How to make a meaningful income as an influencer?
<div class="user-question">Hi Frich! I’ve been dabbling in different ways of making money off my social media for years now and I’ve done a few things here & there. But I want to make this my full time job / main source of income. Can you give us a step-by-step guide on how to make a living as an influencer?</div>
Hey Hey!
First off, I just want to say that money truly can be made out of thin air online. Once you get over the fear of feeling embarrassed and filming yourself in public you can really reach new levels of income!
But first - I'll devil's advocate for a bit.
I want to warn you that the influencer and content creation industry is SUPER saturated. Meaning you are competing in a much larger pool than influencers were in 2020 and it is much harder to grow now than it was in the past.
There is also the aspect of “selling a lifestyle” that many influencers promote but don’t actually get compensated monetarily for. According to a study from Offenburg University, 96.5% of YouTubers don't earn enough from ad revenue to reach the U.S. federal poverty line (which is $12,140 annually). Additionally, over 61% of influencers are more likely to receive “gifted” products in exchange for content instead of being paid to post. While this can be a great starting point for newer influencers to build their portfolio and relationships with brands, it often undervalues the time, effort, and creativity that goes into producing high-quality content.
Being an influencer also means running your own business and doing your own stunts. You are the model, the photographer, the editor, the social media manager, the sales person, the accountant - basically everything.
As someone who has been creating content since 2018, went full-time as a content creator for a few months, and now is doing content/UGC/influencing as a consistent side hustle, this is not a game for the weak!
My journey in content creation has been a whirlwind, but here’s how I turned it into a consistent side hustle - one that you can hopefully scale into a full-time business!
🧑💻Find YOUR Niche, not just ANY Niche
If you are just choosing to make content covering broad topics like fashion, lifestyle, and beauty, you will have massive amounts of competition because so many creators are already dominating those spaces.
Instead, consider bridging two of your passions or areas of expertise. For example, combining financial literacy with relatable lifestyle content has worked for me. By focusing on two interconnected niches, you significantly increase the probability of standing out because you’re creating unique, hybrid content. This approach allows you to carve out a space that leverages your distinct skill set. Figure out what makes you unique within a specific category.
Here’s a simple map to help you do that:
1️⃣ List all your interests and skills
2️⃣ Identify overlaps between them (e.g., fashion + sustainability, fitness + mental health; for me it was finance + lifestyle).
3️⃣ Assess demand: are there creators already doing this? is there room for your voice? who do you admire?
4️⃣ Define your audience: who would benefit from this unique blend?
By getting a good grasp on what intersections of interests you have and what your ideal target market is, you can really start driving growth towards your brand.
🧑💻 Treat This Like a Business and Be Consistent
Being an influencer isn’t just about posting pretty pictures or trending Reels - it’s a full time (even over time) business. If you just post when you feel like it, then you are taking a gamble on how many views or followers you will get, directly correlating to your potential income.
Just like a 9-5 job, you have to wake up everyday and work at this. You don’t always have to create a video everyday (you could and that would be a great way to test what works or doesn’t but you will probably burn out), but there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that occurs when building out a brand and making it successful.
From sending cold DMs to land more deals, to planning out a content calendar, to even thinking about the taxes and accounting, you will be wearing many, many hats.
Here's how to manage it:
1️⃣ Create a Content Calendar: Plan your posts in advance to maintain consistency. You can also schedule your posts ahead of time which is a game changer and saves time!
2️⃣ Track Your Metrics: Regularly review analytics to see what’s working and what’s not. Set specific benchmarks for improvement, such as increasing engagement by 5% or growing your follower count by 500 each week.
When I was first getting started I just wanted to start making $$$ ASAP so I set a goal to pitch to 10–15 new brands each month and to post every day to get my brand to monetize as quickly as I could. Metrics can look different for everyone depending on goals but here is a quick goal sheet you can follow and adjust over time:
3️⃣ Save for Taxes: As a self-employed creator, you’ll need to set aside a portion of your income for taxes.
