How much do I earn from social media?

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(Edited)

I've been a wannabe blogger for over four years. Starting from Wordpress, and Facebook, then three and a half years on Hive and whatever it used to be called before that. So how much does one earn from social media? And is it actually worth the effort?
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WORDPRESS

A couple years ago, I decided to see if I could monetise my Wordpress blog. I invested about £100 to buy the domain name https://livinguktaiwan.com/ for three years and set up whatever I had to do to monetise it.
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Setting up the website for monetisation is a mammoth task in its self. They really make you work for it. It was so complicated, you practically need a PhD. If you ask me to do it all over again, I would have no idea where to start. And if you think building a following on Hive is difficult, you really should try Wordpress. I'd say it's hundred times more difficult. Just imagine you are one of million and millions of bloggers out there fighting for attention, whereas on Hive there's only something like 3000 active authors a day.

To cut a long story short, I started to get some followers and ad revenue, but to be honest it's not really worth the paper it's written on. Scroll down and you'll see how much I get...... and keep scrolling till you see what period that covers.
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Yup, that's £3.58 over the lifetime, over the 2 years I've set it up. That's a 3.5% return on the £100 I spent on the domain. Actually, I doubt I will ever see this money because there's a minimum threshold before payout. I don't know what that is, but I doubt I will be meeting that soon.

To be fair, I hardly spend any time on Wordpress, so I really can't expect anything in return. Money doesn't just flow in unless you're a top KOL. I'm actually surprised I still get some views each day, I think they're from the few 'friends' I've made over the years. In a way, they're the only reason I still keep my blog running. With the amount of time and effort I spend on Wordpress, it's no wonder I only have 264 followers.
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FACEBOOK

Next is Facebook, to many, the evilest of them all.
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This was my first 'branded' social media account https://www.facebook.com/LivingUKTaiwan set up after I moved to Taiwan to share my new life with friends and families. At the very beginning, Facebook gave me some free credit to do promotions, might have been something like USD10. I set my target audience to the whole of Asia, big big mistake! Within an hour I got 200 new followers - all from Aceh, Indonesia. After the first blunder, and having earned some rewards from SteemHive I decided to invest USD5 to do another promotion. I wasn't really after followers, I just wanted to see how things worked. This time I targetted Taiwan and Hong Kong only and gained a few tens of followers.

My earnings from Facebook? Yeah, you've guessed correctly - zero. Does ANYBODY make money off Facebook at all?

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INSTAGRAM

Next is Instagram, part of the Facebook family https://www.instagram.com/livinguktaiwan/
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This should actually be the easiest to maintain as it's just uploading images. I always forget about it and I don't know why I didn't cross post my daily lockdown life from Facebook recently. It would have been the perfect opportunity to drum up some traffic. There's a thought, perhaps I can start now....

Instagrammers can earn by promoting products for company, not sure how big a followers you need, but I don't think 40 will make the cut. Again, no effort no rewards, particularly I haven't invested a single penny here. I guess I can call that breakeven?

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YOUTUBE

And finally YouTube, I've been spending most of my time here in recent months https://www.youtube.com/c/LivingUKTaiwan.
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My YouTube channel started about two and a half years ago when Dlive and Dtube were around. There were practically no viewings, unless you count single digits as viewings. The exception was one that had 1000 viewings about an Ama, a 69 year old lady from Japan who free dives. Not blowing my own trumpet, but this video is definitly worth watching particularly as the number of Amas in the world are dwindling. I sent this video to the tour company maybe that's why it has so many viewings. Apart from no viewings in general, I also had no subscribers on YouTube, well less than 20 I think.

Four months ago I decided to work on my YouTube channel as there was a hot topic that I know I could capitalise on. I started to make a lot of informative videos, targeted at a specific audience. There were many YouTubers making similar content, many of them went viral, of course, that didn't include me. I comfort myself by saying for every one of those that went viral, there are hundreds like me who are swimming at the bottom of the sea.

