You probably know someone who has a lot of social media followers.  Maybe it’s a friend or a colleague.  Maybe it’s you and you want to learn how to turn those followers into dollars.

Right now, there are thousands of people making a living on social media.  On a large scale, look at the Kardashian family.  They have millions of followers and they know how to monetize their influence through all sorts of social media initiatives, like product endorsements and advertisements.  It’s highly unlikely the normal Joe can reach the same level of success as the Kardashians, but there are still ways to fund this lifestyle.  

Every major social media platform has in some way helped users turn their hobby into a business. Here are 5 ways people can make money with social media.

Monetize A YouTube Channel

Not only can you make money with social media, you can turn yourself into a YouTube star. You can publish your content on YouTube and then choose “enable monetization” in your account settings.  How much money you can make from YouTube depends on a few factors such as how long people watch, whether they click on your ads and whether they hit ‘like.

Start a Podcast 

Do you have a knack for interviewing people?  Do you have a computer, a microphone and a headset?  Why not try to start your own podcast. Starting a podcast is relatively easy and inexpensive, but growing it is another story, so monetizing your podcast is something to explore.  

To get started on this venture, you could opt to sign up for a ConnectPal account, then tell your followers about where to find your podcast by copying and pasting your profile link on your social media accounts (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). When your potential subscribers click on the ConnectPal link, they will automatically be routed to your welcome page where they can subscribe to you and your content.

Become An Amazon Affiliate

Amazon is the online marketplace where you can literally shop for anything.  

But did you know you can make money on Amazon too?  When you join Amazon’s Affiliate Program, any sales made from a link you provide to Amazon will net you a small percentage. That means, if you have a following and you promote specific items on your blog, then you can  include an affiliate link to the item on Amazon.  When a follower purchases something, you’ll get paid.

Sell Your Art

It doesn’t matter if you make jewelry or paint portraits, you can take your talent straight to the internet on websites like Etsy or Big Cartel and sell them.  Additionally, Instagram and Tumblr are good places to post your original artwork to get a few (or many) responses and shares.

Join a network for influencers

Another way to make money on social media is by joining networks like Brandwatch, a platform which was made for influencers to connect brands with people based on their followers and specialties.  For example, if you post content related to clean eating on your social media profiles and you join one of these networks, it’ll be easier for brands to find you if they have a service or product related to your content. 

There’s no doubt about it.  If you seek these and the myriad of other opportunities that lie waiting for you on the Internet, you too can earn money from home using social media!

Managing a team of people is a challenging job, especially if you’re trying to run a company as a business owner as well. What with so many different personalities within your team, and trying to keep up productivity, it can be hard to find the right balance to keep everyone happy. While you might not be able to please everyone all the time, it is important that you do everything you can to keep your employees happy and satisfied at work for the following four reasons.

• Turnover

The last thing you want as an employer is to find yourself having to hire new staff members every six months. If you notice this pattern, you must address the issues immediately. It could be due to poor recruitment strategies, or more likely that your employees are not happy in the workplace. It could be due to a toxic working environment, poor salary for the job, or a lack of progression and training opportunities. If you think you have a problem with a high turnover of staff in your company, use employee surveys like the ones offered by inpulse.com to get some useful feedback that will help you address the issue.

• Productivity

If you want to keep seeing results from your employees you need to keep them motivated at work. If your staff are dissatisfied with their jobs their productivity will decrease over time, and this usually happens before they seek employment elsewhere. Furthermore, if your employees do not feel respected and appreciated by you, then, in turn, they will not respect you as their manager or company leader. This could also contribute to a lack of productivity as they may not be willing to work hard for you.

• Reputation

Your professional reputation is important, whether you’re working in a managerial role or as a business owner. It’s not just about what your customers and clients think of you, either. Your employees can do a lot to create your reputation, and depending on how you treat them at work will determine whether you get a positive or negative one. You don’t want to be known for treating staff poorly, as you will lose respect from other professionals in the industry, and eventually, people will stop applying for positions with your company. 

