Khaby Lame doesn’t say a single word in the comedy clips he posts on TikTok. Yet the creator rakes in as much as $750,000 per video. Cleary, Khaby knows how to make money on TikTok.
And while those might seem like crazy numbers to dream about, here’s a little secret: you don’t need 100,000 videos to make money on TikTok in 2024. In fact, you can start earning before you post your first clip.
We tapped Celia Quillian, the creator behind @smartworkai with over 90K followers, on all her money-making strategies—from viewers giving gifts to selling products for profit.
Keep reading, to learn exactly how to build up your TikTok earnings.
Bonus: Get a free TikTok Growth Checklist from famous TikTok creator Tiffy Chen that shows you how to gain 1.6 million followers with only 3 studio lights and iMovie.
How to make money on TikTok? 16 ways to cash in
How easy is it to make money on TikTok? Anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and a knack for editing snappy short-form videos has a shot to claim some cold hard cash.
1. Join the Creator Rewards Program
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Want to get paid directly by TikTok when your videos go viral? Join the Creator Rewards Program.
Creator Rewards replaced TikTok’s Creator Fund to incentivize high-quality, original content creation. In this new version, the program pays out rewards for videos that:
- Are at least one minute long
- Get at least 1,000 views
- Aren’t a Duet or Stitch
- Aren’t created using Photo Mode
- Follow the program’s rules and terms
Source: TikTok Creator Rewards mobile app page
To be eligible for TikTok Creator Rewards,
- You must have a Personal TikTok account (Business accounts don’t qualify)
- Your TikTok account must be registered in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, or Brazil
- Your account must be following TikTok’s Community Guidelines and Terms
- Be at least 18 years of age
TikTok lists several factors used to calculate payouts on the Creator Rewards page, from originality to play duration. So if you’re a creator thinking about where to start earning money on TikTok, this would be a great first step.
2. Collect gifts from your posts
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Gifts are a way for viewers to show their appreciation to creators. It can seem a bit confusing, but stay with us here because, gifts, given by viewers, turn into cash for you.
Here’s how it works:
- Users purchase coins from TikTok that they can use to buy virtual gifts.
- From there, users can send a gift to the creator when they watch a video they think is amazing.
- Creators convert their gifts into TikTok diamonds which they can cash out for real currency.
Source: Philipinethingstoknow
Two coins are worth one diamond, and one diamond is worth $0.05. So a big, generous audience is really the only way gifts are going to work as a true financial opportunity.
As a creator, you’ll need to turn on the gift option in TikTok Studio under the Monetization tab.
Plus, you’ll also need to meet these qualifications:
- Live where gifts are available
- Be 18 years old or older
- Have at least 10,000 followers on an account that’s at least 30 days old
- Published content within the last 30 days
You may be eligible with fewer than 10,000 followers. But you’ll need to prove to TikTok that you’ve made money on other platforms.
3. Use TikTok LIVE
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
TikTok LIVE lets you connect with your audience in real-time. And just like standard TikToks, viewers can show their appreciation with gifts during LIVE sessions.
However, a major bonus to the TikTok LIVE feature: there’s a much larger range of gifts with way higher coin amounts.
Source: Melissita30
There’s even an option to create exclusive TikTok LIVE events requiring a paid subscription to attend.
TikTokers who stick with a steady schedule of live streams often report making hundreds or thousands of dollars from each session.
4. Collect tips
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Surprise, tips aren’t only reserved for the restaurant industry. On TikTok, you can set up a third-party tipping platform.
Check out how TikToker Mattie.dp added a Buy Me a Coffee option to the Linktree in her bio.
Source: mattie.dp
The link acts like a virtual tip jar so Mattie’s happy viewers can leave her a little gift.
5. Partner with a brand
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Technically, sponsored content on TikTok is defined as content for which you receive something of value. That’s the goal, right?
For example, a brand might pay you to make a TikTok video about how great their soy candles smell, or you might receive a free skydiving trip in exchange for posting about it (though we’re not recommending taking any free skydiving offers).
Source: noajennings
Influencer marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to earn money on TikTok; it’s where most influencers say they earn the most cash. Since the audience on TikTok is growing larger and more diverse, new brand partnership opportunities are always opening up.
To get started, head to TikTok’s collaboration platform, TikTok Creator Marketplace. That’s where brands go to find their next influencer.
Here are a few ways to jumpstart your brand partnership journey while keeping your content authentic.
Only reach out to brands or organizations you really love
If your TikTok is all about being a raw vegan, and suddenly you start posting about your favorite local burger joint, your followers will see right through you. Not only is this confusing, but it also makes you look like a sellout. So, make sure that your sponsored content aligns with your regular content.
Make a press kit for your TikTok account
A press kit is like a movie trailer for yourself. It hypes up all of the great things about you and gives brands good reasons to start a partnership. The kit should include contact information, photos, and notable achievements. Think of it like your highlight reel. Websites like Templatelab offer press kit templates for free.
