You know those influencer promotion videos where people show off fancy cars, big houses, and expensive trips, as if to say that they are making millions from posting content on social media. They say, “Hey, look at me, flying high earning big bucks just for me and my Instagram account.”
This vision of turning our hobbies and interests into a cash-generating machine and attaining the passive income we have always dreamt of is quite compelling to say the least. But how realistic is that dream in essence? Is the Average Joe or Jane in a position to quit his/her day job and live off the earnings from YouTube, Facebook or any other social media platform?
In a recent and somewhat shocking revelation, the common concept that popular content creators make astronomical amounts of money was revealed to be rather far from the truth. But if you are persistent and apply the right strategy, social media is one of the best ways to earn some extra money, and possibly even make a living — if you know how to make money on different social networks.
The great profitability of YouTube and Facebook comes from this guide that dissects their monetization strategies, providing the reality of how much money you can earn and the utterly different tactics you would have to apply to make the most of each network.
YouTube: Monster is already an established name and is not devoid of competitors, but it can surely find its place in the market.
As of the October 2021, 2 billion unique buyers are logging into YouTube, making it the unrivaled platform for online video. Its Partner Program opened the path to creator monetization in 2007, giving amateurs the possibility to earn hard cash for the first time at home.
In the years since, YouTube has given rise to entirely new types of professional – gamers who stream, teachers who post instructional clips, people who make videos about their everyday lives – as others have harnessed the site’s democratizing potential and really started media conglomerates.
But in the year 2023, the competition is much stiffer; in fact, over 50 million channels are in operation fighting for audience attention. Getting to be heard from the cacophony of voices as well as creating entertaining and fresh content, and continuously communicating with the fans is incredibly important but exceedingly difficult.
Such videos and playlists are the core monetization model of YouTube that places ads before, during, or after the videos. Whenever individuals view the ad or click on it, the people who created them make some money.
To monetize your channel, you are supposed to achieve 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time within the last 12 months, and then join the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube will then begin to monetize and develop an advertising profile based on your content and how your audience is engaging with it, including demographics and watch time.
The Unpleasantness of Dividing Ad Revenues
YouTube will then partner with you 45% from total earnings are automatically claimed by YouTube. Their take rate can be as high as 30-50% or more after taxes, which drives many creators to search for other revenue sources.
Supplemental Income Stream Options
AdSense adverts are the major source of income for many people, but YouTube provides other methods of monetization for fans who want to support your channel directly. These include:
This means fans get to avail of new videos every month, emojis and badges for a price. Claiming 30% of all membership fees, there can be little doubt that YouTube is a major player in this market.
Super Chats & Super Stickers – This is when fans contribute to have their messages pinned during live streams or contribute towards animated stickers that can be used. More of these payments go to YouTube, taking 30% of the amounts.
Merch Shelves – Physical products which you can promote and sell on your channel, branded products such as T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, etc. We only take a small percentage of the earnings and you get to retain a majority of the earnings.
Premium Revenue Share – This is where, if users subscribed to YouTube Premium to watch your content, you’ll get a small percentage of the revenue based on the amount of time they spent watching your videos.
This statement suggests that the cream rises to the top, implying that only the best would be allowed to rise or move up in life.
Nevertheless, one can see that there are still videos that go viral on the site, although the number of competitors on the platform is already quite significant. But hitting the gold, in this sense, takes more than a year and may in fact take more than a lifetime of effort plus divine intervention or luck or talent or hard work – all rolled into one.
YouTube Millionaires Remain Rare
As of 2022, according to statistics, the number of channels with more than 100 thousand subscribers was only 40 thousand, although there are over 50 million channels in the world. Only 9k accounts have more than 5 million followers while only 1k+ have more than 10 million.
In this intensely competitive environment, achieving more authority in a “space” and grinding it out are necessary to sustain. Hence, for most creators, it is essential that secondary income must be earned from YouTube as the first aspiration while the idea of ‘YouTube millionaires’ years should be years away into the future.
Cracking The Facebook Code
Although YouTube is the undisputed leader in online video, Facebook is far from being a second-rate platform – 3. 55 billion unique users engage with its family of apps monthly. But with owners Meta eager to acquire more and more creator content to fill its metaverse concept, Facebook opens up lucrative monetization opportunities for those who can crack its algorithm.
However, while anyone can upload a video to YouTube and it can still be monetized without any strings attached, with Facebook, you have to apply for monetization; in addition to that, you must hit a certain threshold of views and follow the content rules. Profile managers are subjected to checks while the content of videos is reviewed in an attempt to prevent the spread of fake news.
The centre stage of monetizing Facebook also involves sharing of advertisement revenues accruing from the in-stream video ads in your clips. Nonetheless, entry requirements are magnitudes steeper than what YouTube provided in terms of initial resources.
