Which social media platforms generate the most profit for influencers in the US? YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok...

While we sit on our couches moving nothing but a thumb - I’m not being mean, I do it too - for some people, social media is a hard graft, a way of making a genuine income in the modern world.

New technology mixed with the popularity of ephemeral trends has turned out to be the perfect mix for those who see social media as a tool to make money, with extremely popular content creation by ‘influencers’ - a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media - the fruits of the labour of those who have taken advantage of tapping into a market that has exploded in recent times.

Nowadays, we don’t use Bebo or MySpace or MSN Messenger, but instead we’ve got TikTok, YouTube and Instagram as the three applications where the influencer culture thrives. While Facebook and Twitter have a high number of users, the video-based format of the three former sites, as opposed to the text-based format of the latter two, lend itself to influencers being able to engage in different ways with their loyal audiences.

How do people make money on social media?

Epidemic Sound spoke to thousands of social media content creators and asked them about their money-making capacities on various applications, with their conclusions coming in that that “the majority of creators experienced a significant increase in income over the past year and expect more growth in 2023″.

While making money from social media is a relatively new phenomenon, they add that “the monetisation of content has become a primary or supplementary income source for many creators, resulting in a median annual income of $20,000″, with “50.7% of content creators rely[ing] on content creation as their primary source of income”. Nearly all of the other 50% claim social media to be their ‘secondary’ source.

The study shows that advertising revenue and brand partnerships are the most lucrative ways of bringing in money from social media, with over half of the people asked also saying that merchandise is a key way to make cash from their brand.

Which social media platform makes the most money?

In terms of which sites themselves make the most money, that reality is split between both Facebook and Instagram, with the two being around since the social media Big Bang.

However, despite the two OGs being the biggest money spinners, they weren’t at the top when it came to the content creators themselves checking their monthly bank balance. That honour went to the new kid on the block, TikTok, who was cited as the highest earner by 30% of the influencers questioned.

YouTube was in second with 25.8%, while Facebook sat at 16.5%, X/Twitter at 13.1%, and Instagram way down the list with just 7.1%.

Regarding the big hitters on social media, however, they all still exist on YouTube, with those earning above $200,000 per year making their income on the video website. If we hope over to the rich folk on Instagram, MoneyDigest reports that “the average creator with 10,000 to 25,000 followers ranges from $50 to $250 per post, with that average ratcheting upward for creators with 100,000 followers significantly to $1,000 to $5,000 per sponsored post. Mega-influencers with 1 million or more followers can charge $10,000 to $15,000 per sponsored post, unless you are Cristiano Ronaldo, who charges $3.2 million per post.”

However, the research done concurs with Epidemic Sound for those towards the bottom of the ladder, with TikTok “offer[ing] a Creativity Program that allows you to monetise your account to the tune of $4 to $8 for every 1,000 views and anywhere from $600 to $1,000 per 1 million views”. Now get back to scrolling, but don’t forget to go outside.