What would the makeup industry be without beauty creators? We all have our favourites and our makeup game just wouldn’t be the same without TikTok hacks, YouTube tutorials and Instagram product recommendations. As a makeup brand, we have huge respect and admiration for creators and what they bring to the industry. We work with creators to develop our products, design palettes and create looks, and our business wouldn’t be what it is without them.
Do you think you’ve got what it takes to become a creator? In this article, we’ll dive into how you can earn money from being a beauty creator and the steps you can take to become the next NikkieTutorials!
What Is Monetisation?
Monetisation is basically a fancy way of saying "earning money". In most cases, monetisation involves creating income from non-traditional sources. An example of this is embedding ad revenues in social media videos in order to pay content creators.
Monetisation is how beauty creators and influencers make a living from social media. Social media marketing is growing on the daily so it’s the perfect way to make some extra cash.
What You Need to Do to Become a Beauty Creator
Before we get into how you can start making money, there’s a few steps you’ll need to take first. First off, you’ll need to establish your value as a beauty creator. This doesn’t necessarily mean having thousands of followers - it means finding content that adds value to your following and honing in on that niche.
Produce High Quality, Authentic Content
One of the most important things to do is to make sure you’re consistently producing high-quality, authentic content. Now this doesn’t mean having the very best filming and photography equipment. Far from it - some of the most engaging content out there is shot on phones in selfie mode! However, your content should be well lit, well prepared and clear on what it is offering the viewer. It’s also important to post content consistently so you can begin to understand what your followers like and how you can improve with your next piece of content.
What do we mean by authentic? Stay true to yourself with your content, and only post about things that are genuinely of interest to you. Follow a format that works for you and, while it’s always good to challenge yourself, make sure you feel comfortable and happy with what you are producing - it’s contagious!
Engage Your Audience
Brands will look at a beauty creator’s relevance, reach and engagement levels before they reach out. It’s become far less common for brands to simply look at large follower numbers, and instead they are focused on creators with an engaged community, whatever the follower size. Some ways you can boost your engagement include:
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Posting regular interactive stories. Adding polls and quizzes to your stories, as well as asking your followers questions is a great way to understand what they are looking for and tailor your content to them. This is likely to increase engagement over time as you share useful content with your followers
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Posting frequently. Social media platforms want us to use them frequently and you’ll be rewarded for regular posting. This also shows your followers that you’re on top of the latest trends and that they can expect regular content from your page
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Add relevant hashtags to your posts. Hashtags are a great way to reach a new audience and gain dedicated followers. Do some research into what’s trending right now and where your audience are
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Engaging with other creators. We are BIG on celebrating each other. Not only does it encourage others and facilitate connection, it can also help to establish you in the wider community and at the very least lead to you forming supportive friendships in the space
@rubygibbsartistry is a great example of a creator consistently posting high quality, engaging and on trend content. Big up Ruby!
How to Make Money as a Beauty Creator
Affiliate Marketing
Brands pay affiliates (beauty creators) to promote their products. Whether you have a blog, Instagram or TikTok, affiliate marketing can be utilised just about anywhere. Generally, you will receive a commission from any sales that you generate for the brand. Brands tend to reach out directly via social media, so make sure you are following and interacting with brands that align with your values and that you are genuinely interested in!
Influencer Marketing and Sponsorships
Like affiliate marketing, sponsorships and influencer marketing also involve promoting a brand or product to your audience. Instead of receiving a commission on every sale, in this arrangement a brand often pays you per campaign - this could, for example, include an agreement to post a tutorial look on your Instagram grid and also promote via your story. Campaigns can go on for any length of time and include a number of pieces of content, and the agreement should be the result of a collaborative conversation between you and the brand.
Leading Online Courses
Sharing your skills with your audience is another sure-fire way to monetise your content. You can teach online courses on a whole host of things and eventually charge your followers a small fee to join the course. It would be wise to begin with sharing free content in order to build up your engagement, get a solid understanding of what topics / formats might work and develop a more comprehensive course from there.
Become a Brand Ambassador
Becoming a brand representative normally involves an extended contract which lasts for at least a couple of months, instead of just a one-off partnership. It involves similar elements to affiliate and influencer marketing but provides more financial stability thanks to the addition of contracts and timeframes. As a creator, you should do your best to be an ambassador for brands that you genuinely respect, feel truly aligned with and that you feel confident are a responsible brand to promote to your audience.
YouTube Video Monetisation
If you’ve already built an audience on YouTube, you can monetise your channel. Beauty and fashion are two of the most watched categories on YouTube. Joining the YouTube Partner Program allows you to join and earn money from your videos based on your number of public watch hours and subscribers. You can also promote a brand or product on your channel and get paid by the brand itself. Paid live streams are another way you can earn money.
As you can see, there are multiple possible streams of income and ways to make money as a beauty creator, however it requires a lot of dedication, commitment, time and effort. Big up to all the amazing creators out there!