Monetize your followers and subscribers

It’s no secret - top video creators on platforms like YouTube and TikTok can make some serious money. Forbes reports that the top six TikTok creators each earned over $1 million dollars and the top 10 YouTube creators earned over $15 million in 2020.

But, there are a huge number of video creators who have a sizeable audience and earn some money from their videos, but are far from earning millions - or even enough to replace their job’s income.

CNBC reports that someone needs 1,000 subscribers on YouTube and 24 million views annually to earn $100,000. That’s a lot of views.

Even for a creator that does have a steady or substantial income from their video platform, it’s always wise to find another route to monetization.

Right now, video creators often monetize their videos with these methods:

• Directly, from the YouTube Partner Program or TikTok Creator Fund
• Sponsored videos organized from brands
• Affiliate links or discount codes
• Physical merchandise
• Access to membership communities

Platforms can change their rules, algorithms, and payouts at any time. If the change is not in your favor, that could mean a drop in earnings.

One example of a platform that made a payout change is Shutterstock. In June of 2020, stock video, music, and photography site Shutterstock changed their royalty payout to a percentage of the price paid by the end customer. The minimum payout for a photo changed from $0.25 to $0.10. 15 cents doesn’t sound like a lot, but the percentage was drastic.

There’s another way to leverage your existing audience to generate income - selling digital products. For video creators like you, selling online courses is a natural fit. The best part is that it does not involve a huge financial investment and you can get a digital product business up and running pretty quickly.

In this guide, we’ll dive in and cover how video creators can make money with digital products.

Chapter 1: Why digital products are a great fit for video creators

Digital products are a great way for video creators to monetize an audience because you likely already have the skills needed to produce the product. If you’re regularly producing videos, you can easily apply that experience to creating online courses.

Here are some examples of how video creators can turn their skills into digital products:

• Hobbyists can create courses on creating their crafts
• Cooking video creators can sell meal plans and recipes
• Business experts can offer coaching on sales, marketing, accounting, or strategy
• Entertainment creators can host a fan membership community

By selling digital products like online courses, eBooks, membership community access, premium podcast episodes, or more, video creators with audiences of all sizes can diversify their revenue streams. You set your own prices so you’re more in control of your earnings.

Case study: The DNA Show

One example of a video creator turned course creator is DJ Willingham of the DNA Show, which is all about high-end and collectible sneakers. The DNA Show YouTube channel has 148,000 followers as of this writing. His videos often reach into the hundreds of thousands of views and a few have crossed the million view mark.

DJ realized he could monetize his audience further by offering a course on how to access the exclusive sneaker releases. Instead of solely relying on the YouTube Partner Program or sponsored videos, he can also channel his organic YouTube viewers over to his Kajabi course page.

He put his first course on pre-order while building it so he could collect email addresses for his marketing list. He made over $1,000 on the first day the course was available for pre-order. He then switched to a recurring membership community which allowed him to offer a lower price point to his customers while building recurring passive income.

Case Study: The Burnout Coach

Emily Ballasteros, The Burnout Coach, is a TikTok video creator who uses her platform to sell content on Kajabi. She creates content about the struggles that come from work - bad managers, being overloaded with projects, setting boundaries at work, and more.

As of this writing, she has 98,000 followers on TikTok and her videos also reach into the hundreds of thousands of views. These followers and video viewers are her target audience for selling her courses. Viewers can find her Kajabi site easily with the link in her TikTok bio.

So if you’re in a position like DJ or Emily, where you have a substantial subscriber base and get thousands of views to each of your videos, you could sell digital products to that same audience to capture revenue from people who are interested in your content.

Chapter 2: Choose a content topic that sells

If you want to monetize your existing audience, you’ll need to create more content that someone is willing to pay for. The right topic can make all the difference in your course. Ideally, you want a topic that:

• People already care about
• Offers a solution to a problem people want to solve
• Teaches a skill that people want to learn

You may already create some form of educational content. If your TikTok or YouTube videos are about tips or insider info on a specific subject, that’s a great starting point.Then, you’ll need to narrow it down to premium topics that should live behind the paywall.

To find a good for-sale course topic, start with your audience. Think about the people that watch and engage with the videos you already produce. Then, extend out from there to develop premium content that the demographics of your audience needs and values. It’s even better if there is not a lot of freely available content competing with your paid offerings.

