Maximizing Your Contents Worth: The Ultimate Guide to Content Monetization in 2023

Content creators are always exploring new methods to earn profit on online  platforms doing what they love. There are many ways to monetize your content on TikTok, meet sponsors on Instagram, or make the most out of content monetization platforms. 

Social media is constantly evolving, with shifting trends, attention spans and latest technology. To be a successful creator in 2023, it’s not just about content – but also about how you utilize new technologies, trends, and monetization tools to their full potential.

In this guide, we will be diving into the endless possibilities of making money on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. We are also going to look at some new monetization tools (that you might not know about) that are guaranteed to skyrocket your earnings along the way. 

Let's get started.

Introduction to The Concept of Monetization 

In order to reap the maximum amount of benefits from your social presence, it is necessary to understand what content monetization is and how to do it in order to thrive as a creator. 

Content monetization is the ability to generate revenue from your content – either directly or indirectly. There are countless ways to do it, the most common of which are advertising and affiliate marketing. 

Creators also enter into collaborations with brands and get sponsorships for your content, so you can also keep making money doing what you love.

Your top priority should be to get to know your audience, what interests them, and what topics you can pursue better to get more engagements. Only the creators who stay relevant and relatable to their audience leave a lasting impact to generate revenue. The monetization regulations and community guidelines keep updating every day, so you must be connected with the ongoing changes in trends so that you can best optimize your content strategy.

Why is it harder for small-to-medium size creators? 

Social media monetization is highly rewarding, however, it's also extremely competitive. There are subscription platforms that give you the opportunity to raise funds directly from your followers, that can help you earn big and get the support you need. 

But 90% of all creators combine premium content with free content. Which means, for example, almost every creator that offers free content on YouTube has some kind of Patreon subscription. With every new creator on the market, the competition grows not only on free platforms like YouTube but also on subscription platforms like Patreon, Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee and so on.

What does that mean for new creators? The audiences are already used to getting bombarded with ads from creators to join their Patreon. And when you get repetitive ads from hundreds of creators, you as a consumer start ignoring them (even if you want to support your favorite creators). 

To fix stagnation in the market, we created Paysenger that raises financial support for creators for them so they can focus on creativity. On our platform, the only thing that determines how much financial support you can get is your creativity – you don't need to go out of your way and ask for support in your videos.

Monetization on Paysenger is done primarily through a token called EGO, which is paid out to top performing content. EGO is also used on Paysenger for content-based transactions – people can purchase content from you (such as videos, audios and photos) and also resell it as NFTs on the platform's marketplace. It's a full content economy designed to help creators produce high-quality content.

Some of the main features include: 

• On-demand content: As a creator, get paid for fulfilling content requests from your audiences, brands and sponsors.
• Get supported by followers who can't afford to pay you: According to our research, less than 5% of your followers purchase your premium subscription. Over 90% are those who would like to purchase your subscription but don't have the resources to do so (or they are tied up between premium subscriptions from multiple creators and don't want to purchase another one). On Paysenger, ALL of your followers can support you financially by taking actions such as giving likes, commenting and participating in your contests.
• Collaborate with other creators:  Paysenger makes creator and sponsor collaborations very easy. You can easily get the attention of big influencers by sending out paid direct messages that immediately get their attention (instead of mass sending messages and hoping for a reply). Other people can also reach out to you in a similar way by paying for each message. Your time is worth money!

Find out more about Paysenger on iOS | Android | Web

Exploring the endless monetization opportunities on major platforms 

Let’s dive into all the ways that can turn your unique content into a sustainable revenue stream on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram

a. YouTube 

YouTube has been creators’ top choice for decades already. Being the biggest video streaming platform, YouTube offers you to make money from ad revenue and special channel subscriptions. Moreover, creators  can also sell their personalized merchandise, which has been an extremely successful strategy over the years as it provides fans a unique connection to their favorite content creators.

b. TikTok 

TikTok took the internet by storm with its short form content and endless scrolling. Traditionally, TikTokers could only make money through brand sponsorships but after a long wait, the platform has launched TikTok Creator Fund which rewards you based on your engagements. However, there are certain eligibility requirements, for example, the Creator Fund is only available to creators who are located in certain regions and you must have 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the past month to qualify. We think it’s still worth the effort! After all, it’s all for your passion!

c. Instagram 

Instagram is the go-to monetization platform for celebrities, influencers, and content creators as it’s used extensively by brands, sponsors and marketers to reach out to them. With Instagram’s shop features, creators can also sell merch and services, but that’s not it – the platform also compensates Reel video views through ad based revenue and access to Instagram Live Badge.

d. Paysenger 

Paysenger is the newest social media platform in the list and probably has the most easy-to-use monetization model. The platform uses a built-in token called EGO to carry out transactions between sponsors and creators. Every exchange on this platform is paid – people can send paid messages to creators or request paid on-demand content (such as shoutouts, sponsored posts or cameo videos). In addition, creators can offer subscriptions to their audiences and host hashtag challenges to grow their revenue.

