The word influencer gets thrown around a lot these days. Many people call themselves influencers who really aren’t. To clear this up, an influencer is somebody who uses social media or other marketing channels to brand themselves as an expert in a field. Then they use their following along with their expertise to generate interest in certain products or services.
In other words, since they hold sway over a certain market, they are able to make money through it. How do they make money? This is the question many people wonder about when they hear about influencers making a living at using social media.
If you’re thinking about becoming an influencer then these are some of the ways that they make money and you can too if you build a following.
1 – Sponsorships
When a person has a big following on social media, those people in their audience really trust that person. So, brands are eager to collaborate with them to promote their products. These days, people are more likely to buy a product or service that an influencer suggests over a celebrity endorsement.
One way they go about this is to sign up on an Affordable Influencer Marketplace that connects influencers with brands that want to work within their niche or category.
If the influencer makes a lot of content in the beauty category, then brands that have beauty products will pay them a fee to promote it.
2 – Advertising
Influencers using Youtube have the possibility of making money from advertising on the platform. The way it works is that advertisers bid on ad placement according to the category of their product or service.
They pay Youtube according to the winning bid per thousand views. And a portion of that money goes to the publisher, aka the content creator. How much it is is highly dependent on the category.
For example, if the influencer is vlogging about their daily life without a specific topic then this pays a very low amount. Usually less than $1 per thousand views. Somebody else in a category like home improvement will get closer to $10 per thousand views.
As you can see, this can be quite a bit of money with a big following.
3 – Affiliate marketing
Rather than use just sponsorships or ads, an influencer can promote a product in a program that they belong to. Amazon is the largest such program in which they give the publisher a special tracking code. Then if somebody clicks the link with their code and makes a purchase, the publisher will get a commission on the sale.
This is one of the best ways to make money online in general as it is truly passive income. You don’t need to have any inventory and there is no shipping or customer service to deal with. And, there are hundreds of different networks to join besides Amazon so if you have a niche that requires using a specific type of product then the money can be amazing.