What Is TikTok?
For anyone that is not familiar with TikTok, it is a recent trending social media network that allows users to create, share and discover short videos. The attraction of the platform is that the videos are short, fun and trendy which makes them more appealing to users.
People can follow other accounts and create a feed of new content from other content creators. TikTok offers a wide selection of songs and sounds as well as special effects and filters. Many people also use TikTok to advertise just like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
How Much Money Do TikTokers Make?
TikTokers who create regular, engaging and trending content usually get the highest amount of engagement. This then depends on the amount of money you get paid from the Creator Funds, which is an initiative to reward users who have attracted sizable engaged audiences on the platform with self-produced content.
The Creator Funds will pay content creators based on the number of views and engagement they receive on their videos and profiles, encouraging them to be more active online on TikTok. Here are some of the most popular ways content creators make money from TikTok.
Brand Deals and Influencer Marketing
Many TikTok creators that are well known on the app or who have come from other platforms where they are well recognised, will most likely have many brands reach out to them. They usually want to partner with the creator for influencer promotions. Brands tend to collaborate with creators that have a large following so that their promotion can reach a wider audience.
Brands most commonly reach out to mostly well known creators for influencer marketing as it will appear as a genuine or trustworthy source of information and recommendation.
They usually target a specific individual who will be able to influence the type of people with who a brand wishes to reach, however, it is important that the type of content the influencer already creates can relate to the brand in some way. For instance, a make-up brand reaching out to a content creator that films make-up videos, or a meal prep brand such as Hello Fresh reaching out to an influencer who creates meal content; the audience watching is more likely to relate also.
Live Broadcasts
Another common way for creators to make money on TikTok is by going on live broadcasts which connects them with not only their followers but also other users on the app. You can only do this when you have at least 1,000 followers. When a popular TikToker goes on a live broadcast their followers can gift the content creator with ‘coins’ which is essentially a virtual currency.
A user on TikTok can buy from 100 to 10,000 coins with 100 coins being $1.39. Once a creator has received a certain amount of coins from other users, they can then exchange these for real money from PayPal. It is important for creators to be engaging with their audience on a live broadcast for example answering questions, calling users by their name etc.
It is also common for users to send creators ‘gifts’ whilst on live broadcasts, which can be bought with their TikTok coins, as these are the only monetary value allowed within the platform. Once a user has purchased their coins from TikTok they can click on the pink gift icon whilst watching a creator’s live broadcast, this will allow them to send virtual icons to the creator.
It is also important to note that you have to be over the age of 18 to be able to send these gifts to another user as the company implemented a policy to protect younger users from scams.
Below is an image demonstrating how many virtual coins you can buy and at how many English pounds. These are a handful of the gifts available to gift to a live broadcaster:
- Panda – 5 coins
- Italian Hands – 5 coins
- Love Bang – 25 coins
- Sun Cream – 50 coins
- Rainbow Puke – 100 coins
- Concert – 500 coins
- I’m Very Rich – 1000 coins
- Drama Queen – 5000 coins
Attending Sponsored Events
A lot of brands like to host and create events for influencers to attend usually for product releases or just general brand promotion. By inviting influencers and well known creators it gives the brand a chance to be posted or represented by the creator, giving the brand more recognition and attention.
Brands also tend to spend a decent amount of money on an event in order to be more appealing to a creator, however, they hope to see an ROI in more awareness and attention to the brand due to the promotion of the creator.
