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1. Join the TikTok Creativity Program
Users who’ve built up a substantial following might consider making money through the TikTok Creativity Program. Announced in February 2023 and launched that May, this program replaces the TikTok Creator Fund.
U.S.-based creators with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 authentic video views within the past 30 days are eligible to join this program.
Eligibility:
Users must be at least 18 years old to sign up
Users must meet the minimum follower and video view requirements
User accounts need to be in good standing
Creators already enrolled in the TikTok Creator Fund can upgrade to the Creativity Program2. Sell merch
Selling your own products on TikTok is great for monetizing nearly any type of content. Creators—whether they’re dancers, singers, or comedians—can make and sell merch for their most loyal fans.
And with a wide variety of print-on-demand companies on the market, there’s a ton of merchandise to choose from. You might sell t-shirts, tote bags, pillow cases, hats, coffee mugs, stickers, notebooks, or any combination of products.
Selling print-on-demand products even has benefits beyond revenue. Owning branded merch gives your fans a deeper connection to your personal brand, and every follower who wears your merch spreads the word about your business.
3. Go live for virtual gifts
Most social networks have a livestreaming feature, but what makes TikTok unique is that it allows followers to show their appreciation in real time by sending virtual gifts, which can be redeemed for payment. LIVE Gifting is one of TikTok’s most useful features for creators looking to monetize their content through livestreaming.
Engaging with users in real time is great for building valuable relationships with your fans. Audiences that have a strong connection to a creator tend to develop a personal stake in their success, which means going live can help boost other monetization streams as well.
If you create or sell products online, livestreaming is an opportunity to showcase your items. Many ecommerce retailers have found that TikTok LIVE generates more interest from shoppers than live features on other social media apps.
For example, Dasha Derkach, founder of hair scrunchie business Enchanted Scrunch, saw a significant increase in sales after switching her social media marketing efforts from Instagram to TikTok.
One of the most innovative ways TikTok allows its creators to make money is through its Creator Marketplace.
The Creator Marketplace helps connect the right brands to the right influencers, facilitating partnerships in a way that’s fast and easy for both parties. TikTok makes it easy to create valuable sponsored content.
Brands looking to run an affiliate marketing campaign can browse the marketplace and quickly shuffle through content made by creators they know are open to collaboration.
The Creator Marketplace acts as an influencer agency, letting both sides indicate their willingness to work with one another. That relieves some of the awkwardness of approaching influencers, which marketers may have experienced with influencer marketing on other platforms.
TikTok Shop
Another way to make money on TikTok using affiliate links is through TikTok Shop. Shop is TikTok’s tool for in-app shopping, allowing users with business accounts to create shoppable videos and livestreams.
When using TikTok Shop, you can tag products when they feature in your videos. It’s a natural way to draw your viewers’ attention to an item that you want to promote.
You can also add product information and buy buttons to your content to drive traffic to your affiliate partner. If you run your affiliate business through a Shopify store, you can integrate directly with TikTok Shop to let users scroll through items from within the app.
TikTok Shop features reduce friction for your audience. Now, they don’t need to leave TikTok to find out more about your (or your affiliate partner’s) products.
5. Create in-feed ads
TikTok has a ton of great organic marketing opportunities, but if you’re willing to spend to expand the reach of your content, you might consider creating your own in-feed ads with the TikTok ads manager.
TikTok ads appear in users’ “For you” feeds and auto-play like any other TikTok video. With paid ads, you can make sure your videos are reaching audiences that are most interested in your products.
TikTok’s ad manager seamlessly integrates with Shopify. That means you can create TikTok ads, select a target audience, and track your ad’s performance—all from your Shopify store. TikTok really can be one of the best online marketing tools at your disposal.
6. Crowdfund projects
You put a lot of time and effort into creating content for your fans, so offering an easy, no-pressure way for them to give back is great for securing a regular income stream. That’s where crowdfunding can play a role as one of the most accessible money-making avenues for creators.
Crowdfunding can take many forms, depending on what type of funding you’re looking for. If you’re looking for startup funds for a specific project, you could use TikTok to rally your followers by setting up a funding goal and hosting live fundraising events.
If you’re looking to fund a specific project, here are some crowdfunding sites to explore.
Kickstarter: Kickstarter is the web’s most widely used and recognized crowdfunding platform, giving your fundraising credibility.
Indiegogo: If you don’t have a set funding target, you might prefer Indiegogo, which offers a more flexible fundraising goal, letting you receive funds after your deadline.
Fundable: Fundable lets startups offer equity in exchange for funding, making it a great tool for finding investors. Currently, though, Fundable is only available to users in the United States.
Crowdcube: Crowdcube offers companies that succeed in their fundraising goals exclusive benefits from their partner organizations through its Crowdcube Funded Club.
7. Collect tips
For a fast and easy way to accept donations, consider using a tipping platform. Tipping platforms work just like a real-life tip jar, and viewers who like your videos can thank you with a small donation. The option is available to fans, but not mandatory, and they can donate any amount they like at any time they want.
If this sounds more appealing to you, there are some great tipping platforms to check out.
TikTok’s native tipping feature: This is the easiest way to collect tips in-app, with a convenient button on your profile users can tap to pay you.
Tipeee: Tipeee doesn’t offer subscriptions, but its strength is its simplicity. On Tipeee, creators can set up a page for their fans to directly “tip” any amount they want, whenever they want.
Buy Me a Coffee: Buy Me a Coffee prides itself on being built for creators, as opposed to businesses. Like Tipeee, its strength is its simplicity. Followers are sent to a page where they can purchase as many “coffees” for the creator as they like. “Coffees,” in this case, are $1 payments that are transferred to the creator via PayPal or online banking.
Ko-fi: Ko-fi offers tips, memberships, and ways to offer users commissions for personalized content, like a custom tutorial or video chat.
8. Patreon subscriptions
Crowdfunding works for big projects, and tipping is the simplest way to collect funds quickly. But what if you’re looking to secure a more regular passive income stream? Try a creator-based subscription platform, like Patreon.
Subscription-based models of income work great for content creators, because you can keep individual subscription costs low and focus on growing your number of subscribers.
A low-cost subscription of, say, $1 a month is an easy sell to a single dedicated fan. If you have a lot of dedicated fans, those dollars start to add up.
Patreon is a large platform built to let creators and influencers generate revenue through paid memberships from their most loyal fans. On Patreon, you can set up membership tiers that allow you to offer exclusive content to your biggest supporters.
Alternatives exist (most notably Ko-fi, which also includes a tipping feature), but Patreon has the added benefit of brand awareness, which adds a level of trust from prospective supporters.
If you’re thinking a subscription service might be the best way of monetizing your TikTok account, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
Entice your fans with rewards. Audiences are likely to increase their donations if they get something worthwhile.
Thank your supporters directly. Make your fans feel appreciated and they’ll be more likely to keep supporting your work.
Promote your Patreon page. Fans can’t subscribe if they don’t know you’re offering them.
Keep subscription costs low. It’s easier to get $1 from 50 followers than to get $50 from one.
Create new content consistently. Paying audiences have higher expectations when it comes to how frequently you release new content.
