How To Become A YouTube Influencer In 2023

Wondering how to become a YouTube influencer? If you have a YouTube channel and are ready to turn your YouTube account into cash, now is the time. Knowing how to monetize your YouTube channel in 2023 can be pretty easy. And there is no shortage of video viewers ready to consume your content.

Case in point — MrBeast is a YouTube influencer with over 22 million subscribers . . .

This is a successful YouTuber that does pretty wild challenges, or does the unthinkable, like the video above.

With a camera or smartphone, video editing software, and dedication to posting videos regularly, making money on your YouTube channel as a YouTube influencer has never been easier. Here are a few key YouTube analytics to peak your influencer interest:

• 5 billion videos watched per day
• 2 billion monthly users
• 30 million daily viewers
• 73 percent of adults in the U.S. watch videos
• 62 percent of businesses use it
• 44 percent of internet users watch YouTube

Yes, there is no shortage of audience when it comes to the second largest search engine in the world. And those users can be your subscribers, netting you a decent payout per month as an influencer.

But there are a few questions many YouTube content creators have. How do YouTubers get paid? How to get paid for YouTube videos? As well as the top question of them all — How do I earn money from my YouTube channel?

How Do I Start Making Money On YouTube Videos As An Influencer?

There is certainly money to be made, but getting your hands on that cash is a bit easier said than done. To start making money on YouTube videos as an influencer you need to meet a few YouTube influencer requirements.

First, you need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program. To get into this Program you need:

• Over 1k YouTube subscribers
• Have more than 4,000 hours watched in under a year
• Agree to YouTube’s terms and conditions
• Have a valid Google AdSense account
• Get approved by YouTube

Once approved, you can start making money as a YouTube influencer via ads. This is achieved via cost per thousand views (CPM) and/or cost per click (CPC). But don’t forget about Google’s cut of the profits. Google will only pay out 68 percent of a video’s revenue.

So if your video racks up $1,000 in ad money, you will only get $680. However, don’t only rely on YouTube ads to turn your influence into cash money.

Turn Your YouTube Influence Into Cold Hard Cash In Other Ways

Views on ads is only a small fraction of money made when it comes to YouTube influencer revenue. There are a few other ways that coincide with knowing how to make money on YouTube as an influencer that are definitely worth pursuing. Especially if you want to take your influence to the next level.

• Sponsored Posts: Getting paid to promote products and/or services via brands is one of the top money makers for YouTube influencers. You can potentially earn $500 to $10,000 by simply recommending a product and/or service to your loyal subscribers. You do need to have a strong engagement rate and a decent subscriber count.
• Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is another great way to make money on YouTube. And it is pretty easy. First, you need to be an approved affiliate on an affiliate marketing network like Rakuten or Commission Junction. Next, grab links and place them in your videos and in your video descriptions. When a subscriber clicks the link and makes a purchase, you earn a percentage of the profits.
• Push Your Own Brand: This is where most YouTube influencers end up making money on YouTube. After a few years, your subscriber count will grow, your engagement rate will be insane, and you will become your own brand. So why not leverage your brand by selling your brand merchandise?

Here’s an example of pushing your brand from men’s fitness and lifestyle influencer BroScienceLife . . .

DomMerch is this influencers brand merchandise. He has supplements, apparel, and more.

You can see he also has it in his descriptions . . .

This All Sounds Awesome! But How Do I Tap Into My YouTube Influence?

You are probably ready to tap into your YouTube influence and start making money — Like yesterday. The good news is that becoming a YouTube influencer is relatively simple as well. Here are some YouTube must-dos for influencer greatness:

• Get a niche and stick to it. This is an important influencer must-do, especially on YouTube. If you are going to post fitness videos, stay true to your niche, at least for a few years. Having a niche helps you stay consistent in your content and attract the brands you want for massive paid post promotions. This is a major part of how YouTubers get paid.
• Post as often as you can. Posting regularly can ensure you keep your subscribers entertained, loyal, and keep them from unsubscribing. Posting videos as often as you can also help you generate more subscribers, and earn money off of affiliate links and your brand merchandise.
• Engage with your subscribers. Engagement is a two-way street when it comes to YouTube influencer success. If you connect with your subscribers, they will become even more loyal. They will also be sure to share anything you reply to, since it is their 15 seconds of fame.

How To Make Money On YouTube And How Much You Can Make

Understanding how to make money on YouTube, and how much you can make simply depends on a few factors. In order to maximize your money-making potential, you need subscribers and take steps to monetize your YouTube channel.

This means monetizing via social media, ads, affiliate links from brands in your industry and/or niche, as well as sponsored posts. When it comes to monetizing via ads on a CPM, for example, you can turn your influence into $8 per every 1,000 views.

Here’s an example of monetizing via ads from lifestyle YouTube micro-influencer Sarah Tripp . . .

This influencer racked up 32,000 views for this video. That adds up to $32 of CPM money. Not a whole lot of ad payout. But this influencer also utilized affiliate links and sponsored links . . .

This is where successful YouTube channels make the most money. A sponsored link can be worth hundreds of dollars for YouTube influencers. And the same goes for affiliate links.

