Social media has grown hugely since its inception, and it continues to expand in 2020. As it grows, it opens up a whole range of ways for users to turn it to profit and make money from the myriad social platforms available today.

There are plenty of ways to make money through social, but here are just three that you should know in 2020.

Create competitions that are irresistible to audiences

There are countless businesses and individuals that use social media competitions to both grow their audience and make money too.

Contests and competitions are a powerful draw to individuals. Take the National Lottery, for instance. This is essentially one big competition, with millions of people paying a few quid every week in a bid to become a millionaire.

Players are under no illusion about their chances – the odds of winning are 1 in 45,057,474 – but they still play weekly or even twice-weekly for a chance to be in it to win it.

As these stats on the National Lottery show, people are more than happy to spend an accumulatively high amount on the chance to win big.

The same principle applies to your competition on social. If you already have a solid social media following, perfect – if not, contests can be used to grow your audience by requiring your followers to tag their friends to be in with a chance to win.

Start off small with your prizes – whatever your budget can afford. As your audience grows, you can offer bigger and better prizes. Alternatively, you could work with a brand and offer one of their products as a prize in return for drawing traffic to their online store and/or social accounts.

Your desired conversion will vary – it could be compelling your audience to sign up to a mailing list, or it might be to visit an affiliate review page. But with a little creativity, you can turn a small contest here and there into a solid monetization scheme.

Earn as an influencer with sponsored content

Influencers are renowned for their high earning power, a power facilitated by social media. Indeed, it might be one of the most profitable ways to earn money from social – if you have a big enough social following, that is. Even if this isn’t the case, you could easily get followers on Instagram or any other social media platform.

The British reality TV series Love Island is a prime example of this. The show has proved a smash hit, both in the UK and abroad. Following twelve contestants as they try to find love on the sun-drenched island, the show has catapulted its stars to fame.

After their stint on the show, many Islanders find enormous success as an Instagram influencer, earning big bucks for sponsored content. Indeed, estimates reveal that the potential earnings of each Love Islander could take home a potential $15K per post – no small sum.

With a solid and interesting content strategy, a strong social following of individuals who engage with your content, and a consistent delivery schedule, you could turn social media to your profit as an influencer.

Sell products natively on social

Social media and ecommerce go hand-in-hand. Social selling is a great way to earn money  – pushing products on a platform where billions of customers are active on a regular basis is a promising prospect.

In recent years, virtually every social platform has introduced some form of ecommerce feature to its offering. From Instagram’s Product Stickers for Stories to the Facebook Store, there’s plenty of ways to make money selling products on social.

The great thing about this is you don’t even necessarily need to maintain a separate online store to make money from selling products on social. It’s entirely possible to build a customer community and sell products using social alone, as many platforms offer native selling as standard.

Get paid to review products with affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a tried-and-testing method that is used by many to generate revenue.

The process is simple: you review certain products that are of interest to your social audience niche and end the review with a link to that product. For every customer who makes a purchase via that link, you earn a small percentage of the sale – simple.

Of course, like everything else on this list, you need a sizeable social following in order to make any real money from it. But you also need a solid connection with your niche – the more specific it is, the more money you will make from it as you have fewer competitors.

Find an affiliate program that suits your niche and connect with a few suppliers. Create engaging reviews that make your audience want to buy those products and soon you’ll create an affiliate marketing strategy that turns a tidy profit.

If you’ve got an entrepreneurial side and want to take advantage of social media for profit in 2020, the tips above should get you started. Take inspiration from the ideas above and create a successful social media side hustle today.