10 Best Easy Ways to Make Money Using Social Media at Home

With all the social media outlets out there, a lot of money-making opportunities have arisen for people with an entrepreneurial spirit. Many of them don’t even require you to go to an office. Here are 10 ways to make money off of social money from home.

1. Coach someone remotely

You can help other people achieve their dreams without even leaving home. Whether you’re a physical therapist or a life coach or a financial advisor, you can do a lot of what you’d normally do in-person over social media. Whatever your expertise, you can coach people over email and Skype. To attract customers, first promote yourself on social media. Once you’ve impressed your followers with your knowledge, start a coaching service. This could turn into a sizable income if you already have a semi-lucrative professional, since it typically requires less of a time commitment than in-person coaching. One field that’s proven especially popular is personal training, with companies like FitOrbit offering a number of jobs that probably pay pretty well.

2. Become an Amazon affiliate

You can buy almost anything on Amazon, which means you can earn a commission off of almost any product if you’re an Amazon Affiliate. After signing up for the affiliate program you can give readers of your blog, Twitter feed, etc. special links to Amazon products. If they click on the link and buy that product or anything else on the site during that visit, you receive a small commission that can really add up over time. Pickmyshaver.com, which reviews shaving devices with links to the Amazon listings, is a prime example of a successful affiliate website. It sold for over $60,000 to Flippa just eight months after it debuted. Your chances of reaping similar rewards are reasonably good if your reviews attract a lot of attention, so write them well and and convincingly so they’ll read the review and then buy the product.

3. Monetize your YouTube channel

Are you a popular vlogger? Do you post a lot of funny animal videos that go viral? You might be able to make some income by joining the YouTube Partner Program, in which you allow Google to place ads at the beginning of your videos. You then share in that ad revenue. Grace Helbig is a prominent example of someone who’s made a living off of creating fun YouTube videos and promoting herself on other social media outlets. Admittedly, your chances of becoming a YouTube star and getting rich off it are low, but if you’ve got an engaging personality, sense of humor or a unique perspective than the YouTube Partner Program may be an avenue worth exploring.

4. Sell stock photos

Use a service like Flickr to get people acquainted with your work, offering photos they can use on their website for free under the Creative Commons license. Once you’ve built up a following, join another stock photography site like Shutterstock or iStockphoto where users will pay for the opportunity to use your pictures on their blogs. You can make up to $120 off of one paid download of your photo. Even if you get compensated at a lower level, the money can really add up if you take a lot of quality photographs.

5. Sell an e-book

Once you’ve built up a following and proven yourself to be knowledgeable about a certain subject, write and publish an e-book that your consistent social media presence will have persuaded your fans to buy. You can release it simply as a PDF or through services like Amazon’s Kindle program. Carol Tice demonstrated her expertise in the topics of freelance writing on social media, which she translated into major e-book sales. Some people make up to $100,000 a month off of the Kindle program alone, but that’s an example of extreme success. The average e-book brings in about $423 per year. But if your book is better written, better designed and better marketed than 90% of your competitors’, you will probably make more than that.

6. Sell handcrafted items on Instagram

With inSelly you can quickly turn simple photos on Instagram into images of products you have for sale. Read this how-to about setting up an online shop with one of the biggest social media outlets out there. Some of the most popular things to sell are things that are made by hand, so if you’re crafty consider putting your artistic skills to good (and profitable) use. Chances of making a huge sum of money off this aren’t high, but it’s not uncommon for someone to make a living off the combined totals of Instagram and similar services like Etsy.

7. Tantalize users with your product on Pinterest

Pinterest is a perfect platform for selling products. As a virtual pin-board, the social media service is commonly used by potential customers to “pin” items of interest that they might buy later. If you created a product or are in charge of marketing one, throw some photos of it on Pinterest to shine a spotlight on it. Look at great examples of companies that utilize Pinterest to its fullest potential like TODAY, Whole Foods Market and the Travel Channel here. If you can land a freelance job doing something similar you can hit it pretty big, but you probably need the right experience to be in the running. However, small businesses also want to promote on Pinterest, and they’re more likely to hire based on enthusiasm and a go-getter attitude, so maybe start making some cold calls and emails.

8. Sponsor products and services

This is probably the most direct way to make money off social media. You utilize your (hopefully sizable) list of followers by selling to companies the rights to promote their products or services as a post on your social media account. Check out this site to learn more. The chances of making a lot of money this way is high if your number of followers is in the six figures, but rather low if you have less than a thousand followers.

9. Manage social media

Managing social media isn’t a particularly lucrative profession yet, but it does serve a growing need for a lot of businesses. If you keep an eye out for job postings you might be able to nab a job promoting a company or brand on various social media services. A lot of those jobs are independent contractor positions, many of which you can work remotely. If you’ve got a lot of experience with social media beyond just being a user, though, you may be able to get hired to develop social media strategy. Telling businesses how specifically to approach their social media presence would very likely net you a nice income.

10. Use social media to network

You can increase your income simply by using social media to take your current career to the next level. Obviously LinkedIn is a place to network and find job opportunities, but other social networks can achieve similar results. If a business is more casual, try friending your dream employer on Facebook. If you’re an expert on some topic, create a Twitter account to expound on that topic. There really isn’t a career that wouldn’t benefit at least a little from a social media presence.