Latest / Influencer Confidential / Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube? Where Creators Make Money in 2025! #245

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Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube? Where Creators Make Money in 2025! #245 · Influencer Confidential

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
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  Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
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  Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
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  Speaker 1: Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
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  Speaker 1: in this influencer industry and see behind the current Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's jump in Instagram, TikTok YouTube. Where are brands flocking
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  Speaker 1: to in twenty twenty five? Where are the best brand deals?
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the platforms. Let's talk about where brands
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  Speaker 1: are spending, and let's talk about the pros and cons
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  Speaker 1: of them. So the first thing I want to go
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  Speaker 1: ahead to mention, and you guys already know this, is
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  Speaker 1: that influencer marketing is on an up. It is growing,
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  Speaker 1: It's not going anywhere. We're not going back to the
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  Speaker 1: olden days of billboards and TV ads. Influencers are taking
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  Speaker 1: the budgets from your favorite TV commercials. They are taking
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  Speaker 1: the budgets from your favorite print ads. They have literally
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  Speaker 1: closed out. When you think about how advertising used to
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  Speaker 1: be and what it is now, influencer marketing has completely
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  Speaker 1: taken over. US spending has grown around fourteen percent when
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  Speaker 1: we talk about influencer marketing. The influencer world is a
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  Speaker 1: global economy. Adobe has released reports that show us that
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  Speaker 1: influencers are popping up across the globe. This is no
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  Speaker 1: longer a US phenomenon. And we're also seeing that at
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  Speaker 1: least here in the US over around eighty two percent
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  Speaker 1: of companies have budget for influencer marketing, so that means
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  Speaker 1: like eight and ten companies here are already using influencer marketing.
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  Speaker 1: They're using their traditional budgets to help pay creators. The
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  Speaker 1: market continues to expand, which is good news for all
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  Speaker 1: the creators that follow us here at Sidewalker Daily. We
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  Speaker 1: have a community of one hundred and fifty thousand creators.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that I always get ask is
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  Speaker 1: like which niche is the most profitable and which platform
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  Speaker 1: is the most profitable. There is obviously data out there
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  Speaker 1: and tons of market reports that have gone, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in research to try to see who is the winner.
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  Speaker 1: Spout Social recently mentioned that around fifty seven percent of
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  Speaker 1: influencer marketers are choosing Instagram, and I think it's something
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  Speaker 1: to know. Instagram is the shiny coin of influencer marketing.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's where it started, It's where it all happens.
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  Speaker 1: You know more than TikTok and more than you two,
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  Speaker 1: especially when you think about any sort of affiliates and
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  Speaker 1: all the robust technology. I know a lot of the
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  Speaker 1: creators I work with, the influencers that have Instagram accounts
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  Speaker 1: and are growing, they're using automation tools like many chat
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  Speaker 1: to drive affiliate links. From an affiliate perspective as well,
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  Speaker 1: Instagram seems to be the preferred choice of marketers. Instagram
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  Speaker 1: has a lot of ways to get sponsored, right. We
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  Speaker 1: have stories, we have reels, we have carousel posts, we
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  Speaker 1: have lives. You know, they've really created a dynamic way
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  Speaker 1: to do so. They include lots of functionality within the tool,
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  Speaker 1: like paid partnership tags, et cetera, to allow our brand partners.
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  Speaker 1: There's whitelisting opportunities for brands where they can run ads
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  Speaker 1: using the influencers content. So from a tech perspective, there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of flexibility here. There are pros and cons.
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  Speaker 1: The biggest pro is like we're seeing big spends. I
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  Speaker 1: mean I have seen creators myself get paid twenty forty
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  Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars for one Instagram post. That is literally
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  Speaker 1: what we're seeing. When you may be hearing this number
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  Speaker 1: and being like, oh my gosh, that's so much. Is
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  Speaker 1: it based on what these influencers are generating for the
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  Speaker 1: brand in terms of spend, or in terms of clicks
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  Speaker 1: or whatever other sort of metric they are measuring, you know, eyeballs, impressions,
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  Speaker 1: all of that. It really is a numbers game. And
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  Speaker 1: the brands that are spending this type of money on Instagram,
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  Speaker 1: they are tracking and they are making sure it's worth
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  Speaker 1: their while. Also, when we think of a traditional Instagram influencer,
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  Speaker 1: there's more trust in the Instagram space than maybe perhaps
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  Speaker 1: a newer platform. Regarding the cons, there are cons and
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  Speaker 1: a lot of creators have said out, well, when I
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  Speaker 1: post sponsored content, it doesn't do well. Instagram doesn't push
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  Speaker 1: it out. How many of you have felt that way, right,
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  Speaker 1: or we've seen cons where the algorithm just changes and
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  Speaker 1: all of a sudden a creator goes from getting a
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  Speaker 1: certain number of views to dropping. There's risk associated with this,
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  Speaker 1: and it seems a little risky right. On the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: Influencer Marketing Hub reported that around fifty one point six
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  Speaker 1: percent of marketers are preferring TikTok, So TikTok is now
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  Speaker 1: a clear second runner. I mean, I would say Instagram
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  Speaker 1: and TikTok are back to back. So many TikTokers get
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  Speaker 1: worried that there's no brand deals on TikTok or like
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  Speaker 1: they're like, should I just stick to Instagram for I'm like, no,
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  Speaker 1: this place is growing so much more. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: my TikTokers know that the brand partnerships that they're seeing
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  Speaker 1: on TikTok, the type of content is just different. And
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  Speaker 1: in terms of like you know, barriers to entry, TikTok
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  Speaker 1: is a lot easier to get started. The content is
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  Speaker 1: less polished. We're seeing you know, creators post multiple times
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  Speaker 1: a day. The algorithm favors it, and the algorithm on
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  Speaker 1: TikTok is just so much better at getting the consumer
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  Speaker 1: what they want to see. So that's why I feel
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  Speaker 1: like sponsored content on TikTok tends to do well. It
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  Speaker 1: pushes it out to the right people. Their biggest pros
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  Speaker 1: for TikTok there's a lot of viral capabilities, Engagements are high,
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  Speaker 1: the cons are isn't sticking around. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: instability around TikTok. There was the band, now it's not
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  Speaker 1: being banned. Now it's here, and now it's going away.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there's this constant black cloud kind of covering TikTok,
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  Speaker 1: and I think that does make it risky for brands.
