Category: SocialMediaMarketing

Posted on in Social Media Promotion, SocialMediaMarketing

How to make money on social media in South Africa: Small Business Selling (2023)

So you’re thinking about starting a business and making money on social media, but how? Where do you even begin? Figuring this out may be challenging, especially if you consider that social media has significantly advanced since its inception in the early 2000s.

This in-depth guide presents all the tips and tricks you should know about selling and making money on social media. If you’re ready to start making passive income online, this guide has got you covered.

You’ll also learn how to monetise the various social media platforms and how to sell online without having a website. Finally, this guide takes you through the limitations of selling on social media.

Without further ado, let’s unpack the question, “How do you make money on social media?”

Index

How to make money from social media | Getting started

Find your niche

First things first, figure out what you are selling. Find a niche — a section of the market that focuses on a particular kind of product or service. To successfully sell on social media, you’ll need to find a target market that wants (if not needs) your product or service.

Here are four easy steps to find your niche:

1. Identify your interests, passions, or skills

Finding a niche that aligns with your interests or skills is the best way to start selling on social media. When you sell a product or service you love, you are less likely to give up when the money does not come as soon as you had hoped.

2. Look for problems to solve

The best way to find a winning product or service to sell is by solving a problem. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you are trying to sell to. Then ask yourself, “What problems am I facing and how can I solve them?”.

3.  Research your competition

The existence of competitors in your niche market is not always a bad thing. For one, it means there is a demand for that product or service and the opportunity to make money. You will need to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and then look for ways to capitalise on them.

4. Test and get feedback

You won’t know that you have a winning product or service without testing it. The best and easiest way to test your niche market is to set up a landing page and use paid advertising to drive traffic to the page.

Tip: Use A/B testing, as the feedback will help you choose the best user experience interface for your potential customer.

Learn the difference between social selling and social commerce

The monetisation of social media comes in various forms. You can use your influence and charisma to sell products or services on social media, but you can also use tools like a website, search engine optimisation (SEO), and Google Trends.

Understanding the two concepts above will help differentiate social selling and social commerce. Here’s a quick breakdown of both:

Social selling

Social selling is using social media to indirectly sell products or services to your customers. This requires developing genuine relationships with your potential customers and engaging them on a personal level. These connections are, therefore, your main sales driving factor.

Social commerce

In contrast, social commerce uses social media to directly sell your products or services to customers. This involves facilitating all steps of the online buying process, from browsing all the way to accepting and processing payments. Social commerce often requires a website.

Stay consistent

Last but not least, you have to stick to your niche. Customers would be very confused if you were selling apples today and bananas tomorrow. That’s why the steps of niche discovery above are crucial to making money with social media.

Choosing an ever-green product is also a great way to stay consistent with your niche. This is a product (or service) that you can sell throughout the year without any hindrances or considerations like seasons or public holidays.

7 Top ways to make money on social media in 2023

There are many ways you can make money with social media. This allows you to pick whichever way/s works best for you.

Some of these popular online marketing methods require active work, while others are 100% passive. Figuring out what techniques you’ll use to make money online will help in your goal setting as well as in creating your social media marketing strategy for your small business.

Keep reading to find out the top seven ways to make money on social media as well as some pros and cons of each method.

1. Sell your own products

Once you gain a sizable following, you can leverage that influence to sell digital products on social media. For example, if you are running a small accounting business, you can design and create digital products like monthly budgets or savings spreadsheets to sell to your followers.

Although this method of making money on social media requires more active participation, it gives you more control. You’ll have the final say on pricing, marketing, and the logistics of delivering the product.

Pros:

  • You own the IP (intellectual property)
  • You can replicate the product and resell it as many times as you want

Cons:

  • You will need to invest heavily in marketing and advertising to get customers

2. Partner with relevant brands

Partnering with brands by creating niche-specific content or running campaigns is one of the most effective ways of making money online. This method is often referred to as being an “influencer”, but as a small business, it’s a good way to collaborate with other businesses operating within the same industry.

Promoting the products or services of other businesses is usually done through sponsored posts and campaigns. For example, an accounting business can partner up with a software company like Sage or Netcash in a campaign promoting a simple process of salary payments.

Partnering with relevant brands automatically shows your potential customers that you only work with brands that naturally align with your business model. Also, ensure you have made use of the products or services you promote and always offer value to customers.

Pros:

  • You get to choose your own rates and fees (e.g., R500 per post)
  • Collaborations with relevant brands increase your credibility as a leader in your industry

Cons:

  • If you don’t have a large following (10,000+ followers), you will most likely have to approach the brands for a collaboration

3. Become an affiliate marketer

An affiliate marketer recommends third-party products or services to their audience and gets paid a commission when customers buy using their unique link or code. Affiliate marketing is one of the best passive ways to make money on social media.

