TikTok has exploded in popularity over the last few years and become one of the top social media platforms. It’s an incredibly powerful platform for building an audience and potentially making money as a creator.
While TikTok does offer monetization opportunities directly through the Creator Fund, there are also plenty of other ways to earn money on TikTok without relying on that program.
In this post, we’ll break down proven strategies for making money on TikTok without the Creator Fund.
1. Get Brand Sponsorships
One of the best ways creators can earn income through TikTok is by partnering with brands for sponsored content. You can score all kinds of deals like:
- Shoutouts
- Brand ambassador roles
- Promo codes and affiliate links
- Paid product placement
- Long-term sponsorship contracts
The key is building an engaged audience that brands want to partner with. Use relevant hashtags, post consistently, and clearly define your niche to attract sponsors. Make high-quality videos that align with brands you want to work with.
Once you build an audience, you can start reaching out to brands directly asking about partnership opportunities. Make sure to highlight audience demographics and engagement metrics in your pitch to showcase your value.
Sponsored content can be extremely lucrative at any following size. Micro-influencers with under 10k followers often earn $100 to $500+ per #ad post. The more followers you build, the higher your earning potential becomes.
2. Sell Merchandise
Creating and selling custom merchandise like t-shirts, hoodies, phone cases and more has become a popular money-maker for top creators on TikTok.
You can sell merch directly through sites like Teespring without needing lots of capital or inventory. Simply design your products, set your prices, and earn a commission on every sale.
To maximize merch income:
- Display your merch visibly in videos to promote it
- Offer limited edition drops to create urgency
- Design merchandise around popular trends, jokes or audios from your videos that fans will recognize
Launching unique merch your followers can’t get anywhere else and consistently driving traffic to your store is the perfect recipe for selling out new product drops quickly.
Selling just 100 units of a t-shirt priced at $25 can earn you as much as $250+ in profit. Merch can become extremely lucrative at scale.
3. Live Stream Gifting/Badges
Live streaming on TikTok offers creators another source of revenue through virtual gifts and live badges.
During a LIVE video, viewers can purchase animated virtual gifts to send you. Gifts convert into real money you can withdraw from TikTok. There are seasonal holiday gifts along with standard gift staples like diamonds, lipsticks and more.
TikTok also offers live badges that fans can purchase on reoccurring subscription bases much like Twitch. Badges give them loyalty perks while paying you monthly.
Both gifting revenue and badge subscription payouts get split between TikTok and creators. The more gifting activity you drive during broadcasts, the more money you’ll earn.
Top creators easily clear $1,000+ per hour broadcasting live when viral moments hit. Getting in early as a TikTok live streamer can set you up for massive future success.
4. Promote Affiliate Links
Affiliate marketing works by earning a commission promoting other brands and stores. Create TikTok videos spotlighting your favorite products and drop affiliate links so viewers can buy.
Amazon’s influencer program is perfect for earning commissions as high as 10% per sale on almost every product imaginable. Share your wish lists or highlight hot deals and trending items people want to purchase.
Beyond Amazon, join additional affiliate programs like:
- Clickbank
- ShareaSale
- CommissionJunction
- Rakuten
Build content around affiliate links instead of adding them as an afterthought. Overlay text/graphics with your links and remind viewers to check the description for their chance to buy featured items.
When done correctly, affiliate links can become the main driver for monetizing an audience long-term.
5. Launch a TikTok Shop Store
TikTok Shops allow creators to sell products directly within the TikTok app similar to an in-app store.
Set up an inventory of products like apparel, digital downloads, art prints, specialty merch and more. Enable shopping capabilities from your TikTok profile and videos.
As you create content and drive traffic, you’ll earn commissions on everything sold through your TikTok store. It lets you own the entire monetization process instead of relying solely on 3rd party affiliate programs.
Expand beyond just merch by working with suppliers or manufacturers to source trending products people want to buy. Dropshipping businesses can work extremely well paired with TikTok traffic.
Tap into viral trends and target impulse buyers looking for add-to-cart convenience.
