Social media and technology is not only changing how we live, it’s changing how we work and creating new career opportunities and income streams for savvy people and early adopters willing to jump on board. Every good career venture starts with a plan and working out what you want and where you want to get to. Otherwise, you can easily waste a lot of time, money and energy. Here’s some ideas to start making money online – either as a full or part time career option.
Leverage the angles
Ultimately social media presence is a great way to advertise, as well as distribute products and services.
You can promote visually appealing products that you may have designed such as artwork, jewellery or clothing through Instagram and Pinterest.
You can also generate leads for your business or side gig. Whether the service you are offering is coaching, freelance writing, social media marketing or piano teaching you can generate interest by connecting with new and existing customers.
Find your niche
To do that well, you need to find your niche. That is, know who you are targeting for your products and services.
For example, are you targeting young female entrepreneurs or professionals who are mid way through their career, or mums who are re-entering the workforce after maternity leave?
Once you know your target, it’s easier to focus your efforts and ensure your message, content and style resonates with the audience.
Build a following
Being beige and bland doesn’t cut it on social media. You need to stand out from the crowd and know your point of differentiation, so that people who are in your target market want to follow you.
To do this, you want to:
- Develop your unique voice and presence
- Be personal and connect with your audience by interacting with them, rather than just spamming them with meaningless content
- Be consistent in what you post, how you post and when you post. Frequency, timing and style matters.
Know how to monetise it
Just because someone likes your social media page or post – doesn’t mean it is making you any money. Don’t confuse popularity with commercial success.
Apart from selling products and services, there are some particular avenues unique to social media.
For example:
- Sell your Instagram photos – if you take awesome photos there are sites like Shutterstock, SmugMug and Prime, which will buy your photos – usually on a royalty arrangement so you get a percentage of the sale cost each time one of your photos is downloaded.
- Become an affiliate and promote other people’s products, and in return you earn a commission when one of your followers clicks on the link in your social media post and then buys. For this to work, you need a sizeable social media presence, and meet the relevant entry criteria for joining. Affiliate networks include, Amazon Associates and ClickBank
- Promote other company’s products and services via your blog, Instagram and Facebook page, and in return, earn a flat fee for publishing. Once again, companies/brands will be looking for you to have a sizeable social media following, in the target market relevant for the product/service they are wanting to market.
- Create a monetised YouTube account – which enables advertising before your video content. In return, you (the content creator) get a cut of the advertising fee, as well as from YouTube Premium subscribers watching your content. There are eligibility criteria to join and an application process.
Micro influencers have power
When people think influencer they think celebrity – the Justin Beiber, Beyonces of the world – who have millions of followers. But there’s also ‘micro influencers’.
Micro influencers are everyday people who are known because of their niche, and valued by brands because of their devoted followers. You’ll find them in many sectors – health, beauty, fitness, entrepreneurship for instance. Companies such as Tribe and Tapinfluence, provide a marketplace to connect the micro influencer with brands. You can have as little as 3000 followers to be active in this marketplace.
With Tribe, for example, the brand creates a brief outlining what it wants to sell, micro influencers then submit the content they would share about that product or service. If the brand approves, the content is posted, and the person receives their payment.
Social media has opened up lots of opportunities, but be realistic. Plan it out. Set aside time, and know what you are working towards.
