With the rise of the digital age and social media, influencers are popping up everywhere. An influencer can be identified as someone who has successfully built a decent number of following on the internet, whether through Instagram, Youtube, podcast, or a blog.

At the end of the day, one of the top reasons why so many people want to become an influencer is because they want to be able to earn an income from it. Many think that if they have a lot of followers on social media, then the money will come. But that’s not always the case.

There are plenty of bloggers, podcasters, or social media influencers out there with thousands of followers but they barely make enough to quit their 9 to 5. If that is you, then below are ways that you can provide value to your followers and also earn money from it at the same time.

1. Sponsors & Advertising

Advertising and sponsorships are probably the first things you think of when looking for ways to make money from your social media followers.

Generally, when you have a decent size following on social media, brands and companies will reach out to you and pay you a fixed amount to promote their products. In addition, some platforms like Youtube have a system in place for you to make money through sponsored ads.

However, unless you have millions of followers, you most likely won’t make much money doing it this way. If you’re just a small influencer, then don’t worry. There are better ways to make money with a small following.

2. Affiliate Marketing

In short, affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people/company’s products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make with no additional cost to the buyers.

Affiliate marketing works best when you promote products or services that you use or are familiar with, so you can authentically promote them.

3. Services

You can offer services that tie in with the content that you are putting out for free.

For example, I provide people free tips and strategies on how to build an audience on my Instagram @iamdaviddang, and I also offer services to help experts, entrepreneurs, and influencers to grow their following authentically on Instagram. 

By showing that I am an expert on the topic, people know that I am capable of helping them. This made it much easier to get clients without having to “sell” them on my abilities.

So if you’re good at doing something and enjoy doing it, then you should consider offering it as a service to your audience.

4. Coaching & Consulting

Coaching & Consulting is somewhat similar to offering a service, but instead of you doing the work for them, you would give them advice and guidance on what to do.

Think about the amount of people who would pay Gary Vaynerchuk a fortune for his social media marketing advice after consuming his free videos on Youtube. If you’ve established your authority and trust with your audience, people are happy to pay you a premium just for your advice.

5. Digital Products

Aside from offering paid services, you could also make money from creating digital products, like an e-book about your favorite topic or an online course on a subject that you specialize in. It could even be short tutorials, or downloadable prints.

What is great about digital products is that they can be created once and sold repeatedly to different customers without having to replenish your inventory.

6. Physical Products

If you have an audience who is crazy about camping, then why don’t you sell them camping gears? Instead of promoting products from other businesses, you can buy products directly from manufacturers and whitelabel them under your brand. Sure this will take more work, but your profit margin will be much higher as well.

Physical products can also be simple things like t-shirts, mugs, and other swag.

Need Help Monetizing Your Followers?

At the end of the day, you monetize your followers by offering them something of value that they would be happy to pay money for. Let’s say you have built the trust with 1,000 loyal fans. With a $100 offer, whether through an affiliate product, your service, a coaching session, your own digital or physical product, that’s enough to make you $100,000.

As can be seen, you don’t need a ton of followers to make money as an influencer or content creator. You just need to have a product or service that people want and need. If you’re a blogger, a podcaster, a vlogger, or a social media influencer and you are struggling with creating an income from your audience then you have to check this out! 

How would you like to learn the skills and the ‘ins and outs’ to strategically create a top selling product or service using the hobbies and passions you already have?

Check out this awesome 30-day challenge by ClickFunnels! By the end of it, you will have a high converting sales process that will get you paid as an influencer or content creator!

>> CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW!!!<<