TikTok, the lip-syncing app that’s taken the world by storm, is especially popular with young people, as it allows them to be creative and expressive in a unique way. It's a full entertainment package, with something for everyone.

But can you make money on TikTok?

The short answer is yes, you can definitely make money on TikTok. There are a number of ways to do so, and I’ll go over some of the most popular ones in this article. So keep reading.

Disclosure: This content may contain a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).

How Much Money Do TikTok Creators Make?

Before we get into how to make money on TikTok, let’s first look at how much TikTok creators actually make.

As you might expect, the amount of money you can make on TikTok depends on a number of factors, including:

  • Your follower count
  • Your engagement rate
  • The type of content you produce
  • The length of your videos
  • Whether or not you use TikTok ads

That said, some TikTok creators are reportedly making anywhere from $100 to $1,000 per post. And, the most successful TikTok stars are said to make millions of dollars annually.

For example, TikTok user, Zach King has over 69 million followers and an engagement rate of 3.65%. He makes an estimated earning of $44,200-$66,300 per post.

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Other TikTokers with a similar number of followers and engagement rates include Loren Gray (54 million followers, 11.3% engagement rate), Josh Richards (25 million followers, 5.4% engagement rate), and Dixie D'Amelio (57 million followers, 4.8% engagement rate).

According to a report by Forbes, the top-earning TikTok creators, including Charli and Dixie D’Amelio and Addison Rae, collectively made $55.5 million in 2021.

Another influencer earnings report found that your favorite creators charge an average of $3K for one single post on the platform, which is higher than what they charge on other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

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Hence, it’s safe to say that you can make a decent amount of money on TikTok, provided you have a large enough following and produce engaging content.

Things You Need to Get in the Position to Make Money on TikTok

Suffice to say, in order to make money on TikTok, you need to first grow your following and produce engaging content that resonates with your audience.

Here is how to get started and increase your chances of making money on TikTok:

  • Set up your profile. Filling out your profile correctly is the first step to building a following on TikTok. Be sure to include a catchy bio, a high-quality profile picture, and links to your other social media platforms (if you have any).
  • Find your niche. TikTok is a vast platform with tons of content. You need to find your niche based on – What are you passionate about? What type of content do you want to produce? Once you pick a niche that best suits your interests, it’ll be much easier for you to produce great content that resonates with your audience.
  • Post regularly. Consistency is key when it comes to social media success. If you want to grow your following (and make money on TikTok), you need to post regularly. You should aim for at least one video per day but more is always better.
  • Engage with your audience. Engaging with your audience is essential if you want to grow your following on TikTok. Be sure to like and comment on other people’s videos, and respond to comments as it shows that you care about them and want to build a connection.
  • Jump on trends. Using trends is a great way to boost your views and get your videos in front of more people. But, be sure to put your own spin on things so that your content doesn’t come across as copy-pasted.
  • Use trending hashtags. Hashtags are a great way to get your content in front of people who might not be following you. When using hashtags, be sure to use ones that are relevant to your video and niche.
  • Collaborate with other TikTokers. Team up with other popular TikTokers in your niche to create joint videos. This will help you get your content in front of their followers and grow your own following in the process.

Once you’ve got a decent following, you can start monetizing your TikTok account in a number of ways. We'll explore them in the next section.

The Best Ways to Make Money on TikTok

Now that we've gone over the basics of how to get started on TikTok, let's discuss the best ways to make money on the platform.

1. Earn From Brand Deals and Sponsored Content

This is one of the most common (and easiest) ways to make money on TikTok. A brand deal is when you promote a product or service in your TikTok video and include a link to where viewers can purchase it. In exchange, the brand pays you a fixed amount of money or a fixed commission for every sale that you generate.

For example, let's say you're a beauty vlogger and are promoting a new skincare line. You could make a video showing your routine and how the products have improved your skin. At the end of the video, you could include a link to the website where people can buy the products.

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To find brand deals, you can:

  • Reach out to brands that you already love and use.
  • Search for brands that are looking for influencers on sites like Upfluence or Fiverr.
  • Attend meetups or conferences related to your niche.
  • Work with an influencer marketing agency.
  • Sign up with an influencer marketing platform that connects TikTok creators with brands and simplifies the process of securing and executing brand deals.

However, when creating sponsored content for brands, it's important to make sure that the products or services you're promoting are relevant to your audience and that you genuinely believe in them.

Otherwise, your audience will be able to tell that you're just trying to sell them something and they'll be less likely to trust your recommendations in the future.

2. Get Payouts From TikTok’s Creator Fund

To encourage creators to make original and engaging content, TikTok has a Creator Fund that pays out money to popular creators. The amount of money that you can receive from the fund depends on a number of factors, including:

  • The region you're in
  • The type of content you create
  • The number of views your videos get and the authenticity of those views
  • How engaged your audience is
  • How often do you post videos on your TikTok account?

The TikTok Creator Fund has reportedly paid out over $1 billion to creators since it launched in 2019 and they have committed to spend £231 million over the next three years for the Creator Fund payouts.