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  Speaker 1: But if brands are looking to see return on investment now,
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  Speaker 1: they're still going to go play at the brand deals casino,
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  Speaker 1: so to speak, and they're still going in and they're
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  Speaker 1: still getting invested in the brand partnerships that are happening
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  Speaker 1: on TikTok. As a creator, you're going to need to
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  Speaker 1: choose the platform that resonates the best with you. Forget
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  Speaker 1: about the brand deals, forget about the money. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: think about it, Instagram and TikToker, neck and neck fifty
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  Speaker 1: seven percent fifty one. The thing is, what do you
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  Speaker 1: like to make? Wherever you like to make, you will
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  Speaker 1: shine in that space, and those brand deals will come
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  Speaker 1: to you based on the platform you're innately good at.
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  Speaker 1: Don't try to fit yourself into a box. If it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't work for you. You know, if making a long
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  Speaker 1: form video and editing and that, all of that just
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  Speaker 1: doesn't work for you, stay away from it. Same thing.
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  Speaker 1: If you're a long form video creator and short form
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  Speaker 1: just doesn't work from you, focus on what you are
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  Speaker 1: good at all the business books will tell you focus
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  Speaker 1: on your strength, on your area of genius, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: telling you your community will grow. Eyeballs matter, and as
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  Speaker 1: your community grows, brands will be attracted to integrate their
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  Speaker 1: brand into your content. Stay steady, stay consistent, choose a
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  Speaker 1: platform that works for you, and then outbound pitch and
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  Speaker 1: go find brands to bring them into the content. Again,
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  Speaker 1: Sidewalker is team don't wait for the money to come
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  Speaker 1: to you. Sidewalker is all about telling creators go forth
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  Speaker 1: in your efforts to get paid partnerships. Okay, by sitting
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  Speaker 1: there and just waiting, that's so risky. Go outbound, go pitch,
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  Speaker 1: go put yourself out there. So again, that's what we
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  Speaker 1: do here at Sidewalker. We have a training. It is free.
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  Speaker 1: It is our how to land paid brand deals training.
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  Speaker 1: If this is something that you want to learn to do,
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  Speaker 1: if you want to learn how to outbound pitch, reach
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  Speaker 1: out to brands, improve your media kit, pivot those free collabs,
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  Speaker 1: watch this training. It's going to be a great head
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  Speaker 1: start for you. And the best part is it's free.
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  Speaker 1: I will include a link below so that you guys
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  Speaker 1: can get into it now. YouTube is a whole other beast.
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  Speaker 1: There are no specific data points or stats that I
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  Speaker 1: have found around YouTube brand partnerships, but it is a
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  Speaker 1: strong contender, and to me, it's a totally different type
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  Speaker 1: of beast. YouTube videos, podcast, long form video has a
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  Speaker 1: different audience. I always say that, like for me, I
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  Speaker 1: love YouTube not only because I'm long winded and I
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  Speaker 1: really get to just get up here and teach and
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  Speaker 1: be valuable and help you. But I think the people
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  Speaker 1: that watch, even though some of our videos may not
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  Speaker 1: have super high views, the quality of the view is
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  Speaker 1: quite high. And I think that people on YouTube, we
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  Speaker 1: know that our videos last forever. Team YouTube. Our videos
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  Speaker 1: have a longer shelf life than the short form. Someone
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  Speaker 1: posts something on short form, it goes away. I have
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  Speaker 1: videos from two years ago still getting me traffic right,
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  Speaker 1: and creators know this and brands know this. YouTube also
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  Speaker 1: kills it for brand deals on keywords. You know, you
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  Speaker 1: go in and you search a keyword. That keyword, if
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  Speaker 1: you're a brand, you're going to get ranked for it
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  Speaker 1: and you're getting automatic sales. Like I said, videos have
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  Speaker 1: a longer shelf life here, retention is different, audience is different,
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  Speaker 1: and brands know this as well. So when a brand
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  Speaker 1: is putting their strategy together. Think about it. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of these people they have their own particular preferences. I
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  Speaker 1: remember working with a brand and I was like, I
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  Speaker 1: really think we should go all in on YouTube, and
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  Speaker 1: they just had this thing with Instagram. They're like, but
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  Speaker 1: we really want Instagram. I'm like, I know, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: telling you the results from YouTube. They may take a
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  Speaker 1: little longer, but you're going to see them over the
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  Speaker 1: long run. And as a person on the brand side,
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  Speaker 1: I've seen six Instagram partnership, successful TikTok ones and successful YouTube.
