Last Updated on December 9, 2020

Social media has opened up a world of opportunities for people across the world. A woman who loves to travel can fund her trips with the help of a travel company ranging from Delta to Expedia. A man who spends his weekends fishing can make money on the side through a sporting goods retailer such as Bass Pro Shops.

Influencer marketing combines brands with social media users in their niche. If you are a fan of a particular activity or brand, then there are marketers who want to reach out to you.

You don’t have to be a social media guru to make money on Twitter or Instagram, but you can start to grow into one if you follow these steps. Keep reading to learn how to make money with social media through influencer marketing.

How to Make Money Using Social Media?

In order to make money using social media, you need to provide value to your audience as well as any brand you collaborate with as an influencer. Brands will pay top dollar to influencers that can provide quality promotional content to an engaged audience. Here are five ways you can make money using social media.

1. Choose Your Niche

If you want to make money on social media, then you need to find your expertise. While there are many successful generalists online, it’s hard to break out and get noticed when you don’t have a unique hook.

The wedding industry is a great example. The Knot is one of the top wedding brands around. You can either try to compete with The Knot or try to create something unique to go with it. Instead of creating a wedding-themed social channel, you can instead focus on the logistics of beach weddings or become a local wedding-venue expert for your area.

By becoming more niche, you can provide more value to your audience and stand out from the rest as a social media user who has something unique to say.

2. Choose Your Top Social Channels

Try as you might, you can’t make money on social media across five different channels right away. While the top brands can juggle multiple channels, smaller brands tend to feel overwhelmed with the need to keep up their content. Plus, you may end up just sharing the same content on all channels, isolating people who follow you across the web.

Instead, focus on one or two channels for now. Cat Man Chris has an active Facebook feed, while The Bloggess posts constantly on Twitter and Instagram. While they have other social channels, they also have their favorite platforms for a quick post.

In the same way that choosing your niche makes your efforts more effective, so does choosing a few social media channels to work on.

3. Post Regularly and Respond to Fans

Developing a brand and social outlet is easy, the hard part comes when you start to manage your social channels. Keeping up with a social account requires work, and many people abandon their accounts after a few months.

If you want to grow your fan base enough to make money on social media, then you need to be dedicated to your followers. Post regularly with topical updates, respond to comments and questions, and generally be active in the community. In a recent Intellifluence Influencer Spotlight interview, Vancouver-based influencer Leslie Rossi recommended posting something each and every day.

Some people spend hours each day responding to fans and connecting with people to build their social media following. If you’re persistent, your efforts will pay off, and you will have a large fan base of highly engaged followers who care about what you have to say.

4. Form Partnerships With Other Social Users

If you want to grow your audience and create engaging content, partner with other users who are already successful. This strategy improves your social media reach in two ways: it exposes your brand to new audiences who may want to follow you, and it elevates your brand to the level of your partners.

The Knot is a consistent example of this. When this blog shares a post from another social media account, that account gets dozens (if not hundreds) of new followers. People trust that account because The Knot recommended it.

If you want to see an example of this in action, follow Etsy on Instagram. You will suddenly have a dozen new followers who are crafters trying to get noticed by aligning themselves with the Etsy brand.

5. Let Companies and Clients Find You Easily

As you start to grow your social standing, you can begin accepting money for promoted posts and social call-outs. You can manage this manually, hoping companies reach out to you and process their payments, or you can find a system that allows you to easily work with companies — and makes it easy for them to find you.

Influencers can sign up for free on Intellifluence, so you have nothing to lose by joining our community. The brands you want to find you are on our platform and are constantly looking for social media influencers to work with. If you follow the above steps to build a cohesive brand with a strong following, you’re sure to have companies knocking on your door.

If you’ve been wondering how to make money with social media and are ready to turn your Instagram and Twitter channels into professional income models, consider diving into the world of influencer marketing. You can use social media marketing to work with the brands that inspire you and get paid to do it, too.