Are you one of the 284 million Twitter users or 300 million Instagram users? Did you know you can make money on your social media accounts?
It’s true. There are people making money every day by posting tweets and Instagram photos that are sponsored by companies.
You don’t have to have a huge following, either. People with a relatively low number of followers are getting paid for their social media posts.
Today I’ll explain how you can join others who are already making money on their social media accounts.
How to Make Money on Social Media
In case you are having trouble wrapping your head around the idea of advertisers paying you to post things on social media, think of what the advertisers goals are. The ultimate goal is to influence consumer behavior. Your followers on social media give more weight to your opinion than a random ad; they are more likely to react to a tweet you post on behalf of a company than a random ad that was clearly placed in their feed.
IZEA is a company that was founded nearly a decade ago, and they match up advertisers with “influencers” (like you!). Social Media advertising is a growing industry, with expected spend to increase from $5.1 Billion in 2013 to $15 Billion in 2018. Needless to say, there will be plenty of money flowing to users of Twitter and other social networks who are looking to make money on their social media accounts.
To get started head over to IZEA and sign up for a free account.
Once you sign up for an account, you can link social media accounts from any of the following networks:
- Google+
- Blog
- Flickr
- Foursquare
- Tumblr
- WordPress
- YouTube
As you can see, it’s not just Twitter and Instagram that advertisers are interested in. They are interested in sponsoring all sorts of social media accounts, so no worries if you aren’t a fan of Twitter or deleted your Facebook account.
To start making money, you simply need to go to the ‘Sponsorship’ tab on the left-hand side of the home screen and view the opportunities that are currently open. The offers will be from a wide variety of companies (i.e. Nike, Burger King, Sprint, etc.) and you only have to choose companies and campaigns that interest you.
Each open opportunity has a description of what the company is trying to promote as well as what their “ideal” candidate is for the job. With those facts in mind you are then able to decline the opportunity or bid on it.
One note on bidding: you’ll want to bid low until you’ve worked with a few advertisers. If you have never worked with an advertiser they are less likely to take a relatively high bid. Instead, bid low and get a few campaigns under your belt. You can start bidding more after that.
If you’re still unsure of whether to sign up for IZEA check out this short 44 second video that explains the concept:
The video does a great job of summing up the key concept behind IZEA and how you – or anyone, really – can make money on their social media accounts.
Have you made money – or do you want to make money – on social media? What are your thoughts on advertisers paying individuals – as opposed to companies – to publish advertisements?
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Never heard of it- sweet giveaway though!
I’ve never heard of it either, but nice giveaway. Working in advertising myself, I don’t have any problem at all with it. They want to get their message out via a variety of channels so it only makes sense that they’d do as much as they can.
I signed up for this (through you) about two months back! I haven’t actively used it – I’ll log on every now and then and place some bids but I haven’t had any luck yet. If you don’t mind me asking…about how much do you make per month with Izea?? Thanks!! :)
Holly at ClubThrifty Glad I could share it with you! I would really encourage you to sign up, especially since I’m sure advertisers would be happy to sponsor the Club Thrifty social media accounts.
Wow, I have never heard of this! I have seen celebrities endorse products online, but I had no idea companies reached out to bloggers or “regular” people :) It’s a nice alternative from the traditional sponsored posts!
I certainly don’t have any problem with people working with advertisers to earn money. As long as it doesn’t take over their social media accounts, it seems like a smart way to earn a few extra dollars. And I like with this particular program you can also choose which advertisers you’d like to work with. Thanks for the giveaway!
FrugalRules I’m surprised you haven’t, John. Good to hear your thoughts on it. I like the direction advertising is going, personally.
Sarah Brooks Oh great! Over the past ~4 years I’ve made about $10/month on average. It can be quite sporadic. I may get a bunch of offers in one week and then nothing for a couple months. I think the key thing is to get your first few deals worked out, otherwise it’s more difficult to get on advertiser’s radars.
believeinabudget I’m glad I could share IZEA with you! It’s definitely a nice alternative and I’m glad the industry is headed this direction.
ShannonRyan Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shannon! I really love what IZEA is doing and the direction they are headed as a company and a marketplace for “regular” people who use social media. I do think it’s important to balance out sponsored vs. non-sponsored posts.
I’ve made a little amount of money online. I need to add this to my side hustle list.
I have not made money on social media, but I support anyone making money however they can. I think that the advertising industry is completely changing and instead of big campaigns and ads like in the Super Bowl, we are going to see more of this individual and direct advertising going forward.
Jason @ The Butler Journal It’s a nice way to make a little bit of money each month. It takes almost no effort, which is my favorite way to make money!
blonde_finance I agree, Shannon! I can’t help but think how many campaigns those $4.5 million ads could have funded….
I signed up for and IZEA account last time you had a promotion, but sadly, I’ve never tried to do much with it. Maybe this will inspire me to try harder. I did win a $200 gift card giveaway this past week though!
Eyesonthedollar Congrats on winning the gift card giveaway! It always feels good to win giveaways. The thing about IZEA is you really need to bid low to get your first few advertisers to agree with you. Once you are established it becomes much easier to get advertiser’s attention.
That’s interesting that they’re focused on so many different social media outlets–I’d always assumed Twitter was the dominant advertising vehicle. I learn something new everyday :)!
Mrs. Frugalwoods Definitely. They used to have separate platforms for each social media outlet (i.e. Sponsored Tweets) but with the new platform they put them all on one – much simpler for both publishers and advertisers.
I signed up for Izea a while back, but I haven’t done anything with it yet. I guess I need to go give it another look! Any way to make a few extra bucks for doing things I already do every day sounds good to me :)
TheWriteBudget That’s the beauty of it – very little (or no) additional effort on the part of publishers. I myself have neglected it at times but when I’m actively bidding on campaigns I tend to have better results (go figure).
Re:
WOW, I never made $ online. No luck. :( OMG. Wow, prize$200 gc is fab. &
splendid. 2 fingers snap. It is tight, fly & off the chain. Thank you
for the awesomeness, the contest, and generosity. Pick me, pick me!
Dear Santa: I’ve been nice. My X-Mas wish this year is to win this contest.
Starving artist here desperately needs the paypal gc to shop and eat
again.
EdmondLeung Thanks for stopping by and good luck! I hope you are able to make some money on social media through IZEA. Social sponsorship will only increase in the coming years.
I signed up for Izea and all step done :) hope to win
Mominhina Good luck! Thanks for entering and I hope you are able to make some money on IZEA!
58% Done! Do you think, I would win ?
Hope to win this.. :)
Big wish to win U0001f381U0001f381U0001f603
Hope to win i need big bog wish U0001f64fU0001f64fU0001f64fU0001f64f
When will you post more giveaway?!?!
SavingtheStrohs We will likely run more giveaways in the future : )