The good news is that you don’t have to guess what would work. If you already have a following from your videos, ask your viewers. Here are some ways to gather feedback:

• Create a survey
• Ask them in social media posts
• Email your list (if you have one)
• Check forums or video comments sections to find what they’re talking about

Take those ideas and suggestions and look for common themes. Or, find a competitive gap you can fill.

For example: If your free-to-watch videos are about how to sew clothing, your for-sale courses could be on specific topics that go in-depth. Perhaps your audience needs a course on the right stitches to use with certain fabrics, or how to tailor clothing for specific body types.

In most cases, if there’s a real desire for information or solutions, other businesses are already serving that need. That’s a good thing! Don’t avoid a hot topic. Just make sure you solve a piece of the problem that no one else is solving, or that you solve the problem in a unique way.

So take time to look at related courses or videos that your audience is buying or could purchase. Look at:

• How they solve the problem
• The methodology they use
• The experience they provide their students
• Their success rate

And be sure to utilize platform features to differentiate your course. For example, Kajabi offers powerful assessment tools that allow you to give feedback to your students. This can add a ton of value in a way that a freely posted online video cannot.

Chapter 3: How to design an online course

Once you’ve decided upon your topic, your next step is to design your course to been gaging and easy to learn. You probably already have a start on this because of your video creation skills, but it’s important to craft the content to the course medium to provide the best student experience.

The key to building an online course is simply to share your knowledge. But by designing and structuring your course to create an engaging learning environment, you could attract more students, retain them longer, and make more money with referrals. It’s a little more work on the front end, but intentionally crafting your course can payoff with higher customer satisfaction.

In this section, we’ll cover four steps to lay out your course.

Step 1: Set your learning objectives

Begin by clearly identifying the learning outcome for your course. This is the skill or knowledge your students will gain from taking your course.

As an example, let’s look at Kajabi Hero PrepWell Academy. Their learning objective is to prepare a middle or high school student for the competitive college admissions process.

Step 2: Create the framework for your course

A course is made up of modules. Each module focuses on a big idea or essential skill that students need to learn to achieve your learning objective. If you teach a step-by step process, you’ll create one module for each step.

Step 1: Make your pizza dough

Step 2: Prepare your pizza toppings

Step 3: Bake your pizza to perfection

If, on the other hand, your course teaches skills or strategic concepts, each module will focus on one small learning. PrepWell’s course is a good example. It teaches:

• High-performance habits
• Milestones
• Skills that colleges look for
• Perspective

Step 3: Identify the lessons needed in each module

Each module should have a series of lessons that help students master the step, concept, or skill being taught in that module. For instance, a module on success habits might include a lesson on time management, another on meeting deadlines, and yet another on thinking outside the box.

Step 4: Develop the lesson materials

Each lesson should focus on a small part of the concept or skill being taught in that lesson. It’s important to put that information into context before teaching. Students need to understand how each lesson integrates with everything else they’ve learned.

The best way to do that is to use a three-part structure for every teaching lesson. Here’s a traditional speech or essay framework:

1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them
2. Tell them (the bulk of the material)
3. Tell them what you just told them

Your lessons should follow a similar structure.

1. Introduce the lesson and tell students what they’ll learn.
2. Teach the lesson.
3. Review your main points and give students a way to practice what they’ve learned.

When planning your lessons, you’ll prepare talking points for each of these steps.

In addition to a worksheet or homework assignment, it can help to give students away to get feedback on what they’ve learned. You can create a quiz at the end of each lesson. With Kajabi Assessments, you can offer multiple choice or text response quizzes or ask students to upload files like text documents or images. You can set minimum passing scores if you wish.

Follow this same structure for each lesson in your course and you’ll have a well designed course that will keep your students engaged and actively learning.

Chapter 4: How to create a membership community

Online courses aren’t your only option to monetize your fanbase. Many video creators earn income with a membership community.

Some membership communities act like a digital tip jar with minimal involvement from the creator. Others provide more benefits and access to the creator. There’s a lot of flexibility depending on how much time you want to dedicate to it and what you want to charge.

You could also start a membership community first if you know you want to sell courses in the future. Your fans can buy in, and potentially at a lower price point than an online course. It’ll also help you build your email list. You can start capturing revenue quickly while you’re drafting and building your online courses, then have a warmer audience to market the course to.

What should a membership site include?

