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How To Make Money On Snapchat (2024 Guide)

Don't Work Another Day is reader-supported. We may receive compensation from the products and services mentioned in this story, but the opinions are the author's own.
  By Forrest McCall | Last Updated:  December 20, 2021

Making money online is getting to be a more and more popular way to earn an income. It's both easier and harder than ever to turn social media into a regular income.

The problem is figuring out your niche and how to start making money.

That's why so many people are wondering how to make money on Snapchat. The app is one of the most engaging social media platforms but doesn't have an obvious monetization option like some platforms.

The truth is that anyone can make money on Snapchat once you know-how. Snapchat users can learn to turn their regular social media time into profits pretty easily, but it's more complicated than just making an account and getting Snapchat followers.

In this post, I'll explore how to make money on Snapchat, how Snapchat compares to other social media sites, and give you some tips to learn to make more money on Snapchat.

Ready to turn Snapchat into a money-making machine? Let's get started!

How to Make Money on Snapchat

What Is Snapchat

Before you can learn how to make money on Snapchat, you need to know what Snapchat is. Chances are if you're reading this article, you're already at least a little familiar with the platform, but let's go over it real quick just in case.

Snapchat is a social media site that runs on photos, or snaps, much more than text. For the most part, people communicate with pictures, post pictures, and interact with each other's pictures. Think of it as the picture equivalent of a platform like Twitter. Interactions are designed to be short, sweet, and to the point.

Snapchat has over 500 million monthly users making it one of the most popular social media channels available.

Snapchat has a few advantages, though. For one thing, they have a lot of photo filters and editing tools that help users create more interesting pictures.

They also use things like snap streaks to encourage users to stay on the platform and to stay engaged in order to unlock special emojis and other perks.

Snapchat users can choose between directly messaging other users, or posting pictures, a video clip, or other kinds of content to their Snapchat story.

There's another big difference between Snapchat and other social media message boards, though. Snapchat time limits a lot of the content. Even messages can disappear after the other person has seen your snap, and posts on Snapchat stories disappear after 24 hours.

That time difference is huge because it means users have even more incentive to use the platform and to check it at least once a day. That means that if you can build an audience or get your snaps in the Snapchat spotlight, you'll automatically have a highly motivated and engaged audience.

The platform just demands engagement, which is a huge plus for content creators.

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Get Paid from Snapchat

Can You Get Paid From Snapchat?

Learning how to make money on Snapchat is the biggest barrier to getting paid. Since Snapchat doesn't have a direct monetization model, you'll need to think outside the box a little if you want to make money on the Snapchat app and computer platform. 

You can easily make an extra $1,000 a month or more by using Snapchat – making it a great side hustle for many teens and kids.

Snapchat isn't like TikTok, where users in qualifying regions can create engaging content and earn money from views. It's also not like YouTube or Twitch in that you can't monetize Snapchat based on marketing viewership or time spent watching your videos.

Yet, despite those barriers, influential users still manage to make significant money on Snapchat. Many of those users turn into local celebrities and make money on other platforms as well.

Monetizing social media often involves creating a network of profitable accounts that all create content that's interesting and fun for their audience. 

So why learn how to make money on Snapchat instead of some of those other platforms? The truth is that you should probably be thinking in terms of multiple platforms and social networks instead of just one.

Most users are on several social media platforms, and if you want to earn money from Snapchat content, you'll want to take advantage of that cross-platform engagement.

Making money on Snapchat also depends on being able to promote a money-making thing or service. You can be an affiliate marketer and get paid when your audience goes to an online store and makes a purchase. Or you can use Snapchat to promote your small businesses or to sell your own products.

You can even sell your snaps and make snap ads once your Snapchat account is influential enough.

Usually, sponsored content is the easiest and fastest way to start making money on Snapchat and other social networks. 

Check out this guide to making money online for beginners for more info!

How Does Snapchat Money Making Compare To Other Social Media?

If you're choosing to make money on Snapchat, you should probably know how Snapchat compares with other social media platforms.

The first thing you should be prepared for is that making money on Snapchat is more of a hustle than making money on a direct monetization platform like YouTube. You'll need other connections and multiple revenue streams if you want to make money on Snapchat.

But, making money on Snapchat can be a little more straightforward than making money on platforms like Facebook. Snapchat spotlight and other tools are a great way to get attention to your work without having to pay for exposure, which makes a big difference.

A lot of other social media platforms are harder to monetize without an initial investment from you. So earning money from your Snapchat account might involve more moving parts, but it can also be one of the most affordable ways to start profiting from your online platform.

Best Ways to Make Money with Snapchat

How To Turn Snapchat Into A Money-Making Opportunity

Like any social media site, you need to have a plan if you want to start earning money. Sponsored content is one of the best ways to start earning money online, but you'll need to build a valuable account before you'll start getting those sponsorships and ad deals.