Although the initial setup requires some legwork, becoming an affiliate marketer is your best bet for making money online while you sleep.

So there are three main ways you could become an affiliate marketer:

  1. Join an affiliate marketing network – this platform easily connects you (the affiliate marketer) with brands.
  2. Apply as an affiliate marketer for a specific company’s program – this is when you sign up to only promote and recommend products or services from one specific brand.
  3. Pitch your own affiliate terms – when you have a large following, you can negotiate your own rates with brands for long-term partnerships.

Whichever way you choose, affiliate marketing is arguably the best and easiest way to get paid to post on social media. You can start a side hustle or even a career as an affiliate marketer with literally no money.

Pros:

  • You get to decide which brands (products or services) to promote
  • You only need to post once but may have an unlimited amount of sales opportunities

Cons:

  • Affiliate networks often have fees, a payout structure, and guidelines, so figuring out the final amount you’ll get paid can get a bit tricky

4. Join platform-specific monetisation programs

At first glance, joining platform-specific monetisation programs sounds like affiliate marketing wrapped in a fancy bow. But these two concepts are not entirely the same. A platform-specific monetisation program is an initiative by the social media platform (e.g., TikTok).

Social media platforms need creators (you) to keep users engaged so that brands will keep running ads; that is their basic business model. Therefore, social media platforms regularly launch new creator-friendly features to help you earn money.

Some examples of platform-specific monetisation programs include the TikTok Creator Fund, YouTube Partner Program, Instagram Subscriptions, and Pinterest Creator Rewards.

Pros:

  • In-built features help you monetise a specific social media platform
  • No third party is involved, so you’ll get paid directly by the platform

Cons:

  • These programs usually pay low rates, e.g., with the TikTok Creator Fund, you can earn between $0.02 (R0.38) and $0.04 (R0.76) for every 1,000 views

5. Sell your expertise or skills

Similar to selling a product or service, selling your expertise requires a lot of work upfront, but it quickly becomes a passive income stream as you make sales. The biggest difference between selling products and your skills is that you don’t need to keep inventory for the latter.

Using the previous example of a small accounting firm, you can start a side business that offers training or coaching services to aspiring accountants. Other ways you can monetise your skills include hosting workshops, creating online courses, and writing e-books to sell.

Pros:

  • No inventory (or stock on hand) required
  • You can customise the experience for every customer

Cons:

  • You must be an expert or highly skilled at what you are selling

6. Create a paid membership program

Another excellent method to make money with social media is a paid membership program for your followers. This entails creating exclusive content that is only available and accessible to followers who pay a recurring subscription, usually monthly.

But paid membership programs are not only limited to exclusive content. You can also offer your followers loyalty discounts, one-on-one virtual engagements, and early access to newly released content.

Pros:

  • Recurring income from subscribers
  • You will have access to funds you can use to improve overall content quality

Cons:

  • Your membership program benefits and perks must be worth the subscription fee, if not worth more

7. Sell your own merchandise

Selling your own branded merchandise is another great way to make money using social media. However, this method, above all the others, requires a large number of followers who are loyal to your brand.

You can sell merchandise varying from practical items like apparel, USBs, mugs, and water bottles to mementoes and memorabilia like posters and keychains. While you do need a handful of loyal followers to start selling, you won’t need the capacity to produce it.

Pros:

  • You can use print-on-demand companies to fulfil the order process
  • You own the design and the rights to replicate and sell your merch

Cons:

  • You will need a large (and loyal) following base to make sales

How to monetise social media platforms

As mentioned in the post above, platform-specific monetisation programs are a fantastic way to make money from social media. In the next section, we dive deeper into the different social media platforms and how you can use each one to create income streams online.

Facebook

Facebook is the biggest social media platform, with over 2.958 billion active users worldwide, as per a report by Statista. That puts Facebook at the top of the pile as the platform with the most active users. It also places it among the top apps that customers spend most of their time on.

But before you can start making money on this platform, you must ensure your page and content align with Facebook’s Monetisation Eligibility Criteria.

These requirements are grouped into three distinct categories:

  1. Facebook Community Standards
  2. Partner Monetisation Policies, and
  3. Content Monetisation Policies

You can check your eligibility by going to your Content Studio and clicking on the Monetisation tab. Then select all the pages you would like to see your eligibility for.

Now that you’re eligible to monetise your content on Facebook look at these most common ways to make money from the platform.

