Unlocking TikTok Gold: 7 Easy Strategies to Profit in 2025

TikTok has rapidly become a dominant force in social media, transforming from a playful app for children into a global platform used by millions of people across all age groups. Originally founded by Chinese software engineer Zhang Yiming, 38, the company behind TikTok was first introduced as ByteDance. In December 2016, it rebranded its Chinese version as Douyin. Soon after, TikTok (initially known as musical.ly) gained international popularity, and today, it boasts approximately 689 million monthly active users, positioning it among the top social media platforms worldwide. With TikTok US accumulating over $1 billion in funding for its Creator Fund and a valuation exceeding $50 billion, it’s clear that producing content on TikTok has become a serious business opportunity.

This presents a tremendous chance for users to earn substantial income online. The best part is, you don’t have to be a marketing expert or have advanced technical skills. Earning money through TikTok is surprisingly straightforward—you can go live, encourage viewers to donate, and secure sponsorships from well-known brands. Additionally, you can promote your own merchandise or services directly on the platform.

How to Make Money on TikTok. Let’s explore the main methods to generate income via TikTok. Keep in mind, your earnings can vary widely based on several factors I’ll discuss below. 1. Get Paid Through TikTok’s Creator Fund. The Creator Fund is TikTok’s initiative to support and reward innovative content creators. Unlike other social media advertising models, the fund’s payouts are linked to your channel’s growth and engagement. Your earnings depend on metrics such as the number of authentic views from real users, viewers’ regions, and overall content performance. Since engagement varies daily, your earnings will fluctuate accordingly.

You must meet specific criteria to join the program, including: being at least 18 years old, having a minimum of 10,000 genuine followers, and generating at least 100,000 authentic video views over the past 30 days. The program is available in countries like the U.S., UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. Additionally, your content must follow TikTok’s community guidelines. To apply, you need a Pro account, which you can switch to via your account settings by selecting the “TikTok Creator Fund” option. Once accepted, your payout shows up in your Creator Fund Dashboard roughly three days after your views are recorded. Funds can then be transferred to PayPal or Zelle starting 30 days after the end of the month, provided you meet the minimum payout threshold of $10.

Despite the excitement surrounding the Creator Fund, it’s important to note that it doesn’t generate massive income for most users. For example, Anika, a TikTok creator with over six million views and one million likes, was only able to earn a modest payout, illustrating that while the fund offers support, it’s not a guaranteed path to riches.The TikTok Creator Fund can earn you about $200 over five months or so. While this additional income might help you buy Christmas presents — similar to the earnings from money-making apps — it’s unlikely to significantly reduce your college debt. However, that doesn’t mean earning big money on TikTok isn’t possible. You can collaborate with sponsors, promote brands, receive virtual gifts, and more, which leads us to our next point.

One popular way to generate income on TikTok is through donations from your viewers. This is similar to how Twitch works, where fans send money to show appreciation for your live sessions. As a creator, you have the option to enable live gifting, allowing viewers to send you virtual gifts in real-time. These can be cashed out via PayPal, providing a direct financial benefit for your live broadcasts.

There’s a small catch. Instead of cash, TikTok’s viewers must first buy in-app coins before they can gift them to creators. Viewers can purchase coins in the Settings under the Balance section by selecting Recharge. These coins can then be exchanged for various virtual rewards, each with different values and required coin amounts.

Here’s what you can exchange your coins for:

It’s important to note that only users aged 18 or older (or the age of majority in their location) can send or receive these gifts. Additionally, viewers can also send stickers directly during live streams without purchasing coins.

Some of the stickers available include:

If your viewers enjoy your content enough, they may start sending gifts during your live broadcasts. These gifts will appear on your screen, visible to everyone watching, creating an interactive and fun experience. Even small gifts can give you a nice boost — showing appreciation from your audience can be rewarding regardless of the amount.

