TikTok has been around for less than a decade, but it’s got global reach and a user base of almost two billion. Its popularity is staggering, especially among Generation Z, and that means massive potential for generating income for big businesses and individual content creators alike.
What are the secrets of making money on TikTok, and how do content creators leverage short videos into so much earnings? In this article, we’ll answer those questions and explore 15 ways to make money on TikTok. We’ll also give you a selection of crucial tips to make sure that you maximize the earning potential of the time and effort you put into TikTok!
15 Ways to Make Money on TikTok💰
#1. The TikTok Creativity Program
The only reason a platform like TikTok can exist and prosper is if it sees plentiful adoption from creators, and that dependency needs to be rewarded. The original mechanism for this was the TikTok Creator Fund, which rewarded creators who met certain requirements with a certain amount of revenue per 1000 views of their content.
As of late 2023, the Creator Fund was replaced by the Creativity Program, which according to TikTok ramps up the earning potential for creators. To become eligible for the TikTok Creativity Program, you need to have a US, UK, Germany, or France-based account and have 10,000 followers as well as 100,000 video views in the past 30 days.
So, if your TikTok profile is able to meet these eligibility requirements, there’s no reason you shouldn’t apply to join the program. The platform itself benefits massively from the fact that your content engages viewers, so why not claim your share of the pie?
Exactly how much money you can make from your videos through the Creativity Program (or Creator Fund if you’re in Italy or Spain) will depend on a number of factors, such as engagement, the nature of your content, and your viewer demographics.
If you want to check whether or not you’re already eligible for the Creativity Profile, simply open up the Profile page in your TikTok app, tap the Menu button, and select Settings. You’ll find the Creativity Program under Creator Tools, and if you decide to apply, you should hear back within three days.
#2. Create a Subscription or Membership
Once you start building out your TikTok profile and deliver consistent content, you’ll begin to accumulate a following. Some of these consumers will be casual consumers of your content, but others will lap up your videos as fast as you can publish them!
These loyal consumers are a revenue opportunity for you as a content creator, and while you may have qualms about monetizing your fanbase, look at it this way—many consumers would happily pay for content that they enjoy and try to help you continue creating. If it comes to a decision between paying $$ for a Netflix account or $ to a handful of favorite creators, a lot of people would choose the latter.
As such, you should think very seriously about creating a subscription or membership for your most loyal supporters. There isn’t currently a way to do that on TikTok right now, and even if one does turn up, it could go the way of YouTube Channel Memberships and take a disproportionate amount of your subs.
So, the best way to go about creating a membership program for your TikTok is to find a third-party platform. Patreon tends to be the one that’s mentioned most often, but there are plenty of options to consider, like Mighty Networks and Whop!
#3. TikTok Series
One of the incentives to buy into a creator’s membership or subscription is generally the fact that they offer extra content behind this paywall. TikTok effectively does this with its Series feature, which gives you as a content creator the opportunity to create premium and longer-form videos that people can pay for.
The reasoning behind this is that TikTok has seen increased user engagement when it comes to videos of above a minute in length. The implications of this insight notwithstanding, TikTok allows creators to set up a Series of up to 80 videos of 20 minutes each, and charge between $0.99 and $189.99 for it. When a viewer purchases your collection, they can view the included videos at any time.
Your ability to actually make use of this feature will depend on certain eligibility requirements, though, and neither business nor political accounts can take advantage of it. The criteria aren’t too stringent, and just about any active TikTok profile should be able to hit them since all you really need is three public posts and 1000 views in the past 30 days.
#4. Collect Tips/Donations
Paywalled content is a key feature of membership platforms that TikTok introduced to try and provide a native option for via TikTok series, and tipping is another. Tipping or donating to creators amounts to a surprisingly large portion of creator income in some cases, and you can choose to accept tips on TikTok directly or do so via a 3rd party platform.
If you want to accept donations via the TikTok Tips feature, head to your Settings and Privacy page, select Creator Tools, and then go to Tips and set things up from there. Once everything’s approved and good to go, your TikTok profile will get a Tips icon that viewers can use to send you a tip as well as see who else has been tipping you (and how much).
