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There are big bucks to be made as a social media influencer. In fact, there’s so much money out there being spent by brands and businesses on influencer marketing campaigns that it’s no longer out of the question that you could earn a comfortable, six-figure income as a full-time social media influencer. Whether it’s YouTube, Instagram or TikTok – the three most popular platforms right now for social media influencers – there is now a path to making $100,000 or more each year, simply by making videos and taking photos. Here’s a closer look at what you need to know to join this growing club of people making $100,000+ per year on social media.
YouTube
When the media first started charting the course of the new social media millionaires, they specifically had in mind YouTube creators like PewDiePie. These YouTube accounts can have 1 million+ subscribers, so you can easily see how a single video can rack up 1 million views (literally) overnight. If you’re in a popular niche (like video gaming or beauty & fitness), it’s much easier to reach a wide audience.
As a rule of thumb, you’ll need to have at least 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 24 million yearly views to reach the $100,000 level. And you’ll also need to be enrolled in YouTube’s partner program, which is the program that places ads in your videos. According to various “influencer pricing reports” and anecdotal evidence, you can count on making about $7.50 per 1,000 views.
Social media marketing agencies that have done the math say that you need at least 5,000 followers and slightly more than 300 sponsored posts per year to make $100,000+ per year. Of course, the big money frees up when you have 1 million+ followers on Instagram. This elite club of influencers can make up to $250,000 per sponsored post. The good news about Instagram is that this is perhaps the easiest social media platform for “micro-influencers” to make their mark. Grab a hot niche, create a unique voice or view of the world, and brands might start lining up for you to promote their goods and services. Even if you don’t make $100,000 in cold, hard cash, you might be getting all kinds of perks and goodies, like flyaway vacations to exotic locations and stunning fashion items for your wardrobe.
TikTok
While TikTok has enjoyed an explosive growth in popularity over the past two years, it is also the newest platform in terms of having an established creators program for paying out top contributors. Moreover, the audience on TikTok skews very young, so brands and businesses might not be willing to spend on splashy influencer marketing campaigns unless their products are specifically targeted at the Under 25 crowd.
Generally speaking, you’ll need at least 10,000 subscribers on TikTok and at least 270 million views year to reach the $100,000 plateau. And you’ll also need to join the TikTok Creator Fund. The 10,000 subscribers seems to be the easy part. The hard part is the 270 million views. That’s about 1 million views each day. So you better have the talent and originality to come up with fresh content every 24 hours.
The mythical million-dollar post
Of course, the “easiest” path to earning a six-figure annual income is to become a celebrity first, and then start a social media account. If you’re a high-profile actor, actress, musician or comedian, you might make up to $1 million per social media post. These celebrities have up to 200 million followers each, and have worldwide audiences waiting on their every word. The good news is that, even if you’re not an A-list celebrity, the options are growing for you to make a solid, six-figure income simply by learning how to market yourself on the world’s most popular social media platforms.
