Making Money on TikTok: Strategies for Business

TikTok is still a rising star in the social media world. With over one billion users already, the platform has millions of eyes on it at any moment. Funny videos and creative viral videos offer a something for pretty much everyone — and this is a huge asset for businesses!

As social media dynamics change, businesses need to pay close attention. Individuals can also potentially make money as influencers on the platform.

So, how does it work? In this article, we will cover:

• How businesses can use TikTok to enhance their brands
• How many followers are needed to make money
• Best practices for making money on TikTok

How to Use TikTok to Boost Business

Any TikTok account can potentially make money on the platform. Users typically make money by promoting brands or products in one of the ways we will cover below. Businesses create partnerships or enter into arrangements with these users, commonly referred to as influencers, to promote their products and services natively, thus creating more revenue.

How Many TikTok Followers Are Needed to Make Money?

For individuals or businesses seeking to make money directly from the platform, you need at least 10,000 followers.

Of course, TikTok followers may become conversions as a result of your content. You can apply social media marketing and close sales with the help of your TikTok. However, you must meet the 10,000 follower threshold to make money on TikTok directly.

How Many Views Does a TikTok Video Need to Make Money?

All views are potential conversions in the making!

For businesses to make money through TikTok directly, they’ll need at least 100,000 views over the last 30 days. If the brand regularly gets well over 100,000 views per month, continued partnership with TikTok through the creator fund is a given.

Ways Businesses Make Money Through TikTok

1. Partnering With Other Brands

You can partner with another brand to post sponsored content. This business-to-business arrangement can be mutually beneficial under certain circumstances. If you and another brand sell complementary-but-non-competitive products, there may be a great opportunity for collaboration.

Instead of working alone, the other brand and your own can share the attention of each other’s user bases.

2. Partnering With Influencers

Influencers are users with a very large reach who can point users’ attention in a certain direction.

Businesses can work with individual creatives who do the work of maintaining a large following. You can then partner with these influencers, promoting your business or TikTok account. You can also come to an arrangement for them to sponsor your products.

3. TikTok Ads

TikTok ads are similar to other channels of social media advertising. The TikTok Ads Manager allows businesses to promote their products and services in users’ feeds.

Advertising on TikTok is easy to do, but it’s hard to do well. You are competing with highly entertaining users and other brands’ professional marketing departments for attention. For this reason, businesses often hire professionals like yellowHEAD to create and manage their TikTok ads effectively.

4. Sponsored Posts

“Sponsored Posts” are synonymous with “branded content”.

You can engage in product promotion by enabling the Branded Content toggle when posting branded content. Using the toggle adds a disclosure to the post but makes it available to all accounts.

5. Affiliate Programs

Affiliate marketing is an arrangement where one party links to a brand to send business their way. When users follow the link and make a purchase, a portion of the profits goes to the party who provided the brand with that business.

TikTok affiliate marketing is similar to any other form of affiliate marketing. As a business, you can find an appropriate account and:

1. Have them place affiliate links in their profile to direct traffic to you
2. Have them direct the traffic to the location you want users to land, such as your website, product pages, or specific landing pages.
3. If those links lead to a profit for your business, you pay them an agreed-upon amount for each sale

Businesses can also use best practices, such as including a coupon code or specific URL in the captions.

Bonus: TikTok Shop & TikTok Creator Fund

TikTok Shop is a shopping section where users can make purchases directly through TikTok. Merchants, brands, and creators showcase their products and sell them directly through the app. Businesses can sell their products through:

• In-feed videos
• Live video
• The Product Showcase tab

In addition to TikTok Shop, the TikTok Creator Fund is a program where users can get paid for gathering enough attention. Users who create engaging content can be paid directly by TikTok.

This arrangement is simple: TikTok wants long-term users. Creators who keep users engaged help TikTok ensure long-term usage. So, TikTok pays the content creators who help them keep users on the platform.

There is one minimum qualification to get into the Creator Fund: 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.

This path is open to any TikTok account, whether it’s an individual, a business, or something else. Businesses with great production value can generate more profit and greater brand awareness.

How to Analyze TikTok Posts

You can analyze post results from your profile page on TikTok. However, you must have a Pro account to be able to access them. If you’re planning on monetizing your TikTok account, you will want to upgrade for this and other reasons.

Get a TikTok Pro Account

Businesses that want access to in-depth analytics about their account and visitors will need to switch to a business or pro account.

1. Go to your profile page and tap the three lines at the top right of the screen. This will lead to your “Settings and privacy” page.

2. Under the “Settings and privacy” menu, tap “Manage account”.

3. Lower down on the list, under “ACCOUNT CONTROL” click “Switch to Business Account” and verify your email to make the switch.

You now have a Pro account!

How to Access TikTok Analytical Tools

1. Under the “Settings and privacy” menu, tap “Creator tools”.

2. At the top of the next page, you will see “Analytics”. Tap here.

3. On desktop, the process is the same but faster. Just click on your profile picture. In the popup that comes up, click “View Analytics”.

In either case, you will see:

• Engagement metrics for the period you specify
• Post history
• Live video history
• Content insights
• Followers insights

Altogether, these analytics help you see what you’re doing right and where you can improve. Followers Analytics also offers a lot of market research for your business. For example, it tells you about your followers’ demographics, such as age and gender. You can also see how many you’ve gained and lost over a specified period.

FAQ

What are the payouts for the TikTok Creator Fund?

TikTok states a number of factors used to calculate their payouts, including: number of views, the authenticity of those views, levels of engagement, and whether community guidelines and terms of service are being followed.

Is there a limit to how much money businesses can make on TikTok?

There are no set maximums or minimums. The company slated a budget of 231 million Euros ($235 million USD) for the next three years for the Creator Fund.

How can businesses get more views and followers on TikTok?

It all comes down to creating engaging and relevant content. When starting out, it’s recommended for brands to begin with paid ads in order to learn about the audience and what works (and what doesn’t).

What is the best time for businesses to post on TikTok?

This depends on knowing your audience well. Are they likely to be interested when browsing in the evening for fun or are they morning people who start the day early and use TikTok for learning? Start posting and see what the data says.

Final Thoughts on Businesses Making Money Through Tiktok

TikTok is one of the most powerful platforms of the moment. The best way to start using it to make money, whether directly or indirectly, is to just start posting and learning about the platform. We highly recommend consulting with experts beforehand to start out strong on the platform, so get in touch with the team here at yellowHEAD to get started.