Learning how to make money on TikTok can feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out. With endless advice, trends, and overnight success stories floating around, it’s tough to know what actually works - and what’s just hype.

Throughout my time in digital marketing, I’ve tested numerous TikTok strategies, including brand partnerships, affiliate linking, and product promotion. Some of these worked surprisingly well, while others flopped completely. But through trial and error, I began to see what really drives results and what’s just noise.

In this article, I’ll share what I learned from my own experience - what brought in revenue, what was a waste of time, and how you can skip the guesswork. 

At first, most of my clients didn’t see TikTok as a serious marketing channel.

They were skeptical - too new, too young, too unpredictable. But I knew the organic reach was unlike anything we’d seen in years, so I started experimenting with different strategies. 

When I first tried to monetize TikTok, I learned that not everything clicked. Repurposed ads that were doing wonders on Instagram or YouTube flopped completely on TikTok. Overly polished content came off as inauthentic, and CTAs felt forced. The biggest lesson I learned in the early days was that TikTok wasn’t just another content placement - it had a whole language of its own.

What eventually worked was a shift in our approach. We focused on native storytelling, trend-driven creativity, and organic creator collaborations. Once our campaigns were tailored to TikTok’s style and culture, engagement soared—and so did our conversions.

If you need a bit more inspiration for building a brand on TikTok, check out this case study about how beehiiv customer Moe Hayek from SeedPhrase Daily built their media empire after starting out on TikTok. This is a great success story that shows how advertising on TikTok and focusing on revenue can be a great stepping stone for building a big, successful brand.

Below are the core strategies I’ve seen work, with both passive and active income potential. 

This is the most direct monetization path for creators, and one that most people think of when they hear about making money on TikTok.

They can provide a highly lucrative revenue source for creators on TikTok, as well as a major opportunity for brands, too.

The key to getting sponsored posts right is to ensure the creator’s style remains intact. Forced product plugs just don’t convert.

I worked with a skincare brand that gave creators the freedom to share their own morning routine featuring a particular product. This felt personal, not pushy, and outperformed a more scripted campaign by 30%.

For brands, the takeaway is clear: partner with the right creators and give them room to make the content their own. For creators, it’s active income, but it can lead to repeat deals and long-term ambassadorship if executed well.

One strategy that actually worked for me was affiliate marketing as a passive income source -- but only if it was done with intention.

I’ve seen lots of creators using generic Amazon links that lead nowhere, while others craft entire mini-series around a product category - think ‘3 work-from-home tools I use daily’.

One of our clients in the lifestyle space earned significant revenue from a single video that linked to a $40 kitchen tool. This worked because it showed real use, not just a product promo. 

The key to affiliate linking is to build trust before ever dropping a link.

This strategy is where margins (and control) are highest.

Promoting your own products and services can lead to a high ROI, as you know your offering best and can explain why your followers should make a purchase.

Short videos that tease an answer to a problem tend to perform very well. Think about how you can word a compelling title, such as ‘How I doubled my client leads using this strategy…’, or ‘How I transformed my garden in three simple steps’, to draw people in and convince them that you have the answer to their problem.

The TikTok Creator Fund was TikTok’s first way of financially rewarding creators for generating content on the platform. For many creators, it was the first step towards monetization on this platform.

To be eligible for the fund, creators needed:

TikTok paid creators based on a combination of views, engagement, and authenticity. The fund was a nice bonus for creators consistently generating viral content; however, it yielded fairly small results, with average earnings of $0.02 - $0.04 per 1,000 views.

In 2024, TikTok launched the Creator Rewards Program, which replaced the TikTok Creator Fund. The aim was to evolve their previous monetization model and give creators higher revenue potential by rewarding them for content that was original and high in quality.

This offers much higher revenue potential, with average RPMs (Revenue per 1,000 views) of $0.40 - $1.00.

You can apply for the Creator Rewards Program here to start monetizing.

Monetizing on TikTok doesn’t happen overnight - it’s a compounding process.

What I’ve seen through my client campaigns and brand partnerships is that earnings tend to increase when strategy, consistency, and audience engagement work together.

Below are the key shifts that made a measurable difference to revenue growth.

One of the most immediate ways to increase results, especially on TikTok, is to simply show up more often.

