There are different paths to monetisation, one of which is to monetise your social media following.
You don’t need an overwhelmingly high number of followers to start monetising. You can start from a moderate number because it’s about the people, not the numbers.
1. Identify your expertise
What’s that thing you are good at? What is your passion centred on? What do you post about frequently? What kind of posts resonate with you on social media? What’s your niche?
You must answer these questions to identify your expertise and what your interests revolve around. This will help you attract the right followers and brands that align with what you stand for.
2. Leverage relevant skills
To build a monetisable community, you need relevant skills such as content writing, copywriting, basic design skills, marketing, storytelling, etc.
3. Nurture a committed community
To monetise your social media following, you need to build a community that is loyal to you. How? Create content that’s highly valuable to them. Make them feel seen by actively engaging them in your stories, in the DMs, in the stories, and connecting them to opportunities, to mention a few.
4. Leverage collaborations and sponsorship
To monetise your social media following, you can consider the needs of your community and collaborate with brands whose values align with yours to create sponsored content/posts.
It reiterates what you’ve communicated to your community over time – in the mouth of more than one witness, the truth will be ‘established’ in their minds. Also, collaborations and sponsored posts widen your reach and could increase your following.
5. Originality
No one wants to commit financially to something that reeks of inauthenticity. People need to trust that you’re authentic. To monetise your social media following, stay true to your brand’s core values.
Conclusively, prioritise the things that matter to your brand and the community you’re building. Monetisation is the goal; however, people want to see that it’s not strictly about the money but about them.