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Despite only launching internationally in 2017, TikTok has become the authority on what’s hot in culture, politics, fashion, and beyond. TikTok is a force, growing rapidly year over year, and is expected to reach two billion users by 2024. The short form video app has attracted a sizable Gen Z user base, and for entrepreneurs, that’s a lot of marketing potential.
\nIf you want to leverage TikTok’s massive user base in building your audience, here’s a look at the strategies of some of the social media platform’s top creators and marketers. Get tips on how to make money on TikTok, from fan merch sales to paid subscriptions.
\nDeciding how to monetize TikTok users becomes easier once you’ve gained a deeper understanding of your target audience. There’s no single approach to monetization, but the highest earners usually maintain a number of complementary income streams. From sponsored content to organic marketing, the opportunities with TikTok are virtually endless.
\nLet’s go over some of the most common ways users earn money on TikTok:
\nConnect with shoppers on TikTok
\nShopify comes with powerful tools to help you tell your brand story and create TikTok in-feed ads in minutes. Make sales on TikTok and manage all your orders, returns, and payments from Shopify.
\nStart selling on TikTok
\nUsers who’ve built up a substantial following might consider making money through the TikTok Creativity Program. Announced in February 2023 and launched in May, this program replaces the TikTok Creator Fund.
\nUS-based creators with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 authentic video views within the past 30 days are eligible to join this program, which, as of May 2023, is still in beta. The program should be available to more users in the coming months.
\nEligibility:
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Selling your own products on TikTok is great for monetizing nearly any type of content. Creators—whether they’re a dancer, a singer, or a comedian—can make and sell merch to their most loyal fans.
\nAnd with a wide variety of print-on-demand companies on the market, there’s a ton of merchandise to choose from. You might sell t-shirts, tote bags, pillow cases, hats, coffee mugs, stickers, notebooks—or any combination of products.
\nSelling print-on-demand products even has benefits beyond revenue. Owning branded merch gives your fans a deeper connection to your personal brand, and every follower who wears your merch spreads the word about your business.
\n💡 Learn more: TikTok Merch: How To Make and Sell It on TikTok
\nLIVE Gifting is one of TikTok’s most useful features for creators looking to monetize their content through livestreaming.
\nMost social networks have a livestreaming feature, but what makes TikTok unique is that it allows followers to show their appreciation in real time by sending virtual gifts, which can be redeemed for payment.
\nEngaging with users in real time is great for building valuable relationships with your fans. Audiences that have a strong connection to a creator tend to develop a personal stake in their success, which means going live can help to boost other monetization streams as well.
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One of the most innovative ways TikTok allows its creators to make money is through its Creator Marketplace.
\nThe Creator Marketplace helps connect the right brands to the right influencers, facilitating partnerships in a way that’s fast and easy for both parties. TikTok makes it incredibly easy to create valuable sponsored content.
\nBrands looking to run an affiliate marketing campaign can browse the marketplace and quickly shuffle through content made by creators they know are open to collaborations with brands.
\nThe Creator Marketplace acts as an influencer agency, letting both sides indicate their willingness to work with one another, relieving some of the awkwardness of approaching influencers that marketers might experience with influencer marketing on other platforms.
\nIf you’re looking for an easy way to find brands to partner with, generate affiliate links, and manage your brand partnerships all in one place, try Shopify Collabs.
\nFind influencers to drive sales with Shopify Collabs
\nShopify Collabs makes it easy to partner with creators, promote your products, reach new customers, grow your sales, and track affiliate campaign performance all from Shopify admin.
\nDiscover Shopify Collabs
\nLike so many great businesses, skin care brand Peace Out Skincare was created when its founder encountered a problem that didn’t have a solution—until he created one.
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After struggling with acne and hyperpigmentation, among other skin issues, Enrico Frezza started researching the skin care product development process and building his own brand of skin care products. The brand found early traction partnering with TikTok influencers to build authenticity—and make more sales. The creators involved also monetized their accounts by being paid for content.
\n🎧 Learn more: On this episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, hear how founder Enrico Frezza found success on TikTok through influencer marketing.