Sending a message to acknowledge your efforts is important. Always remember to give a shout-out whenever you receive a gift to engage with your audience. When fans feel appreciated for their contributions, they’re more likely to share your content with others, which helps increase your popularity. Even a simple, sincere “Thank You” can make a big difference.

At the conclusion of your stream, you’ll see the total count of the gifts you’ve received. Your current balance is easily accessible under the “Balance” tab in your account settings. For every gift, you earn “Diamonds,” which are a virtual currency based on your viewer engagement. Typically, one diamond is worth about half of a coin. As a creator, you can later trade these Diamonds for real money, although the initial amount might seem modest. The more supporters you attract, the more gifts you’ll gather, which can accumulate into a substantial sum over time.

Due to its widespread popularity, many brands are eager to pay creators to showcase their products on TikTok. Usually, brands reach out through agents, especially if a creator has already gained significant followers. However, creators can also earn directly from advertisers via TikTok’s integrated program called the Creator Marketplace. This platform is designed to facilitate collaborations between brands and TikTok content creators, allowing you to secure paid partnerships. By promoting a brand or using its product in your videos, you increase awareness and drive sales, earning money in return for your sponsored content.

The Creator Marketplace lets brands search for creators based on follower count, audience demographics, and engagement metrics, providing a transparent way to connect and collaborate effectively.

Unfortunately, creators currently do not have a way to search for brands directly or find suitable partnership opportunities. The platform only offers a brand-facing version at this time.

Before collaborating with brands, creators must meet specific eligibility requirements, which include age, type of video content, follower count, and engagement levels. Additionally, you need to switch to a Creator account to access certain features.

Once you satisfy these conditions, TikTok will invite you to join or allow you to apply. After joining the TikTok Creator Marketplace, navigate to your account settings, select “Creator Tools,” and then “TikTok Creator Marketplace.” This is where you can manage your profile and set your rates for sponsored content. Making your profile appealing and setting clear pricing helps attract brand attention.

As your popularity grows, you can earn a substantial income from your content. Estimated earnings for well-known creators range from approximately $500 up to $20,000 per video. However, TikTok itself does not handle payments; you need to arrange transactions directly with brands.

Once you’ve built a reputation, your earning potential extends beyond TikTok, with many top creators collaborating on platforms like Instagram and generating income through multiple channels.

Managing influencers is another lucrative avenue on TikTok, which is rapidly becoming a major hub for influencer marketing. While many influencers want to go viral and build public fame, some prefer to stay behind the scenes. If you’re more comfortable managing campaigns rather than creating content yourself, you can earn by acting as an intermediary between brands and influencers.

Your role would involve handling negotiations, agreements, campaign activities, and payments, ensuring that all parties fulfill their contractual obligations. This requires strong organizational skills and reliability. In return, you earn a service fee for facilitating successful brand-influencer collaborations.

Alternatively, you can start your own TikTok agency, offering services to help creators develop their careers, manage their public profiles, and avoid missteps.

Here are some steps on how to launch your influencer agency:

Begin by drafting a detailed business plan and creating a professional website, which will give your agency credibility and visibility. Your website should reflect current trends and clearly outline the influencer niches you serve, as well as the benefits for both creators and brands. It’s important to secure the necessary legal rights to operate your agency to safeguard your privacy and legal interests.

Next, you should scout influencers across different niches to build a versatile talent pool. This approach allows you to match creators with brands based on industry relevance—such as fitness influencers for sports brands. You can use specialized TikTok influencer search tools like InfluenceGrid, which helps discover performers by country, niche, engagement rate, follower count, and other metrics.

By following these steps, you can establish a successful influencer management or agency business on TikTok, leveraging the platform’s rapid growth and vibrant creator community.

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TikTok’s built-in tool, the TikTok Creator Marketplace, is an excellent resource for finding relevant content creators that match your niche and campaign goals.

