How To Make Money On TikTok (Complete Guide)
Want to learn how to make money on TikTok? I’ve got you covered.
In this post, I’ll be sharing 17 monetization strategies you can use to start making real money on TikTok.
That includes a few secret methods that most creators don’t know about, but which can substantially increase your earnings.
And don’t worry, you don’t need millions of followers for these tips to work. Even small creators can make thousands of dollars a month with these strategies.
#1 – Sell branded merch the easy way
Hands-down the best way to earn money on TikTok is to sell branded merchandise directly to your audience.
I’m talking about products like t-shirts, mugs, stickers, wall art, beer cozies, etc. that are custom-printed with something relevant to your brand on TikTok.
That might be your channel logo/artwork, a quote from one of your viral videos, or anything else.
You’d be surprised at how easy this is to do. All you have to do is sign up for a print-on-demand platform. I’d recommend Sellfy.
Once you’ve signed up, Sellfy will instantly build an online storefront for you. After that, you can browse the built-in print-on-demand catalog and choose the products you want to sell.
Then, upload and add your designs to them, set a price, and add them to your store in a few clicks. From there, you can start promoting them on TikTok to drive sales.
When a customer buys a product from your store, Sellfy will print it for you at one of their global manufacturing centers and ship it straight to the customer. You don’t have to lift a finger.
Sellfy will bill you for the base product and fulfillment costs after each sale, and the difference between those costs and the price you sell for is your profit margin.
The great thing about this monetization method is you don’t have to buy any stock up front and you only pay for what you sell, so it’s virtually risk-free. And you can earn a ton of money.
Think about it: If you make $10 per merch sale, you only have to make 100 sales to earn $1,000 a month. And if you get 100,000 video views on TikTok in a given month, that only requires you to convert 0.1% of those viewers to customers. That should be easily doable.
The neat thing about using Sellfy is that you can also use your store to sell your own stock in the future. Digital products and subscriptions are supported too.
Read this complete Sellfy review to learn more.
#2 – Join the TikTok Rewards Program
The TikTok Rewards Program replaced the TikTok Creator Fund. It rewards eligible creators for creating great content by paying them based on their video performance.
You need at least 10k followers and 100k video views in the last 30 days to sign up. And you can apply by going to your TikTok Profile > Menu > TikTok Studio > Creator Rewards Program. It takes around 3 days for your application to be reviewed once submitted.
Once you’re in, you’ll start earning rewards on original TikTok videos you share (i.e. no duets, reposts, or stitches) that are over one minute long and get at least 1,000 views on the For You Page (FYP).
The amount you earn depends on your RPM (Revenue Per Mille). This is a metric that calculates your average earnings per thousand views.
RPM varies between creators and can be as low as $0.02, going all the way up to $1. However, the vast majority of creators I’ve spoken to earn towards the bottom end of that scale ($0.02-$0.05).
So even for a million views, you’re unlikely to earn more than a hundred bucks, which is a lot less than you deserve.
You’ll need to add to the revenue you earn through the Rewards Program with some of the other methods in this list if you want to earn a full-time income on TikTok.
#3 – Monetize your knowledge with online courses
There are a lot of creators on TikTok making six- or even seven-figure incomes by selling online courses to their audience.
Ask yourself: What skills or knowledge do I have that other people might want to learn?
For example, maybe you’re great at drawing manga characters in Procreate. Maybe you’re a whizz at video editing in Final Cut Pro. Or maybe you just know how to grow a TikTok following super quickly.
Whatever it is, package that knowledge into a series of video or text lessons, and compile them into an online course.
You can do this easily with online course platforms. I’d recommend Thinkific. It has an intuitive online course builder and player, as well as everything else you need to put together your online course website and manage students.
Once you’ve created your online course, use TikTok to promote it.
Start a niche account aimed at your target customers, and create fun, informative, or entertaining videos around whatever topic your course is focused on. And add a CTA at the end of each video and in your profile bio letting your viewers/followers know about your course.
#4 – Promote other people’s products (affiliate marketing)
Affiliate marketing is when you promote someone else’s product and in return, you earn a commission on each sale you refer.
Usually, that commission is around 10-20% of the sale price but it varies depending on the program you sign up for.
But as an example, if you share a link on TikTok promoting a product worth $200 with a 10% commission rate, and one of your viewers/followers clicks that link and buys the product within the cookie window, you get paid $20.
