The secret to turning social media likes into money

It can be a tough nut to crack, making a living through social media. But the opportunities are out there, as Rosa Silverman finds out

For Molly Gunn, it started with a blog. As a freelance writer who had just had her first child, she was receiving no maternity leave pay and was, in her words, “trying to fit all this together in a world that was all about perfect mothering.” Her response was to honestly document motherhood online, with all its imperfections and messiness. She called her blog Selfish Mother.

Today, Gunn is a mother-of-three whose Selfish Mother Instagram account has 136,000 followers. Her Selfish Mother Shop, which sells clothing, lifestyle accessories and digital courses for women online, has 47,900 Instagram followers and she’s raised £1m for charity through sales.

So how did she do it? “I started building up my Facebook following first,” she says, explaining how blog posts she shared on the social network in 2013 “started to get really good traction”. By the time she tried using her online reach to make money, she had amassed an impressive 40,000 Facebook followers. In 2014, she launched an initial 100 T-shirts with the word “Mother” printed on them, to raise money for Women for Women International, retailing them via a page on her blog and a Facebook link. They sold out immediately, and the brand grew from there.

Gunn, who has since moved from London to Somerset, is a perfect example of someone who has leveraged social media to launch a successful business, turning followers and likes into money.

To what does she attribute her achievement? “Authenticity,” she replies. “When I started there weren’t a lot of people talking about what I was talking about, which was imperfect mothering. You need to be really authentic so you can properly connect. It’s all about tapping into your audience and knowing who they are.”

Sara Mccorquodale, founder and chief executive of Corq, an influencer intelligence and digital trends platform, and author of

Influence: How Social Media

Influencers are Shaping Our Digital

Future, agrees that being honest and open about yourself is key.

“If you’re using social media to launch an independent business, it makes sense to delve into the personal reason why you’re doing this,” she says. “Personality-led businesses on Instagram tend to do very well. People are more likely to connect with a story than a product. So talk about you, and why you’re doing this. A human-led narrative with someone who’s happy to be consumer-facing is the best way to start and to ramp up your audience.”

Yet growing your audience numbers is not enough on its own, even if they sound staggering. A micro-influencer – someone with a smaller but highly dedicated following – can sometimes be more successful than someone with a bigger following. Take Ariana Renee, aka Arii, an 19-year-old US influencer. She learned this the hard way after launching her own clothing brand this year. Although she has 2.6 million Instagram followers and 837,000 Youtube subscribers, she was unable to sell even 36 T-shirts.

The buzzword for anyone using social media to generate a market for a business is ‘engagement’: that is, the conversation around what you’re posting – the comments and the feeling of connection you inspire. “You’re not just selling a product, you’re selling a culture, and you need people to buy into [that] culture so they’re buying your product,” explains Mccorquodale. “You need a core, dedicated audience. If people find you interesting or likeable or compelling, that’s what grows an audience.”

Learning from results is also key. “If you see your audience responds really well to a particular post, it makes sense to share more of that story,” Mccorquodale says. Gunn certainly has. A recent photo caption, admitting “My eyebrows aren’t plucked and my legs aren’t that smooth” attracted more than 6,000 likes and 560 comments.

Of course, warts-and-all honesty is not the only road to riches. Highly aspirational content has also had a very good run, appealing as it does to our desire for escapism. Sophie Hinchliffe (aka Mrs Hinch), is one such example. Her images of spotless interiors have gained her 2.8 million Instagram followers. But Mccorquodale sounds a word of caution. “There are Instagram accounts that are beautiful and get tons of engagement,” she points out. “But for anyone starting a business, you have to let people get to know you – part of that is covering your journey as a businesswoman.”

Still, it’s a crowded market, with a lot of content competing for attention. So how do you cut through? One way is to go niche, says Jennifer Quigley-jones, founder and CEO of Digital Voices, an influencer marketing agency that partners businesses with Youtubers.

“Produce consistent videos on a theme, or on your personality or a niche topic,” she advises budding vloggers. “To turn that into making money you have to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time a month before you can apply to have Youtube put ads on your content.”

For entrepreneurs with a brand or business idea they want to promote on social media, there are further options. “You should be prepared to give away product,” advises Quigley-jones. “Find people you really like who are similar to your target market and gift them something. Be up front. Send an honest email saying: ‘Hi, I’ve started a jewellery brand, the cost is this, I’d be really grateful if you’d consider featuring one of my necklaces.”

Those with large enough followings can also monetise them by doing sponsored posts for other brands. The rewards can be big: Instagram accounts with around a million followers can earn as much as £10,000 for a one-off post. But a shrewd approach is recommended.

“Brands always say to us they hate getting emails saying: ‘I’ve got this many followers, can you send me free clothes?’” says Mccorquodale. “Better to say: ‘I love your brand, I wear your brand all the time in my content, I wonder if you could add me to your mailing list.’ It’s about building a relationship.”

Social media influence, it has to be said, is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Turning likes into money takes time. But the field is wide open; the opportunities to find your own target market are ultimately there for the taking…