6. Offer Paid Shoutouts
Micro-influencers with under 100k followers can earn easy money running paid shoutout campaigns on TikTok.
Essentially, brands or other creators will pay you to create dedicated promotional videos advertising their product/service to your audience.
Costs typically range from $25 to $150+ per TikTok video depending on your niche and engagement rates.
Set up booking forms or reach out directly to brands that align well with your audience offering shoutouts for hire. For best results focus on targeting smaller businesses hungry for new low-cost marketing channels.
The more niche-specific your audience is, the higher your earning potential becomes. Avoid oversaturating followers with #ad posts and be transparent around sponsorships.
7. Crowdfund Business Ideas
TikTok presents a unique opportunity to validate and crowdfund potential business ideas. Before spending lots of money pursuing a new project, try running a quick crowdfunding campaign.
Outline your concept, plan how additional funding would be used, set contribution tiers with rewards and start promoting the campaign in your videos.
Even starting an eCommerce dropshipping store, building an app or launching any business requires some capital upfront. Crowdfund a portion instead of foot the entire bill yourself.
Share behind the scenes updates showing how additional funding helps propel your project forward. Followers want to feel actively involved in the ideas they’re investing into.
Viral moments on TikTok can generate insane crowdfunding momentum. Fans are invested in your success and willing to contribute towards making your ideas happen.
8. Launch a Podcast
Launching a podcast can establish multiple streams of revenue beyond just TikTok alone. While you build an audience, focus episodes around trending topics and viral challenges guaranteed to rank well.
Once you create a backlog of content, enable podcast monetization features through platforms like Anchor or Red Circle:
- Insert dynamic midroll audio ads
- Feature sponsored ad placements
- Run affiliate link promotions
- Pitch exclusive brand sponsorships
Additionally, launch a Patreon for hardcore fans willing to pay for premium content each month. Top creators leverage patreon earning 5-6 figures per month.
Repurpose top clips into YouTube Shorts and IG Reels bringing in outside traffic sources. Use your polished content across every platform possible to maximize reach.
TikTok is the perfect launch point for testing viral podcast ideas that can eventually expand into sustainable businesses.
9. Release Digital Products
Creators can leverage their TikTok channels by releasing premium digital products only available to fans.
Popular options include:
- Online courses
- Video tutorials
- Ebooks/audiobooks
- Premium tools/templates
- Mobile apps
- Sticker packs
Find high-demand topics people have trouble learning or implementing on their own. Develop that knowledge into sellable info products delivered digitally.
Use TikTok to tease snippets of your product in action or behind the scenes looks at what customers gain access to after purchasing.
Drop limited time discounts on products to incentivize conversions from curious followers sitting on the fence.
Even informational products priced between $10-$50 can quickly scale up earning potential. Sell to just 100 followers initially and reinvest profits towards additional product development.
10. Teach Online Skills Courses
If you have experience excelling in a particular skill or industry, you can also monetize that knowledge by teaching your own online courses.
Popular options include technical skills like:
- Photography
- Graphic design
- Copywriting
- Coding languages
- Animation/CGI skills
Beyond hard skills, teach soft skill courses like improving productivity, building confidence, acing job interviews, public speaking tips or relationship advice.
Online learning platforms like Skillshare, Udemy and Teachable make it simple to create and sell access to online video course content while handling the platform elements.
Use TikTok to showcase snippets from courses highlighting the exact information viewers gain access to after signing up. Strategically intrigue followers and drive conversions to enroll.
Information is extremely valuable, so packaging your expertise into sellable online course assets can earn passive income long-term.
11. Flip Products for Profit
Flipping thrift store finds, wholesale items and discounted products for profit lets you tap into TikTok without producing any goods yourself.
Simply source inexpensive inventory like clothing below wholesale prices. Resell items on platforms like Poshmark or Mercari at a higher markup. Profit the difference minus seller fees.
You essentially buy low and sell high, keeping surplus earnings. Eventually scale up towards bulk suppliers and manufacturers to increase profit margins after validating the initial concept.
Early on, minimize risk only buying & listing a handful of products per week. Experiment with photography, descriptions and pricing to determine which inventory sells fastest.