However, to be eligible for the TikTok Creator Fund, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Be 18 years or older
  • Are based in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, or Italy
  • Have a TikTok Pro account
  • Have at least 10,000 followers
  • Receive at least 100K authentic video views in the last 30 days (Earlier, this limit was 30,000 views in the last 30 days)
  • Have an account that meets the TikTok Community Guidelines and Terms of Service

But do creators actually get paid?

Yes, they do. TikTok shared videos from some of the creators who have already benefitted from its Creator Fund program.

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Now, the question is: How can you apply to the Creator Fund?

It’s simple. You can access and apply for the Creator Fund directly through the TikTok app by following the steps below:

  • Go to your TikTok Pro Account Settings menu and click on “TikTok Creator Fund.”
  • If you meet the eligibility criteria, you'll see an option to apply.
  • Simply click “Apply to Creator Fund” and fill out the form.
  • Confirm you're over 18 years old.
  • Read and agree to the TikTok Creator Fund Agreement.

Once approved you can start making money based on the performance of your TikTok videos. So, make sure you create content that attracts more followers and views, use it to grow your following, and then join the Creator Fund to make money from more revenue streams.

3. Collect Virtual Gifts and Tips

You can also make money on TikTok by collecting virtual gifts and tips if you're popular enough. These are part of a suite of TikTok's five monetization options under the Creator Next program, which is available to select users.

To be eligible for Creator Next, you must:

  • Be 18 years of age or older (or 19 in South Korea and 20 in Japan)
  • Be based in a location where Creator Next is available
  • Post on TikTok at least 3 times in the last 30 days
  • Ensure that your account meets TikTok's Community Guidelines and Terms of Service
  • Not have a Business account on TikTok

If you're eligible, you can apply to the Creator Next program by tapping on “Settings” > “Creator Tools” > “Creator Next” and following the instructions that appear.

Once you're accepted into the program, you can start making money on TikTok by collecting virtual gifts and tips.

Tips are easy enough to understand – people give you money if they really enjoy your content. And you'll receive 100% of the tipping amount via Stripe (excluding Stripe's payment processing fees).

Virtual gifts (video gifts and LIVE gifts) are a little different. They're basically like virtual tipping. Let’s say, if someone likes your content and reacts to your videos showing their appreciation, you can collect Diamonds from TikTok and then exchange them for real cash (again, minus TikTok's and the payment gateway's fees).

4. Sell Your Own Merchandise

TikTok has a built-in ecommerce feature – TikTok Shop that lets you showcase and sell products on the platform via shoppable in-feed videos and Live broadcasts. You can use it to sell pretty much anything you want, varying from physical goods to digital products like ebooks and courses, to services, etc.

Many creators use TikTok Live, a live-streaming feature that lets you broadcast yourself to your followers in real-time, to sell their own merchandise. So, if you’ve got products to sell, you can add a “Buy Now” button to your TikTok Live stream, which will let viewers purchase your products without leaving the app.

However, to start selling products through TikTok Live, you’ll need to link a payment processor to your account. TikTok currently supports PayPal and Stripe, so you’ll need to have an account with one of those companies set up before you can start selling.

5. Become a TikTok Influencer

One of the most effective ways to make money on TikTok is to become an influencer. An influencer is somebody with a large following who is considered to be an expert in their field.

If you can build a sizeable TikTok following, you can then start charging brands for promotion. This could involve anything from doing a shoutout for a product to creating sponsored videos.

The amount you can charge will depend on your follower count and engagement rate. For example, if you have 100,000 followers and a good engagement rate, you could charge around $500 for a shoutout. However, if you have 1 million followers and a great engagement rate, you could charge $5,000 or more.

To become an influencer, you need to focus on creating high-quality content that will resonate with your target audience. You should also try to be unique and stand out from the crowd.

Some of the top TikTok influencers include Charli D’Amelio, Addison Rae, and Dixie D’Amelio. They are reportedly making millions of dollars every year.

For example, Charlie, who got popular due to her dance moves, earns $17.5 million from brand deals like that from Hollister and Dunkin Donuts, as well as her show – The D'Amelio Show.

Here’s a post of her promoting how you can refill your Born Dreamer by CD via Ulta Beauty:

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Also, check out my detailed guide on making money as a TikTok influencer.

6. Lean on TikTok’s Creator Marketplace

If you’re not quite at the stage where you can start charging brands for promotion, don’t worry – there’s still a way you can make money on TikTok.

TikTok has a Creator Marketplace, which is designed to help connect brands with content creators. The idea is that brands will pay creators to produce sponsored content, which will be seen by the creator’s followers.

So, if you’re creative enough, you could lean on the Creator Marketplace to start earning some extra cash even when you're still building your following gradually.

7. Place Affiliate Links

Other than creating sponsored videos and selling your own products through in-feed videos and Live streams, you can also earn money on TikTok by placing affiliate links in your bio and captions.

If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing, it’s a way for companies to pay a small commission to influencers for every product they sell. So, if you’re promoting a company’s products through your videos and someone clicks on your unique affiliate link and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a commission.