Additionally, consider maintaining a list of influencers on your website, categorized by their specialized areas. An example from an influencer website showcases how influencers organize their profiles, making it easier for brands to connect with the right personalities.

Starting out, you might find it challenging to identify and collaborate with big-name celebrities or top-tier influencers. Instead, focus on partnering with micro-influencers. These smaller creators can be more approachable and often have highly engaged audiences. Supporting their growth and helping them go viral on TikTok can pave the way for bigger collaborations in the future.

As your experience and success rate grow, expanding your network by onboarding more influencers will enable you to reach broader audiences and amplify your campaigns’ impact.

There’s no need to handle every task alone. If managing outreach and coordination seems overwhelming, consider hiring professionals to assist you. Building a capable team—including web designers, content creators, legal advisors, marketers, and financial experts—will streamline your operations. Investing in qualified personnel is crucial for building a sustainable and thriving business.

Diversifying your influencer marketing platforms is another smart move. An influential digital marketing agency can extend beyond TikTok. Successful agencies work across multiple social media channels like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube, giving brands a wider reach and more varied content formats.

Most TikTok influencers already hold substantial followings on other platforms, making it easier to coordinate cross-channel promotions. Once you assemble a pool of TikTok creators, you can encourage them to promote brands on their other social media profiles, further diversifying your revenue streams.

Prominent influencer marketing agencies like Fanbytes demonstrate this approach by managing extensive networks that span multiple platforms. Their integrated strategies help brands maximize exposure and engagement across diverse audiences.

You can also monetize your TikTok presence by selling your own products. Creating indirect ads or native shopping content allows you to promote merchandise or other offerings directly on the platform. This approach builds a self-sustaining revenue source, similar to running an influencer agency.

Targeting TikTok’s young, engaged demographic—primarily Gen Z and millennials—offers immense potential. These groups hold a combined buying power of approximately $150 billion in the US alone, presenting a lucrative opportunity for brands eager to tap into their purchasing habits.

To effectively showcase your products, leverage features like TikTok’s Hashtag Challenge Plus. This tool encourages users to create and share content featuring your product, with an added shoppable hashtag that allows viewers to purchase directly within the app. TikTok then generates a dedicated landing page where users can make quick purchases after engaging with the campaign.

For example, Kroger, the American retail giant, was among the first to utilize TikTok’s shopping capabilities, demonstrating how brands can seamlessly integrate commerce into engaging content.The brand decided to participate in the Hashtag Challenge to boost engagement. They enlisted four influencers to encourage TikTok users to share videos of their dorm makeovers using the hashtag #TransformUrDorm. As a result, the campaign amassed over 477 million video views and saw hundreds of thousands of user-generated content videos created around the challenge.

Image Credit: Techcrunch.com

Kroger took the campaign a step further by creating a shoppable brand page, allowing users to discover and buy products directly within the app.

Image Credit: Techcrunch.com

Encouraging user-generated content can build greater trust with your audience compared to conventional ads, boosting their likelihood to purchase. If you operate an ecommerce site, include your store link in your profile bio. Even without a dedicated product, you can create and sell your own merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, or sweatshirts to your followers. This strategy can be especially effective if you already have a growing TikTok following.

With TikTok’s upcoming partnership with Teespring, you’ll soon be able to streamline the process of designing, manufacturing, and shipping your merchandise. This partnership will also let viewers purchase your merchandise directly within the TikTok app. Until then, you can explore other print-on-demand platforms such as ShopBase, Printful, and Oberlo, which handle dropshipping, printing, and production for you.

Some of the top print-on-demand platforms for selling TikTok merch are:

– ShopBase

– Printful

– Oberlo

These services cover the entire process, making it easier for you to offer custom products to your fans.

Growing and then selling TikTok accounts is another profitable avenue. This isn’t new and is commonly done on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. To succeed, you need to build a TikTok account around a specific niche and amass a large following and engagement. Once your account hits a certain size, you can reach out to brands or individuals interested in that niche to sell it.

