With 1.04 billion monthly users, TikTok is not only one of the most popular social media platforms for casual scrolling, dance-offs, and viral challenges but also a hotspot for monetization.
How to make money on TikTok? Begin by joining the platform and becoming a creator or seller. Once you start creating engaging content, you’ll naturally attract an audience and unlock multiple revenue streams.
In this blog, we’ll explore ten effective ways to make money on TikTok and answer some of your most pressing questions.
So, how many followers do you need on TikTok to get paid?
Advertise custom merch to any number of people by sharing a link to your Printify Pop-Up Store and make money with Print on Demand.
Although this social media platform offers various ways to make money that doesn’t strictly depend on having a massive following, you’ll need at least 1,000 followers to use TikTok LIVE and 5,000 to open a TikTok Shop.
Key takeaways
- To maximize your earnings on TikTok, consider multiple monetization strategies, including affiliate marketing, selling custom merchandise, and influencer marketing.
- Use TikTok’s various monetization tools like live stream gifts and donation stickers to grow your audience and start making money.
- Join the Creativity Program to earn money based on your video performance and follower engagement. You’ll need at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the past 30 days to qualify.
- Partner with Printify to easily design and sell custom merch like apparel, accessories, and home goods, directly to your followers.
- Enhance your visibility by sharing your TikTok content on other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, driving traffic and building a broader audience.
Sell custom merch to your followers
TikTok is the perfect avenue for showcasing and selling custom promotional products.
Advertise your company’s products using the latest trends, music, backgrounds, and styles. Grow your brand by selling artwork, apparel, accessories, and other goods straight to your followers – learn how to sell art online.
Create custom products with Print on Demand
Partner with Printify to take advantage of our more than 1,000 custom products and bring your unique ideas to life.
Effortlessly create and sell your products with no upfront costs and no need for inventory.
Check out our analysis of the top-selling TikTok merch to find the right items for your store.
Make it happen today!
Set up a TikTok Shop
Make money on TikTok by giving your most loyal fans the option to purchase your merch directly from a shopping tab on your page – start your very own TikTok Shop.
You’ll benefit from an integrated in-app checkout that streamlines the shopping experience and gain access to the TikTok Shop App Store, which offers a range of promotional tools to help you advertise your products.
You’ll also be able to enter brand ambassador partnerships with thousands of creators through TikTok’s affiliate program.
When ready, head down to the TikTok Seller Center.
Before registering as an individual seller or business in the United States, make sure to review the registration requirements.
Individual sellers
- Must be at least 18 years old.
- Must have a valid passport or driver’s license registered in the US.
- Can’t be politicians.
- Must reside in the United States.
Business sellers
- The owners and representatives of your business must be at least 18 years old.
- Each owner and representative must have a valid US passport.
- Can’t be politicians or representatives of the government or a political party.
- Must have an established business address in the US.
Try affiliate marketing
An excellent money-making opportunity is becoming an affiliate to promote and bring in new clients to third-party businesses and services.
You’ll need to make sure that the affiliate link you share with your followers brings them to a brand you align with and offers quality products and services.
If you’ve registered as a seller, browse through TikTok’s affiliates to discover creators for brand ambassador partnerships or become a TikTok Ads Affiliate to earn commissions from users who open business accounts.
To expand your affiliate marketing efforts beyond TikTok, consider joining an affiliate network or check if any of the brands you like offer a referral program.
If you become a Printify Affiliate, you’ll receive a 5% commission on every sale made through your unique referral link with no order minimums or maximums.
Printify offers high-quality products for some of the lowest prices on the market and 24/7 merchant support.
These are just some of the perks that make Printify a top choice for those looking to start a successful affiliate marketing business on TikTok.
Join the Creator Rewards program
How to earn money on TikTok? Start posting long-form videos. This program lets you earn 20 times more in rewards than what was previously offered by the TikTok Creator Fund.
Think of it as TikTok’s partnership with you as a creator – a reward for sharing high-quality content.
Can you join the Creator Rewards program?
- You must be at least 18 years old.
- You are registered and based in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, or Brazil.
- You have a personal account, as business accounts are not eligible.
- You have at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the past 30 days.
- You make high-quality videos that last over one minute and align with TikTok’s mission of inspiring joy and creativity.
Collect tips
Speaking of how to get paid on TikTok – your followers can literally tip you. This is a feature introduced by TikTok in partnership with Stripe Connect.
The good news is that you’ll also receive 100% of each tip, although Stripe fees will apply.
