How You Can Make Money from Your TikTok in 2020

MAKING YOUR VIDEOS GO “VIRAL”

by Contributor

(May 14, 2020) — Everyone on the Internet knows that TikTok is the new craze. Since its 2018 US launch, the app has grown in leaps and bounds. It’s currently recognized as one of the fastest-growing social media apps in the world. The application was initially launched as musical.ly where people lip-synced to their favorite songs. In 2017, musical.ly was purchased by ByteDance, who then redesigned and relaunched it as TikTok.

Since the launch of TikTok, it has grown to over 800 million users with 1.5 billion downloads. Some people have dubbed TikTok as the new Vine. While the application shares many similarities with the now-defunct video-sharing platform, it has its peculiarities. TikTok allows for users to upload videos of up to 60 seconds, instead of the 6 seconds Vines had.

The most important characteristic of TikTok to users and brands, however, is the ease with which content can become viral. Unlike other social media websites where one has to get large followership to increase the chances of going viral, great content on a modest account will still go viral.

Maybe you’ve just made your first viral video, and you’re wondering if there’s a real chance of making money from your account. Well, the answer to that is yes. Although it can be tricky, making money on TikTok is possible. Here are some great ways to make money on the TikTok app:

Brand promotion and sponsorship

Brands are constantly looking for new ways to position themselves in front of potential customers. If you own a TikTok account with a substantial following, you might just be in luck. While some people may prefer to let the brands reach out to them, you could as well go ahead and pitch to companies you think will benefit from exposure on your channel.

If you have niche videos, you can look to companies in the same niche as your videos. Since TikTok only allows short videos, you won’t be able to post comprehensive reviews of the brand or their products, so you can make a video highlighting fun, catchy information about it instead.

Artists are a lucrative option to look at. Since the 2019 explosion of Lil Nas X’s remix of Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road” on TikTok, many artistes have been looking to mimic the success. A lot of artists are looking to produce TikTok-friendly songs. These artistes are also looking to strike deals with account owners that have large followings. If their songs can go viral on TikTok, there’s a good chance it performs well on charts, and its sales skyrocket.

Directing traffic to other monetized channels

Hashtag challenge

Another way that brands are pushing past TikTok’s unique terrain is through sponsored hashtag challenges. Hashtags are a popular way of indexing and searching for content on social media platforms. On TikTok, it’s no different. Since TikTok is structured to encourage virality of video content, it makes sense for brands to use relatable hashtags to promote their products.

As a creator that’s skilled in producing viral content, you can get hired by a brand to participate in a hashtag challenge. Brands like to work with multiple influencers to get their challenges to go viral. Once you get hired, all you need to do is to create content that can go viral. As you already know, that’s easier said than done.

Merchandise

Some people are better at creating viral content than others. If you’re one of those people, then merchandising may be for you. TikTok is designed to encourage viral content, and once you have something viral, you can do much more than share it.

Commodities are a great way to get people to identify with your brand, movement, and ideas. Commodities that can be used for merchandising include t-shirts, accessories, shoes, mugs, stickers etc. You can check shirt merchandise ideas here at Thrive Screen Printing.

Merchandising digital platforms like TikTok typically require you to have an agreement with a commodity manufacturer on the design and cost price of the product(s). In some cases, you might be able to get distribution agreements with the manufacturers. That way, you never get to handle the products except when you want them. You also get to avoid storage costs.

To maximize earnings from the merchandise sales, you may have to place a copyright on your viral ideas. This means anyone who uses them will have to obtain a license from you.

Earn money through live streaming.

If you have an innate talent that you think people will be willing to watch (and pay) you for, then live streaming may be for you. You can live stream live performances of you singing, dancing, painting, or doing just about anything on TikTok. Even if you have no obvious talent, you may still stand a chance. People who reported making money from live streaming themselves sleep on TikTok.

When people follow your live stream, they can make donations to your account by sending you coins and gifts purchased on the app. The donations are like “thank you” tokens for your performance, and are converted to diamonds which are withdrawable.

The diamonds accrued in your account can typically be cashed out via PayPal after you amass up to $100 worth of coins. All you need to do is to connect a verified PayPal account to your TikTok and ask for withdrawal when you reach the lower limit of $100. You should note that TikTok doesn’t allow for the withdrawal of more than $1000 within a single day.

Live streaming has also been noted to help grow accounts. While it might not be a lot of money, live streaming is a great way for you to interact with your followers and still make extra income.

How to Grow Your Followership on TikTok

Before thinking of monetizing your account, you must first have grown it to a sizeable number of followers. While it’s difficult to tell the exact number to aim for before you can start monetizing, TikTok’s algorithm makes it such that gaining followers isn’t as difficult as other platforms. The reason for this is that TikTok uses a “For You” section to bring videos to users instead of the classic “home” section used in other social media apps. Thus, users are likely to encounter viral content regardless of if they follow the account or not.

There are a couple of tips to help you grow your account:

• Select a niche: If you’re aiming to monetize your account, then you must build it with a niche in mind. Brands will often look to partner with influencers that share similar values with them, and one of the ways to indicate that is by niching down. The niche you choose should also coincide with your interests. If you’re a food lover, you can focus on sharing recipes and awesome meals that you make. Apart from making you attractive to brands, niching down your content also allows users to identify you with a concept, and can make them see you as an authority in that field.
• Pay attention to your bio: Your bio is one of the few places you can share information about yourself on TikTok, so you have to be deliberate about what you share. If you produce niched content, it’s ideal that you let your bio reflect that, alongside any other services you offer that might be of interest to your followers. Since you can’t have links in your video descriptions, you have to include them in your bio.
• Always use high-quality videos: If your intent is on driving engagements to your videos, you must make sure to use high-definition videos. Videos with a resolution of 720 x 1280 px, 640 x 640 px, or 1280 x 720 px are recommended by the platform, and anything lower may result in poor followership. High-quality videos are also very attractive to viewers who are likely to think your content is poor if your video resolution is.
• Be consistent: Seeing that content is generated every day on TikTok, it’s very easy for your content to get lost in the crowd. Consistently generating content is the only way to stay on the mind of your viewers and gain followers. Some people may not follow you on the first day they see your content, but constantly showing up in their “For You” section may do the trick for them. It’s advisable to post at least a video every day. To achieve that, you may need to let go of the perfectionist in you and acknowledge that you won’t always post viral content, but at least, you’ll constantly show up.
• Connect with your followers: The final tip to growing your followership is connecting with your audience. Even though TikTok isn’t optimized for it, you can always find ways around it. Some creators give shoutouts to some of their followers in their videos. This helps build trust and a relationship that helps you understand your followership better. You can use this information to generate content that’s relatable to them.