7 Creative Ways to Make Money Through Social Media – Without Going on Camera
Written by
Chris Adam
Edited by
Maria Concepcion
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Maybe you feel ready to turn your love for social media into money. You could certainly try to be an influencer and grow your audience.
But maybe you’re not really interested in being on camera and becoming a social media star. Yet, you’re still interested in using the power of social media to make money.
If that’s you, here’s a look at seven creative ways you could go about doing so. Also check out how the middle class can make extra money a week from home.
Being a Content Creator
Perhaps this is a good launching point if you already enjoy creating content like videos or written stories on social media. You could become a content creator and focus on social media.
How do content creators make money? According to Forbes, “… cultivate brand sponsorships to leverage their following for product endorsements or sell products and services directly to their followers. Another way is to build a paid membership program on platforms such as Patreon and YouTube where paid subscribers can access exclusive content.”
Running YouTube Channels
You don’t need to be on camera to make money with a YouTube channel. You can create videos that use graphics and images to grow your audience.
Matt Par, from the Make Money Matt YouTube channel, said this is one of the top ways to make money through social media without going on camera. You can get extra help once you reach a certain level through the YouTube Partner Program.
Selling Courses
If you have expertise in an area and enjoy social media, you could make money by selling courses. You’ve probably seen ads for these kinds of courses on your own social media feeds.
Instead of showing your face on camera, you could come up with other creative ways to do the courses. For instance, you could talk over slides of information and demonstrate something such as online marketing techniques or how to build a website. Once you have a course ready, you could market it on YouTube and social platforms like Instagram.
Running Instagram or TikTok Accounts
Speaking of Instagram, you may be able to tap into other methods of using the social media platform to make money. Par said he knows a lot of people who run faceless theme pages on Instagram.
“They create an account on a subject, let’s say about business,” Par said. “They literally just post faceless images of different quotes, motivation related to it and so forth. And they use good hashtags, follow other people on top accounts, make sure they’re engaging with people and slowly but surely they grow big accounts.”
How do they make money? According to Par, they sell shoutouts. Those are simply ads for a product, service or another person’s account. You could try similar strategies on TikTok.
Affiliate Marketing
If you haven’t heard of affiliate marketing, it can be a way to make some serious money through social media.
“The process works by promoting specific products or services through engaging posts, in-depth reviews and compelling narratives,” according to Forbes. “These marketers typically embed an affiliate link into their content and then earn commissions from sales made through unique referral codes or links.”
Running an E-commerce Store
While you can run an e-commerce store without going on camera, it may require a significant time commitment.
As you might imagine, running an e-commerce store requires coming up with the idea of what you’ll sell, where you’ll sell it, how you’ll sell it and how you’ll obtain the products. With all of this work and planning, it might not be the best option for everyone.
In fact, according to Par, “I think digital e-commerce and selling your own digital products is a lot better.” However, if you’re able to get your own e-commerce store up and running, you can earn good money.
Teaming Up With Businesses
Perhaps you want to partner with a business or some businesses to make money through social media. You could even try some of the ways we mentioned earlier on behalf of a small business to earn money.
For instance, perhaps you team up with a business to become a social media content creator for them, and then your work will be featured on their social accounts. This may be especially easy and rewarding if you work with a business or brand that you like and has values similar to your own.
You could try a few ways to connect with businesses and brands. There might be LinkedIn contacts you could use for outreach. You could also possibly message brands you enjoy following on social media. Finally, you may try in-person pitches with small businesses in your area.
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