Can you collect tips?
- You have a TikTok personal account.
- Are at least 18 years old.
- Have at least 100,000 followers.
- Have a Stripe account.
Tipping platforms can be a great way to expand your monetization options – connect to external tipping platforms like Buy Me a Coffee, Tipeee, and Ko-fi.
Make sure to share these pages on your TikTok profile and in your videos to encourage your followers to visit them.
How to encourage TikTok users to tip you?
1. Create premium content
Create engaging content that your followers can’t find anywhere else.
The uniqueness of your content can drive traffic to your channel and motivate viewers to send you money.
2. Encourage tipping
Interact with your audience and give them shoutouts, personalized messages, or access to private content.
This can encourage others to tip so they receive similar benefits.
3. Be transparent
Clearly communicate to your audience how their tips help you.
Transparency is an excellent way to drive contributions, whether it’s funding for better equipment or allowing you to dedicate more time to creating content.
Collect donations
Short videos on TikTok are a great way to sell products and earn tips, but they also enable you to receive donations for nonprofit organizations.
Add a Donation Sticker to your uploaded and live videos or a donation link in your profile bio, urging your viewers to donate to a charitable cause of your choice.
What are the donation requirements?
- You must be at least 18 years old to donate or collect donations.
- The minimum donation is $3.
- Donors must provide an email address.
Collect LIVE gifts during video streams
Live streaming on TikTok offers a unique way to engage with your audience. By going live, you create an interactive experience that encourages your followers to send virtual gifts to show their appreciation.
This feature enables you to run polls and games like the Lucky Airdrop Box, Guessing Game, and Gift Vote, all of which contribute to your gaming ranking, which showcases 99 of the most popular game creators in your area.
Enabling video gifts is a popular way to collect Diamonds, a type of TikTok reward that can be converted into actual money.
The ability to earn virtual currency has created a closed economy within the TikTok community, with users exchanging virtual items with each other to support their favorite creators.
Features like this enable even more people to make a living doing what they love.
Can you collect gifts during live streams?
- You must live in a location where virtual gifts are available.
- You must be 18 or older (19 in South Korea).
- You must have at least 10,000 followers.
- Your account must be at least 30 days old.
- You have published a public video in the last 30 days.
- Your TikTok account must be in good standing and adhere to TikTok’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
- You have a personal, not a business, government, politician, political party, or any other public interest account.
Be mindful that your videos are ineligible if they include:
- Duets and Stitches.
- Ads, sponsored content, or promoted posts.
Engage in influencer marketing: Share branded content
This is a popular advertising strategy that connects brands with social media influencers to reach their target audience in a more organic and personal way.
Join the TikTok Creator Marketplace. It’s a win-win situation for you as a brand and as a creator, enabling you to drive traffic and sales to your own store or partner businesses.
Why do brands pay content creators for promotion?
- Content creators provide an engaged following and can send viewers directly to your store.
- Influencers create authentic and relatable content that resonates with potential customers.
- Partnering with influencers in specific niches or demographics helps target an exact audience with sponsored content.
- Influencer marketing often results in higher engagement rates and is more cost-effective than more traditional advertising methods.
This type of marketing will likely grow in popularity as brands seek reliable ways to reach new audiences and grow their business by partnering with influencers that publish sponsored posts.
Keep in mind that these posts will need to follow TikTok’s Branded Content Policy.
Benefit from TikTok ads
Stop wondering how to make money from TikTok and start generating extra income from ads.
TikTok Ads is one of the most powerful TikTok marketing tools that helps you reach new audiences and promote products.
Let’s take a closer look at TikTok’s various ad formats to better understand their differences and how they can help you promote your business and drive sales.
1. In-feed ads
These are the most common ads on TikTok – they appear in the For You feed and feel like native content.
In-feed ads offer autoplay, likes, comments, shares, and follows.
Additional features include call-to-action buttons, which can take users to any page, including external landing pages.
The downside is that these ads will compete with other TikTok accounts for viewer attention.
2. Automated product ads
These ads enable you to promote your products through eye-catching images and dynamic videos, directly targeting TikTok users where they engage most.
They’ll use your TikTok Shop product images, videos, and descriptions and appear in prime spots like search results, the TikTok Shopping Center feed, and in-feed videos.
The downside? They’re automated, meaning you have limited control over the specific creative elements used.
3. TopView ads
Upon opening the app, TopView ads will appear at the top of users’ For You feed, enabling viewers to like, share, and comment.