Create a few non-sponsored posts
Brands will want to see that you have what it takes to drive sales to their business. Make a few non-sponsored posts chatting up your new fav shoes, and that specialty sock brand will come calling.
#1 for TikTok marketing
Schedule TikToks, answer comments, and show off your results in beautiful reports. It’s so easy.
6. Create a TikTok Series
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
TikTok Series is a program that lets you put collections of videos behind a paywall. Series can contain up to 80 videos, and each one can be up to 20 minutes long. It’s a fantastic monetization strategy for creators who focus on niche topics.
Series turns your expertise into passive income. Once you’ve created one, the link to it sits on your profile, waiting for the next viewer to dig in.
Check out the below example of a Series without showing your face.
Source: googlemapsfun
Notice the “Series” tag in this TikTok bio (psstt, use our free TikTok bio ideas generator to craft the perfect front window for your account).
You can post multiple Series and set your price for them. That way as you create more valuable, premium content, bundle up the videos that work together and place more money-making Series for viewers to binge.
Source: googlemapsfun
If you’re looking for the most “set it and forget it” money-making model in TikTok, Series is it!
7. Set up a TikTok Shop
Who can make money with this tactic: Brands and businesses
TikTok Shop offers brands a way to set up their own little e-commerce store right on TikTok. Buyers discover your products and complete the purchase without ever having to leavie the app. Talk about low-friction sales!
There are lots of ways to turn viewers into buyers using Shops. You can showcase and sell your products via TikTok LIVE, the Shop tab, and directly with links on your videos.
Source: CE Craft Company
TikTok Shop gives buyers and browsers a full e-commerce shopping experience. They can see product details they’re interested in, click through your full catalog, and complete the payment process.
Source: CE Craft Company
Get started selling on TikTok by going to the app’s Seller Center. Then start reeling in that revenue.
Note: TikTok Shop isn’t available to all sellers. There are geographic restrictions you can read about in the TikTok Shop page.
8. Run TikTok ads
Who can make money with this tactic: Brands and businesses
Sometimes, you’ve got to spend money to make money.
Whether you want to grow your TikTok following or drive traffic from TikTok to your brand’s site, sometimes organic views just don’t cut it. That’s where TikTok ads come in.
What’s cool is how TikTok’s ad platform is growing more and more robust by the year. There always seem to be new ways to attract viewers and encourage them to click on your ads.
Just take a look at these oversized deal links, for example.
Source: Tracive
The attractive offer jumps off the screen, slowing scrollers enough to see what you’re selling.
9. Create promotional videos
Who can make money with this tactic: Brands and businesses
If you have products or services the TikTok world needs to know about, promotional videos that show them off are the perfect play.
Unlike ads, you don’t have to pay for these posts. All you need is a vibrant video of your products in action and a descriptive caption to close the deal (our free caption generator can help with that!).
Source: Okoko Cosmetiques
Remember that these are organic posts from your account. You won’t have the benefit of ad targeting to get them in front of your audience. So optimize them for TikTok search and make them interesting enough that people want to watch.
10. Earn money through affiliate programs
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
You don’t need your own merch to sell something on TikTok. You can just use affiliate marketing links to earn a percentage of the sale of other people’s products.
TikTok makes it easy to be an affiliate marketer, too. There’s an affiliate marketplace where you scope out interesting products that fit your vibe (and that your followers would love). You pick the ones you want to promote, add them to your videos, and collect a commission whenever people buy from your link.
Source: tessamaria000
This is one of the easiest and most fun ways to make money on TikTok.
If you already create content about camping, home repair, or skincare, why not add a product link and make a little profit in the process?
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
It used to be that if you wanted to offer your followers a VIP experience, you had to direct them off the app to a platform like say, Patroen. But now you can give your most loyal devotees all those insider perks (and get paid in the process) without leaving TikTok.
What can you offer potential subscribers to entice them to subscribe? A whole lot, including:
- Exclusive content
- Subscriber-only LIVE sessions
- Shoutouts in videos
- Exclusive merch
- Direct messages and comment replies (creator prioritizes their community members)
- Personalized notes or videos
You can even create subscription tiers like comedian Sarah Gray does.
Source: Sarah Gray
Splitting it up like this gives users a low-cost way to get into your community. Once they’re in and love it, they’ll invest a little more to get the best stuff.
12. Consult for brands
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
If you’ve managed to crack the TikTok code and regularly create engaging content that delights audiences and winds up on the For You Page, why not use your special skills to help other brands do the same?
Liza Prigozhina, for instance, has parlayed her TikTok talents into a business as “the queen of New York real-estate TikTok.” Lizza gets paid to make videos for realtors and other clients.
Check out her account, it’s full of lifestyle and real estate content that shows off her creativity and competence on the platform.
Source: lizaprigozhina
That’s how you use your TikTok account as a portfolio to prove your posting proficiency. Then, businesses will pay you big bucks (we’re rooting for you) to outsource their social media content to you, someone who knows how to appease the algorithm.