<div class="frich-tip">Frich tip: Need help as a content creator with your taxes? Try H&R Block; they helped me with all my taxes.</div>
<div class="frich-tip">Frich tip: You don’t have to be making money to start writing off expenses that go into your content creation/business. Just as long as you show monetary growth over time in your influencer journey! For example, I wrote off my camera when I wasn’t making money yet. Here are some good options to opening your first business credit card.</div>
🧑💻 Research Sources of Income
Making a living as an influencer means not putting all your eggs in one basket. Here are a few ways I monetize my skills:
1️⃣ Sponsored Content -partner with brands that align with your niche and values. Always disclose sponsored posts to maintain trust and don’t just take any brand that will pay you as your reputation is on the line. In my opinion, the best way to find sponsored content is to look at your own feed and see what is being projected to you.
It’s always best to DYOR (do your own research) around the product, its quality, and its ethics so you’re not promoting something harmful. More on this below.
2️⃣ Affiliate Marketing - share products you genuinely love and earn a commission on sales. During college, I leaned heavily on this to make ends meet and with the Amazon Affiliate program it’s so, so easy to do this!
<div class="frich-tip">Frich tip: Use this template to help set this up.</div>
<div class="frich-tip">Frich tip: Add your Amazon affiliate link to a link organizer (I use Linktree to organize all my links) on your Instagram and TikTok pages. That way when people click on your profile, you can get some extra views and potentially sales from both followers and non followers.</div>
3️⃣ Digital Products - sell e-books, presets or courses. If you’re an expert in something, package that knowledge and sell it. For example, I made an e-book about financial literacy that still sells to this day!
4️⃣ Content Creation for Brands - some brands will pay you to create content for their platforms, even if you don’t post it on your own. I typically do this by cold emailing my favorite brands and pitching myself. More on that below.
5️⃣ Platform Bonuses - explore monetization features on platforms like TikTok Creator Fund, Instagram’s Reels Play Bonus, and YouTube AdSense. I can’t speak to these as much because I only make about $11 from live streams on TikTok and about $5 per month on payouts from IG. But I know that if you reach a certain threshold you can be included in the creator fund to get payments from the platform.
🧑💻 Jump Start Your Growth by DMing Your Favorite Brands
Now that you have the basics of your influencer business, the best way to build your business and get leads is by DMing your favorite brands and brands that you receive targeted ads for.
For example, I scored a really awesome deal with TA3 because I got a sponsored ad AND I DMed them pitching myself. We get tons of sponsored ads all the time so might as well monetize it. Don’t know what to say? Steal my pitch below:
If reaching out to brands directly feels intimidating, you can start by using third-party platforms designed to connect creators with brands. For example, platforms like KUBYO make it easy to begin earning through brand partnerships.
<div class="frich-tip">Frich tip: KUBYO is a free app that links you with brands and pays you commissions on sales made through your shared links - an excellent way to monetize your influence without the pressure of cold-pitching.</div>
🧑💻 Stay Loyal to Your Brand Image but Be Flexible
Staying loyal to your brand and voice is important, but knowing when to pivot (or pivot back) can be just as crucial for growth.
For example, I initially built a brand around Femme Finance, but at one point, I shifted to something completely different because it felt like the right move. However, after a year, I realized I wasn’t monetizing as much as I had hoped so I pivoted back to Femme Finance.
That experience taught me the importance of making informed decisions based on metrics, not just feelings. Personally, when I changed brands, I didn't receive any brand deals and the engagement rate went down drastically from 80% to 20%. While passion and intuition are key when creating content, data and results should guide your strategy to ensure your efforts are both impactful and sustainable.
Btw - here's how others are doing👀
How much would you need to earn a month from social media before considering quitting your full-time job?
💸 $1.58K was the average answer
These are the steps I took to build my journey as an influencer, and I hope they serve as a helpful guide for you too. Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight - stay consistent, stay authentic, and keep pushing toward your goals. You’ve got this!
xx, Kristina
