The rise of social media has brought along the rise of whole new careers. Today people are paid for stuff that weren’t even possible a few years ago.
With their wide reach, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn enable just about anyone to make money from social media, with both individuals and companies fighting for their share of this ever-growing pie.
In this article, we are showing you 5 ways how you can join this seemingly unstoppable trend. Let’s dive in, shall we?
1. Social Media Manager
Social media managers are hired to give life and maintain order across social media channels. The job involves posting new stuff on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other networks. Also, you will have to engage in conversations on these platform, like and comment on stuff people are sharing, and perhaps even manage social media advertising.
In addition, some content creation may be required along with the ability to find interesting stuff people will like to read, watch and/or listen.
In order to get this job, you will need to know how to get around major social networks and use their tools. Luckily, there are a number of guides for this that are freely available on the internet. Use them to your advantage.
2. Video Publishing
If you can produce a nice looking videos — not professional-level, mind you — you can try and make money from video publishing.
Like with textual content, video publishing lets you earn money from either advertising or from selling access to the paid content.
The former requires producing new, interesting videos people will like to watch and share with their friends. We are talking about the things like funny videos, a new take on the daily news, interesting facts and educational videos. The important thing is to publish frequently to have as many eyeballs as possible. Then you can join the YouTube Partner Program that lets you show ads in your videos.
The latter approach, on the other hand, involves producing coaching videos that are only available to the users who actually pay to see them. This presumes you have some expertise people would like to pay for. For instance, you could offer tutorials for the popular software or something else that will users time and allow them to learn something new.
3. Photo Publishing
Similarly to video, you can make money from ads or from selling your photos.
Most of the money is made on Instagram where — if you have many followers — you can endorse certain products and through affiliate marketing. The latter is done by signing-up to affiliate programs and promoting them on the photo sharing platform.
Alternatively, if you’re an avid photographer, you may opt to sell photos through sites like Shutterstock, DepositPhotos, Fotolia and iStockphoto. These sites let everyone buy photos starting from $1, depending on the image resolution. If you take this route, you will have to make a ton of photos and update them regularly for every special occasion.
A good place to start is the Photography Jobs Online website, which will guide you along the way. Hint: You will still have to use photo sharing sites to promote your work. Also, you may want to check out the Instagram on Fire course.
4. Write Content for Websites
For those who live writing, there are a number of paid gigs to check out. A good resource to start is Legit Writing Jobs which can help you build a career; one that comes with flexible hours and lets you choose topics you’re passionate about. You can write for blogs, ebooks, magazines, and more.
As a full member of Legit Writing Jobs, you get access to Part-Time and Full-Time job listings, tips to improve your writing ability, limited time writing offers, and the ever-handy training guidebooks.
You DO NOT need to have a degree to start writing… And Legit Writing Jobs will even give you 60 full days to try out the service or your money back!
5. Sell Your Songs and Other Art
If you are a musician or composer, you should be looking at SoundCloud to promote your work. That work could then be sold through CD Baby, and perhaps even iTunes — these services could get you to a wider audience.
On the other hand, if you want to sell some hand-made stuff, you should visit specialized online stores such as Etsy or Big Cartel. These two are like eBay for art, helping people all around the world find buyers for their works of art.
And more…
In addition to the jobs outlined above, there are other smaller gigs related to social media. Businesses all around the world are looking for followers, tweets, comments, likes and more — and it’s up the likes of you and me to help them out (and get paid for it). A great site to check for this is called, obviously, Paid Social Media Jobs which offering a wide range of positions. Check it out and see if you can find something that works for you.
Good luck!