Snapchat used to be the place to try silly filters or send pictures you didn’t want to last more than ten seconds.
But now it’s so much more.
Snapchat has over 300 million active users each day. And instead of just a place to chat or go on “streaks,” it’s a place you can make some money.
Some users make thousands of dollars each month.
If you want a piece of the action, here’s how to make money on Snapchat.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat is a form of social media, but it works more like a messaging app. On it, you can add connections and send messages back and forth. You can also play games, try on filters, call your friends, and follow celebrities.
One of the biggest features that draw users to the app is that pictures and videos get deleted after their intended recipient views them.
Almost half of Snapchat users (48% source) are ages 15-25. Snapchat has consistently ranked the number one social media site for teenagers.
As far as gender goes, females use Snapchat slightly more than males, but not by much.
How to Make a Public Snapchat Account
Snapchat recently introduced public and creator profiles. Before public profiles, becoming an influencer or building a following was next to impossible unless you had hundreds of real-life friends to add.
Now, as long as you’re 18+, you can create a public Snapchat account that will allow fans to find you and give you the ability to separate friends from subscribers.
Here’s how to create a public Snapchat account:
- First, your regular Snapchat account must be at least 24 hours old
- From your standard account, tap your BitMoji to go to “my profile.”
- Scroll down to “public profile.”
- Click “create public profile” and follow the instructions
While you don’t necessarily have to have one of these public profiles to make money on Snapchat, going public is a great way to increase followers and potentially attract brands.
Public Snapchat accounts allow snapchatters to subscribe to your content and display your subscriber count.
How to Make Creator Account on Snapchat
Creator accounts are a step above public profiles.
These accounts help influencers better engage with their audience. They are not as easy to get as public profiles but are worth working toward if you’d like to make money on Snapchat.
Right now, Creator accounts are being rolled out to those 18+ in age who have public profiles and meet other criteria.
The criteria needed for a creator account include having a snap profile for more than a week, having at least 100 followers, and having one or more bi-directional friends.
With a creator account, you get a host of features, including:
- Subscription button
- Subscriber count
- Public stories
- Cand add website and email to profile
- Assign and manage roles
- And more…
Plus, as a creator, you’ll also be eligible to get paid from the creator’s fund if your story gets a lot of views.
How to Make Money on Snapchat
If you’ve built a following and are ready to start earning, here’s how to make money on Snapchat.
Become an Influencer and Work with Brands
One of the top ways to make money with Snapchat is by becoming an influencer and working with brands. Brands are willing to work with users who have followings that range from the hundreds to the thousands.
One key thing to remember is that since Snapchat is primarily a teenager’s social platform, most brands are looking to work with influencers in that 18 – 25-year-old range.
So, if you’re a 32-year-old dude, working with brands probably isn’t the best fit.
If you are in that young adult bracket with a bit of following, here’s how you can work with brands.
Reach out to companies – If you see the same company working with several influencers that have a similar-sized following as you, reach out to the brand. First, you’ll need to find the contact info for the public relations team, then send a quick email introducing yourself.
Alternatively, if you’re close to other influencers who’ve gotten brand deals, ask them to pass your info along.
I promise – if you want to work with a company, it is NEVER a bad idea to reach out to them. At the very worst, they’ll ignore your email. At best, you’ll get your first brand sponsorship.
Sign up with sponsorship marketplaces – Several companies connect brands with influencers, and signing up is a great way to find your first few sponsors.
Here are a couple of influencer marketplaces you can sign up with:
- Izea
- Snapchat Creator Marketplace (Must have a public profile and receive an invite to join.)
Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
If you’re not familiar, affiliate marketing is kind of like old-school sales, only wayyyyy better. Instead of knocking on doors, selling a product, and then getting a commission, you can do it all online.
You can be an affiliate for almost anything.
So, when you find a product you love and want to share, you need to sign up for an affiliate account. If that company approves your account, they’ll give you special links you can use to promote the product.
Then, when someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase, you get a percentage of that sale in the form of a commission.
The most popular program almost all beginners start with is Amazon. This is because Amazon sells everything under the sun and quickly accepts new affiliates.
The downside to working with Amazon is that their commission is painstakingly low. (Around 3%.)
Now, back to Snapchat.
Most social media platforms severely limit what you can do with affiliate marketing – Snapchat does not. You can place affiliate links in your stories, messages, and even individual chats. And you don’t need to hit a specific follower count to do it.
So if you want to make money with Snapchat and affiliate marketing, here’s what to do:
- Create a public profile
- Start creating content on a particular subject (makeup, clothes, interior design, college tips, etc.)
- Sign up for relevant affiliate marketing companies (top paying affiliate opportunities)
- Sprinkle in affiliate links when you’re mentioning a particular product, giving tips, etc.
It’s important not to spam your following with nothing but affiliate links. Your links should naturally go into the content you create, and the content should be helpful. Also, when you use an affiliate link, you need to disclose it per FTC guidelines.
If you can master that and build a large audience that trusts you, you can earn a ton of money.
Sell a Service or Product
If you sell a service or a product, you can follow a similar strategy for affiliate marketing. (You can even combine this with affiliate marketing.)
You’ll need an audience that follows you for a specific reason and a related product or service for this to work.
For example:
- You create fitness content and sell a 12-week meal plan
- You teach social media marketing and provide social media marketing services
- You’re a fashion influencer and create guides teaching people how to style themselves
This can work for absolutely any niche.
Once you’ve built your following and learned the kinds of content that does best with your audience, you can create a product or sell a service.
Depending on your audience size and the price of your product, you could potentially earn a full-time income from this one revenue stream.
Once you have some organic sales, you can try to increase them by utilizing Snapchat ads.
Submit to Snapchat Spotlight
Snapchat Spotlight is a new feature that competes with TikTok and Instagram reels. And just like with the TikTok creator fund, Snapchat is now paying up to $1 million per day to creators whose Snapchat Spotlights do well.
If you’ve never submitted a video to Spotlight before, doing so is easy. After you’ve created your video, hit the send button, and then submit it to Spotlight. From there, you’ll be able to add a topic.
Snapchat doesn’t accept all submissions. To check yours, go to your profile and then “Spotlight and Snap Map.” If they’ve accepted your video, it will say “live” underneath.
If your video goes viral, you can earn some money. But, according to the terms of service, only a tiny percentage of videos make anything. And, to earn, your video must have a value threshold of at least $250 in one day.
Some Reddit users are reporting earning $10k+ from a single video. So, if you’re good at creating virals, there is definitely potential with Snap Spotlight.
Create a Snapchat Premium
If you’ve heard of Snapchat premium, from my understanding, it’s not run through Snapchat. Instead, it’s the term used when creators charge money to access a Snapchat account.
While Snapchat Premium accounts are often used for sharing adult content, they don’t have to be. (And we’re not recommending it!)
You can create a Snapchat premium account to give coaching students access to you or as a way for your biggest fans to get unique content.
To create a Snapchat premium, start by creating a new private Snapchat account so that only people you add can see your content. (This should be separate from your main account.) You can then charge members a monthly or one-time fee to access the account.
You’ll need to collect money through a third-party app like Paypal, Venmo, or CashApp.
Conclusion
If you have a large following on Snapchat or are interested in building one, you can use this platform to make money.
Snapchat is pretty lax with the use of affiliate links, and they allow for self-promotion and brand partnerships – which all make earning money less stressful than with similar social sites.
Of course, the biggest downside to Snapchat is that the primary users are pretty young. So if your demographic is in the older range, you probably won’t be able to reach them. However, nothing is impossible so if you have found your tribe on Snapchat, give one of these money-making ideas a try.
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