Stars and gifts

Facebook Stars are a way to monetise different types of content, from video to image and text. You can receive stars and/or gifts from viewers, these are often a token of their appreciation for your content. The virtual gifts you receive equate to a certain number of stars, and you can earn about $0.01 (R0.19) for each star.

In-stream ads for video content

Running in-stream ads in your new or existing video content allows you to capture an audience that is already paying attention. Facebook naturally identifies breaks in the video content and then automatically places the in-stream ad. Choose where you would like the advertisement placed based on the types of in-stream ads. These are Pre-roll, Mid-roll, and Image ads.

Facebook shop

If you want to monetise your large audience differently, you can set up a Facebook shop and start selling products directly on the platform. Within minutes of setting up your shop, you can manage inventory, pricing, and customer orders without the need to go to your website.

Both you and your customers will have the same user experience using the Facebook Shop platform as you would on a website. You can further streamline the online shopping experience by integrating your Facebook Shop with a platform like Netcash Shop, which has a built-in payment gateway – a key requirement for Facebook Shop users in South Africa.

YouTube

Slightly lagging behind Facebook with 2.514 billion active users, YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world after its parent company, Google. But, outside of being a search engine, YouTube is also a high-traffic social media platform that can be easily monetised.

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) allows you to place ads within your video content and hence generate income every time a viewer watches or clicks on the advertisement. You will then receive your payment via the Google AdSense program.

But there are certain criteria that you must consider. To join the YPP, you’ll need to have:

  • 1,000 subscribers
  • A minimum of 4,000 watch hours on your channel within the last 12 months, and
  • Abide by YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Advertiser-friendly Content Guidelines and Terms of Service

While it’s not necessary to apply for the YPP as a small business owner, you can leverage the program’s Channel Membership feature to create exclusive content for customers willing to pay a recurring subscription fee.

Otherwise, you can simply rely on YouTube’s algorithm to advertise your business’ products or services to potential customers. You can use your YouTube channel to debut new offerings, make announcements, or run campaigns.

Instagram

Instagram is one of the top social media platforms for small businesses, and it’s not surprising to see why. Like Facebook, you can monetise your Instagram via paid subscriptions, a shop, and more.

Subscriptions

Instagram subscriptions allow you to create and curate exclusive content for followers who pay a monthly fee. The exclusive content will be highlighted with a unique purple ring to differentiate it from others, while the paying followers get a subscriber badge next to the name to stand out.

Live badges

Although this is still a feature yet to be introduced to South Africa, it is definitely worth a mention. Instagram’s Live Badges allow viewers to purchase badges during a live video to support you or get recognition.

Instagram shop

You can start selling on Instagram in just a few steps. The great thing about selling on this platform is that you can connect a product catalogue from supported platforms like Facebook and from your website.

Once you’ve set up your shop on an Instagram Professional account, create a few posts featuring your products, and watch as the magic happens. You can read this guide on creating Instagram shopping posts that convert, to find ways to improve your content and increase monetisation.

Pinterest

People often call Pinterest the social media platform without the “social”, but that’s not to say that Pinterest does not have traffic. In fact, it has 445 million active users and is a great place to make money on social media.

You can make money on Pinterest by partnering with individual brands or via affiliate marketing. The latter is perhaps the most common way to make money on Pinterest, but you can also sell from your own store. You simply create shoppable pins by adding your product links to the Pinterest tags.

Tip: If you would like to sell products on Pinterest, read the Merchant Guidelines to make sure your business qualifies.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp has over two billion active users, and although the majority of these people mostly use the platform to chat and connect with friends and family, some also use it to create an income.

With the introduction of WhatsApp Business a few years ago, many small and micro businesses have started selling products (and services) on the platform, and the results are astonishing.

However, WhatsApp allows you to make money using the platform in various ways. A few common ways people make money on WhatsApp include:

  • Sharing short links (affiliate marketing products)
  • Referrals (referring apps, products, or services to your contact list), and
  • Pay per download

How to make money with social media | Final thoughts

Making money on social media is one of the best ways to make passive income and hence generate revenue without having to work for 40 years. You can get paid to advertise on social media, whether it’s products or services from your own small business or other brands.

There are plenty of ways you can monetise your social media following. You could make money directly or indirectly, this will depend on what your niche is as well as the winning products you have identified.

Now that you have all the information you need to make money on social media, it’s time to set up and start selling anywhere and everywhere.

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/shop/register/business

This article originates from: https://shop.netcash.co.za/blog/get-started/how-to-make-money-on-social-media/

Posted on in SocialMediaMarketing

How to include TikTok when building a winning brand?

TikTok saw a stratospheric rise in climbing the ladder towards becoming a social media brand leverage giant. The app has changed the way information consumers consume content. With over 1.53 billion users worldwide, it is no surprise why many brands wonder about using TikTok for Business as a pivotal content marketing channel choice.