TikTok limits these tips to $100 per transaction and your earnings to $500 per viewer per day, and on the viewer side, you can only tip 100 times a day.
These restrictions are pretty generous, but just like some of the other platform-native monetization options, geographical restrictions can also come into play if you aren’t from the US, UK, or one of the European countries mentioned earlier.
So, there’s nothing wrong with picking a 3rd party platform to handle your tips and donations from viewers who enjoy your content. This time, we’ll save you the trouble of reading a full guide—just check out Whop! You can create a page complete with a tip button in just a few minutes, and your viewers can tip you via Whop with just a couple of clicks.
#5. Go LIVE for Virtual Gifts
TikTok’s Tips feature deals in dollars and cents, but Virtual Gifts adds some feeling to things by wrapping donations up within in-platform currency and a selection of icons.
Essentially, your live stream viewers can choose to send you Virtual Gifts as you go live, allowing them to interact with your content in different ways than just typed-out text. Once your LIVE is done, you’ll see the total number of Gifts and gifters in your LIVE summary.
TikTok will then assess the popularity of your content–and its value toward the platform as a whole–based on how many Virtual Gifts you receive, and reward you with their in-platform currency, Diamonds. You can then redeem these Diamonds if you accrue enough of them, claiming your cash rewards.
This sounds pretty complicated, but it’s an intricate and effective business model for TikTok itself—viewers have to purchase coins to activate Gifts, and then they can choose to send these Gifts to creators they enjoy.
As far as you the creator are concerned, hosting live events and streaming to earn Gifts is a very indirect way to receive tips from people who enjoy your content—so there’s no reason not to enable the Gifts feature if you’re live streaming, but if you think donations could be a primary revenue stream for you, consider accepting them through a platform like Whop which is more transparent about revenue sharing.
#6. Sell Digital Products
Making money on TikTok or indeed any other social media platform isn’t a cakewalk, and for every creator who has become a success story overnight with one viral video, there are thousands who haven’t been able to make it.
One of the secrets to making content creation a full-time job is to create multiple streams of income off the back of your content. The TikTok Creativity Program won’t be paying out too much unless you’ve got significant viewership, and your content may not lend itself to tips or Gifts—so you may need to branch out.
That’s where digital products come in. TikTok’s Series option is already a form of this, since you can create things like Courses in video form and lock it behind a paywall. That being said, there’s so much more you can do in the area of digital products, and even a video course can easily be enhanced by infographics, downloadable PDFs, interactive quizzes, and even eBooks.
TikTok doesn’t let you sell digital products, so you’ll need a digital marketplace to link your audience to if they want to buy your digital products. Take a look at Whop! It’s a specialist in ecommerce and digital fulfillment, and you can sell just about any digital product to customers in well over 100 countries if you list on Whop.
The beauty of digital products is the fact that they’re infinitely scalable, so once you create the product, you can sell as many copies as there’s demand for without any additional cost. This makes for a low-maintenance, high-value stream of income that supplements what you earn from TikTok.
#7. Sell Merch
Just like how digital products can boost the income that your TikTok content is responsible for, you can add to your TikTok earnings by selling physical products. The most common form of this is merchandise, because it’s an easy sell on two fronts.
For one thing, there will be members of your audience who come to connect with you more deeply than others. However big or small your TikTok profile becomes, you’re very likely to become someone’s favorite creator in whatever category you operate in. Just as they’re more likely to join your membership as we detailed in entry #2, they might also be willing to buy your merch!
The second factor is that merchandise is an extremely easy business model. You might think it’s difficult if you’re new to the game, but all you’re doing is engaging in the print-on-demand (POD) business model. All that means is that you’re creating your own designs–which could be as simple as your profile logo or name, or a complex, intricate design of your own–and sending them to another company.
This company then prints your design on things like hoodies, t-shirts, and mugs, dispatching them to the buyer as soon as you forward the order along. Granted, this means getting involved in the traditional fulfillment process and incurring costs for each order, but there are plenty of companies specializing in POD out there who’ll take most of the work off your hands.