\nTikTok has a ton of great organic marketing opportunities, but if you’re willing to spend a little to expand the reach of your content, you might consider creating your own in-feed ads with the TikTok ads manager.
\nTikTok ads appear in users’ “For you” feeds and auto-play like any other TikTok video. With paid ads, you can make sure your videos are reaching audiences that are most interested in your products.
\nBut the best part? TikTok’s ad manager seamlessly integrates with Shopify. That means you can create TikTok ads, select a target audience, and track your ad’s performance—all from your Shopify store. TikTok really can be one of the best online marketing tools at your disposal.
\nCrowdfunding is one of the most accessible money-making avenues for creators. You put a lot of time and effort into creating content for your fans, so offering an easy, no-pressure way for them to give back is great for securing a regular income stream.
\nCrowdfunding can take many forms, depending on what type of funding you’re looking for. If you’re looking for startup funds for a specific project, you could rally your followers by setting up a funding goal and hosting live fundraising events.
\nIf you’re looking to fund a specific project, here are some crowdfunding sites to explore:
\n💡 Get more ideas: 10 Top Crowdfunding Sites: Fund Your Vision in 2023
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For a fast and easy way to accept donations, consider using a tipping platform. Tipping platforms work just like a real-life tip jar, and viewers who like your videos can thank you with a small donation. The option is available to fans, but not mandatory, and they can donate any amount they like at any time they want.
If this sounds more appealing to you, here are some great tipping platforms to check out:
\nCrowdfunding works for big projects, and tipping is the simplest way to collect funds quickly. But what if you’re looking to secure a more regular passive income stream? Try a creator-based subscription platform, like Patreon.
\nSubscription-based models of income work great for content creators, because you can keep individual subscription costs low and focus on growing your number of subscribers.
\nA low-cost subscription of, say, one dollar a month is an easy sell to a single dedicated fan. If you have a lot of dedicated fans, those dollars start to add up.
\nPatreon was the first large platform built to let creators and influencers generate revenue through paid memberships from their most loyal fans. On Patreon, you can set up membership tiers that allow you to offer exclusive content to your biggest supporters.
\nAlternatives exist (most notably Ko-fi, which also includes a tipping feature), but Patreon has the added benefit of brand awareness, which adds a level of trust from prospective supporters.
\nIf you’re thinking a subscription service might be the best way of monetizing your TikTok account, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
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On TikTok, your audience is likely to skew younger. A majority of users (62%) are under 30, and a whopping 32.5% of active users are under 20. Many people think of TikTok’s popularity with Gen Z as its defining characteristic, but this could change quickly.
One survey shows a growing number of millennials joining the platform, and social networks tend to be most popular with teens at their inception—so a head start on catering to TikTok’s older users could give you a big advantage in a few years.
\nThere’s no one-size-fits-all approach to TikTok, but having a solid understanding of your audience will put you in a better position to find the best ways to monetize your following.
\n💡 Learn more: TikTok Trends: The Ones To Watch in 2023
\nThe tricky part of using social media to sell products is not overdoing the amount of promotional material. Your fans understand that you need funding to keep creating the content they love, but no one wants to follow an account that just feels like it’s advertising constantly.
\nThis is especially true with TikTok, since the platform itself is so geared toward forming personal connections with your audience.
\nUsers appreciate good content, so it might help to take a “content-first” approach. Rather than starting with your sales pitch and building content around it, create the content first and let it inspire the best ways to monetize your account. Your TikTok posts should offer value to your audience—not just sell to them.
\nPartly Sunny Projects is an online plant brand shipping stunning California greenery across the country. Founder Sonja Detrinidad started the business as a distraction from the stress of her day job and took to TikTok to capture the process.
\nIt didn’t take long for TikTok audiences to fall in love with Sonja’s captivating personality. Her authentic TikTok videos align with her audience’s interests.
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What makes Sonja’s use of TikTok for her business so successful is that she is focused on creating content she knows her viewers enjoy. Sonja covers topics related to gardening, effectively capturing the attention of the exact type of follower that can be turned into a customer.