The immersive experience eliminates competing content. It will work well in generating brand awareness, as it guarantees a high number of impressions.
The downside – it’s easily identifiable as an ad, and most people find ads annoying.
4. Spark ads
A powerful native ad format that lets you amplify your TikTok posts and their features.
By using real TikTok account posts, Spark Ads ensure that all views, comments, shares, likes, and follows gained during the promotion are attributed directly to organic content.
It’s the perfect way to enhance user engagement while keeping your brand’s authentic voice at the forefront.
The downside is that Spark Ads rely on existing posts, so there’s limited flexibility in customizing the content specifically for your ad campaign.
5. Branded effects
This type of ad involves customizable stickers, filters, and other visual elements that can be added to users’ videos. They’re particularly popular among younger audiences.
Use branded effects to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and strengthen your overall marketing strategy.
The downside? Partnering with an influencer may be necessary to truly maximize the impact of these effects.
6. TikTok Promote
An in-app advertising tool that helps grow the visibility of your TikTok videos, making it easier for more people to discover your content.
TikTok Promote transforms your videos into ads, increasing exposure and engagement.
It allows you to track key metrics like video views, likes, comments, shares, website visits, and demographic insights on your audience.
The downside? The effectiveness of your promotions may vary depending on your budget and the quality of your content, so it’s important to optimize both to achieve the best results.
Once you submit an ad, it will be placed through the TikTok Ads review process, which takes 24 hours on average.
Offer subscriptions
Monetize your audience’s interest in your TikTok content by offering LIVE subscriptions. Fans can subscribe to your channel for a monthly fee and gain access to exclusive perks.
Your subscribers will receive badges displayed next to their names, access to custom emotes, and the ability to join subscriber-only chats during LIVE sessions, fostering a more personal and engaged community experience.
Create content behind a paywall and set your subscription costs low – for starters – to attract more subscribers.
Offering LIVE subscriptions can provide you with a reliable source of income and help you build a more engaged following.
Can you access the LIVE subscription feature?
- You must be 18 years old.
- You must have at least 1,000 followers.
- You must follow TikTok’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
- You have a personal, not a business, government, politician, political party, or any other public interest account.
Once you’re approved, you‘ll be able to set your membership prices and offer various perks to your subscribers.
Crosspost to other platforms
A good way to improve TikTok SEO is cross-posting your TikTok content to other social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
This will help expand your reach and build your following on multiple platforms simultaneously.
With just a tap of a button, it’s possible to share your TikTok videos to other platforms and use the unique features of each platform to grow your audience.
- YouTube is a great platform for sharing long-form content, so consider creating longer versions of your TikTok videos or exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.
- Instagram and Facebook are perfect for sharing engaging content with eye-catching thumbnails and captions to accompany your TikTok videos.
Cross-post to multiple platforms to reach new and younger audiences, building a more engaged following.
Plus, repurposing your TikTok content for other platforms can save you a lot of time and effort.
Start a POD business and sell on TikTok with Printify
Find the best print-on-demand service (Printify) and sell merch to your TikTok account followers.
With Printify, it’s easy to create or upload custom designs on products like t-shirts, phone cases, balloons, or shoes and sell them on popular eCommerce sales channels without handling shipping or inventory.
Using TikTok’s massive user base, you’ll be able to reach a large audience and showcase your products through engaging videos and product reviews.
Setting up a POD business with Printify is easy, allowing you to focus on creating content that resonates with your target audience while we handle the rest.
TikTok FAQ
Join the Creator Rewards Program, try affiliate marketing, or receive virtual gifts during live streams.
Alternatively, partner with influencers, benefit from TikTok Ads, offer subscriptions, or sell custom merch with Printify.
Although it’s possible to start selling on TikTok for free, you need at least 1,000 followers to use TikTok LIVE and 5,000 to open a TikTok Shop.
The good news is that you don’t need a million views to make money posting engaging content, but you will need at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days to use many of the monetization methods we’ve covered in this blog.
TikTok accounts can start making money by receiving virtual gifts from viewers during live streams, which can be exchanged for real money.
Additionally, it’s possible to gain access to the LIVE subscription feature, which allows you to earn money through monthly subscriptions.
To summarize
Whether you want to sell custom merchandise, join a TikTok rewards program, enter brand partnerships, or run ads, this popular social media platform offers many money-making opportunities.
Explore the options we’ve covered in this blog and partner with Printify to sell custom merchandise with your own designs to your followers.