The example above highlights the nuts and bolts of how to make a profit on your YouTube channel. Let’s get into these money-making channels so you can turn your video influence into serious cash flow.

4 Proven Ways How To Make Money On YouTube In 2023

The following proven ways to get paid for your YouTube influence should be combined in order to maximize your monthly influencer revenue.

Do you need 100,000 subscribers to earn money using the below tactics? It wouldn’t hurt, but your YouTube account can easily make serious cash with as little as 10,000 subscribers. It all depends on how dedicated you are, and how engaged your subscribers are too.

Become An Affiliate Marketing Guru To Make Money On YouTube

Affiliate marketing is a powerful asset for influencers, whether you have a following on Instagram or loyal YouTube subscribers. If you are not familiar with affiliate marketing, it is definitely time to do a bit of research.

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to partner with top brands in your industry and/or niche in order to profit from your social media platform. Here’s how it works.

• Join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). In a nutshell, YPP lets YouTube content creators monetize their videos with ads, and helps you earn a profit.
• Sign up for an affiliate marketing platform. This is pretty easy. Visit Rakuten or Commission Junction and sign up to be an affiliate. Once approved, you can then request approval from brands like Foot Locker, Nike, Macy’s, and more.
• Grab links from your affiliate network dashboard. After approval from, say, Nike, you can then grab affiliate links via your affiliate dashboard. These links can be on specific shoes or apparel (in the case of Nike) with a percentage of sales dedicated to you. The links are unique to your affiliate network ID.
• Place the links in your YouTube videos and video descriptions. Once you have unique links from the affiliate network of your choice, you can place them in your videos and in the video description section for your subscribers to click on.
• Wait for the money to roll into your affiliate account. When a subscriber clicks on the affiliate link and buys a product or number of products, you get paid a percentage of the sale. These percentages can be as low as 3 percent. But if you multiply that by 20,000 subscribers, you can make a pretty good amount of ad revenue. All for doing nothing really.

Utilizing affiliate links in your videos can have serious profit potential. But this is not the only proven way to get paid for videos.

Start Monetizing On YouTube As An Amazon Influencer

This proven way how to earn money on YouTube is a diamond in the rough so to speak, simply because not so many YouTubers are using this money-making tactic. Amazon is undoubtedly the top ecommerce platform on the planet.

Naturally, teaming up with Amazon as an Amazon influencer makes sense to net more revenue.

How does the Amazon influencer program work? It is a pretty simple process really. Like affiliate marketing, you sign up and get approved, promote Amazon-listed products via your videos and unique URL, and then get paid.

Here’s an example of an Amazon influencer link in a YouTube video from micro-influencer Omar Eltakrori . . .

When you click through as a subscriber, this influencer’s unique product URL from Amazon will be present . . .

If I were a viewer that purchased this product, the influencer gets a cut of the sale. This can be anywhere from 8 percent to 10 percent commission.

Not just anyone can be an Amazon influencer. You will need to show a strong engagement rate and other metrics to get approved. For instance, a decent subscriber count. Micro-influencers are definitely welcome to sign up too.

Ask Your Loyal Subscribers For Donations

You might think this is a bit intrusive, but it really isn’t. As a YouTube influencer, you spend countless hours planning out only a few videos, shooting videos, editing those videos, and managing communication with your audience.

It is a ton of work, so why not ask those who love consuming your video content for a donation to keep that hard work flowing?

You can easily set up a PayPal donations link and kindly ask subscribers to give what they want. Try to influence audience members by giving shoutouts to those who donate to your channel and creative art form.

You might be surprised by how much monthly revenue comes from this how-to monetize on YouTube strategy.

Take Advantage of Other Social Media Channels

To become a successful influencer (and make more money), cross-promoting is critical.

Brainstorm content ideas and identify your target audience throughout all channels. This will give you a bigger audience and a massive following.

For more success, be sure your content calendar is on a consistent schedule.

You can also reach out to other social media influencers for a few tips on creating content compatible with different channels and start monetizing across other social media platforms.

Useful Resource: How to Unlock All Youtube Features

Partner With Scalefluence To Land Top Dollar Brand Sponsorships

Sponsored posts or sponsored mentions are the number one proven way to make a profit on YouTube as an influencer. Scalefluence is an influencer marketing platform with a robust brand and agency network. This means we have brands looking for YouTube influencers like you.

Our brand and agency partners cover nearly every industry and/or niche, from travel to fashion to informative videos. If you want to take your influence to the next level, getting paid for sponsored video content, we can help.

Here are a few influencer benefits when you partner with Scalefluence:

• Access to a large network of brands and marketing agencies ready to hire influencers
• The maximum payout for your influence, negotiating the best price per sponsored post
• Creative control over the content you produce, allowing you to keep your personal brand intact
• Like-minded influencer collaborations within our large network of influencers
• Quick payment model, ensuring you get paid for your creativity faster

Partnering with an influencer marketing platform can unlock the door to maximum earning potential as a YouTube influencer. Sign up today and start earning money for your YouTube talent.