\n🪴 Learn more: Read how Sonja turned her viral TikTok success into a blooming business.
\nCreators aren’t just artists anymore. They’re artists, entrepreneurs, marketers, salespeople, accountants, founders, CEOs—and everything in between. In the creator economy, stars are self-made out of their own creativity, passion, and desire to build something unique.
\nTime is money for artists—and making more money from your art grants you more time to create. If the money itself isn’t rewarding enough, the extra time it buys will be. TikTok is one of many platforms offering creators the ability to make money online. Do what you already do best—and get paid doing it.
\n💡 Learn more: If you enjoyed this guide to making money on TikTok, check out our tips for how to make money on YouTube and how to make money on Instagram.
\nYes! Anyone can make money on TikTok with the right tools and an effective strategy. If you’re looking to make money on TikTok, take a look at the tips above and start considering which strategies are best for you.
\nThe most successful TikTok users make money through a combination of revenue streams that can include sponsorships, fundraising drives, product sales, and accepting tips. TikTok users can also promote products through an affiliate link to get paid directly from brands. Making money on TikTok is also possible for larger accounts through programs like creator funds.
\nTikTok does not directly pay creators to produce and upload videos. TikTok does offer funding for creators in the form of the TikTok Creativity Program. Still, payment varies based on factors like the number of video views, engagement rates, and the authenticity of users engaging with the post.
\nIn some cases, brands might pay a popular micro-influencer to create videos, but TikTok’s highest-paid users usually monetize their accounts through multiple income streams. Multiple income streams provide greater security, but your audience is the biggest factor when deciding how to make real money on TikTok.
\nAccording to Hopper HQ, these were the highest earners on TikTok in 2022:
\nHow you get paid depends on the method you choose to monetize your TikTok content. Usually, you will get paid through whichever app you use for monetization, whether that’s a tipping platform, TikTok’s own Creativity Program (formerly Creator Fund), a crowdfunding site, or your own online store platform (in the case of selling merch or your own products to your fans).
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/make-money-on-tiktok
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A new AI service for “parsing” music tracks.
\nThe Mikrotakt neural engine can split any track into vocals, instrumentals, bass, drums, and other audio tracks.
\nIn addition, you can upscale vocal tracks to clean up the voice and adjust the pitch. This feature is ideal for musicians and content makers.
\nThe new Chinese model DeepSeek-V3 becomes a competitor to ChatGPT:
\n– registration requires only your email and password
\n– the neural is quite fast: answers are generated in seconds
\n– Thinking mode, where AI turns into an academic on any topic
\n– the model can read diagrams and generate any texts
\n– files of different sizes can be uploaded
\n– the neuron is good at working with code
\n– absolutely free
\nHailuo AI from China can clone any voice without censorship in a few seconds. Its library includes more than 300 voices in different languages and intonations. The model also allows for full customization: you can change the tone, speed, and timbre and add sound effects.
\nThe Chinese have released a worthy competitor to ChatGPT.
\nThe Qwen2.5-Plus chatbot provides accurate answers, can read documents and images, and is completely free of charge.
\nKrea allows rotating models in its “Photoshop”
\nKrea developers have come up with an incredible feature for their neuro-Photoshop: you can drop any object and edit its position in 3D space.
\nThe Upscayl neuron has received a 16x upscale, so now it can save even the most hopeless photos. The download is free.
\nThe Wegic neural network has become even cooler.
\nNow websites are generated in seconds, and all your edits can be made with simple queries.
\nYou just throw in a promo and you have a perfectly(?) designed website.
\nA working AI meme generator.
\nThe Brainrot neuron follows trends, selects relevant images, and produces memes that are even funny to read. And all this is free.
\nGoogle has released a top free guide to AI agents.
\nIt contains everything: basic knowledge, tools, architecture, training methods, and a step-by-step recipe for creating agents on LangChain and LangGraph.
\nIt is a cool service for learning languages with an AI interlocutor.
\nThe Lingocat neuron imitates the native speaker, gives feedback, and has tasks to improve skills. And all this is free of charge.