Building a niche-specific account makes it easier to sell, as buyers looking for targeted profiles can see its value. Brands seeking niche accounts prefer specific themes since they can quickly take over and start advertising without disrupting the existing follower base. Creating a website to showcase your profiles and attract buyers is also an effective strategy, or you can list them on third-party marketplaces like Fameswap.

Here are some examples of TikTok profiles currently available for sale:

Looking at this list, you can estimate the approximate selling price of a TikTok profile based on its follower count. Generally, the larger your audience, the higher the possible sale value, but various other factors can influence the price beyond just follower numbers.

While there’s no official data, here’s a rough idea of potential earnings from flipping TikTok profiles: Profiles with 1,000 to 13,000 followers could fetch around $100, profiles with 13,000 to 50,000 followers might sell for between $100 and $500, those with 50,000 to 100,000 followers could go for $500 to $1,000, profiles with 100,000 to 500,000 followers may sell for approximately $1,000 to $5,000, and accounts with over a million followers can reach $30,000 or more.

If you’re considering launching your own music or pursuing a career as an artist, TikTok offers an excellent platform for showcasing your talent and capturing the attention of industry professionals. Social media can be a powerful tool to gain international fame and recognition. Take Addison Rae as an example—she achieved popularity across multiple platforms, eventually becoming a household name in the U.S., appearing on shows like Jimmy Fallon, and even landing her own Netflix series.

Her recent debut song climbed to number ten on Spotify’s New Music Friday and Pop Rising playlists. According to a recent Forbes report, Addison Raye earns approximately $5 million annually. Her success isn’t isolated; TikTok has helped launch careers for numerous young artists and creators. The platform’s growth potential is extraordinary, allowing you to promote your talents—whether in singing, acting, comedy, or cooking—and attract attention from producers or other influential figures who can open doors to career-changing opportunities.

Getting noticed by a big industry name isn’t always necessary; many users achieve fame and monetize their content independently. By starting with viral videos on TikTok and then branching out to platforms like YouTube and Instagram, you can expand your audience and diversify your income streams. With a solid audience base, digital publishing channels, and ongoing content creation, you’re well on your way to establishing a successful career in the creative arts.

How do you grow your TikTok profile? The key step is to go viral on the platform. Regardless of your chosen monetization method—except for opening your own influencer agency—building a large and engaged audience is essential for earning significant income. The bigger your viewer count, the greater your earning potential. Additionally, having a substantial following can open doors to other small business opportunities tailored for teens, as you’ll already have an audience eager to listen to you.

Source: theamandajewell.comHere’s a quick overview of strategies to go viral:

If you aspire to turn your TikTok activity into a full-time career and earn a substantial income, these tips are a good starting point.

Even though TikTok offers numerous ways to monetize, staying genuine and engaging with your audience is vital for long-term success. Building an audience that genuinely connects with you is essential if you want to monetize effectively. This involves consistent interaction—commenting on followers’ videos, sending hearts, following back, and being active daily. Authenticity is not just key to becoming a top creator; it also attracts brands seeking sponsored partnerships, as high engagement like likes and comments makes your account more appealing. Your content should resonate and be something viewers want to watch—whether it’s tutorials, lip-syncs, or dance videos—since creating a real connection encourages more interaction. Being genuine helps you stand out from others and deepens your relationship with followers. Notably, brands prefer working with authentic influencers because they can relate better to their target consumers; ultimately, engagement and trust are what matter most.

TikTok is currently the hottest social media platform, drawing countless users eager to gain fame. It specializes in short video clips, offering everyone a chance to showcase their skills and potentially become overnight sensations. Many success stories have emerged where ordinary people achieved viral fame, and yours could be next. By following effective strategies, you can unlock not only popularity but also monetize your content successfully.
For more tips, visit StepThroughThePortal.com: Discover how TikTok can help you succeed with affiliate marketing and turn your videos into a source of income.