You can get started by searching affiliate marketing networks for programs with products that are a good fit for your niche (i.e. something your viewers might want). Then, sign up, grab your affiliate link, and make videos promoting them.
You can also find affiliate products (and sell them) on TikTok Shop, which we’ll talk more about later.
TikTok page @dealspie is a good example of this monetization strategy. The page is all about ‘useful Amazon finds’ and regularly shares posts featuring must-have affiliate gadgets and products, which often rack up hundreds of thousands of views.
#5 – Find brand deals and get paid for brand partnerships
One of the most popular ways to make money on TikTok is to acquire brand deals with outside companies.
Typically, these brands will pay you to post sponsored content to your TikTok page that promotes their product/services. They might also pay you to create ad content or make short promotional videos that you don’t have to post yourself, but that they can use in their campaigns.
Some brands might even pay you to become a ‘brand ambassador’, which is more of a long-term campaign in which you act as the face of a brand, rather than just sharing a one-off post.
You can connect with brands to explore paid partnership opportunities through the TikTok Creator Marketplace.
A lot of creators also manage to score brand deals by reaching out to companies directly via cold emails and social media messages.
#6 – Complete Branded Missions to earn insane money
Branded Missions are one of my favorite ways to make money on TikTok because they have the potential to pay a lot. Plus, they’re fun.
You can think of them like mini video challenges. Brands create detailed briefs outlining the challenge—which usually involves making a specific type of video with a branded hashtag—and reward, then share them in the creator program as a Branded Mission.
You can choose the missions you want to participate in. If the brand selects your video, they’ll promote it as an ad to amplify it. You get paid based on the amount of views, and I’ve heard of creators earning upwards of $5,000 from a single video when they’re selected.
#7 – Join the ultra-secret TikTok Creative Challenge program
The TikTok Creative Challenge is one of the least well-known TikTok monetization programs as it’s fairly hidden within TikTok’s UI, which is a shame because you can earn a lot of money from it.
In the program, you make UGC-style TikTok ads for brands (often for things like mobile games). TikTok runs the ads and you earn a commission based on their performance. You don’t have to post anything to your own page—you just make the content.
There are guaranteed bonuses so you can be sure you’ll always get paid at least something, but you’ll earn a lot more if the ad performs well.
I know of creators making 5-figures a month from this program alone, but you’ll need to put in a lot of work to reach those kinds of figures. I’m talking 10+ ad videos a week. A lot of brands will also send you products for free to help you make the ads, which is a nice bonus.
You’ll need 50k followers to be eligible to join the TikTok Creative Challenge.
#8 – Set Up a TikTok Shop
Another easy way to make money on TikTok is to sell products through a TikTok Shop.
With a TikTok Shop, you can create shoppable videos in which users can tap the product link in your video and checkout without ever having to leave the app.
To get started, sign up as a seller and either sell your own products e.g. branded merch (see tip #1) or use it to promote your affiliate products (see tip #4).
#9 – Sell digital products on TikTok
We talked earlier about how you can sell physical products like branded merch on TikTok to earn a lot of money.
Another option is to sell digital products like ebooks, printables, templates, digital art, etc.
The great thing about this is that selling digital products has almost no overheads so profit margins are virtually 100%.
You don’t have to worry about things like shipping or manufacturing either. And you only have to create a digital product once, but you can sell it over and over again an unlimited number of times.
TikTok page @talesofmorrow uses their TikTok videos to promote their upcoming solo-dev game, Tales of Morrow. As you can see, they’ve been incredibly successful with hundreds of thousands of followers and many of their videos getting millions of views. You can bet many of those followers will buy the game when it launches.
#10 – Join the TikTok Star Creator Program
The TikTok Star Creator Program is another secret monetization method that a lot of creators don’t know about.
It’s invite-only and to be eligible, you’ll need to be a TikTok Shop creator who generates at least $150k in GMV.
Once you’re in, you’ll get paid to go live on TikTok and share content. You can earn up to $600 for a 3-hour stream, plus additional bonuses on top of that.
There’s also the TikTok Star Beauty Creator Program, which is a similar program geared towards beauty creators.
#11 – Turn on Video Gifts and collect Diamonds
Video Gifts are a way for TikTok users to support their favorite creators, kind of like tips.
When a viewer sends you a gift, you keep 50% of the Diamonds they used to purchase it. And you can ‘cash out’ your Diamonds for money or items.
