Social media is widely known and used today. The advent of the 21st century is also the birth of different social media platforms. And most of the time, these platforms are used in vlogs to generate income and promote a product as social media influencers. 

In an article published in BBC News, the money generated by social media influencers had increased in the past few years. The marketing firm Izea found that the average sponsored photo on Instagram was $134 in 2014 and has reportedly jumped to $1,642 in 2019. According to Business Insider brands are more likely to pay more in sponsored posts, videos, stories, and blogs. However, this does not mean that it is the end of traditional advertisement, experts say.

The chief executive of the social media marketing platform Socialbakers, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, said that digital marketing is equivalent to word-of-mouth. However, amidst the rise of digital marketing, the fact remains that traditional marketing is still a large part of it. In a report presented by Izea, they look into the different paid sponsored ads in social-media sites such as Facebook, Youtube, and others.

The results of Izea show that:

  • The average cost for a sponsored Instagram photo has risen 44 percent in 2018 to 2019 alone
  • For a sponsored blog post it jumped from $7.39 in 2006 but $1,442 in 2019
  • YouTube videos command the highest fees which is four times higher and has the highest-priced form of sponsored content ranging from $420 in 2014 to $6,700 in 2019
  • A Facebook status update has increase from $8 in 2014 to $395 in 2019
  • A Twitter post has increase from $29 in 2014 to $422 in 2019
  • Blog posts have risen from $407 to $1,442 

The increase of social-media influencers led the regulators to scrutinize each product and person. As a matter of fact, in October three social-media influencers selling dietary products were banned by the Advertising Products Authority for being irresponsible. Most of the time, regulators banned a person for sharing wrong information or "fake" news which seem to be very rampant nowadays.

Meanwhile, other social-media influencers like Zoella, Rita Ora and Rosie Huntingon-Whiteley agreed to change their ways in using their respective social media platforms in the promotion of a product or in doing a vlog. Despite the decision of the social-media influencers that would somehow affect some brands, companies continue to work with the most well-known social media influencers in attempts to boost their products.

The research Izea suggests that social-media influences increased into 150 percent in the last few years using the hashtag sign (#) or #ad. It also predicts that brands will be spending more in sponsored ads in the years to come. Meanwhile, Instagram is looking to hide likes on posts. In connection with this, Ben-Itzhak asked if consumers would still continue to engage in social media even if they cannot see the likes anymore. 

There are different ways to generate an income using social media. In an article published in Lifehack, there are 15 easy ways to make money with social media. And these are:

1. Tantalize Customers With Your Product On Pinterest 

2. Run An Online Instagram Shop 

3. Copywriting

4. Editing

5. Manage Social Media

6. Comedy Writing

7. Creative Writng

8. Airbnb

9. Monetize a Youtube Channel

10. Becoma an Amazon Affiliate

11. Promote Posts

12. Sell you Art

13. Sell Rights to your Photos

14. Demonstrate Your Musical Abilities On SoundCloud 

15. Innovate

If you have aspirations of becoming a social-media influencer, maybe you can take these steps to earn money through your socal media accounts.