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Video content is a hot topic these days, but it can be difficult for the average SMB or franchise to keep up with their online video marketing. Social media teams are lean, marketing budgets are often overlooked, and there's never enough time to focus on your YouTube channel much less hire a social media influencer, right?
When a business such as yours seeks to monetize video content for social media, a great many either fail and learn the hard way which does not give you peace of mind or they research until they are overwhelmed and are paralyzed by all the suggestions the internet spews and do nothing.
That won't be you!
We've got your back when it comes to social media marketing strategies and specifically your video monetization strategy. The good news is there are many ways to create and publish videos that will not only help your business grow - but also provide some income on top of that!
Instead of making this article a long guide, we chose five content monetization strategies you can use today!
Let's dive in shall we?
Wait. But First, Choose the Right Niche to Monetize Video Content
When first starting with content creation for social media, it’s tempting to cast as wide a net as possible. I also recommend using a social media calendar to make things easy. Many concentrators get the idea that they need to post their videos to as many platforms as possible to increase their chances of finding an audience. After all, with so many platforms offering video content, shouldn’t you try to capitalize on that?
For example, TikTok has a much younger average user base than Facebook. While both of these companies offer video content on their platforms, the difference between audiences will tell us how receptive they might be to different content. Video content around homeownership, for example, will probably do better on Facebook since there are more homeowners on their website.
When it comes to video monetization, not every strategy will work for every business. You need to find a video content marketing mix that works best for you and your niche. This means choosing a video monetization strategy that incorporates video into other content formats) to see which one(s) produce the best results.
What does that look like as an example?
- For video content marketing that focuses on affiliate marketing, you may find success with a video podcast format.
- When it comes to video monetization through product placement , try sharing video reviews of your products or services.
- If you're more B2C, then you might want to experiment with short-form videos like TikTok or Reels. Even YouTube shorts have made a new splash.
Keep in mind what type of audience you're trying to reach and choose a method that is most likely to engage them. Experiment with different strategies until you find one that brings in the most revenue!
So, the first thing you have to do before monetizing video content is to figure out your niche. Once you know what niche your content fits into, you can then find a platform that best matches that niche. The more likely a demographic would be to interact with your content, the bigger the audience you can pull, and the more successful your video monetization will be.
A mindful approach to choosing the right network is part of the greater plan to build up your social media presence. Once you got your niche figured out and an audience built on one or two platforms, you can start to branch out to others.
Video Sponsorship
This is probably the most common video monetization strategy. You partner with another business to produce a video together and each promote the video on their respective social media channels. The benefit for you is twofold: increased brand awareness and potential leads from the other businesses' customers. Build your email list with a clear call to action so your viewer knows what to do next. Keep in mind, when doing a video sponsorship , the video itself should be high quality. If it looks like a cheap commercial, people will be less likely to take you seriously as a business.
Product Placement
This is another common video monetization strategy that can work well if done correctly. Similar to video sponsorship, product placement involves featuring a product in your video content. The difference is that you don't necessarily need to partner with another business to make it work. Of course, this video monetization strategy can be more time intensive if an arrangement isn't made with the company whose product is featured in your video content.
The benefit of choosing a product placement over video sponsorship lies in how much control you have over the video. With video sponsorship, you need to make sure that it's a video your existing audience would like and respond well to. On top of that, the product itself needs to be high quality - otherwise, your viewers could see right through what you're trying to do!
Product placement allows you more freedom because there's no need to partner with another business. If you want, video sponsorship can be a great stepping stone towards building up your video content for product placement. Product placement also allows you to experiment with video content and see what works best before investing a lot of time and effort.
Freemium to Premium
One of the most effective business models working on social media lately is the freemium business model. In this business model, a content creator gives away a portion of their content for free to show their audience the value they can get from buying a bigger package.
The idea behind this business model is that giving away something for free does a couple of things for the recipient.
The first thing it does is help build trust. Many influencers and platforms out there want to see payment first before they share what their service is about. By giving people something for free first, they get a chance to evaluate your content and decide if it’s worth it for them.
