Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of talking social media, branding and the business of making money online on ESSENCE Live. Joined by Crissle West of The Read, Whitney White of Naptural 85, we talked about the life of social media entrepreneurs, common misconceptions and how we built wealth online.
Making money online isn’t child’s play. Nowadays, there’s serious corporate budgets behind social media campaigns, social media influencers as brand ambassadors and more readily available now more than ever before. Within my first year of blogging, I’ve made money as an ambassador of Samsung, worked with Verizon, Ford and Toyota. Check out some of my thoughts on monetizing influence with ESSENCE Live host Dana Blair (and a few bonus thoughts / and video) below.
“Are you making money online?”
Yes. While I’m not (yet) making millions, I make a very comfortable living because of my social media brand online. While I’m not making it rain anywhere, I’ve been taught that it’s better to be humble and unassuming about how much you make (like Steve Jobs and Oprah) rather than boasting and (probably lying) about your net worth.
“What’s the good/bad of monetizing social media?”
The good part about being your own boss is the freedom you have to do what you love, and you get paid while doing it. The downside that I didn’t anticipate just how much of that freedom is sucked dry by obsessing over scheduled posts, speaking engagement details and other revenue producing components.
“Final Thoughts?”
People often have the misconception that you have to be a huge social media superstar to make money online. That’s simply not true. There are plenty of social media influencers with hundreds of thousands of fans and followers and they’re trying to figure out how to make money, just like the blogger that just began branding online. The difference between the ones that succeed and the ones that fail is the perception. If you have a strategic goal of who you want to speak to, what you want to accomplish, when you want to make money and why brands should want to work with you – you’ve catapulted your brand far ahead beyond anyone else. Social media size doesn’t always matter.
Check out the abbreviated version of last week’s ESSENCE Live segment and let me know what you think below!
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