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  Speaker 1: But people are biased. People like what they consume. I
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  Speaker 1: enjoy YouTube, so obviously, like I want to play on YouTube,
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  Speaker 1: you know. And I think that this goes for every
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  Speaker 1: brand marketer. You know, they're able to see the data,
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  Speaker 1: but bias is bias, and it's something at least I'm
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  Speaker 1: aware of. But at the end of the day, the
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  Speaker 1: client wants results. So for someone like me, I'm just
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  Speaker 1: trying to get my client result. And I think that
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  Speaker 1: YouTube has always done a really good job at that
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  Speaker 1: because of the evergreen nature of the content. One of
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  Speaker 1: the big things too, when you think about Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
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  Speaker 1: where are we putting our focus in don't follow the money.
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  Speaker 1: The money will come to you, but thanks strategically, as
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  Speaker 1: a business, if you put all your eggs in TikTok
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  Speaker 1: and TikTok ats banned, you are sol right. You don't
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  Speaker 1: want to ever ever feel dependent on a platform. That's
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  Speaker 1: why at Sidewalker we always tell our creators the email
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  Speaker 1: list is so important. Building out your email list to
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  Speaker 1: have prevention in case something does happen with these platforms
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  Speaker 1: that won't go anywhere. Having your email list is a surefi.
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  Speaker 1: It's like your home base. It stays safe. Also, pick two.
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  Speaker 1: When I say pick two, you know I always tell creators,
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  Speaker 1: even if you're doing YouTube, you know what is a
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  Speaker 1: secondary platform that you could also instill or have a
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  Speaker 1: presence on, or tell your YouTube community to follow you. Again,
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  Speaker 1: maybe that's your email list, and that's fine, but you
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  Speaker 1: don't want to run the risk of just having one
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  Speaker 1: thing and then you never know what comes down the pipeline.
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  Speaker 1: You were a business, after all, you were building your legacy,
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  Speaker 1: your business, your foundation. You don't want to just settle
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  Speaker 1: on one thing. It's quite risky. So even when you're
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  Speaker 1: figuring out the platform that you want to focus on
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  Speaker 1: think about, you know, longevity. The biggest question I get
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  Speaker 1: asked is around niche. There's Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, but are
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  Speaker 1: there specific niches that make money? Any niche makes money
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  Speaker 1: if you water the garden. I'll give you an example.
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  Speaker 1: I have a creator in the sports and ethics niche
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  Speaker 1: Sports and Ethics seven thousand followers. She did not even
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  Speaker 1: pitch to a brand. The brand came to her. She
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  Speaker 1: posted this in our Facebook group and she generated a
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  Speaker 1: six figure brand deal. We're talking one hundred thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 1: They came to her because of the tools that she
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  Speaker 1: learned in our course how to update her media case,
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  Speaker 1: her case study, her proposal. What I love is that
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  Speaker 1: she said this in the Facebook group. She goes, I'm
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  Speaker 1: not in a sexy niche. My point is there's money
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  Speaker 1: in every niche. Every single industry has brands that are
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  Speaker 1: looking for traffic, conversions or content, and that's what your
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  Speaker 1: job is. As a content creator or influencer. You're either
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  Speaker 1: providing influence, which is clicks conversion your audience sales, or
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  Speaker 1: you're providing content to the brand so the brand can
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  Speaker 1: use that to sell. That's the bottom line with brands
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  Speaker 1: they want to make money, and they're either going to
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  Speaker 1: do it through accessing your audience or accessing your content abilities.
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  Speaker 1: So don't stress about the platform, don't stress about your niche.
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  Speaker 1: Stress about the type of content you are making, the
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  Speaker 1: type of impact you are making if you're going the
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  Speaker 1: influencer a route so that you are actually developing a
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  Speaker 1: community that will drive the results for any brand that
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  Speaker 1: does come your way. I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
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  Speaker 1: If you did, make sure to rate, review, and subscribe
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  Speaker 1: to our show and visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more
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  Speaker 1: resources on all things influencer marketing and social media. Until
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  Speaker 1: next time,