sell products directly on TikTok. Creatives can use the partner program to work with brands and promote their products.
As a seller, you must apply through the Seller Center on TikTok’s website and, once approved, link your account. TikTok says it charges a percentage of sales as commission, but doesn’t disclose how much.
As a creator, you need permission from sellers before you can feature and sell items on your profile.
Be careful with TikTok Shop. Common scams include counterfeit items, counterfeit brands and non-delivery of products.
The advice we would give buyers applies to creators looking to partner with brands: try to work with verified sellers, check reviews first, avoid suspicious links, and ignore requests to download apps outside of the App Store or Google Play.
6. Monetize with the series feature
If you use a personal or business TikTok account, you can charge viewers for premium content by putting a video collection or series behind a paywall and charging viewers for access. Political and personal accounts cannot use this feature.
Your series can contain up to 80 videos of 20 minutes each. The series is priced between $0.99 and $189.99.
What type of content could belong in a series? TikTok ideas include showing off your fitness or beauty routine or introducing viewers to your favorite recipe.
7. Collect tips from viewers
If your personal account has at least 100,000 followers, viewers can express their appreciation and support using the Tips feature.
To receive tips, you’ll need to sign up and set up an account with a Stripe payment provider if you don’t already have one.
Business accounts cannot use the tipping feature.
TikTok tips from those who know
Making money on TikTok will probably be easier if you stick to a defined topic area. Start by “determining the niche you want to grow in,” says Jones. “The more entrenched you are in a niche, the more likely you are to be contacted.” A niche can be cooking, beauty, or consumer technology.
In contrast, she says, a general lifestyle influencer’s audience may have broad, hard-to-define interests, making it less attractive to sponsors.
Interact with similar content to gain followers
Research your niche and interact with similar accounts to build momentum.
Let’s say you make jewelry and want to use TikTok to drive viewers to your Etsy shop. Search for TikTokers interested in jewelry, follow them, and interact with their posts. TikTok may feed you more related content. Then, when you start posting, your videos can be seen by other people who like jewelry.
Rietdyk emphasizes the importance of getting involved, building a community, and publishing relevant content before trying to sell your products.
“You don’t want to advertise to a cold audience,” she says. “Give a lot of value for free before you even start asking for money from anyone.”
“Don’t be mistaken,” Rietdyk says, adding, “TikTokers can tell if you’re doing something just for a like.”
When it comes to sponsored content, only promote products “that you actually use and love,” says Jones. She says she declines partnerships for products that don’t meet these criteria.
Jones adds that if you promote too many products, “your audience will become annoyed and feel like they’re being used.”
Serve your audience first
“If your only intention when starting TikTok is to make money, you probably won’t be successful,” says Jones.
Serving your audience should be your top priority. “Then people will be drawn in and want to follow you,” she says.
Rietdyk recommends setting small, achievable goals – for example, a certain number of sales or a certain level of income. Then she adds, “Celebrate the victories.”
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Top TikTok Advice on Reddit
We scoured Reddit forums to find out what users think about making money on TikTok. We used an AI tool to analyze and summarize the feedback. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.
What Redditors say: No single tactic is likely to lead you to record winnings. Successful YouTubers typically combine multiple revenue streams and focus on creating high-quality, original, and engaging content rather than chasing viral riches.
About the authors
Lisa Mulka is a freelance writer specializing in personal finance content. With more than 15 years of experience as an author, Lisa most recently authored a book on personal financial literacy and was lead author of the FDIC’s Money Smart for Young People program. She has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and a master’s degree in written communications and educational technology. Lisa lives in Michigan with her husband and two children, where she spends her free time teaching the next generation of writers at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.
Tommy Tindall is a lead writer and content strategist covering how to make money—and how to keep it. He has recorded and written about his experiences testing popular gig jobs like driving for Uber, delivering with DoorDash, and full-service shopping for Instacart. He loves making a little extra money, but laments the hours of awkward silence he had to endure as an Uber driver (never again).
Cool kids might call him a content creator because he makes YouTube videos for the NerdWallet channel and app, but he himself isn’t particularly cool anymore. Ask him about budgeting apps – he’s tried most of them, but still prefers a good old Google Spreadsheet to track spending. Then be sure to hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons.
Before NerdWallet, Tommy held much more boring jobs at Fannie Mae and Booz Allen Hamilton. Today he feels very privileged to be writing for you, the consumer.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/finance/learn/how-to-make-money-on-tiktok