\nThe free neural from the Chinese outperforms(?) ChatGPT.
\nA new model called R1 has been released that outperforms the best version of ChatGPT. R1 is twice as powerful as the previous version and it has literally everything you need: programming, math, rewriting, and everything else. It’s worth noting that if you look at the graph of how it “outperforms”, it doesn’t encourage you to switch from OpenAI to the Chinese neural.
\nUniversal AI photo editor.
\nGenerating, replacing, or deleting details, styling, changing the background, and upscaling – and this is not the whole list of functions of the new and free Dzine neural.
\nPrompt generator for ChatGPT
\nPromptEngine works according to the official recommendations of OpenAI. The service also supports other language models: Claude, Gemini, LLama, and Mistral, which can be selected from a list.
\nOpenAI President showed a feature for the o1 model.
\nAccording to Greg Brockman, the o1 model works a bit differently than other types of AI, and to achieve high performance, you need to follow a certain plan in writing promos:
\nthe goal, response format, warning, and context.
\n(The Anatomy of an o1 Prompt attached an example image)
\nChatGPT can now write first.
\nThe neuron will remind you of important things like a real assistant. For example, in the morning, it can provide a ready-made excuse for being late for work, and in the evening, a convincing explanation for a deadline shift.
\nSo far, only 10 regular tasks are available, but by the end of the week, all paid users will receive the new feature.
\nOpenAI offers free tokens for ChatGPT.
\nHowever, there is a caveat: in exchange, they ask for permission to use your promos to train models.
\nThe offer lasts until the end of February. Pro users can get up to 1 million tokens per day, and mini-version users can get up to 10 million!
\nTrump has canceled Biden’s decree on control over AI development.
\nThe document, signed in 2023, required developers to share test results with the government to reduce risks. However, Republicans insisted that this restricted freedom of speech and hindered progress. Now, AI development is unrestricted again.
\nChina will organize a competition between robots and humans
\nIn April, China will host the world’s first half marathon where people will compete with robots. The race will involve 12,000 runners and dozens of androids. Technology versus biology is a real race of the era.
\nAI tokens soar after the Stargate project announcement.
\nOn January 23, Trump announced a $500 billion investment from the private sector in the development of AI infrastructure in the United States. As part of this project, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle will create a joint venture called Stargate. Immediately after this announcement, the AI and big data token market showed significant growth:
\n– AI16Z and AI Rig Complex (ARC) grew by 30% per day
\n– GRIFFAIN and ZEREBRO tokens doubled in price
\n– MetamonkeyAi (MMAI) showed an increase of 152.25%
\n– FLock.io (FLOCK) – by 57%
\nThe smartest o3-mini model will be free!
\nSam Altman said that this neural will be able to solve complex problems in programming, math, and data analysis – all for free.
\nFeatures of o3-mini:
\n– advanced analytical abilities
\n– accelerated data processing speed
\n– ease of use for everyone
\nThe release is planned for the near future.
\nOracle founder supports AI totalitarianism
\nBillionaire Larry Ellison stated that the total surveillance system with artificial intelligence based on cameras, drones, and police recorders will force citizens to “behave in the best way possible”.
\nOracle has recently entered into a partnership with OpenAI and Softbank. Digital dystopia is becoming a reality.
\nThe first Chinese base for robot training was opened in Shanghai
\nThey will learn to help around the house, play football, and assemble cars.
\nThe data obtained in the process will be shared with various companies.
\nCurrently, the center has more than 100 androids and plans to expand to a thousand by 2027.
\nChatGPT can now create any kind of application – a new Canvas feature has been released that runs the code right in the browser.
\n– There are no limits to ideas – we invent and ask AI to draw up a detailed project description.
\n– Copy and paste the request into the chat with the neuron, but add the “/canvas” command at the end.
\n– AI will produce a fully working application in React and HTML in a second – you can test it right away!
\n– There are no limits or restrictions – you can even clone YouTube in your browser.
\nThe feature is free.
\nTop 5 promos for working with any amount of information – the neural will squeeze out all the “water” from the source and give you only concise, verified facts:
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