To even qualify, you need to have the followings:
10,000+ followers OR 250,000 1-minute views in prior 4 weeks
Total 1 Or 3 One Minute Views in Last 60 Days Over 600,000
Total Post Engagements in the last 60 days; 30,000
Ad Break Frequency as per Content Genre
Strict Ad Policies Compliance
This is in contrast with YouTube, where any given uneventful video that gains popularity can be commercially promoted at the click of a button with no regard for historical or artistic merit. However, as far as the most important strategic element of the creators’ game – advertising – is concerned, ad share revenue and payments are interchangeable.
Additional Facebook Monetization Avenues
In addition to its Creator crawler; ad share model, Facebook offers more direct audience funding options akin to YouTube via:
Fan Subscriptions – Some fans pay a monthly fee for videos that are only released to people who donated.
Tickets to Virtual Events/Performances – Creators live stream events, concerts, lessons or shows where fans pay for tickets to access.
Stars – It becomes possible for the fans to pay for sending animated Stars during the Facebook Live streams with the potential to highlight support.
All these options let you to earn most of the income, not mentioning Facebook’s taxes and fees. In the meantime, Facebook has Brand Collabs Manager that partners creators with brands for the sponsored partnership.
The All-Important Audience Connection
However, Facebook by design fosters intimate circles – friends, families or avid fan tribes actively engaging and closely identifying with shared personality traits and passions. Great creators create content with an eye on the audience and foster passionate brand followers and credibility.
This helps in transforming the followers to paying patrons at better rates than what is seen on YouTube, which has a broad audience base in billions through search and related videos.
Facebook Creator Case Study: The use of comedy in comedy shows as a form of treatment.
Nicole Craven was dancing for the LA opera before the pandemic but she was also doing extra work as an actor. Stranded at home, she went to Facebook, using comedic relief as a ‘therapy’ in videos intended for middle-aged women.
She quickly found her place in this emerging market that had been largely ignored by big television networks, and connected with her audiences through jokes about menopause, forgetlessness, hot flashes and weight issues. Using the opportunity of Facebook’s features, Nicole was able to turn her page into a permanent business within two years of her first video.
Her current sources of income are through ad revenue share of her popular videos, fans’ subscription to her private videos, and promotional content sponsorships with big names. Being one of Facebook’s content partners, Nicole is a perfect example of how one can leverage on Facebook’s advantages.
Tough Truths: The following measures were taken in order to achieve modest money for most:
If a viral celebrity, sold-out speaking tours, and mansion dreams are to be gained from social media wealth, then these disillusionments await. But only a speck of 0. 01% of creators attain such heights of success, thus it can be rightly said. Many will work into their fifties earning little remuneration for a lot of effort.
As per the analysis of various content creators and channel statistics in 2022, the average YouTuber earns around $7. 60 per 1000 views. For instance, a creator who uploads a video each day and earns around $40,000 per video could make about $91,000 USD per year before taxes and cost of doing business. It is not bad when it comes to earning extra money, but can it generate that much income to enable one to resign from their job?
While average income of Facebook video creators is not as transparent as it may seem, often due to the company’s walled garden strategy. In this regard, although average income appears lower, it still seems considerably less per 1,000 views in contrast to YouTube, according to the companies’ reports of earnings.
However, a more effective way of reaching this audience and monetizing it directly is to attract the attention of Facebook’s rather selective Partner Program, as it enables users to support content creators through subscriptions, virtual gifts, and ticket sales to events directly from their news feeds – given that people are more likely to associate Facebook with their friends and family than with random content creators.
Final Verdict: Beginning from YouTube, go Social and Cross Network
That being said, it is highly unlikely that anyone will become an overnight sensation like winning the lottery, but there is a genuine possibility to make real money through social media monetization for those who wish to invest the time and effort. It is however important to note that you just don’t expect to wake up tomorrow or any day for that matter as a millionaire or you won’t ever be one.
To most ones, a YouTube is a perfect start option due to the platform’s open access to every user and a relatively well-developed system of monetization. Pursue to cross-post small pieces of the YouTube content natively on Facebook for its other audience.
After both the channel metrics have gone up with both platforms, the focus should shift towards community interaction and increasing the overall production value as opposed to just profits. Your viewers have more choices than ever – you have to make them feel something and gain their trust if you want to switch casual browsers into paying contributors.
Do not focus on views per thousand trying to get better and gain more of them, instead, dedicate yourself to understanding what kind of content you create can positively impact others and improving your video making abilities. Along with this, the strategy of building real community should follow income by its very nature should increase over the life cycle.
Yeah, riding on algorithms can for instance bring more views for a while. But it does not mean that the show lacks depth based on people’s emotions because, in the next moment, you will be replaced in the list of feeds by the next entertaining curiosity.
It takes months and years of a consistent and concentrated commitment to transform a social media passion endeavor into a moneymaking process. But then temper get rich dreams – with billions of people around, a decent living is the realistic dream for many.