Here's what you need to know to learn how to make money on Snapchat.

How Do You Earn On Snapchat

The first thing to know is that most Snapchat celebrities don't make money directly from Snapchat. They promote products with an affiliate link, work with private companies to promote them and make personal contacts that can help them expand their money-making potential.

You'll start with learning to create engaging posts, create videos, and take advantage of Snapchat features to attract new followers. Accounts with many followers can attract sponsorship deals from companies with a similar target audience, but it will probably be a while before you get there.

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How Many Views Do You Need To Get Paid On Snapchat

Don't worry; you don't need to churn out viral videos every other day to be successful on Snapchat. It's great if you can use a Snapchat lens to make viral content, but you can start earning money without that kind of viral success.

Most business owners are looking for influencers that can present their products in a fun way and win spotlight snaps for their products, but they aren't necessarily looking to pay premium prices.

That means that when businesses are looking for a new account to sponsor, they might consider you even if you only get a few hundred views a week.

Big brands are going to be looking for popular videos and users who consistently create the best video snaps and get consistent spotlight features, but not all businesses are.

Remember that getting a Snapchat influencer to make a Snapchat feature of their products is similar to making paid ads. They might want to promote a business page or a specific part of their product, but they're looking for a good fit and a good platform as much as viewership and reach.

How To Get Started Making Money On Snapchat

You should also be prepared that if you want to start earning money on Snapchat, you might need to make a new account. The best Snapchat offers and sponsorships usually come to dedicated accounts that have a large friends list and a bigger than average following.

Your friends and family are a good starting resource if you want to earn on Snapchat, but you'll likely want to have a combination of personal and public accounts unless your family doesn't mind seeing your affiliate posts.

You Need A Public Profile

Having a public profile makes it a lot easier to get a spotlight feature, attract new followers, and start to promote in a profitable way. A public profile also makes it easier for businesses, and your target audience, to find you.

Making a more public account can be done by posting your Snap code, sending people your snap code, and posting your unique code to other social media sites.

Build Your Audience

When it's time to start building your audience, Snapchat is similar to other apps. You'll want to appeal to your target audience by creating engaging content, including vertical videos, custom filters, and taking advantage of each new feature that comes out.

Fun filters, branded lenses, and other creative tools are a great way to turn ordinary posts into engaging, unique content.

Use Affiliate And Marketing Programs To Make Money

Once you have an audience, you should already have some affiliate programs in mind to start earning. The Amazon affiliate program is one of the easiest and most effective, but there are plenty of other affiliate programs you can join when you want to start profiting online.

Your main job, as an influencer, is to promote products responsibly. Your content and media platform are the vehicles you use to do that. Thinking about the businesses that fit your brand story and aesthetic is a huge part of learning to make money online.

Learn more about affiliate marketing below!

Tips To Build Your Audience On Snapchat

If you want to make your social media profitable, you need to know how to build an audience. Like any social media site, Snapchat needs a unique approach if you want to win new followers.

Here are a few tips to help you grow your following and learn how to make Snapchat work for you.

Be Genuine

It might seem counterintuitive to tell someone who wants to be a social media influencer that you should be genuine. After all, most social media accounts are highly curated and designed to create a specific perception – whether that perception is accurate or not.

But the truth is that most people can see through that, especially if you're trying to curate a personality that doesn't match your real-life self.

Curate your profile, sure, but be genuine doing it. Instead of creating a totally new character for social media, try highlighting certain facets of your personality. That way, people will feel like they're actually getting a chance to know you and will trust your product and brand recommendations more easily.

You can even be honest about curating your platform. After all, most people present a curated face online, so it won't surprise anyone to know that you're putting your best foot forward on your public profile too.

Related: Best Ways to Make $800 Fast

Take Advantage Of Free Content Tools

Succeeding on Snapchat depends on interesting and well-designed visual content, which can be overwhelming for a lot of users. For instance, the new spotlight feature can be intimidating if you don't know how to create high-quality images.

The good news is that you don't need to be a professional photographer, artist, or graphic designer to succeed on Snapchat. All you need is a reasonably good eye (which can be developed) and the willingness to spend time making interesting images.

Software like Canva, which can be used for free up to a certain amount, makes beautiful images and advertising easy. That combined with Snapchat's many unique filters and lenses, and sponsored lenses, mean that anyone can create interesting visual content.

Just make sure you're willing to play around a little and find out what works.

It's also important to remember that Snapchat's algorithm and features will both update occasionally. Keeping up with the updates is one of the most important things you can do to attract other members, win spotlight snaps, and maintain your follower count.

Promote Other Accounts You Enjoy

One thing many new influencers worry about is promoting other accounts. But promoting other accounts is actually one of the most powerful things you can do to attract followers.