To start placing affiliate links in your TikTok bio and captions, you’ll need to sign up for an affiliate program like Amazon Associates or ClickBank. And, then sign up for the affiliate programs of brands that are relevant to your TikTok niche and expertise.

8. Grow and Sell TikTok Accounts

Another way you can make money on TikTok is by growing and selling TikTok accounts.

There’s a huge demand for TikTok accounts with large followings, as businesses and brands are willing to pay a lot of money to reach the app’s large and engaged audience. So, if you’ve got the time and patience to grow a TikTok account, you could eventually sell it for a tidy profit.

To start growing a TikTok account that you can eventually sell, you’ll need to choose a niche or topic that you’re passionate about and start creating engaging videos around that topic.

Then, promote your videos across social media and other marketing channels to get as many views and followers as possible. And, once your account starts to take off, you can start looking for buyers.

However, to be able to sell your account, you need to ensure that you're not the face of the account. Because if you are, then the account is essentially worthless without you.

To do this, you can create a brand around your account instead of making it all about you. For example, if you’re passionate about fashion, you could start a fashion-focused, niche TikTok account and then sell it off when it grows an engaged following.

The best accounts you can build, grow, and sell are niche-based or theme-based accounts.

9. Make Money From TikTok Ads

Lastly, you can make money on TikTok by running ads.

TikTok Ads is the platform’s advertising system, which lets brands run video ads on the app. And, if you’ve got a large enough following, you could apply to be a TikTok Partner and start running ads on your videos.

To become a TikTok Partner, you’ll need to:

  • Have at least 100,000 followers
  • Receive at least 4,000 hours of watch time over the past four months
  • Be based in one of TikTok’s supported countries

If you do become a TikTok Partner and start running ads on your videos, you’ll earn a share of the ad revenue based on how many views your videos get. So, the more views you get, the more money you’ll make.

P.S. Here are some tips that can help you get more views on your TikTok videos.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways you can make money on TikTok. So, if you’re creative and have a large enough following, you could start earning some extra cash from the app.

Just remember, it takes time and effort to build up a large enough following to start making serious money on TikTok. So, don’t give up if you don’t see results overnight – keep creating quality content and engaging with your followers, and you could eventually start making a decent income from the app.

FAQs

1. How many followers do you need to make money on TikTok?

There's no set number of followers you need to make money on TikTok. Whether you have 1000 or 1000K followers, you can still make money on the platform if you're creative and strategic about it.

That said, it's worth noting that most of the monetization options on TikTok (like virtual gifts, tips, Creator Fund, etc.) are only available to users with a certain number of followers (usually, above 100K followers). So if you're just starting out, you may not be able to take advantage of all the monetization options right away.

But don't worry – there are still plenty of ways to make money on TikTok even if you don't have a huge following. For example, you can sell your own merchandise, run ads, or collaborate with brands on sponsored content.

2. How to generate TikTok income with fewer followers:

To generate TikTok income with fewer followers, you can:
– Sell your own merchandise.
– Run ads.
– Collaborate with brands on sponsored content.
– Offer paid promotions.
– Do product reviews.
– Participate in TikTok challenges.
– Be an influencer.
– Make money from affiliate marketing.

Meanwhile, you can also work on growing your TikTok following so you can take advantage of the platform's other monetization options (like virtual gifts, tips, Creator Fund, etc.) once you reach the required number of followers.

3. How to increase your TikTok views:

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question since it depends on a variety of factors, including your target audience, the type of content you're creating, and how often you're posting.

That said, here are a few general tips that may help you increase your TikTok views:
– Post engaging and original content.
– Add hashtags to your videos.
– Post at the right times. P.S. You can find the best times to post on TikTok here.
– Run ads.
Collaborate with influencers.
– Do TikTok challenges.
– Participate in trends.
– Use creative visuals and audio.

If you're just starting out, you can also try to piggyback on the popularity of other users with a similar niche or target audience. For example, you can Duet with them, use the same hashtags, or post similar content.

4. How can I earn money using my TikTok account?

There are a few different ways you can earn money using your TikTok account, which include:
– Earn from brand deals and sponsored content.
– Get payouts from Tiktok’s Creator Fund.
– Collect virtual gifts and tips.
– Sell your own merchandise.
– Become a TikTok influencer.
– Lean on TikTok’s Creator Marketplace.
– Grow and sell TikTok accounts.

5. How to get followers on TikTok:

Here are some of the best ways to get followers on TikTok:
– Focus on a specific niche that you’re really interested in.
– Post engaging and original content.
– Use popular hashtags.
– Post at the optimal time.
– Run ads.
– Participate in TikTok challenges and trends.
– Use creative visuals and audio.

Are You Ready to Make Money on TikTok?

If you were looking for an answer to the question, “Can you make money on TikTok,” you now know that it's kaking money on TikTok is possible, but it takes a lot of work. You need to create engaging and original content, use popular hashtags, and find ways to engage other TikTok users. You also need to have a large following before you can start making any serious money.

So if you're up for the challenge, then go ahead and give it a shot! Who knows – you might just become the next TikTok millionaire.

Be sure to follow the strategies that I’ve mentioned in this article, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

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