The second thing that this model does is allow you to put something great in front of an audience with no risk on their part. The people who view your free content don’t have to put up any credit card numbers or cash. Because the barrier to entry for your content is low, more people will be likely to check it out and see if it’s worth it for them.
Ultimately, you’re trying to build up a social credit with a potential audience. By putting yourself forward as someone so confident in your work that you can give it away for free, you improve the chances that someone will likewise have faith in your content.
In general, it’s best to work on this content once you have a paid product or service to sell to people. If you have the paid service set up first, then you’ll have something to direct a portion of your audience to when you convince them of your quality with the freemium content.
Promote Brands With Affiliate Programs
We've talked about how video monetization is all about finding ways to make money from video content, but there are other methods that don't require video at all!
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money without having to produce video content. In this instance, you partner with another business whose products or services you recommend to your audience. When someone clicks on the link in your video and makes a purchase, you earn a commission from that sale.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most common ways content creators will try to monetize video content. You have probably seen affiliate marketing in action in one of two ways: a hyperlink in a bit of text or a call to action by the content creator during the video.
In both cases, the content creator has an affiliate link from the brand or business they are affiliated with. When someone uses that link to purchase a product or service, the content creator gets a portion of the sale for bringing a new customer to the business.
If you want to try this for yourself, the best thing to keep in mind is to keep things relevant to your audience. Much like how you should be matching your niche to your platform, you’ll want to match your affiliate partners to your audience as well.
This mostly comes down to a question of efficiency. As a content creator, you only have so much time in the day to dedicate to content monetization on a social media platform. If you know that your target audience has a particular interest, then matching that interest with a product or service affiliate will help maximize the number of sales.
You want to benefit yourself and your affiliate with your referrals, so maximizing your traffic to them helps both of you.
This particular tip is an important one for you to consider when monetizing your video content. Affiliate marketing is a popular monetization method, and it appears to be gaining traction again as a marketing trend as time goes on. Your audience members trust you and your expertise, which is why recommendations from video content creators are so impactful.
This video monetization strategy can be a little more difficult to set up, but it can be very lucrative if done correctly. You'll need a good understanding of your audience and what products or services they might be interested in.
Direct Sell Your Own Educational Products or Services
Finally, one of the last ways to monetize video content is by creating an online course for people to purchase. Making online courses allows you to put your expertise or knowledge into a single place that your audience can then buy into to learn what you know.
This method won’t be one of the first things that you do to monetize video content. Content creators that have built up a reputation and accountability over the years will have more success with this than someone who is just starting. People want to learn from the best, not someone without proof of their knowledge to show.
Still, there are all sorts of educational products or services that you can make:
- Online webinars or group live streams for those that buy your course
- Traditional online courses that are broken down by topic and assignments
- One-on-one coaching or consultation
Not all of these educational services will work for every niche. For example, it’s much more common to see one-on-one coaching in business consultation services, while traditional courses are more common for the arts.
The best way to find out what kind of educational product to make is to look at other people in your niche. See what other professionals and content creators are making and see if you can improve or expand upon what they’ve done. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; just make the wheel better!
But wait, there's more!
As a bonus we want to offer up an additional bonus tip that you hopefully find valuable.
Community Engagement
This video monetization strategy is great for building relationships with your loyal viewers, as well as reaching out to new ones. There are many different ways that you can make community engagement work within your video content:
- You can ask your viewers to submit video content of their own in a video testimonial (i.e. user-generated content)
- Involve them in video polls or contests on LinkedIn or Facebook groups and create a results-based video you can use to add value in a post
- Share funny, interesting, or touching user submitted videos on social media platforms
By engaging with the people who watch and enjoy your video content not only are you showing that you care about what they have to say, but you're also more likely to keep them coming back for more. Additionally, community engagement can help spread the word about your video content to new viewers that may not have otherwise known about it.
Final Thoughts: Forge Your Own Path
The world of video content creation is a crazy place. Things move fast and you have to be able to adapt to the changes to make sure your content reaches your audience. If you face some difficulties then you should definitely check some tips on social media videos.
Some of the monetization methods here can be highly technical, especially for those making content in fields that aren’t tech-heavy. If you need help making something from this list, don’t be afraid to reach out to or hire a professional to help make the automation side of things much easier for you.