The target was to reach two magic numbers, 1000 subscribers and 4000 viewing hours within a year. It took me less than three months to reach my 1000th subscriber, and another month to get 4000 viewing hours. That was about 10 days ago. Reaching these targets were crucial as it meant you can start to monetise your YouTube channel. Yah!!!!

Let me backtrack a little about my investment on YouTube first. A lot of people just use their mobile phone to make videos, it seems to work well. I got myself a Go Pro 5 2 years ago (the same one that the Ama took underwater with her in the recommended video). From memory that was around £300. Recently I bought an external mic to improve the sound quality, that was about £20. Total investment is £320.

And now for the YouTube earnings. Four months ago, I used to ask people how much do you earn for each video? No one could ever tell me a precise answer. It was like this secret answer no one wanted to give you, you have to be in the club to know. This is the first response I get when I google the question.
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Lots of figures here, what does it all mean? Ignoring the mumble jumble, and just focus on the last sentence a YouTuber can make about $5 for every 1,000 video views, that sounds pretty simple right? I thought so too, and I've been monitoring my YouTube earnings in the past 10 days. The first row below is for my latest video that's been up for three days, I'm earning £5.04 / USD6.73 with 610 views! Sounds great, I'm actually doing better than the top talent! How is that possible?
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Of course it's not, because this is only one video. If you look at the next row down, I'm earning £0.99 with 782 views. A massive difference between the two. So what's going on? TL:DR the amount you earn for each video differs depending on the type of adverts place on your video and revenue your video generates. The RPM figure is the amount I would get per 1000 view for my video and my RPM ranges from £9.77 to £0.01. The average for my channel is £0.89.

So how much have I earned in the past 10 days from YouTube? £11.04. 45% of that is from one single video which is my latest one. My two videos prior to that only made less than £1 each, so I don't know if things are improving or if that latest one was a fluke. Either way I'm very pleased with this as I had no expectation at all.
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My £320 investment is pretty much a sunk cost and I also got some rewards from Dlive and Dtube previously. It might even have paid back already. Now all that remains to be seen is how my YouTube earnings go. I'll do another update in a few months time.

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44 comments
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And here we have a low price but I think you do well and hope you are also here because you like it.

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oh yes!!! Nothing beats the community here, low or high prices makes little difference to me!

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I too wasted some ££ on Facebook advertising once. I got zero back. Reading this, I would stick about here!

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Definitely, not going anywhere.

I think ads are such a turn off sometimes, I mean how often does one really click through? Double edge sword really, I want people to watch them on my channels, but I don't like watching them 🙃

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WordPress has cost me dearly - looking at several hundreds of £ just to have a blog and a shop that I'll be shutting in the next day or so as it's cost money... a lot! Maybe had a sale or two in the last 2 years so canning that and not really sure there's any point in having the website if I just use PeakD as my blog site now! Facebook and Twitter hasn't paid me a dime and cost me a few tens for "boosting a post"... wish I hadn't and YouTube I never really looked in to properly but have about 100 subscribers I think.

So my earnings have pretty much all been in cryptocurrency and I see that as a long term thing anyway as the dynamic is different.

Like you said, having a smaller userbase to try and make a name for yourself in might be a bit more feasible than trying to get somewhere with YouTube or the sites with multi-millions of users. Glad you're getting somewhere with YouTube at least.

Thanks for sharing your experience with it all!

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And I thought £100 was a lot !!! Were you selling your music? Sorry to hear that it didn't take off.

Crypto certainly seems to work out a lot better for the masses, especially if you invest and trade wisely. Even if you don't, like me, if one works hard enough and produce quality content, there is a pretty good chance of getting decent rewards. Whereas in traditional social media, there's really very little you can do to make yourself stand out and go viral.

Will be interesting to see how far I can go with YouTube...

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I had my store up for about 3 years but I think the time is right to take it down and just focus on other things. The way it goes - I'm just going to keep on enjoying what I'm doing with music!

Yeah definitely agree with you about crypto and the more experience you have in the field, the more you learn about money which is something we really don't get taught a lot about growing up - so you can earn crypto without buying it first before you dip your toes in by buying it!

Will keep my fingers crossed with your YouTube adventures!

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Holy heaven! 🤦 I'm shocked! Literally!

