A common question I get about social media is a complicated one: how can my company use it to make money? There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but there are common themes to what those social media companies want from you in order to give you a cut of their revenue. They want you to have a lot of followers and subscribers, and they want you to have lots of eyes on your content. Here is a brief guide to what YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter expect from your company’s channels for monetization of them.

YouTube

Let’s start with the one that seems like the most difficult to crack into and maintain. If you have at least 1,000 subscribers, you’re partway there to getting money from YouTube ads. That said, the video giant also wants your channel to have 4,000 watch hours over the last 12 months. That means you need to have a wealth of engaging content that you update frequently. If your channel fits the bill, apply for the YouTube Partner Program to see if you qualify to become a partner.

How much can you make?

The average YouTuber makes about $0.18 per view or $18 per 1,000 views.

Instagram

Instagram does not have a formal partner program like YouTube does, but it also offers a few more ways to monetize. You don’t need a specific follower count, but you do need a professional Instagram account (business or creator) rather than a personal one. You can choose to partner with brands, join an affiliate marketing program, sell badges to your viewers (only if you have more than 10,000 followers) and more. Last year, Instagram launched a beta version of something called Instagram Subscriptions, in which followers pay you a monthly fee for exclusive subscribers-only content. This has not been widely rolled out yet but keep an eye out for updates.

How much can you make?

Results vary, but Business Insider reports the average sponsored post netting $901.

Facebook

To take advantage of revenue from in-stream ads on Facebook, you need to have at least 10,000 followers on a Facebook page as well as the following:

• at least five active videos, all more than a minute in length
• at least 600,000 minutes of views in the last 60 days

And if you want to monetize your Live videos, at least 60,000 of those minutes need to come from Live broadcasts and three of your minimum five videos need to have come from Live sessions.

Another option Facebook offers is a tool called Brand Collabs Manager, where brands can seek you out for partnerships. For this, your page only needs to have 1,000 followers, but you also must have at least one of the following in the last 60 days, too:

• 15,000 post engagements
• 180,000 minutes viewed
• 30,000 one-minute views of three-minute videos

How much can you make?

According to Facebook, content creators earn revenues between $1,000 to $10,000 per month.

Twitter

Twitter’s plans for monetization have undergone more changes in recent months than any of the rest, mostly due to a change in ownership last fall. Now owned by Elon Musk, the platform has added several options for both Twitter and its biggest users to generate revenue.

Much like Instagram Subscriptions, Twitter offers creators the opportunity to sell exclusive content access to their subscribers. The bar for entry is low: You need at least 500 (regular, non-paying) Twitter followers and your account must be active for at least 30 days. Once accepted, Subscriptions participants must maintain a minimum of 25 Tweets every 30 days.

How much can you make?

Per Twitter, you’ll be eligible to get paid up to 97 percent of the revenue Twitter has earned from selling access to your Subscriptions (after in-app purchase fees) until you reach $50,000 in lifetime earnings from Twitter across all Twitter monetization products. After that, you get up to 80 percent.

Monetizing social media is an appealing idea, but it takes work to get into the paid arena – and then even more work to maintain it and make it worth your while. But if you have the views and followers and the time and budget for content creation, it can be lucrative. Has your company considered monetizing social media? Let us know in the comments!