Your membership site should include a variety of content that aligns to your membership model. With a membership community, you can:

• Give access to YouTube videos early
• Share exclusive content like bloopers or deleted scenes
• Run a discussion forum for your fans to enjoy
• Interact with your fans via chat or virtual calls
• Provide other digital knowledge products\Send physical merchandise like t-shirts, stickers, magnets, or more
• Send physical merchandise like t-shirts, stickers, magnets, or more

Whatever you select, be sure to be consistent with your membership content production. Choose a frequency and type that you can commit to. You could upload a library of content all at once and provide access to that. Or, build out an upload calendar with plenty of runway. By delivering a great value, you can delight your members and retain them.

What are some membership site models?

Membership sites have different fee and access structures. Let’s break down some of the different membership models you can use.

A fixed membership period

This is when the membership lasts for a certain amount of time. This could be something like a 90-day weight loss challenge or even a multi-year “master class” that comes with a certificate.

Users typically only pay for the amount of time as the offering. But, there are still ways to keep these fixed-period members engaged and paying. You could offer refreshers, community access and more to get them to extend their membership.

An ongoing membership

This is when members pay for access to a product or exclusive content. This could be online courses or an actual application that can be downloaded for members. You’ll typically have to offer multiple products over time to have members continue to pay.

This works well for a lot of video creators that share exclusive content or communication access with you for the product. Fans can support you on a monthly or annual basis.

Offering a service as a membership

This is when members pay for a set amount of service per month. This could be for fitness coaching, voice lessons or more. But how is this different than just offering bookable coaching? There’s definitely similarities but for a membership site, you’d also want to provide members with things like exclusive content and community.

A combination of these models

The truth is that most membership sites offer a combination of these models.Members may pay for a few hours of coaching per month but can also be given exclusive products or online courses.There’s nothing stopping you from delivering your members a variety of options.

Chapter 5: How to market your digital products

To sell your course, eBook, or membership community, you can use both free or paid tactics.

If you have an existing following, you have a jump start on your marketing as you already have people who are aware of you. Then, the next step is to generate interest in your paid offerings.

Here are some aspects of marketing that are critical to effectively selling your digital products.

Messaging

Your messaging is all about communicating your brand and how your product serves your customers. Take some time to think about the tone. The goal is to provide the readers of your messaging with the information they need to take further action to becoming a customer.

Your messaging will live on your website, advertisements, emails, and social media. It should bring about brand cohesion so people will recognize you at the different touch points they encounter.Always remember, people buy outcomes. So your digital product marketing messaging needs to focus on two things: communicating the outcomes your students will gain, and proving you can deliver as promised.

Ideally, you’ll test your messaging to confirm what resonates and converts better. But, that can come after laying the groundwork of your knowledge commerce business.

Website

You need a website that you can link to when you’re talking about your digital products in conversations, social media posts, and ads. You’ll need to populate the website with copy that keeps potential customers on the page and gets them excited to purchase.

Make sure you clearly communicate your big promise. Make it clear who your digital product is for and who it’s not for.

It can also help to include FAQs. For that, these are the biggies:

• How long does the course take?
• What if I get stuck?
• Is there a guarantee?
• If I want a refund on the course, what are my options?
• What are the terms of the membership community?

An order page

Your order page should look like it goes with your website. Add your logo, a product description, and reinforce the promises you made on your landing page. Include trust signals to build your customers’ confidence that you’ll deliver as promised, like a testimonial.

Then it needs to be easy to use and offer secure checkout. It’s ideal to offer both credit card and PayPal as payment options.

Free traffic

Make sure your target audience knows your course exists and how it can help them.If you have an existing video audience, you have a jump start. Talk about your digital products during your videos and link to them in the description.As for how to drive traffic: Talk about the problems your audience faces. Share tips for resolving those problems. Mention your course, and share a link so people can find it.

Don’t underestimate the power of blogging, either. Blog posts can help your search engine visibility, and if you create niche content, you could rank high in search results and get website traffic outside of your video content. Write blog posts about topics related to your course. This shows off your expertise and builds your credibility.

Then, get others in your network to link to your website. Whether they link to your course or one of your informational blog posts, that can help boost your traffic or search engine visibility.

Email marketing

Email marketing is an important channel because you can segment your messages to different subgroups and provide relevant communications. You can obviously leverage email marketing for product launches, but also to nurture fans who have not yet purchased. Email your subscribers when you have new organic content (like blog posts or organic videos) so they can be aware of you as a creator.

The key to nurture your prospects and video fans into paying customers with email is to focus on their success. Frame every sales-related email around their desires, dreams, hopes, and fears. This way they can sell to themselves and be excited when they purchase.