I set up a blogger account 11 years ago, and a few blogs of different topics, among which there was one that I updated every now and then with new content. My total earnings so far, around €2800 and the majority if not all was done in the first few years. And all this without investing a dime! All the domains were blogspot com. Free.
It's been years since I've done anything with them and I still earn around €3 per month.

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Wow that's great!!!! That's a passive 3 euro every month! Where does that come from ? Ads?

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Yes, ads placed on my blogs. The problem is you can get banned very easily without telling you why and kicked out for good.
Anyway, I'm satisfied with what I got and when I see stories like yours, can really appreciate what I got.

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Interesting to see a breakdown from someone and the different avenues they were active on and invested in.

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Not sure about active.... Facebook is because most my friends and family are on it, and YouTube is more like a personal challenge, to see how far I can take it

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Lucky for us there is crypto earning blog.
It's still hard work to think something to write but there's so many photo contest going around to try your luck on too.

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Yes, let's hope it stays that way, I heard some were suggesting to do away with rewards all together 😟

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Just enjoy the ride for now. 😎

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Interesting post. Undoubtedly it is not easy at all to make money online unless you are the son of a famous person or a well-known super influencer.

I've been writing on a Blogger blog for 10 years, but it's a private blog, like a intimate diary. At the beginning of this pandemic I had thought about opening another Blogger account to monetize it but I didn't understand how it was done. I kept investigating and I also found Wordpress but the truth is that I didn't have the money to buy a domain name. Until I finally found Hive and here I am 😅.

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Good move, coming onto Hive. Once you build up your network, and people know that you produce quality content, it is not too difficult. The key is not to put earnings first, then everything will fall in place.

You can get a free blog site from Wordpress that's what I started off with but I don't think you can monetise from that. And then you have to understand all the stuff about SEO to make sure your post will trending or ranks higer on the search enging. That is so complicated!!! But either way, it's a real tough world out there.

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wow you have tried everything! the good thing is that you gain so much knowledge and you know what they say: knowledge is power! very informative post, i always wanted to learn more how much you can earn via youtube and worpress!

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Now you know! It various for people, depending on how much work you put in and of course if you go viral. I saw some YouTubers starting around the same time and creating the same type of content as me and they get over 20k viewing per video!!! I was thinking why them and not me!!! But that's life I guess. I've learnt not to compare myself with others now, it's pointless. Just do it and enjoy myself.

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I really can't figure out how people manage to succeed with their youtube channels, to be honest. I tried all methods and spent days and nights to read all the experiences and still didn't manage to make my channel reach that 4,000 hours target. I used tags, I promoted my every single video on all social media, I posted every week in the same day, at the same hour for months, and I still didn't reach the right audience, nor making my channel get monetised. And I had this channel for over 10 years. It's a shame and a big disappoint for me because I never stopped struggling and things still not work in my favour, and that makes me feel like my channel is really cursed :/

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I think it's just so cut throat out there, particularly with travel. Some videos I've seen are done so professionally, almost like a TV documentary. Apparently tags don't play such a big part on YouTube, what matters is what you write in the description and what key words you use. I used to spam my videos in Facebook groups all the time and it does pull in quite a lot of views, but I'm doing less of that now as I find it really spammy, especially when more and more youtubers are doing that in the group.

In my case I'm really lucky to catch on a topic that is very very hit and I can create content with authority (for people from Hong Kong to emigrate and live in UK) and my background can add a lot of insight and creditability. Otherwise, I will never to able to pull this off.

So don't worry, your channel isn't cursed. The world out there is twisted!!!

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Wow, YouTube, as hard as it is seems infinitely better than the others. I also think it’s the best way to bring people to Hive which has better to me than all of those combined.

Basically Hive allows you to go out and find a following through connections at Hive, just interacting normally while all the traditional modes want you to go out and find a following some other way, turning yourself into a product so that you bring them to their network. I know which one I choose! But you got some following at YouTube. Might as well do both! Please mention Hive 😀 I’ll go check out your channel. I’m over there promoting hive in the comments (not being spammy!)