Promoting other people helps in a few ways. For one thing, many influencers will follow other influencers, especially if they've done promotions for them in the past.

The people you promote might also return the favor and signal-boost your content to their followers as well.

Signal boosting can also win some of their followers over to your account, even if they don't return the favor. That's because most people are always on the lookout for new entertaining content, and if you promote an influencer they like, then there are pretty good odds they'll like your content as well.

Use Other Social Media Platforms To Boost Snapchat

Just because you're focused on learning how to make money on Snapchat doesn't mean you should ignore other social media. Using a wide range of different platforms can help boost your brand and help you earn more money online.

Snapchat and Instagram dovetail really nicely together, for instance. Monetization is similar on both platforms, both are heavily image-based, and both have a dedicated user base that loves visual communication.

But you should also be on platforms that are very different, like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, at least to promote your Snapchat work.

If you have a talent for making video clips or want to branch into different kinds of content, YouTube and TikTok are great options to further monetize your work. Plus, depending on where you are, video content often offers direct monetization, so you don't need to network with affiliates and sponsors to start making money.

Network With Content Creators In Your Niche

In addition to promoting other profiles, it's a good idea to build relationships with other content creators. Content creators are often the first people to know when there are new money-making opportunities or changes to the algorithm that affect what kind of content is most effective or most profitable.

A lot of content creators work together to sharpen skills, post collaborations, and find good sponsorships.

Basically, if you aren't networking with other Snapchat users, you're leaving a lot of information on the table. Plus, your followers might notice that you don't have any community ties and wonder why other creators aren't working with you.

Being an influencer means being in the public eye a lot, and it helps to have a support system that understands that and can help you navigate the pressure of making money online.

Make Your Snapcode Public To Snapchat Users

Making your Snapcode public, either by sending it to Snapchat users or by putting it in your Story or on other social media, is one of the best ways to help followers find you and learn more about your content.

This step isn't 100% required, and there are times you might not want your Snapcode publicly available. But keeping your Snapcode private will slow your account's growth and make it harder to make money online.

Post Frequently

This last tip is true of almost any social media site you're likely to use. Social media loves frequent posters. The more often you post, and the more often your posts are successful, the more attention you're likely to get from the algorithm.

On Snapchat, some people recommend posting a snap as often as 20 times a day. Fortunately, you probably don't need to post quite that often, but daily activity is a good idea.

It's also important to pay attention to viewership trends. Posting too little is a problem, but so is posting too much.

If you're trying to post 20 times a day, you might notice your viewership drop off some days. That may be because the algorithm thinks your posts are spam or that you're a bot account, and they're deemphasizing your snaps in distribution.

Posting frequently is about finding the sweet spot where you're getting content out there, and the algorithm wants to boost you to win more engagement, but not so often that people or Snapchat itself think you're spam.

As a rule of thumb, post as often as you can without sacrificing content quality. If that means you're only posting once a day, that's going to be the best posting schedule for you. If you can push out 20 high-quality, unique snaps a day, that might be the best posting schedule for you.

Submit Your Snaps To Snapchat Spotlight

Snapchat spotlight is one of the most powerful tools you have to get more eyes on your content. But you can't get your content into the Snapchat spotlight unless you submit it there.

Submitting to Snapchat spotlight is easy; it's just an option you select on the posting screen. However, you should probably limit your submissions to your best content since only the best content will get in.

It's a good idea to look at what snaps do well in Snapchat spotlight and which snaps fall flat. That way, you can design your snaps to succeed and know which snaps you should submit and which are better for private messages or your Story.

Don't Be Afraid To Be Unique

One thing that often gets lost in the conversation about social media and Snapchat is that it's okay to be different. A lot of people set out to have an account or a profile like X-other-influencer and feel like that example is a mold they have to fit into.

The truth is that you'll probably do better if you're willing to be unique in some way. Most people are looking for more content, but they're not necessarily looking for more of the same content. The success of shows like Cake Boss that break the mold of what we expect in a niche proves that different can be a big advantage.

Let your unique self shine online. Who you are, at least in the curated version you choose, is as big a draw as your niche.

Final Thoughts on How to Make Money on Snapchat

Learning how to make money on Snapchat is no simple task. There are many potential ways to monetize your account and earn passive income from your following.

By posting sponsored content and utilizing affiliate marketing, you're sure to make money in no time. By leveraging several social media networks, you can maximize your earnings and make more money.

Forrest is a personal finance, entrepreneurship, and investing expert dedicated to helping others obtain life long wealth. He has a Bachelor's degree in business and has been featured in many popular publications including Forbes, Business Insider, Bankrate, CNET Money, and many others. To learn more about Forrest, visit the About Us Page for more info.
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