13. Coach other creators
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Instead of taking on social media for brands, create paid courses that teach new TikTokers how to grow their following.
There are several ways to monetize this strategy. You can place exclusive educational content behind a TikTok paywall. You can create a course through another platform, like email or Stan, and add a registration link to your TikTok bio.
Or, much like this coach, you can encourage followers to sign up for one-on-one training.
Source: keeansocial
The strategy here is to give your audience plenty of free advice in your videos so they get a taste of what you offer.
That’ll grow your followers and get your videos on the For You Page more often. Then begin directing them to paid programs with much more valuable benefits.
14. Refer your friends
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
Lean in a little closer because this one is important: You can make money on TikTok without followers. It’s actually easy, just join the TikTok Rewards referral program.
Once you’re in, copy the unique referral link from your profile and share it with friends and contacts. If those friends join and start using TikTok, you’ll get reward points you can redeem for cash. Learn more about eligibility for Rewards here.
That’s it. That’s the tactic.
15. Work with artists
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators
TikTok’s Work with Artists monetization feature lets you help musicians get more exposure on the app while making money from the videos you post.
Here’s how it works. Artists launch a campaign on the Work with Artists board, including their song, the type of post it should be used on, and what they’ll pay. You pick the one that works best for your post, and you get paid based on the number of likes, shares, and views your video gets.
To apply for this creativity program, you must be at least 18 years old and have 1,000 or more followers. The feature is located in the Monetization section of your TikTok Studio.
16. Sell digital products
Who can make money with this tactic: Creators, brands, and businesses
TikTok doesn’t currently let you sell digital products directly on the app. So if you make money selling woodworking plans, educational e-books, photo-editing presets, and the like, you’ll need a workaround.
Start by building a digital storefront, like Shopify or something similar. That’s where you’ll handle the actual payment collection and delivery of your digital goods. Then you’ll include a link to your shop in your bio.
The extra steps buyers take to complete a purchase aren’t ideal. But if you promote your storefront link in content and remind people to go to your bio, you can still generate some income from TikTok.
How to make money on TikTok FAQ with creator, Celia Quillian
With so many ways to make money on TikTok, there’s bound to be a few questions. We spoke to Celia Quillian, the creator behind @smartworkai, to help us answer some of the more pressing ones.
With over 90K followers Quillian uses Series, Subscriptions, and other tactics to monetize her time on TikTok. Keep reading to learn how to make money on TikTok Shop, how to make money on TikTok with 1000 followers, and so much more.
How many followers do you need on TikTok to make money?
Quillian: “You don’t need many followers to make money on TikTok. Some creators have started to earn money via TikTok Shop with as few as 1,000 followers .”
“To make money from TikTok for purely posting content, you must have at least 10,000 followers and join the Creator Fund, which then pays between roughly $0.30 and $1.00 per 1,000 qualified views (views over five seconds) on TikTok’s sixty seconds or longer. I personally started earning from sponsored content when I had roughly 10,000 followers.”
How many views do you need on TikTok to make money?
After joining the Creator Fund, a video with just a couple thousand views can earn some money. But for a video to be eligible to make money from TikTok’s Creator Fund, it must be over 60 seconds long and have achieved at least 1,000 qualified views.
A qualified view is considered to be a view of at least five seconds long and must be on the ‘For You’ page.
Quillian shares, “will you make much money if your videos all get just a couple thousand views? No. Strong, engaging content that holds attention (while also meeting the criteria for qualified views) is most likely to make more money.”
Adding, “still, though, unless you consistently make 60-second (or longer) videos garnering 100,000 video views or more, don’t quit your day job and rely on TikTok’s Creator Fund alone. You may instead turn to other ways to monetize your channel.”
How do you get paid on TikTok?
There are several ways to get paid on TikTok from Lives, to the Creator Marketplace, and so much more (as mentioned above).
Though Quillian notes, “a monetization method that’s rapidly gaining in popularity is being a TikTok Shop affiliate. If a viewer taps the link to that product on your video and makes a purchase, you will earn a commission on the sale, typically ranging from 5% to upwards of 30%.”
“Another is setting up a subscription plan for your community to subscribe to for a monthly fee, offering special perks and benefits.”
What’s the best way to make money on TikTok?
In all honesty, it depends.
Quillian says that, “because I care deeply about not promoting products I have not personally tried and found valuable to my audience, the majority of money I have made as a creator has come from sponsored videos. However, I am cautious to balance my sponsored content with non-sponsored, original content.”
Noting that, “the most ‘fun’ way to make money is through the Creator Fund. Despite it being inconsistent and totally dependent on how viral one’s video goes. When a video does take off, it can be very exciting to see the unexpected cash flow”
However, she shares that, perhaps the ‘best’ way to earn money on TikTok is by making content about products purchased off TikTok Shop. “Because of the commission, you can earn off of these products, and because of the variety of products available on TikTok Shop that could fit even a very narrow niche.”
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