Part of TikTok’s magic is escapism entertainment. Bring followers along sourcing products to flip for profit so they emotionally invest in seeing the finished results.
Flipping presents a scalable business model easily funded starting under $100 initial investment.
12. License Viral Content
This route doesn’t apply to most creators, however some viral sensations on TikTok can earn big licensing their content.
Clips licensed across TV shows, ads and music videos often fetch 5 and 6 figure payouts. But most influencers will never reach that scale or sell licenses.
However if your content blows up, be prepared for inbound licensing offers and know your worth. Viral personalities and brands wanting to borrow equity from your audience will come calling down the line.
Land a major TV ad sync and you could pull a $100k payday instantly. Again, it’s not feasible starting out but viral content owners do unlock hidden earning potential.
Just make sure you properly handle rights management around any music used in clips positioned for licensing. Stay compliant with DMCA guidelines.
Here are a few additional ways to make money on TikTok without the Creator Fund:
13. Land Brand Partnership Deals
Beyond just one-off sponsored posts, top creators can negotiate long-term brand partnership deals.
This provides a consistent stream of income over an extended period of time beyond individual campaigns. Brand deals often include:
- Monthly retainer fees
- Revenue sharing
- Merchandise royalties
- Paid creator trips/experiences
- Contest/giveaway prizes
Landing a major brand partner establishes a reliable income source month after month enabling even more content creation. National brands pay out 5-6 figures per year locking in rising influencers affiliated with their products.
In addition to income, these deals provide exposure to new audiences and credibility teaming up with a household name major brand.
14. Launch a Physical Store
Another way to expand income streams is launching a physical store location selling your products in person.
Whether it’s apparel/fashion items, specialty merch or really any consumer goods…a local retail store creates a tangible experience fans can visit.
Having a permanent physical location builds trust and legitimacy for e-commerce brands that typically only sell online. Customers perceive higher value in seeing products firsthand.
Initial costs for leasing store space can seem daunting. However, once again, TikTok presents unique opportunities for crowdfunding and securing inventory via business loans.
Validate inventory will move fast enough to cover monthly sales goals through presale orders before signing any long-term leases. Ensure the risk aligns to the addressable target market size where you locate a store.
15. Consult Others On Going Viral
After seeing major success on TikTok and learning the ins and outs behind exponential growth, creators can monetize their knowledge by consulting outside brands/influencers.
Share strategic frameworks revealing exactly how to:
- Explode follower counts
- Structure viral content
- Hashtag research methods
- Growth hack trends
- Optimize creator bios
- Analytics insights
Essentially offer up your TikTok expertise as a high-priced consultant to brands hungry for similar growth. Consulting fees easily run $5,000+ teaching everything needed to go viral fast.
Positioning yourself as an authority within the space builds additional credibility. Publish viral prediction reports aligned to developing trends while advising top enterprise brands behind the scenes.
Additional Ideas
Here are a few other creative ideas for monetizing TikTok fame outside the Creator Fund:
- Voiceover work
- Paid comedy/song performances
- Autographed merchandise
- Hire out assistant tasks
- Cameo-style video requests
- Lead generation/list-building rewards
- Merchandising
Image source: Eveyevents
Get creative brainstorming various ways to package up your audience equity and persona into sellable services. Fans are willing to pay for personal interaction, VIP-style access, and recognition from creators they follow.
Wrapping Up…
Building a money-making TikTok account centers around 1) consistently creating high-quality content within a specific niche and 2) identifying which income stream business models best complement your channel.
No need to overwhelm yourself by tackling every option right away. Start small validating one solid game plan aligned to your strengths with room to scale over the long run.
Every creator’s monetization path can look different. What works today likely won’t work forever. Continue evolving strategies over time while providing value to your community.
The barriers to earning real income through TikTok are extremely low compared to past social platforms. More democratization puts power back in the hands of creators.
Choose the right business model fit, stick to the basics, deliver value to your followers, and become a student of viral trends…and income opportunities will unfold over time.
Which money-making methods seem viable when starting out on your TikTok venture? Share your thoughts in the comments!