Other features that the platform offers include: 

• The ability to mint posts into NFTs: Content you post on Paysenger or others pay you to post can be turned into NFT. This allows you to claim ownership and earn rewards for when the content goes viral. All content on Paysenger can be traded for tokens.
• Donate and earn at the same time: Automatically donate a portion of earnings to a charity of your choice through Paysenger’s charity partners.
• Grow your following through Profile Posts: Unlike Patreon and other subscription platforms, Paysenger offers Instagram-like social media features such as posting, hashtags and sponsored posts that help you grow your followers and reach out to new audiences. All of these posts can be monetized to earn tokens.

How Others Are Monetizing their Content 

The Best Show, Comedy Podcast: Tom Schrapling signed up on Patreon in 2014, turning his comedy show into a premium podcast. He took all of his fans to Patreon, who supported him for his hilarious interviews with other comedians, artists and musicians. He offers 5 tiers from $1 to $50 a month. Members who subscribe to higher tiers, can reach out to Tom and join his AMA.

Strange Rebel Gaming, a YouTube Channel, has around 200,000 subscribers. Despite the low follower count, Briana White, the channel’s owner still managed to scale their earnings by offering $100/month subscription to premium subscribers. The subscription allows fans to pick video games for her to review. According to her, that’s her most popular subscription offer and she doesn’t need to rely solely on YouTube ad revenue.

Swift Lessons is a YouTube channel with 800,000 plus subscribers on which Rob Swift, the channel’s host, teaches people how to play guitar. Rob offers his premium subscribers exclusive videos, guitar sheets and custom guitar tabs for $1/month. 

While these creators are doing great, their premium models bind audiences into a recurring monthly subscription to get exclusive content. This might put off a lot of people, especially those who already own recurring subscriptions from other creators.

On Paysenger, creators can fulfill one-time requests or services as well. This allows fans to request a special one-of-a-kind video, audio or photo for a one-time fee without needing to commit to a monthly subscription. 

Monetization on YouTube: Is it really that complicated? 

We all must have searched for ways to make money through YouTube at least once in our lives. 

Here we have a step-by-step guide to earn money from YouTube without a hassle: 

• Enter the YouTube Partner Program (YPP): Don’t forget to register as a YouTube Partner before you start posting videos. And then hit 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours in the past year to enable monetization on your account.
• Enable monetization in your channel settings: Once you have enough followers and watch hours, you can easily turn on monetization in your channel settings and start your journey to earn online.
• Personalize ad formats: YouTube allows creators to personalize ad placement tailored to their audience preferences. You can select from a range of skippable video ads, display ads, overlay ads and non-skippable video ads. 
• Updating the content for better monetization: Once you become a YouTube Partner, your content needs to comply with the platform’s policies. In addition, it needs to be of very high quality to provide earnings and boost engagement.
• Promoting your platform: Creators have to do their own marketing. Share your content across other platforms. Content that has traffic coming from multiple platforms is considered “credible” by YouTube’s algorithm.

How to monetize TikTok 

TikTok short-form content and its endless scrolling model offers excellent opportunities to grow your audience and generate revenue along the way. Let’s see how:

• Enter the TikTok Creator Fund: Just like other platforms, entering the TikTok Creator Fund is the first step to monetizing your videos on TikTok. As mentioned above, the bare minimum for TikTok is 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views, which does not take that long if you have a loyal audience and highly engaging content.
• Post engaging content: In short-form content, your story-telling needs to be at the highest level in order to attract audiences. The more engaged your audience is, the closer you are to reaching your maximum earning potential.
• Brand partnerships: TikTokers receive the highest number of brand sponsorship requests. But the key here is to connect with brands already in your niche. Their values and ideas should resonate with yours. 
• Affiliate marketing: People love getting exclusive discounts on quality products. Use affiliate marketing to its full potential and see the dollars roll in

Do this to monetize Instagram 

Instagram was the first platform to introduce the concept of influencers and sponsorships to the public – and it’s still a top choice for millions of creators.

