For someone who literally googled this 6 years ago, I’m finally letting you know how I actually make money doing this influencer thing.⁣

1. SPONSORED POSTS/ADS

Influencers are hired by brands to create ads on a product or service that brand is pushing. Not only do we create this said ad by taking photos/videos and providing copy, we also become the platform for this said ad because the brand’s target market is our followers. This is the biggest and most common way we make money. blog posts, giveaways, IG feed post, IG Stories, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Email (newsletter), travel, podcasts.

2. GOOGLE ADSENSE

You know those ads you see on websites, or YouTube channels? This is it! And when you click on an ad, make a purchase on an ad, or see/watch an ad on someone’s YT video, we earn a few cents/$.

3. AFFILIATE LINKS/CODES

We receive cash incentives when you purchase through a link or code we share. It usually ranges from 5% to 15%. This is not my favorite way to earn money because there’s an expectation for us to keep creating “free” content in hopes that people buy through our link to earn some change. And not all discount codes are affiliated.

4. EVENT COVERAGE

Can brands normalize paid event coverage? Anyway, this is another way we earn some cash, by posting on IG stories, IG feed, etc. Kinda falls under sponsored posts.

5. CONTENT CREATION

This is content we create for brands that don’t really get posted on our end: photography, videography, IG story filters, etc. Brands usually use this content internally, or to use as an ad.

6. PRODUCT/PRODUCT COLLABORATION

We earn money from the products we create! This could be Lightroom filters, an e-book, an online course, an app, a product collab with a brand, clothing line, accessories, etc.

These are some of the ways I PERSONALLY make money but I’m sure there are a lot more opportunities for influencers out there! Was this helpful? Let me know if you have any questions, and I will cover it on next week’s post!

more posts like this:

Blog