#8. Start a TikTok Shop
The sale of physical products and things like merchandise as described above is so common on TikTok that the platform itself decided to get in on the action in 2021. With the launch of TikTok Shopping, you can now add a shop tab directly to your profile, allowing your audience to browse and buy without leaving the platform.
In fact, the TikTok Shop allows you to set up product showcases, shoppable videos, and even live shopping to underline how effective they think the platform is at driving ecommerce. This is something you definitely should take advantage of, since it’s yet another revenue stream driven by your content.
You don’t actually have to be a creator to run a TikTok Shop, so that’s good news if your primary gig is something else. As a creator, though, a lot of the usual monetization rules apply, such as a minimum age of 18. You also have to have over 1000 followers, post videos at least once a month, and get at least 50 monthly views.
There’s plenty more to know about the TikTok Shop feature and it’s well worth mastering it, so check out this guide where we tell you all there is to know!
#9. Sponsored Content
You can take advantage of just about all of the options we’ve mentioned previously even as a new creator, but as you start to grow your brand and your following, sponsorships should start coming into the picture.
We’ve already mentioned the power of TikTok as a driving force behind ecommerce, and most brands are very aware of this. As such, once you reach a critical mass in terms of influence and following along with the number of views your videos get, you’ll become attractive to brands who might be looking to target your audience.
You might find yourself being approached by brands once you hit certain numbers, but you can also be proactive and look for sponsorships yourself, citing your target audience, the amount of engagement you get, and the sort of authority you have in your niche.
TikTok is also very aware of how helpful sponsorships are in terms of fostering creators, and the Tiktok Creator Marketplace is something you should know about. This is a feature for advertisers on TikTok, and they can sign up for the Creator Marketplace and browse through creators who can help them broaden their reach.
By studying how the TikTok Creator Marketplace works, you may be able to tailor your content strategies in order to become more attractive to potential sponsors. As a creator, you also need to apply or get invited in order to join it and get listed.
#10. Brand Ambassador
Sponsored content is a great way to make money on TikTok, and becoming a brand ambassador means taking things to the next level. This typically happens after you’ve run a successful campaign or two for a particular brand, and both you and the company feel like there’s something to gain by continuing to work together for the long term.
As a brand ambassador you might have to hit certain targets, such as a quantity or frequency of videos mentioning the brand. However, you’ll also stand to gain plenty as the deal continues, especially if your content does well.
It goes without saying that brand deals can be extremely lucrative, especially if you’re just starting to make it as a TikTok creator, but you shouldn’t jump on the first or biggest offer you get.
Make sure that the brand aligns with your content and values, and even though ethics may be going out of fashion when it comes to politics and big business, there’s nothing that’ll kill your content creation career faster than your audience thinking you’re willing to compromise your morals and values.
#11. Partner with Other Creators
Just like brands stand to gain by sponsorship or signing influencers as brand ambassadors, there’s plenty to be gained through content creator partnerships or collaborations. The primary reason for this is the potential reach you can gain, with your collaborator essentially endorsing you by choosing to work with you
Getting a shoutout from a big content creator can take your own following through the roof, but there’s plenty to be said for working with other creators of a similar size. In this case, the goal is to cross-pollinate in terms of audience, while if you work with a big creator you stand to gain in terms of audience while they gain the chance to put out a piece of the value you bring.
When it comes to making money on TikTok, the amount of followers and viewers you have is king, so there’s no real reason not to partner up and collaborate with other creators if you get the chance!
#12. Affiliate Partnerships
Affiliate marketing is an extremely powerful way to make money, and while it shares certain similarities to sponsorship and being a brand ambassador, it actually may be a far more achievable option if you’re a smaller creator.
Getting sponsorships and brand ambassador deals doesn’t just happen overnight, and it can take either a lot of graft, fantastic salesmanship, or just your TikTok profile getting big enough that brands start to come to you rather than the other way around.