For clients posting once or twice a week, growth was slow. But when we moved to daily or near-daily posts, performance spiked across the board: more views, more followers, and more monetization opportunities.

Consistency trains the algorithm, but it also helps audiences trust and remember your brand. One of our clients in the beauty space saw affiliate revenue double by moving from 3 - 6 videos a week.

The takeaway? Volume matters, but only if the content remains valuable.

General content might get views, but niche content is the real conversion driver.

We saw this repeatedly: the more we focused on the content (whether it was digital marketing for small businesses or skincare for acne-prone skin), the easier it became to attract the right audience and monetize them.

Brands and creators who leaned into one clear message built more authority, attracted better sponsorships, and saw stronger affiliate performance. Monetization becomes more about fit and less about reach.

Here’s what surprised me about making money on TikTok. I quickly learned that engagement isn’t just for vanity - it drives algorithm visibility, builds trust, and leads to more revenue.

Replying to comments with videos, asking questions in the captions, and creating content around FAQs from followers helped creators I worked with deepen loyalty and boost sales.

One brand that does this super well is skincare experts CeraVe. I always see them responding to comments on their videos, particularly questions about skin concerns, with short, polite responses answering comments and questions.

These responses help build trust, making the brand feel more accessible and responsive.

The more engaged your audience feels, the more likely they are to click, buy, or recommend. 

Why Listen to Me? I have been working in the digital marketing space for nearly 10 years, predominantly helping brands with their email marketing and online presence. I now specialize in creating great content for beehiiv to help people nail their email strategies!

Growing revenue on TikTok is part strategy, part data. Whether I’m helping a creator or a brand, I rely on a set of tools that give me clarity on what’s working and where to optimize.

This is the starting point for tracking revenue. TikTok’s Analytics gives a solid overview of follower growth, video performance, audience demographics, and traffic sources.

You can track watch time, view spikes, and conversion behavior, especially after a CTA post.

For creators in the Creator Rewards Program, the new dashboard is much more detailed than the old Creator Fund. It shows RPM (Revenue per 1,000 views), qualified views, and performance bonuses. 

This helps benchmark which content types are the actual drivers of new revenue.

I use Bitly and Later’s Link.bio to monitor click-through rates from affiliate links or product promos. For eCommerce clients, tools like Shopify or WooCommerce also offer TikTok channel-specific reporting.

Platforms like Impact, LTK (LikeToKnowIt), and Rakuten help track affiliate sales across campaigns. They’re especially useful for creators and brands running multiple influencer partnerships.

For content creators, CapCut and InShot are my go-to apps. 

They allow TikTok-friendly edits that still feel native - I also use AnswerThePublic and TikTok Creative Center to discover trending questions and content ideas based on real-time search behavior.

When I first started helping brands monetize on TikTok, I underestimated how different it is from other platforms.

I assumed views would naturally translate into revenue, but viral reach doesn’t always equal sales. Some of the highest-performing content from a revenue perspective had modest views, but clear intent and a strong CTA.

One major misconception? Thinking that quantity alone would win. Posting consistently matters, but without a focused niche and a clear monetization path - affiliate links, services, or offers - it’s easy to burn out creating content that goes nowhere.

I also wish I’d leaned into audience feedback earlier. Some of the best-performing content came directly from answering comments or solving simple problems I didn’t realize were important. If I could go back, I’d pay closer attention to the questions followers were asking and let those guide the content strategy.

After working with different brands and testing what drives revenue, here’s what I’d tell anyone starting now:

Most importantly, let your audience guide your strategy and lean into the content that creates conversions. Good luck! 

You can get paid from TikTok through the Creator Rewards Program, brand sponsorship, affiliate marketing, and promoting products/services. Payments will vary based on views, engagement, and your monetization method.

There’s no fixed number, but to join the Creator Rewards Program, you need a minimum of 100,000 video views in the last 30 days. Brand deals and affiliate income can start with fewer views if your content targets the right niche.

Yes. TikTok’s Creator Rewards Program is available in the UK, along with opportunities for affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, live gifting, and promoting your own business or services.

No, TikTok doesn’t pay users to watch videos. Some third-party apps claim to offer rewards for watching content, but they’re not affiliated with TikTok and are often unreliable.