Social media platforms like Instagram have gone far beyond a simple photo sharing platform in the past several years. Throughout the rise of social media, users have found their own ways to make money off of their favorite platforms including everything from video reviews on YouTube to sponsored posts on Instagram. Here are 5 ways you can monetize your own social media and start making money today:

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Monetize Your Social Media

Create a Product

One of the great things about social media is it gives us access to people around the world with the click of a button. This means that all of those millions of users are also potential customers for YOU.

Creating a product to sell on your social is one of the most common ways to monetize your profile. For example, photographers can create their own presets to sell, which is also popular among many big influencers. Bloggers can create their own courses teaching things such as how to grow a Pinterest account or how to start freelancing.

You can even create your own products such as tank tops or hats and sell directly to your followers. Don’t want to manufacture your product? Start your own drop shipping business where you can sell products anywhere in the world without ever having to actually store or ship the merchandise.

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Offer a Service

We all have individual sets of skills that set us apart from the crowd. Social media makes it easier than ever to fine-tune your skills and use them to monetize.

Not sure how to choose the services you want to offer? We recommend brainstorming your last few jobs or internships and thinking of your favorite tasks. It could be anything from managing social media to blogger outreach or content creation.

Once you have your services, you can put together packages to pitch to companies. Are you a photographer or videographer? Put together a package to pitch brands to create some epic content with their products. Social media savvy folks can offer their social media management services to brands who need a little extra help with their Instagram and Facebook.

Don’t forget to send them examples of your work as well so they can see your portfolio and strengths.

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Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has grown into such a large industry that apps and platforms have been created solely for this purpose.

This type of marketing is beneficial to both the brand and the influencer promoting it. In general, the brand is able to make a sale while the influencer is also able to make money through commission sales. Affiliate marketing has been adopted by many different niches which makes it an easily accessible way to monetize no matter what your industry.

Bloggers can promote a specific course or web hosting platform that allows them to make a commission while another can earn money from promoting their daily outfits. For example, many fashion bloggers and influencers have grown their sales through the popular app LiketoKnow.it.

This app allows people to shop their favorite influencer’s outfits directly from their images while the influencer earns a commission of each sale made.

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Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts can be found on nearly all social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, and even Snapchat.

Head over to your favorite influencer’s page and you might find sponsored blog posts, review videos or Instagram Story ads. While sponsored posts used to be mainly utilized by influencers with large followings, micro influencers are now on the rise with brands seeing their high engagement rates and loyal audiences.

This method of monetization may require a bit more effort due to pitching the brands, but can also be rewarding when you get paid and featured on a big-name brand’s social media pages. Even if your following is on the lower end, you can still start off by pitching brands at a lower price and working your way up as your following and engagement grows too.

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In today’s day and age, making money online has never been easier. Whether it’s through an affiliate marketing program or a sponsored blog post, there are a variety of ways that you can monetize. What are some of the ways you’re currently monetizing your own social media? Let us know on social at @h_collective