Social media is your most powerful platform, regardless of the industry you happen to operate in. If you want to make a lot of money in a short space of time, become a success on social media. You have 2.3 billion active social media users in the world, which means you have a huge audience to target.

This is a lucrative platform, and with the right social media marketing plan you can make money. You’re going to learn about some of the ways in which your company can generate dollars on social media.

Become an Affiliate

If you’ve ever heard of things like Amazon Associates you likely already know that affiliate marketing is big. It’s not a new concept. In fact, it’s one of the oldest concepts in the world, but the rise of social media has revolutionized it. There has never been a better time to get into the world of affiliate marketing.

Rather than spamming links and hoping for the best, look to generate reviews. Talk about a product on your blog and then promote your good review on social media. Send people to that product through the affiliate link and watch the dollars start to roll in.

Just make sure that you mention you are in the affiliate program because if you don’t you could be risking serious legal issues.

Create and Promote Information Products

Building up your reputation as an authority in your line of work is one of the biggest considerations for any business. Businesses with strong reputations for knowing their stuff tend to be able to claim more business, and it’s much easier to promote their products.

If you’ve already made it past this point, it’s time to use social media to take advantage of that good reputation. The easiest way to do this is through creating informational products and promoting them.

So what are information products?

These are eBooks, video courses, audio programs, and more. The perfect entrepreneur knows that is the ideal location for promoting products like this because everyone has a problem that needs to be solved.

Take Advantage of Strong Advertising Platforms

One of the main changes within the world of social media is the growth of the various advertising platforms. Advertising platforms like Facebook’s Power Editor have grown in prominence recently. They are more effective than ever before due to enhanced targeting options.

You can take advantage of these platforms to do anything. You don’t have to make money directly. For example, you could run an ad to your newsletter list, which will eventually allow you to make money indirectly.

But this requires going through a long learning process. You have to make time for social media marketing so you’re better able to go through split testing and studying. Most of your time will be taken up by running ads against each other.

Use Visuals

If you are selling visual products, take advantage of platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. Using them, you can make sure that you reach an audience that’s going to react to what is one of the most powerful types of content in the world. Images can be useful for boosting your brand.

That’s not to say visuals aren’t valuable on Facebook and Twitter, but you can put them to better use on Instagram and Pinterest. Plus, targeting multiple social media channels will allow you to hit multiple audiences, thus increasing your overall reach.

Move Into Coaching

One of the best social media marketing tactics is to position yourself as a teacher. Online teaching and consulting services are growing bigger than ever before. This is the ultimate way to show yourself as a brand that knows its stuff. With platforms like Udemy coaching, it’s never been easier to put together a course.

Once you have a course that you are confident in, promote it on social media. Offer to conduct sessions over Skype, as well. This is the type of work that can make you a lot of money just by sitting down and telling someone what you already know about a subject.

You can even combine this strategy with selling information products. Use these information products as free samples, before promoting your consulting services.

Conclusion

These are just some of the ways in which you can make money using social media. Ultimately, social media for businesses is about converting all that effort into cash. Without a strategy for monetization, whether directly or indirectly, you are doing nothing but spinning your wheels.

Article written by AJ Agrawal. AJ is the CEO and Co-Founder of Alumnify Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @ajalumnify.