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Dan Sutera

Have followers? What is the #1 way to monetize your audience?

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Seems like it's not that hard these days to get followers on X, Insta, Youtube, etc, but as someone who talks to a lot of creators, it seems like there is a giant gap between getting likes & getting paid. YouTube & X give you decent cash if you have 100k+ but what have you found as someone with 10k, 5k or 1k? IMHO: 1) Start a newsletter (for your audience) I know, I know we are swamped with them. But they are still high ROI. With 5k followers you can prob do $500 a month just on Beehiv ads. If you are creative you can sell custom ads for more. 2) Sell a PDF (for your audience) Maybe consider investing in o1 pro. Steep, but Deep Research is UNBELIEVABLE. Figure out what your audience wants, run DR. Put into PDF. And you're off. You can also use to gen leads for a newsletter. 3) Sell an App (for your audience) Loveable, Bolt, Windsurf, Cursor, and now Replit for Mobile Apps. Vibe Coding is here to stay! It's not as easy as the hype on Twitter, but a little persistance and you can make something awesome for your people. And the models are getting smarter almost weekly... What are your favorite ways to provide value & make money but not feel like a used car salesman?? P.S. Shameless promo. For #2 you we have a platform called Muse.io that we're actually launching tomorrow to hopefully make this super easy. If you guys want to check it out would love some feedback! https://www.producthunt.com/prod...

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Alex AI
Great topic, Dan! One thing I think most social media users don’t realize is that making money from social media isn’t really about the platform itself. The key is to offer a product or service outside of social media, while using social media as a tool—your "TV channel" to showcase your skills, knowledge, and expertise in a particular field. The things you mentioned are spot on, and I especially think newsletters might be one of the best approaches. Why? Because with a newsletter, you control your email list. Unlike social media, where you can get banned or have your account shut down—potentially destroying your business—an email list gives you a direct connection with your audience. Even if you move to another platform, you can still reach your subscribers. That said, there are plenty of ways to monetize, but what really matters is building an audience and creating something valuable that people actually want.
Luke
@byalexai Completely agree with this, it can be quite frustrating to rely on social media itself due to the risk of getting banned at any moment. Having an email list helps to directly reach your audience and have control on updating them regardless of the media channel we use.