In 2014, teenagers’ use of online marketplaces exploded.
The sites teens use most are TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube (owned by YouTube), and they’re not the only ones. According to HubSpot Blogs research, teenagers use these platforms more than any other online marketplace, averaging 2.78 hours per day.
If you’re a teen who’s looking to make money online, you’ll need to develop strategies for selling your products in these platforms. Although these tasks can be challenging, you can overcome them with a little planning and research. The following are tips from experts on how to start making money online as a young person:
1. Consider Your Audience
TikTok, the most popular of the big three social media platforms (the others being Instagram and YouTube), is a place where users create and share short-form videos.
On TikTok, you can see a mix of content. Some of the videos will be entertaining and make you want to watch more, while others will be educational and might even make you think a little. In general, you can expect to see everything on this platform, whether you’re a teenager or adult: commercials, games, music videos, funny clips, political debates, and more. The most popular videos will often appear at the top of your feed, so keep your eyes open for videos from brands and businesses you already know and trust. This is a huge timesaver when you’re developing content for your own personal or commercial use.
The people on TikTok can be very welcoming. The community is highly focused on providing quality content to its users, and often times, creators will collaborate with brands or other creators to gain more followers. This is good for businesses or individuals interested in making money online through content marketing. It also means that if you’re trying to build a brand for yourself, you’ll have to choose your battles carefully. This is an important aspect of being a successful entrepreneur online.
2. Start Small
If you’re looking to make money online as a teenager, it might be tempting to try and replicate the massive success of TikTok or YouTube by creating your own version of the popular videos you love. While it’s certainly tempting to jump in and create your own version of the viral craze of the moment, you should resist this urge. Although it’s tempting to think you can create the next TikTok overnight, you should remember that the platform is a labor of love for its creators. Once you realize this, you’ll likely choose to be more patient and build your audience slowly.
It’s also important to consider your technical know-how. Are you capable of designing and building websites or mobile applications? Can you use Google Sheets to manage your online store? These are all questions you’ll need to answer before you can even begin to think about creating a monetized website or app. Even if you can get people to visit your site or app, if you can’t maintain it or make it profitable you’ll have wasted your time. This is why it’s best to start small, building a small audience on Pinterest or Instagram, for example, and then expanding from there.
3. Measure & Review Your Marketing Efforts
Although the internet makes it easy for anyone to start a business or product, not everyone will be able to make money from it. You need to remember that marketing your product on the internet is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. This is why you need to put in the time and energy to research and measure the effectiveness of your campaigns before you start making any substantial changes. With this information in hand, you can make the right decision about continuing your marketing efforts or switching to a different tactic. This is crucial if you want to be able to successfully navigate the often-challenging world of internet entrepreneurship.
4. Plan Your Schemes Ahead Of Time
The best way to succeed as an entrepreneur is by being smart about your schemes. When you set up automated payment systems on platforms like Shopify or Stripe, you don’t have to worry about remembering to make a purchase. This is especially convenient if your daily schedule is already hectic. Setting up automated payments allows you to move forward without thinking about your finances too much. At the end of the day, you’ll know you’ve made money because all of the sudden money appears in your bank account. This can help you avoid unpleasant surprises later on when you’re trying to keep your credit afloat. It also keeps you from being overextended financially because you have to remember to make multiple purchases throughout the day. This is why it’s important to plan your schemes ahead of time.
For example, let’s say you want to start a business selling hats. You create a hat store on Shopify and begin promoting it on social media. You choose a design for your hats and get to work creating them. However, when you try to sell them, the website isn’t functional.
You could spend hours upon hours trying to get the site to work, only to find out it won’t when you test it. This type of problem will arise frequently when you’re doing tech support for someone else’s site. If you can’t figure out what’s wrong with the site, you’ll have to resort to calling the webmaster to ask them for help. For whatever reason, the site is still not working after they’ve looked at it and told you it was functioning properly. This can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you’re trying to sell a lot of hats in a short amount of time. This is why it’s important to plan your schemes.
5. Identify Key Performance Indicators
As with any other business, you’ll need to set some key performance indicators (KPIs) to keep track of your progress. On the internet, a lot of small businesses choose to track the number of sales or amount of activity on social media. However, you can set these KPIs yourself and choose what’s most suitable for your business. The most important thing to keep in mind about KPIs is that they’re just that – key performance indicators. This means that they can and will change based on what’s going on at the time. For example, if you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of sales, it’s likely that your KPIs will be based on that. As you get more experienced, you’ll need to adjust your KPIs to keep up with the changing needs of your business.
6. Track Your Earnings & Growth
One of the most important things for any business owner is being able to track their earnings and growth. If you can’t show that you’re making money, you’ll have a hard time justifying your existence. Fortunately, this can be easily done on the internet with a few different platforms. You can use sites like Shopify and Stripe to create online stores, and then use tools like Google Sheets to keep track of your sales.
It’s important to note here that not all online stores will make you money. There are a few key things you’ll need to keep in mind. First, you’ll need to register with the site that you plan to sell your products on, whether it’s a physical store or online marketplace. Second, make sure that you create a product that people want and can easily find. If you’re offering unique products that shoppers can’t find anywhere else, you might have a chance at making some money. If you’re just another faceless creator on TikTok, you’re probably not going to do too well.
7. Find Ways To Scale Your Business
If you plan on taking your business seriously and want to make money online, you’ll need to find ways to scale it. One of the simplest and most effective ways to do this is to utilize affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you simply need to promote products that people are already interested in buying. You don’t need to force them to do anything – they actually have to want what you’re selling to be interested in purchasing it. This is why you want to focus on creating quality content on platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, where users are already showing an interest in what you have to offer.
8. Learn From The Pros
One of the most critical things you can do if you want to make money online is to learn from the pros. There are countless ways to make money online, but unless you’ve got the skills to do it yourself, you won’t know which one to go for. You can learn from the experts at https://www.teensecrets.com, for example, which shows you exactly what to do and how to do it. If you want to learn more about starting an online business, this is a great place to do it.