For a few years now, digital marketers have been discussing how video content is far more engaging and brings many more opportunities when compared to images or text.
With the fast expansion of TikTok and Instagram reels, short video forms have surprisingly taken over the attention span of the audience worldwide. However, other video content created by various creatives and influencers is still highly relevant on YouTube.
In this article, we will cover how to monetize your videos on social media. Furthermore, we will explore the potential to earn from your content with membership platforms, affiliate partnerships, and monetizing video ads.
Read on to explore the sea of opportunities to generate income with your quality videos.
Video Monetization with YouTube
As a video content creator, you know there are opportunities to monetize your videography on YouTube. One of the most successful ways to generate revenue on this platform is through the YouTube Partner Program.
By joining the YouTube Partner Program, you can earn money through monetization features such as ads, channel memberships, and merchandise shelves. You need to fulfill specific requirements to join this program as a video creator.
Let’s see what it takes to become a member of the YouTube Partner Program:
- Create original and high-quality content. This may sound like something you hear often, as the term “quality content” is slowly becoming worn out. What I am trying to stress here is that you should pay attention to details, improve your storyline, and video editing, and stay away from copying someone else’s style.
- Optimize your videos. Video optimization includes titles, thumbnails, and descriptions for each published video on YouTube.
- Follow YouTube Community Guidelines. This essentially means that YouTube will not help you promote any content that violates their guidelines.
- Reach one of these two thresholds:
- Reach 1k subscribers with 4k watch hours in the last 12 months, or
- Reach 1k subscribers with 10 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days (go viral).
Once you submit your application and meet their criteria, you can enable monetization of your videos and start receiving a percentage of the ad revenue.
Before optimizing your content for YouTube monetization, check if the YouTube Partner Program is available in your country.
How much money can I make on YouTube?
YouTubers have the potential to earn varying amounts of money on YouTube, and their earnings depend on multiple factors. The primary source of income for many YouTubers is through sponsorships and monetization features such as ads and channel memberships.
When it comes to YouTube sponsorship rates, it’s important to remember that these deals are flexible and depend on multiple factors such as number of views, engagement rates, audience demographics, ad formats, and niche market competitiveness.
Most rates are calculated on a CPV (cost per view) basis, which can go from 1 to 10 cents per view.
You decide this value yourself, so your decision will need careful consideration before you set the price for the ads on your channel. Make sure you do not underestimate yourself without setting the price too high in the beginning since that might drive some brands away.
Video Ad Monetization beyond YouTube
YouTube is the most popular online video platform, but numerous others offer the opportunity for creators to make money with video ad monetization.
There are different types of platforms, some specialized in a particular industry. For example, Playwire started off as a monetization platform for creators in the gaming industry. Nowadays, it offers support to publishers across various niches.
Other marketplaces that help you monetize video with ads from different niches are Bird.tv, Primis, InPlayer, Brightcove, and Vimeo.
Depending on their target audiences, some of these marketplaces can be the right choice for your content. For musicians and creators working in music, InPlayer is a good space to look into.
On the other hand, if you wish to monetize your videos with ads directly on your website, Brightcove could offer the solution for you.
What all these platforms have in common is their own monetization options, including ad revenue, donations, brand partnerships, and sponsored content. Although you would definitely have to work on creating good content and marketing it to get more views, the monetization process is entirely covered by the marketplace.
Another valuable aspect of monetizing your videos via an established platform is their infrastructure in delivering the ads. When it comes to video advertising, the backend of the process is complex, so a well-developed website should have adequate support for running in-stream ads.
Creating Videos For Your Community
Another way to monetize your video content is to use paid subscriptions, donations, and other forms of membership by gathering your community on a platform such as Patreon.
Patreon helps you monetize your creativity through the direct support of your fans online. Subscribers to your Patreon profile would pay for you to keep publishing amazing content, and in return, you can offer many perks to the paying members:
- Exclusive content
- First-cut versions before publication
- Behind-the-scenes videos
- The merchandise you develop for them
You can charge a recurring fee for your most loyal fans and set a pricing system for different membership levels.
Live streaming is another effective way for creators and brands with loyal communities to monetize their videos. Platforms such as Twitch and Uscreen enable you to charge viewers to watch your video live.
Twitch started as a live gaming streaming app, but nowadays, many creators use it to feature their talents and make money. Illustrators, martial artists, graphic designers, and many others are successful members of the Twitch talent pool.
Live Streaming is an excellent opportunity for creators who work with educational videos. Whether you are a yoga instructor or an astrophysicist, live-streamed courses and classes can be monetized by charging the fee to attendees.
A platform designed to help you with gathering a community of your own and hosting courses for your groups is Mighty Networks. This online solution is designed for those wishing to turn their videos into a business and build a community around their brand.
Affiliate Marketing Opportunities on Social Media
Affiliate marketing is yet another way to monetize your videos on YouTube. It is also an efficient way to make money by creating videos on social media platforms.
Advertising their product online can be expensive for many brands. But aside from social media ad costs, promoting with in-stream ads doesn’t contribute much to building brand trust.
This is why many brands collaborate with digital creators and influencers; this is where you come in. Partnering with a brand and promoting them to your audience within the video can bring added value to the brand and revenue to you.