You’ll need at least 10k followers to be eligible to receive Video Gifts. If you’re eligible, you can turn on the feature by going to your profile > Menu > TikTok Studio > Monetization > Video Gifts. Then, toggle the Gifts setting on.
Tip: You’ll earn more money through Video Gifts if you’re consistently putting out original, engaging content. Check out these TikTok video ideas for inspiration.
#12 – Go LIVE to earn more through LIVE Gifts
LIVE Gifts are just like Video Gifts, except that viewers send them to you when you’re livestreaming, rather than on individual videos.
I’ve found that viewers are much more likely to send you gifts when you’re live as livestreams are more interactive than regular videos. A lot of creators will thank or shout out viewers who send them gifts in real time while they’re live, which provides an additional incentive.
To turn on LIVE Gifts, click Settings on the LIVE screen. Then, toggle Gifts on or off. When you end your stream, you should be able to see the total number of Diamonds you collected via Gifts in the summary.
#13 – Ask your viewers for donations
The problem with Gifts is that TikTok takes 50% of the donation as their cut. Fortunately, Gifts aren’t the only way to collect tips on TikTok..
Instead, you can use a third-party platform like Buy Me A Coffee to collect donations and use TikTok to promote it and drive traffic.
Add a link in your bio and add a CTA to the end of your TikTok videos inviting your viewers to donate to the channel through the link if they would like to support you.
#14 – Join the Work With Artists program
The Work For Artists program is another little-known monetization program on TikTok, in which creators are paid for posting videos that include specific audio.
The amount you earn depends on the performance of the videos you submit, but I’ve heard of creators earning $800+ from a single video.
You need at least 50k followers to be eligible, and you should be able to apply through your Creator tools.
#15 – Sell premium content with TikTok Series
TikTok Series provides a way for eligible TikTok creators to lock exclusive content behind a paywall.
You can have up to 80 videos in your TikTok Series, and viewers can unlock them by purchasing access to your Series through your video links or profile. When they do, you get paid.
You’ll need at least 10k followers to sign up for Series, as well as at least 1k views and 3 posts within the last 30 days. If you meet those requirements, tap your Profile in the TikTok app, then click Menu > TikTok Studio > Series and follow the on-screen instructions to join.
#16 – Use TikTok to promote your YouTube channel (or other socials)
One of the problems with TikTok is that you don’t earn much money through ad revenue—the average RPM in the TikTok Rewards Program is much, much lower compared to platforms like YouTube.
Anecdotally, the average RPM of YouTube ads can be anywhere from $1-$2, all the way up to $15+. That means that for 100k views on YouTube, you can expect to earn $100-$1,500. On TikTok, you’d be lucky to get ten bucks for the same number of views.
As such, a lot of creators use their TikTok as a springboard to funnel viewers over to their YouTube channel or other social media platforms, where they can better monetize them.
One way to do this is to create a long-form 10-minute video on YouTube, and then promote it with multiple 1-minute videos on TikTok, with a CTA at the end reminding users to check out the full video.
#17 – Grow TikTok accounts and then sell them
There are a lot of brands and creators out there willing to pay good money to get a head-start on TikTok.
As such, a lot of creators make money by organically growing a TikTok account to a sizeable following, and then selling it outright.
There are a few marketplaces that facilitate these sales, like Fameswap. Alternatively, it’s possible to find buyers privately on sites like Discord and Reddit.
Just keep in mind that buying and selling accounts is against TikTok’s terms of service so there’s a risk of getting banned if you go down this route.
Final thoughts
That’s it for this complete guide to making money on TikTok—I hope you found it useful.
Overall, the best way to make money on TikTok is to sell something directly to your audience. I’d recommend branded merch as it’s easy to make and sell with print-on-demand suppliers like Sellfy, but you can also try selling online courses, digital products, etc.
Promoting affiliate offers is another good option, and you can increase your earnings through Tiktok’s various internal monetization programs like TikTok Rewards, Branded Missions, TikTok Creative Challenge, Work With Artists, etc.
While you’re here, check out these social media scheduling tools and contest apps that can help you get more TikTok views and followers. You might also find these influencer marketing statistics interesting.
Related Reading:
- How To Make Money On Instagram (Complete Guide)
- How To Make And Sell Merch On YouTube (The Easy Way)
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