How do you make money with social media in 2024? Recently, I have been asked this question by my blog reader. So, here is an answer.
I think when it comes to social media if you think of social media you have different platforms.
You have YouTube, you have Facebook, you have LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and you also have Twitter.
I could go on, and on, and on, and on.
And there are new platforms coming up every single month, every single day.
If you look at social media as a platform I think it’s a very limited way of looking at it.
I simply look at social media as attention, it’s an eyeball.
I firmly believe that where attention goes, money flows.
It’s where people nowadays spend the majority of their time hanging out.
That’s where the attention goes, that’s where the eyeball is.
A long time ago the eyeballs could be in newspapers, they could be on TV.
But now it’s all on social media, that’s what social media is.
So how do you make money?
The question is how to convert that attention into money.
How to make money on Social Media in 2024? – 3 Proven Ways
#1 You could make money by selling something
If you have your product and service you’re using social media to get eyeballs, to get attention, get views.
And then you will convert that attention into a lead.
When you get the lead you may follow up with them.
- You may get them on the phone.
- You may drive them to your website.
- You may drive them to your webinar.
You’re selling your products and services, that’s one way to do it.
Another way you could do it is you actually don’t have a product and service, but you have fame, and you have a big following.
#2 You can make money via a brand deal
This is also called an endorsement deal, a recommendation.
Now brands and companies are paying you to access that attention, those eyeballs.
So let’s say you have 1 Lakh subscribers on YouTube.
Well, companies if it’s the right audience they’re willing to pay you a pretty large sum of money, even on Instagram, to do a single post, or to do a collaboration video, or an endorsement video.
That’s what they’re paying.
- They’re paying for that shortcut.
- They’re paying for that attention span.
- They’re paying for those views.
So you can do that as well, some kind of brand deal.
#3 You can do Affiliate Marketing on Social Media
You can also do some kind of collaboration where you are promoting maybe other people’s products and services.
It could be an affiliate marketing deal that you have got the attention, and you’re promoting other people’s offers.
You can make money that way too. But when it comes to social media there are many, many ways to make money.
And it is nowadays the line between social media and marketing is very blurry.
It’s not so much, oh, I do offline marketing, or I do direct mail, remember direct mail?
Or I do Facebook marketing.
Social media, it’s marketing because all these other channels, it could be offline channels, their attention is more difficult to get attention from the customers.
How many hours do most people spend on the phone?
People are watching more YouTube videos than watching TV.
People are reading more Facebook posts and news than reading newspapers.
And you can’t sell to them if they’re not paying attention to you.
Before if they’re gonna spend money with you they need to know you.
And if they don’t even know you exist, they’re not even paying attention to you, it’s very difficult to do anything to make a sale.
So you need to have a solid business model.
You need to have an offer that converts.
You need to have a product and service that people want to spend money on before you get that attention.
Because if your stuff sucks, more attention to something that’s lousy, that is not gonna make you rich.
That’s not gonna make you money.
So assuming you’ve got something that’s really, really good.
Now you get more attention to it.
You get more sales, you get more buyers.
Then you grow, and you scale from there.
Then you can scale your business very quickly because with social media you can reach billions of people around the world (snaps fingers) like that.
That’s what makes it good.
You’re putting that on steroids, right?
You’re getting way more people paying attention to your stuff.
Another mistake I see people make, especially young people, millennials.
Oh, yeah, I just want to be famous on social media.
Shitanshu, how can I build a social media following like you?
I say for what?
I mean, you are so young.
You don’t have enough experience.
You’ve got no substance yet, you have no substance.
A building that, gets more attention, that doesn’t do anything unless you want to be a singer, actor or some celebrity, you’re in the entertainment industry, that’s a different story.
But for most people, I mean, you’re a young dude.
You’re a young guy, a young girl, that’s not how you build a long-term business.
You might make a little bit of money short-term, but you are not gonna have success long-term.
You need to have depth, you need to have substance.
It’s like, oh, Shitanshu, I want to be a personal brand.
You’re 20 years old.
A brand of what, you can’t even know anything yet, build a brand on what?
When you build a brand you let the world know just how stupid you are,
how naive you are, how incompetent you are.
More eyeballs does not help unless you’re a genius.
If you are, good for you, I’m talking about most people.
So fame for the sake of fame is stupid.
I say, so you don’t just want to be famous, you want to be rich and famous.
It’s fortune and fame, more fame should bring you more fortune done properly.
That’s my take on it.
I think the downside when it comes to social media is there is a huge sacrifice you have to make.
I think people don’t address that, and I want to address that.
When it comes to social media when you’re creating content, when you are an influencer when you’re a thought leader, when you have so many people watching you and consuming your content it is not easy.
It is not easy to be prolific to be creating content all the time.
Just like now besides running all my companies I’m trying to squeeze in the time on my way somewhere to make a video to share what I know with you.
Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all these things, that it is not easy because you need to be creating all the time.
It is very exhausting, and it’s not easy.
And for most people you need to put in the time. You need to put in the effort.
And you may not see results in a while because social is about eyeballs.
It’s all about building trust with your target market, and with your followers.
So it’s not overnight, it’s not an overnight success.
So that is very, very difficult.
And the second thing about social media is once it’s on social media it is on social media.
Once you have chosen this path, just like I did, there’s no turning back.
- Knowing that it would affect my privacy.
- Knowing that I would get haters.
- Knowing that I would get criticism.
- Knowing that I need to sacrifice a lot.
Once you’re out there there is no turning back, you are out there.
Your stuff, it’s out there.
Once you’re that public figure that’s it.
So you have to ask yourself, is that what you want?
Because there are many ways to make money.
This is not the only way to make money.
There are many, many people who make a lot of money without being a public figure.
This happens to be what I like to do.
I like to teach, I like to share what I know.
I like to use my personal brand.
That happens to be my strength, and what I don’t mind doing, so then I’m okay.
But for most people, if you’re more introvert, and maybe that’s not what you want to do.
Maybe you don’t want to be recognized on the street.
Maybe you don’t want when you’re having lunch or dinner someone walked up to you and say, hey, can I take a photo with you?
Maybe that’s not what you want, I don’t mind, I’m okay.
I like meeting with people who consume my content, my fans, my followers.
I’m okay with that, maybe you’re not okay with that.
I would say that’s the biggest downside, there’s no going back.
Once you are on the internet you’re on the internet.
And this stuff doesn’t disappear, so you have to consider that.
I would say that’s it, so if you don’t mind that.
And say, you know what, I’m willing to sacrifice, I’m willing to pay that price.
Then by all means go all in social media.
Have a business model, have some substance, and deliver value to people.
Promote something that’s good, a good product, a good service.
And then you can make a lot of money.