Understanding the role of reputation as a business asset is critical. Reputation management shapes and influences the public perception of an individual, company, or brand. Today, the most accessible way to communicate is through the internet, meaning online reputation management is essential.

Corporate business is paying attention to TikTok and how brands can use the video-sharing platform to drive brand awareness and business growth. The industry is embracing TikTok into their arsenal of weaponry to manage and safeguard their reputations.

As with all social media platforms, there is a reputation risk to take heed of, but with understanding and careful planning, marketers can reap a treasure trove of the platform’s rewards!

Consideration 1: Reputation management

Successful online reputation management depends mainly on controlling the narrative. That means planning and managing how your organisation communicates and engages online. Certain websites, social media platforms and news publications may not allow complete control of your organisation’s (brand) narrative, which brings risks. Before signing up to join any online channel, investigate the level of control you will have in managing your organisation’s reputation – this will come down to either complete control, moderated control, or no control.

  • Total control domains support your organisation’s right to free speech. It includes your website, blog, and any secondary websites your company owns.
  • Moderated control domains provide access to an established online platform where you can communicate as a contributor but where a third party vets your content. This category includes sites like Wikipedia and digital magazines.
  • No control domains are high-risk domains as they don’t allow any control of your organisation’s narrative online. Social media platforms fall within this category.

TikTok falls in the “no control” category, yet so many companies take the risk by getting a TikTok account regardless.

Consideration 2: Business purpose

Investigate how the platform will add value to your organisation. TikTok grabbed the attention of its inspired consumer audience, allowing it to grow exponentially. The platform gained massive popularity with notable brands, influencers, and their onward consumer followers.

But how can this social media platform serve a serious business-to-business audience?

It comes down to defining your purpose and strategic objectives – what do you want your organisation to achieve on the platform? Who do you want to reach, and how do you want to engage with them? What key messages/themes will drive your TikTok conversations? How will you manage content development, and is your content relevant, relatable, and engaging for the target audience?

If you answered “no” for any of the above, you might need to revisit your approach before joining TikTok. With content having the potential to go viral instantly, it is easy for any account owner to start impulsively posting on the app to stay relevant. Unplanned content is a gateway to damaging your reputation with severe consequences.

Partnering with established TikTok influencers could help position your organisation and brand narrative. Be sure that they are aligned with your values and that they understand your business. Research previous campaigns and ask for referrals for the influencer. If there are any proverbial red flags or participation in a “cancel culture” initiative, steer clear.

To make the sound and considered decision that will be what’s best for your brand, it is crucial to know your audience and be able to create content that will serve your audience and place their needs in the centre of your business. Concerns aside, all new ventures are worth a try and worth a considered risk. The good thing is that TikTok is a free app, and the account can be deleted when you feel it does not align with your brand’s voice. The decision is not a permanent choice.

Why are companies leveraging TikTok?

  • To create entertaining content while informing the public of their brand.
  • To create partnerships with influential creators.
  • To run advertisements.
  • To launch hashtag challenges to boost engagement with their audience.

Consideration 3: Good for business, good for brand

In addition to gaining access to an audience of 1 billion active monthly users worldwide as a marketing channel, TikTok presents organisations with an opportunity to reposition their brands strategically and creatively.

The platform has seen an increase in a new generation of influencers on the application – from healthcare professionals sharing advice to real estate companies sharing property listings. How content is being shared and engaged with shows that the platform is evolving, and according to statistics, 42% of users on TikTok are 30 to 49 years old. It indicates that the platform’s demographic is much more diverse than assumed.

With all the different demographics on the platform, your organisation should target the correct audience for your brand. TikTok follows insights from data through the “For You Page” algorithm. The algorithm suggests videos to your audience that they interact with, accounts they follow, hashtags they use, their location and language preferences. Organisations can use these factors as a starting point to find an audience that aligns with their organisation to grow their brand.

People may forget, but the internet never forgets

With new technology fuelling growth in digital platforms, it is vital to establish a future-focused holistic view of how you would like to position your organisation online. It includes careful planning and understanding the opportunities and risks involved.

Embrace new skills and invite new people into your team

Your business purpose must take centre stage in all engagement activities. Your brand might now require developing a new digital engagement strategy that it did not need before. A digital policy framework must now guide your business through these unchartered digital waters and unpack how your organisation manages and engages online. These might be new skills that you have never required before, and either externally or internally, you will have to strengthen your team to unleash the benefit that TikTok can hold for your business!

Wrapping Up:

We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/shop/register/business

This article partly refers to: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/669/236353.html