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Social media has become a lucrative way for many people to earn money. Though apps like TikTok will pay creators for views and engagement, the most successful influencers have built their wealth from brand deals, making sponsored posts promoting products to their followers.
These brand deals can be quite profitable for creators. Influencer Alix Earle recently highlighted this when she filed a lawsuit against UK fitness brand Gymshark, alleging that the company’s early termination of their contract cost her $1 million in potential earnings.
But while brand deals can be a great way to monetize one’s online presence, entrepreneur and personal finance creator Austin Hankwitz argued that relying on them doesn’t give creators control over their money.
“I can’t be reliant on the marketing budgets of different companies and cross my fingers for a brand deal or something,” Hankwitz argued on a recent episode of Financial Freestyle (see video above or listen below). “I think when content creators and influencers are relying on those things, and [they’re thinking], ‘Rent is due,’ or ‘My mortgage is coming up,’ they get a little desperate, and they might take a brand deal with a company they might not align with — and that’s not very authentic. It’s just a terrible spiral there.”
Hankwitz started posting on TikTok in March 2020 when he was only 24 and just beginning to build his personal wealth. In his own words, his platform has been built on “authenticity and transparency,” taking his followers through his personal wealth journey and sharing the lessons he learns along the way.
“The first thing I really began to realize is that people need a helping hand when it comes to personal finance and investing,” Hankwitz said. “I have been the biggest believer in transparency with my content and everything that I do since day one.”
Hankwitz said he builds trust with his audience by sharing his credit score and the details of his portfolio. He has built up a following of 788,000 on TikTok alone — but as his platform grew, he said he needed “to own my audience.”
Leveraging his platform, he started a couple of podcasts and newsletters, and he began offering more content locked behind a paywall to create a diverse stream of revenue. He and his business partner, Christian Blackwell, also began offering consulting services to fintech companies to help them reach new audiences.
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