Affiliate marketing, on the other hand, is something you can get started with before a brand even gets on board. Many companies provide affiliate links, which you can then post on your profile or on a video covering that product. Viewers who are tempted to buy it can then click on your affiliate link in order to do so, and you’ll earn a portion of the sale!
While this is often possible without a formal partnership with the company or vendor, actually inking an affiliate deal can have major benefits. The company can, for example, give people who use your link or coupon code a discount, which is an extra incentive that boosts your income considerably.
Plenty of businesses run affiliate programs, and the benefits you can earn may differ from business to business. On Whop, for example, you can become an affiliate both in terms of products sold on the marketplace, and for the marketplace itself by referring entrepreneurs to list their products. Either or both of these options could be viable for your TikTok profile, depending on your content!
#13. Crowdfund a Project
One very valuable option a TikTok profile with a decent following offers you is the ability to crowdfund a project. The good news here is that it doesn’t have to be your TikTok profile—if you have a project or a business you want to crowdfund, all you need to do is find a content creator in that niche who’s regarded as an authority.
As a creator yourself, you can also leverage your own TikTok for this or collaborate with other creators. You might even find yourself partnering up with another influencer to supercharge your project!
So, if you have a Kickstarter or Indiegogo project you need to fund, don’t hesitate to get on TikTok. There are creators in practically every niche, and if they get on board by mentioning or even becoming a partner in your project, you can bet that their audience will be very interested in contributing.
#14. Run TikTok Ads
According to Whop's data, TikTok has significant sway on the purchasing power of Gen Z, with over 29% of the cohort selecting TikTok as their most used social platform, with spending habits largely influenced by algorithms and online creators.
While this data is hardly surprising, it underlines the effectiveness of TikTok as a way to reach Gen Z consumers. The takeaway here is simple—if you have a business, or even a business idea that focuses on a younger target market, TikTok might be the best place to advertise.
It’s extremely easy to work with TikTok as an advertiser, and you can target customers by a variety of demographics and other factors. There are even a variety of formats you can work with, such as “in-feed video” which is displayed on the For You page of users that meet your targeting criteria, and “brand takeover” which gives your ad the whole screen for a short time before switching to in-feed format.
Running TikTok ads isn’t a direct way to make money using TikTok, but it can be massively worth it in the long run. Your purse strings might be tight as a small business and that ad budget needs to be worthwhile—and TikTok might fit the bill perfectly if your target customer base is on the younger end of the spectrum.
#15. Grow and Sell Accounts
Not everyone has a gift for building a successful TikTok profile and growing an audience, but if you do, you might be able to turn this talent into a business model in its own right! If growing and selling MMO accounts can earn thousands or even tens of thousands, what about actual revenue-earning TikToks?
As long as you’re able to create accounts that are focused on the content rather than the creator and exist in valuable niches, you’re looking at a potential gold mine. Businesses and creators alike would pay top dollar for an account with an established audience that isn’t reliant on the personality behind it—so you’ll need to avoid making your face, voice, or name a draw.
And who knows—once you master the art of growing TikTok accounts, you might even be able to branch out and teach others how to do it. TikTok profiles talking about building and growing TikToks are a thing, and so are courses, eBooks, and even Discord communities on the topic.
If you want to go that route, or actually learn from creators who have mastered TikTok and other social media platforms in this manner, make sure to check out Whop and browse our socials section or get listed yourself!
Tips for Making Money on TikTok💡
So, now you know all about 15 ways of making money on TikTok, and it’s clear that you can leverage many of them at the same time to ensure that your TikTok income really adds up. But are there any key pieces of advice to follow, and how do the really successful creators get ahead? Here are a few tips:
Understand Your Audience
Content creation, which includes short videos like TikTok, is all about your audience. If you don’t have a following on TikTok you can’t really earn any revenue, so it’s wise to try and understand who your audience is and what they want. TikTok provides basic analytics features that can help you out in this regard, and in addition to the qualitative feedback that comments and engagement brings, you should start to get an idea of what works best for your followers over time.