• Office Morale

If your employees are unhappy, that negativity will begin to spread to others in the office. This could lead to disputes between colleagues and an HR nightmare. It’s important to keep the morale positive in the workplace, and treating your employees with respect and providing the necessary support for them is essential to achieving this. Consider how you can help encourage a better working environment by using reward schemes, treating them to catered lunches once a month, or some other fun things that can brighten up their working week.

You can’t run a company without a strong team of people helping you. Make sure you’re showing your appreciation and treating your employees with the respect they deserve, otherwise you might be facing difficult issues like the ones mentioned above.

No small business owner wants their business to stay small. Growth is something that every small business owner is pursuing – it just comes down to how. And if you talk to those who’ve scaled businesses from tiny startups to massive corporations, you’ll find that it’s all about making the proper investments as soon as possible.

5 Wise Investments for Business Owners

No matter what industry you’re in, how much cash you have in the bank, or what your goals are, here are some wise investments you can make to encourage growth and push your business to the next level.

• Yourself

Without sounding narcissistic, you are the most important investment for your business. Personal growth and development are the driving factors behind your success. And if you want your business to grow, you have to lead the charge. (This isn’t to say other people don’t matter, but there’s only one person you have total control over. And that’s you.)

You can invest in yourself by reading, taking classes and courses, finding mentors, networking, and taking risks. Keep track of what you’re learning and apply these lessons whenever and wherever you can. It might seem slow at first, but your commitment to learning will eventually yield fruit.  

• People

You are only one person. If you’re truly interested in scaling, you have to multiply yourself. You do this by hiring people. But not just anyone will do. You need the right people. Here are some characteristics to look for:

• Motivated
• Ethical
• Self-starter
• Trustworthy
• Team player

Technical competency obviously matters, too. But any sort of technical proficiency without these five characteristics will prove to be a futile investment. You need both. 

• Processes

When starting a small business, people typically just do what they have to do to get things done. Business owners wear multiple hats and embrace a variety of tasks – even ones they aren’t proficient at. And that’s fine, temporarily, but it’s not a good long-term option.

“I recommend investing time and money wisely to document important areas such as business development, payroll, accounting, onboarding, employee retention, firm policies (such as expenses, paid time off and grievances) and quality control for your service and products, to name a few,” entrepreneur and business owner Mike Ford writes. “By making an investment in your business early on to develop and document your processes, you also have the opportunity to reduce stress and anxiety within your team.”

Processes also make your business more attractive from an acquisition perspective. If you’re ever going to sell your business, you need processes that will work even after you’re gone. Once you get to a point where your business can function without you, it’s technically able to be sold. 

• Visibility

You’ll never regret any investments you make in branding and visibility for your business. Whether it’s marketing, advertising, content, or SEO, these investments extend your reach and help establish credibility with your target audience.

If you really want to get serious about visibility, an investment in link building is worth every penny. According to Link.Build, “Links are one of the stronger signals in search engine algorithms.” Over time, your commitment to backlinks will enhance your search rankings and boost traffic.

• Security/Risk Reduction

As your business grows, make more and more investments in security and risk reduction strategies. Anything you can do to protect the downside is going to keep your business safe and provide peace of mind. Good options include:

• Cyber security solutions
• General liability insurance
• Proper business entity 
• Trademarks and IP

You’re never too small to begin thinking about these factors. The sooner you get ahead of these potential issues, the better off you’ll be. 

Grow With Confidence

Luck certainly plays a role in the growth of some brands. Something fluky like a feature story on the national news or a viral video on social media can take you from unknown to household name overnight. But instances like these are few and far between. If you want to grow, you need a long-term plan. And while this article is certainly not a comprehensive resource for scaling your small business, it has some valuable tidbits and techniques that you can run with. By investing in them, you can lay the proper foundation – one that will hold steady when the growth spurts hit.