How to make money on YouTube (especially if you don’t qualify for ad revenue)

Hey folks👋🏽

I’ve had a busy few weeks, so my energy levels have been shaky. Until I think of Barbieheimer (a combined name for the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies which come out today) gets them back up in an instant.

Stepping away from our usual social media/creator economy focus for a bit; I’m running another poll over on Twitter about which one you’ll be seeing first (Oppenheimer for me). Let’s see how we fare!

💌 In today’s email:

• 💰 If YouTube’s caught your eye, then you’ll love this dive into how to monetize your channel
• 📱Mitra recommends experimenting with Instagram Reels templates
• 📣 What’s happening in social: Big moves from TikTok into the music and ecommerce industries, Facebook refocuses on video, the dust settles on Threads’ big launch, and more!
• +All our latest content from the blog

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next Friday!

Warmly, 

Tami & the Buffer team

P.S. Last week, the whole team was focused on Build Week. Next week, get ready to learn about what we worked on. 👀

🚀 Three entrepreneurs skyrocketing their growth with Buffer

We pride ourselves on being an excellent tool for entrepreneurs and business owners to grow on social media — and our users were more than happy to back us up.

• Jayak at redpigeonmedia: “Over the past 3 months we've managed to grow one of our client's social media accounts by 400% from 6k to over 23k followers!”
• Press 1 for Nick on YouTube: “My following has grown 10% consistently since I started using Buffer”
• Jon Buckley: “Over the last 90 days, I've seen a 24.5% increase in accounts reached, a 53.2% increase in engagement, and a 9.3% increase in followers.”

Want to skyrocket your growth? Click the link below to get started with Buffer today!

🏊‍♀️Deep dive: How to make money on YouTube

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is the first way many creators make money on the platform. You’ll need 500 subscribers with three public uploads in the last 90 days and 3,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months to join the Program. Since adding YouTube Shorts creators to the Partner Program, monetization has increased so that creators with 3 million public views on YouTube Shorts in the last 90 days can gain access.

The program isn’t for everyone, though, thanks to YouTube’s strict guidelines, which give strikes to videos that violate them. This can be a struggle, especially for creators who want to pursue content full-time but don’t want to give up their style. So creators often have to figure out alternative ways to monetize their content.

• Collaborating with brands: Brand deals are omnipresent in YouTube videos, which can be attributed to the symbiotic relationship between brands and creators. Audiences follow people, not brands, but the companies have the money – so collaboration is vital for the success of all participants in the creator economy.
• Gather fan-funded support: One of the benefits of offering engaging content is audience loyalty, and many creators have found ways to monetize that relationship through fan funding. With platforms like Patreon and Fanhouse, creators can offer bonuses and exclusive content to their subscribers for a recurring monthly fee.
• Adopt affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing is one of the standard ways YouTubers make money – and you can start without even being in the YouTube Partner Program or having a large audience. This is a popular option among YouTubers, who’ll often inevitably show products or mention services in their videos.
• Sell physical or digital products: Physical and digital products have become a major path to monetization for many creators. Selling merchandise can be vital for creators who want to grow their brand and audience relationship because it takes a part of them offline and into the real world. You have a wealth of options regarding what to sell, including merchandise, courses, and templates.
• Crowdfund your creative projects: This is similar to fan funding but is usually a one-time fee that anyone who wants to support your content. Sites like GoFundMe or Kickstarter are best for one-off campaigns, especially when they’re in pursuit of a large project like funding a music video or self-publishing a book.

👇🏽 The latest from the blog

• How to Build a Sustainable (And Profitable) Content Creation Workflow: In this article, Matt Giaro shares systems and mental models for maintaining a sustainable content creation workflow.
• I Worked As Little as Possible and I Grew My Business: It can feel like you have to work nonstop to succeed when you’re growing a company, but this business owner wanted to avoid that narrative. Here’s the experiment that helped her build better work habits.
• 4 Tips from Top Social Media Managers to Grow Your Online Business: In this blog, Pooja Uniyal interviews top social media managers to get their top advice for reviving defunct accounts and increasing reach.

📱Social Tip of The Week from Mitra, Buffer’s Social Media Manager 

Instagram just released some updates to their Reels templates! Now it’s even easier to create your Reels with clips, audio, transitions, text, and AR effects already queued up for you.

To find templates to try out, open up Instagram and start creating a new Reel. Tap “Templates” at the bottom of your screen and you’ll be able to swipe through recommended and trending templates to find one that works for you!

🤳 What's Happening in Social

• 📰 News: TikTok launches ads transparency library; Facebook dips back into video with new tools; YouTube Premium now costs an extra $2/month; TikTok announces Spotify-like experience + partnership with Warner Music
• 👀 Features: YouTube now displays a comments box below the post (not video); Threads now has one-fifth the weekly active user base of Twitter; Instagram announces tighter rate limits on Threads to combat spam; Instagram updates its Reels templates; TikTok adds a ‘Shop’ feed; and more updates in this thread!
• 📖 Bonus Reads: Gen Z Twitter –> LinkedIn Pipeline (FastCompany); Bluesky’s Fallout with Community (Mashable); UK Watchdog Cracks Down on ‘Finfluencers’ (Bloomberg)

Thanks for reading! 💟

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