As we’ve mentioned previously, you need to hit certain milestones in terms of follower numbers to even enable earning mechanisms such as Gifting, the TikTok Creativity Program, and the TikTok Shop. By building a following and continuing to deliver content that your consumers enjoy and can engage with, you’re also giving yourself a great chance to score things like sponsorships, collabs, and brand ambassador deals.
Find Your Niche
Building an audience isn’t easy, but it’s also quite common to underestimate the sheer size of the TikTok community out there. Not even the biggest creators are able to capture more than a small fraction of the overall market, but the name of the game is to become established in one particular niche. While it’s true that you can theoretically catch more fish if you cast your net wider, delivering consistent, niche-specific content gives you a great chance of picking up as large and, crucially, as engaged a following as possible.
Create Useful Content
As far as this trifecta of tips is concerned, doing both of the previous well would amount to nothing if you aren’t able to create content of a certain level of quality or value. This can come in many different forms, so don’t worry if you aren’t an expert editor or don’t consider yourself terribly witty or entertaining—even the top creators on TikTok don’t score an A on everything. If you keep giving your audience a reason to watch your videos, they’ll keep coming back.
You also do need to get people watching your videos in the first place, so invest in understanding how TikTok and its algorithms work under the hood, and don’t forget to put some time into video thumbnails that draw viewers without being too clickbaity.
Monetize Your TikTok Community with Whop!
Now that you know how to make money on TikTok, all you need to do is pick up your phone and start recording! As your content starts to hit the platform and gain traction, you can start using all of the different means and tactics we’ve detailed above, and start piling up the cash as you activate all those different income streams.
Before going too far, though, remember to check out Whop! Not just a digital marketplace for you to sell digital products you market via your TikTok profile, Whop can help you monetize your following by selling memberships, managing your subscriber community using third-party apps like Discord, manage your premium content, host your courses, and much more.
Making Money on TikTok: FAQ
How do you get paid on TikTok?
Before you’re even able to monetize your TikTok content, you need to meet various thresholds and eligibility requirements, including geo-restriction. If you meet these requirements and then hit the follower and view numbers required, you can start getting paid. Simply visit the Creator Tools section of your TikTok profile to check out your dashboard and view your revenue details and metrics.
Is it easy to make money on TikTok?
Whether or not it’s easy to make money on TikTok depends on a variety of factors, but ultimately it comes down to how well you work the TikTok algorithm and how much value your content gives the audience. The former isn’t a particularly appetizing idea, but you’d do well to learn how the TikTok algorithm works in order to maximize your chances of getting seen by more viewers. Once you do get seen, good content converts a viewer into a follower and a repeat viewer, which can then snowball and make you lots of money.
How many views do you need on TikTok to earn money?
As many views as possible! You do need to meet certain minimums to make any money at all as we’ve detailed above, and to earn from the TikTok Creativity Program you need 100,000 views in 30 days.
How many TikTok followers do you need to make money?
As above, the more the merrier, with certain thresholds set as limits. You’ll need 10,000 followers to make money from the TikTok Creativity Program, and around three times that amount tends to be the benchmark for when creators start to get sponsorship deals.
How much money can you make on TikTok?
There isn’t really an upper limit on how much money you can make on TikTok, and certain top creators average over $100,000 a post. It takes a lot of work, expertise, and consistency to reach these numbers, so you should probably set your sights a lot lower. That said, if you’re able to take advantage of various options such as Whop memberships and courses on top of your TikTok platform earnings, you can start making a tidy income in no time. Certain sources suggest that the majority of TikTok creators make less than $15,000 from the platform, but a third of them make the equivalent of a full-time salary or higher.
Who makes the most money on TikTok?
Forbes’ 2023 Top Creator list estimates D’Amelio’s 2023 earnings at $23 million, with Khabane Lame (who has eclipsed D’Amelio as the platform’s most followed profile) rated at $16.5 million. Hopper HQ’s 2022 TikTok Rich List put D’Amelio’s earnings at $105,000 per post with 142 million followers at the time, with Lame at $92,000 a post and Bella Poarch rounding out the podium with $66,000 per post.
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