How To Make Money on TikTok
There is nothing like a short, hilarious video to break up a monotonous day. I used to get my quick laughs in with Vine, where the 7 second videos hit me just as I needed them. As much as it pains me to think about how Vine is dead, there is no denying that Vine’s replacement is taking the world by storm even stronger, and that is TikTok.
Even though TikTok has been on the global scene since 2017, it really caught on during the Covid-19 pandemic when everyone was stuck at home with nothing better to do than make and share videos. With its insane popularity, TikTok became the fastest growing social media platform and reached 1 billion active users in its first 5 years, so much faster than Facebook and Instagram. Now, 4 years later, the growth is not slowing down, as monthly app usage is just over 25 hours a month, compared to about 19.6 hours in the record breaking 2021.
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m telling you about TikTok, especially since it tends to skew to younger demographics (three quarters of the US population under 25 is on TikTok!). So what does it have to do with your business? EVERYTHING!
It doesn’t matter whether you are an individual creator or a major enterprise, TikTok is a great platform to promote your brand and connect your online store to sell your products, resulting in unthinkable business growth.
So how do you make money on TikTok? Let’s count the ways…
1. Use TikTok For Supplemental Marketing
Building business on TikTok doesn’t mean that TikTok becomes the only place you sell and advertise. You can keep your physical and online stores where they are and just use TikTok as a place to engage with your customer base. Post fun videos with your unique products, advertise an in person event or big release, or post your unique point of view on current trends in order to spark interest in what you have to offer.
The more people engage without the pressure to buy, the more likely they are to share your post or promote your product, resulting in more followers and eventually more business. In fact, the majority of people get their cultural news from social media, with 37% of them saying they specifically track trends on TikTok.
By using TikTok, you can be a trendsetter without even realizing! This way of monetizing your TikTok is underrated, but incredibly useful because while users want to keep up with trends, they want to engage with businesses to discover new products.
2. Join the TikTok Creativity Program
If you are a creator as well as a small business owner, you can get paid on TikTok by joining their Creativity Program. This is the evolution of their former Creator Fund that rewards popular TikTokers who make longer videos and have high levels of engagement.
This is not the first step for a small business creator just starting out since you need to have at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the last month to join, but once you get there, this is a nice way to directly profit from TikTok. With such a high following to drive to your website and nice supplemental income from the Creativity Program, building business on Tiktok is faster than ever.
3. Work with a Creator on Creator Marketplace
Don’t worry if you’re not an independent creator, there are so many on TikTok who can still help grow your business! Because TikTok is a collaborative platform all about driving engagement, they have made the Creator Marketplace where businesses can connect with creators to showcase their brands and make money on TikTok. Everybody wins!
Partnering with an established creator will give your brand a broader audience and more credibility since your target audience is more likely to buy a product promoted by someone they trust and follow over a business they are not familiar with since creator branded content has a much higher engagement rate.
The Creator Marketplace makes it easy for businesses to search for creators to work with based on their needs for expanding their presence on TikTok.
4. Start a TikTok Shop
To make a seamless shopping experience for your followers, the most obvious way to make money on TikTop is to open a TikTok shop. This way, you eliminate having to send your customers to another site and can have them shop directly in the TikTok app by tagging products in videos so that they can buy them immediately.
Monetizing your TikTok becomes easy with TikTok shop since it has become incredibly popular with 37% of Americans under 60 having bought a product from TikTok shop already, and that number is only rising.
TikTok shop makes a seamless shopping experience from enjoying a creator/brand video to making a purchase, closing the time gap to lose a potential customer by sending them from the video to your website. Integrate your online store with your TikTok shop and you won’t miss a beat!
5. Run TikTok Ads
Just like any other social media site, you can pay to run ads for your business on TikTok using TikTok Ads. You can make money on TikTok by creating in-feed ads that find your target audience and show up on their For You page embedded in videos. You can also upgrade to have your ad briefly take up the entire page and then shrink down to in-feed the rest of the video.
Building business on TikTok from Gen Z and Millenials is the clear way since more than half of their demographics are the ones using TikTok regularly. Therefore, before you start paying to run TikTok ads, you should be clear on exactly which younger audience you would like to target.
6. Live Gifts and TikTok Coins
Going live on TikTok allows your followers to send virtual gifts, which can be converted into real money.
To start earning from LIVE:
- You must be 18+
- Have at least 1,000 followers
- Follow TikTok’s community guidelines and terms of service
Engaging with fans during live sessions can result in a steady stream of coins that are redeemable as cash.
7. Affiliate Marketing
Promote products using affiliate links and earn a commission for every sale made through your link.
How it works:
- Join affiliate programs like Amazon Associates, LTK, or ShareASale
- Feature the product in a TikTok video
- Add the affiliate link to your bio (or use Linktree)
- Get paid per sale or click
This method works well for creators in tech, fashion, lifestyle, and beauty niches.
Conclusion
Learning how to make money on TikTok doesn’t require fame, just creativity, consistency, and a smart strategy. TikTok may seem like all laughs, fun, and games, but it is a very effective way to get your brand and products out to exactly the audiences you want to target and more. Building business on TikTok is easy by using it as a supplemental marketing tool, running TikTok ads, or starting a TikTok shop. If you are a smaller creator, you can also monetize your TikTok by joining the TikTok Creativity Program and working with other creators on the Creator Marketplace.
No matter where you are in your business journey, there are many ways to profit from TikTok that can evolve as your business grows. You can integrate and manage your online store with your TikTok, monitor trends among your customers, and boost your social media marketing all from one place with LincSell.
Find out how LincSell can help you grow your business on TikTok!