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Not sure if my YouTube followers will be interested in joining Hive tbh 😆 they barely watch my travel videos. They're only interested in a very niche topic and that's about life in UK.

The other thing, with traditional social media is that you have a lot more consumers than creators. That's the main reason why I think it's so difficult to onboard people.

Please feel free to pop over to say hi!!!

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why cantonese!??! i thought you were Taiwanese

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You are not alone, this boat is a crazy one to get through the channels.

From 2009 - 2014 my Wordpress.com blog was running great on Google, got into a great zone, for all the learning setting up and work, going the affiliate route to make naught is a major let down.

2015 onward I have taken to crypto sites that have been interesting, more rewarding and now sitting in position of making the decision to pull the blog and move totally across to blockchain. Will hold onto my annual subscription on the original .com name which I will find a way of utilizing further down the line.

Living in South Africa the movement of money to PayPal then down to our local bank cost an 'arm and a leg' in fees. Tested facebook right at the beginning and emphatically stated it was daylight robbery. Instagram I have a reasonable following but never invested into it much. Early years of blogging was a lot easier in affiliate marketing, problem was movement of funds.

With time anyone can build a following, it is monetizing where the problem has always been firmly placed on the doorstep living where I do. Hopefully this problem will be resolved using cryptocurrencies.

As for You Tube many locals over here with big following complain about the same problem, spend lots of time presenting never earning sufficient so I am sure this is partially regional, partially hidden agenda in promoting certain geographical areas only. Google and Facebook have offered "free" amounts over the years to spend which I have never accepted.

Thanks for such an honest review it helps in decision making at the end of the day, which route to use @livinguktaiwan

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One always get early mover advantages, afterall how many people go viral overnight. It's a bit like Hive, by the time the masses jump on board, everything gets much more difficult. And the platforms make things so complicated as well. You have no idea how their algorithm works and how you can use it to your advantage. It's like SEO, I think you need to PhD to work it all out!!!

I'm surprised it's so expensive to withdraw money from Paypal, but then I've never done it before, so maybe it applies globally, I don't know. Whenever I have funds in Paypal, like when I get a refund, I just spend it all again!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience as well Joan, it's been really interesting to read other peoples' stories.

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If you ask me youtube at top but if you have audience of developed country as they pay much for advertisement. So target audience living in European countries, UK, USA etc. Facebook also yes but they suddenly disable and delete pages. Instagram only good for branding products.

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At the moment, YouTube certainly seems a lot more lucrative than the other social media (except Hive of course). I never expected to earn anything off Facebook and Instagram, it's really there because they're mainstream 😉

It will be interesting to see how YouTube goes because it's only been 10 days. Perhaps next month I will report back and say I'm only earning 50cents a day, or maybe I've gone viral!!! 🤣

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Every youtube account needs 1 or 2 viral videos and you also get soon.

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You mean to say you make money doing social media!
( Hehehe.)

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Interesting i have always thought Facebook and Twitter are a waste of time but YouTube has always been in my mind to do something with and reading this article has inspired me more now. Thanks for the info it won't be easy but worth giving it a go nothing to lose 👍

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I've been thinking going the YouTube route for quite a while. The Khmer lanuage market is underserved, especially when it comes to non-native speakers doing Khmer videos. Neary Korea is probably #1, and she makes a good living from it. There are millions and millions of Cambodians around the world, so the audience base can land millions of viewers if done right.

Khmers just love to see a foreigner speaking Khmer, but definitely prefer a cute light skinned Korean lady to a ginger dude with a turban and beard, but I still think I could garner an audience.

Her Khmer is terrible too, but I think that's one of the reasons she's so successful.

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(Edited)

Hive certainly came to my rescue during lockdown!
As for Facebook ads, it grew our bnb audience but that really is just 'window dressing' as the number of likes grows, but since changing the geographic location of my target audience as a radius around our property, we surprisingly started getting more bookings from expats visiting family, or people coming for seminars etc etc close to our location. It was a total waste targeting people from the other side of the world! But that's really all FB is good for, Hive certainly is the best for earning something on the side in this new world of ours!

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