• Focus on having a strong brand foundation: Creators and influencers need to have their personal unique brand in their niche, so they can get noticed more often and have a higher probability of success.
• Build a community: Brand value is measured in terms of engagements, followers and creator-to-community interaction. Stay relevant, use trendy hashtags and ensure that your content is of the highest quality you can offer.
• Utilizing instagram monetization: Instagram offers monetizing features such as “shoppable posts”, Instagram Live Badges and Reels compensation for views.
• Sell merch: When you have a decent following, it’s time to create merch! This is the most profitable way to generate income. This could be personalized clothing, perfumes, action figures or whatever that fits your brand image.

Monetize in seconds with Paysenger’s Creator Tools 

Paysenger combines monetization tools from subscription platforms such as Patreon and Ko-fi as well as social networking features from Instagram.

The platform offers a plethora of money-making features. Everyone can benefit from monetization and there are no strict qualification requirements. In fact, the system is designed to automatically help creators turn their content into earnings round-the-clock.

• Take paid content requests: As a creator, post your offers or “services” on your profile and your audiences can easily request unique content from you. For example, a brand can easily request a sponsored shoutout in seconds and pay you directly using the app’s interface.
• Offer exclusive content: Through subscriptions and one-time content requests, produce exclusive content for your audiences and get paid for each order.
• Earn revenue for going viral: Every like and comment you get on your content pays you tokens. This not only applies to videos, but also general social media posts, including photos, text posts and audios.
• Collaborate with others: Extend your reach and monetization potential by collaborating with other creators. Content produced in collaboration with others splits the revenue among the two parties and pays everyone involved automatically.
• “Sell” your content as NFTs: Everything on Paysenger is mintable. Meaning, everything you post including photos, videos or audios have long-term monetization potential. NFTs can be sold or traded freely on Paysenger’s NFT marketplace. Each time someone buys your NFT or resells it, you earn a royalty for being its creator.

Build a Winning Monetization Strategy Across All Platforms 

Your main priority should be to find a way to get the most out of all platforms. Here are the key ingredients to come up with a successful monetization strategy.

• Expand your social presence: The landscape of social media monetization keeps evolving, and the last thing you need is to put all of your eggs in one basket. Diversify your income sources. Post content on all platforms and use as many monetization tools as possible – including subscription, paid on-demand content, affiliate marketing, ad revenue and brand sponsorships.
• Build a reputation: Companies and brands are more likely to partner with creators who have a high level of audience engagement on all platforms.
• Market your content: Social media platforms are more likely to send more traffic to you if you’re bringing traffic from other sites. Use each platform to its advantage and move audiences from one platform to another.
• Tailor your content to each platform: Creators change the way they talk to their audiences depending on the platform. Each network has its own style, humor and content format. For example, TikTok is all about short-form videos with its own style of captions and content format. YouTube is more about long-form videos. Don’t try to break the flow of content on current platforms by producing something out of place.

Use these tools to implement your strategy 

Let’s talk a little bit about implementation. How do you know you’re heading in the right direction? Also: what can you do to improve your strategy? Use these tools:

• Google AdSense: Whether you’re looking to generate revenue through your website, blog or YouTube channel, use Google Adsense to earn ad revenue on the side.
• Amazon Associates: Affiliate marketing sounds great but what’s the easiest way to actually do it? The answer is Amazon Associates! It enables creators to generate commissions from product sales by sharing affiliate links.
• Shopify: Shopify is the best way to open your own online store to sell merch and other products. It’s easy to set up and helps you get going without breaking the bank.
• Teespring: If you’re going to be selling clothes, then you should consider Teespring as a Shopify alternative to sell custom clothing and other accessories.
• Canva: Canva lets you create great-looking designs without needing to know how to use Photoshop (or hiring a graphics designer). It enables anyone to generate attractive thumbnails, inspirational Instagram posts and much more!

Conclusion: What to do next?

Creators have done big things on social networks. However, the barrier of entry for small to medium-size creators is becoming more and more demanding.
There’s an entire sea of creators out there who are all looking to monetize their content. Competition on traditional platforms is severe and continues to grow. That’s why it’s important to combine some modern platforms – such as Paysenger to benefit from new monetization tools and turn your content into a stable business.

Paysenger is still in its early growth phase – the platform is growing at a steady rate and creators right now are getting a lot more exposure. Most creators who started early on TikTok, for example, did really well just because they adopted the platform before others did.
Don’t miss the opportunity on Paysenger! Join now before it’s too late.

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