Many creators on YouTube make frequent use of affiliate and influence marketing. It is important to be smart about deciding which brand to promote–it needs to offer genuine value to your audience, otherwise it can reflect poorly on your reputation.
Let me illustrate with an example. A creator running a YouTube channel The Infographics Show is partnering up with Dashline, a software that stores your password and takes care of your safety online.
In his video “The Coder Who Became a Criminal Mastermind – Paul Le Roux,” he organically includes a reference to online safety and uses it to promote his partners.
For their affiliate program, the creator offers a 10% discount on Dashline Premium to his viewers who use his code when purchasing the software subscription. Now, for every new subscriber that purchases Dashline with his code, he gets a percentage of the revenue the software company makes.
Let’s dive deeper into how you can monetize your videos on three popular social media platforms: Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest, by using affiliate marketing.
Instagram: Visual Storytelling and Influencer Marketing
Among all social media platforms, Instagram is the one that took advantage of our passion for visually appealing content and brought our social media reality to a whole new level.
Both images and videos are highly engaging on Instagram, as the platform maintains to keep different generations as active or passive scrollers. This is why video content creators have a big chance to monetize their videos with affiliate or influencer marketing successfully.
The key requirement for increasing and attracting brands who wish to be promoted by you is to build a strong profile with many engaged followers. But what is the difference between affiliate and influencer marketing?
I’m glad you asked. As we mentioned in the example above, affiliate programs operate so that you receive money every time one of your viewers signs up for your partner’s product with your code.
On the other hand, as an influencer on Instagram, you get paid to mention a particular brand on your page. We are talking about a standard one-time fee for involving the brand’s name in one of your videos.
An example where affiliate programs work on Instagram is the fashion industry. Fashion bloggers and vloggers usually get free samples of the product they wear in the videos, inspiring others to order the same items. They have their discount code, which is how the brands track and reward their affiliate partners.
Instagram itself is starting an affiliate program for creators. It is currently in a testing phase and has yet to be available in all countries.
TikTok: Short-form Videos and Viral Content
TikTok’s explosive growth and short-form video format make it an ideal platform for affiliate marketing.
Here are our best tips to succeed as a video creator on TikTok:
- Create entertaining, educational, or humorous videos that resonate with your target audience.
- Incorporate trending challenges, catchy music, and engaging editing techniques to capture viewers’ attention.
- Integrate affiliate promotions naturally within your videos, showcasing products or services in a creative and relatable manner.
- Utilize TikTok’s link in bio feature to direct users to your affiliate links or partner with brands for sponsored videos.
- Engage with the TikTok community by participating in duets, collaborations, and challenges to increase your visibility and reach a wider audience.
To scale your turnover, you can use TikTok analytics tools to track the engagement and reach of your content. TikTok platform offers significant support to creators, helping them get permission to sell products, receive samples, and add products to their showcase.
Pinterest: Visual Inspiration and Affiliate Product Discovery
Pinterest is yet another visual platform that engages users with images and video content. This is why it represents another opportunity for video creators to monetize their work.
One of the ways to excel in your video content on Pinterest is to create visually appealing and informative pins that showcase affiliate products or services. Other optimization strategies can be helpful to increase the reach of your pin, such as clear keywords, descriptions, and CTA buttons.
Niche-specific boards are an excellent strategy to attract a particular audience and make a collection of products and ideas appealing to them. An important aspect of staying relevant on Pinterest is to be consistent and maintain the high quality of your videos. Engage with the Pinterest community by repinning, commenting, and following relevant accounts to build relationships and attract more followers.
You can also make money on Pinterest by joining the Pinterest Partner Program. This program lets you share sponsored content when promoting products and generate direct income.
Cross-promotion and Multi-platform Strategies
While each platform offers unique opportunities, adopting a multi-platform approach is crucial to maximizing affiliate marketing success. Cross-promote your affiliate content across Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest to reach a wider audience and diversify your income streams.
Create cohesive branding across platforms to maintain consistency and strengthen your online presence. Tailor your content to suit each platform’s audience and engagement dynamics.
For example, create longer-form product reviews on YouTube and promote them on other social media platforms. Share shortcuts for Instagram and TikTok audiences, inviting them to check out the full video from the link in your bio.
Utilize social media management tools to schedule and automate your content distribution, allowing you to focus on creating high-quality affiliate promotions.
Over to You
While YouTube is a dominant video-sharing platform, it’s essential to diversify your presence across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience and expand your monetization opportunities.
Consider platforms like Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, which have their own monetization options such as ad revenue, live streaming donations, brand partnerships, and sponsored content.
Experiment with different platforms, analyze their audience demographics, and adapt your content to each platform’s requirements. And although there are multiple opportunities for video monetization on each platform, nothing stops you from combining different monetization strategies.
You can create videos for YouTube, allow them to be monetized with in-stream ads, promote your affiliate partners to thank them for their support, and invite your audience to support you on Patreon for exclusive videos or ad-free content.
Bottom line, monetizing your videos on multiple platforms requires a combination of quality content, strategic partnerships, and understanding your audience. And even though the opportunities emerge every day, the core of successful video monetization is the content’s quality, consistency, and originality. Good luck!