Many of us scroll through social apps; TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, LinkedIn among others to get gratification online

However, a section of Nakuru youth are leveraging social media to make a living from it.

Mtaa Wangu caught up with Nakuru based prankster, Elvis Mushila, to understand how one can go beyond being a consumer on TikTok and make money on the platform.

Here are some of the tips he gave.

Collaborating with other creatives

He starts off by saying once you have a steady following, you can collaborate with creatives.

“Creatives pay you to engage in challenges and create a buzz around their product, say for songs to trend and gain popularity. With a few posts on the challenge, you can make some good money out of collaborations,” he notes.

Affiliate marketing

Mushila notes that being a brand ambassador is another way to make money.

“This is a sustainable way of making money, since you get into a contract with these companies depending on how long they want the product in the public's eye.”

He reveals that one can cut a deal worth hundreds of thousands in affiliate marketing .

Having a Patron account on TikTok

He notes with a Patron account one can earn directly from people purchasing your content.

“This requires you to have over 10, 000 followers to activate a Patron account, where people pay to watch exclusive projects you have. This can be actualised by creating a series section to separate the content from your day to day post,” he says.

Growing and selling accounts

Although Mushila says this may take some time, he explains that some people who have understood the TikTok algorithm quite well have jumped into the business of growing and selling accounts.

“There is a hunger in having an established account out here. However, some businesses or individuals are not willing to go through the whole process of growing an account, but prefer to buy one. An account with 300K followers for example can fetch as much as sh 150,000 in the market,” he reveals.

Getting gifts on live

Mushila notes that although this might be popular among TikTokers, he does not find it sustainable.

“I do not consider TikTok lives a sustainable way to make money online. First, half of what you make on the live goes back to the developer. Secondly, making money is always dependent on how generous people feel in that live, therefore one can never set a financial goal with such a model,” he says.

According to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 survey, Kenya leads the world in TikTok usage, taking up 54 per cent of the global TikTok usage.

Shanki Austin a Twitter user also notes that people could leverage their Twitter presence and earn from it.

Managing organisation’s twitter handles

“You can work remotely and handle different accounts for organisations. This needs you to clearly understand the Apps community guidelines and the company’s vision. All you are required to do is reply to tweets, monitor the account and ensure engagement is on the high,” he says.

Get your account verified

Shanki notes that people are now getting a monthly pay if your account is verified.

“One can have a creator X ad revenue account and get paid based on the engagement your content generates on the app. To activate the X revenue ad account, one must have 500 followers and 5 million impressions in the last three months,” he notes.

Twitter Marketing

On this front, the app users get paid by partnering with organisations to push their product or service to the market.

“A company can contract you, then pay you on a monthly basis, per tweet or campaign. An alternative is people sourcing your services to tweet until their topic gets to the top trends of the day or week and you get paid,” he notes.

Creating a niche

Being active on social media allows one to create a community of fans, loyal to your content.

Shanki notes that this has allowed Twitter gurus to earn indirectly through merchandise.

“When you are big on twitter you command some following out there and people believe in your cause, you can come up with apparel or books that your fans can purchase, hence earning you an income,” he notes.

Nakuru content creators making a killing on social media platforms

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