With over 300 million active users, Twitter offers immense opportunities for content creators to build influence and generate income. As part of Twitter‘s ongoing efforts to empower creators, they have introduced various monetization features allowing you to get paid directly by your followers.
However, to unlock earning potential on Twitter, you need to properly configure your monetization settings. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know.
The Importance of Twitter Monetization
Before going into specific settings, let‘s briefly discuss why Twitter monetization matters:
- Twitter‘s daily user base of 238 million presents a massive reachable audience for creators
- Their focus on serving creators has led to launch of multiple direct monetization tools
- Backed by tech giant Elon Musk, Twitter is primed to rapidly scale monetization features
- According to Grayscale Research, Twitter could generate $15 billion in creator earnings by 2023
As the above points highlight, Twitter has strong incentives to empower creator content and provide direct income streams back to talent. By activating the right settings, you can capitalize on this creator-first agenda.
Twitter Monetization Stats and Projections
To further illustrate Twitter‘s revenue potential for creators:
| 2021 creator earnings | $630 million |
| 2023 projected creator earnings | $15+ billion |
| 2025 projected users supporting creators | 100 million |
Their ambitious roadmap provides exciting opportunities for those who build loyal followings and unlock income streams early.
Prerequisites for Twitter Monetization
Before diving into changing settings, ensure your account and content meet Twitter’s monetization eligibility criteria:
- Your account must be public, in good standing and not facing any restrictions
- You need at least 10,000 followers and have tweeted 25 times in the past 30 days
- Your content should comply with Twitter‘s rules around sensitive topics like violence, adult/sexual content, regulated goods etc.
- You must be over 18 years old and based in the US as of now
Meeting these parameters sets you up for success when activating money-making features. Let‘s explore what those features are.
Twitter‘s Monetization Methods
Presently, Twitter offers creators three primary ways to monetize their audience and content:
1. Twitter Tips
This feature allows your followers to send you money directly as tips or donations. As the creator, you get to keep 100% of tips received, with no revenue share for Twitter.
How Twitter Tips Work:
- Followers visit your Twitter profile and initiate sending a tip
- They select a payment service and contribute any amount of their choice
- You receive the full tip amount directly into your connected payment account
Earnings Potential
Based on reporting around early usage, creators are generating an average of $5 per tip. For context, a YouTube creator typically earns $3-$5 per 1,000 views.
If you have 10,000 engaged followers tipping monthly, you could make ~$50,000 a year just from Twitter Tips even with conservatively low contribution levels.
Your income can scale up significantly as your follower count and tip value increases. This underscores the importance of building a invested community on Twitter.
How to Setup
To start earning tips, you simply need to switch on the feature in your profile settings. You can also configure multiple payment services for receiving tips e.g. Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, Venmo and more.
Later in this guide we‘ll cover step-by-step configuration.
2. Twitter Subscriptions
Through Twitter Subscriptions, creators can offer exclusive extra content and experiences to followers who pay a monthly fee. Subscription prices can be set at $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 per month.
What Subscribers Get:
As part of a Twitter Subscription, creators offer subscribers special benefits which may include:
- Subscriber-only content and conversations
- Community access through private Direct Messages and Spaces
- Badges and labels highlighting their support
- Higher visibility and priority ranking for their engagement
Earnings Potential
Based on your subscription pricing tier and number of paid subscribers, there is significant revenue scope.
For example, 10,000 subscribers paying $5 per month works out to $50,000 monthly or $600,000 annually. Top entertainers on YouTube make millions per year, illustrating Twitter Subscriptions‘ high monetization ceiling.
As a creator, you get to keep 97% of subscription earnings until you hit $50K in lifetime revenue, after which Twitter‘s cut increases to 20%.
We‘ll cover signup and configuration later on.
3. Twitter Ticketed Spaces (Currently Unavailable)
The third monetization method – Ticketed Spaces – allowed creators to host exclusive audio conversations and charge for access. However, this feature has been deactivated for now as Twitter works on enhancements.
Among current options, Subscriptions and Tips offer the most lucrative monetization avenues. Let‘s go through how to update settings for each.
Changing Twitter Tips Settings
Tips currently work only on mobile apps. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
- Tap your profile icon to access settings
- Select “Edit Profile”
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap on “Tips”
- Review and agree to Twitter’s tipping policy terms
- Toggle “Allow tips” to the ON position to enable
- Under “Payment services”, choose platforms where you want to receive tips e.g. Cash App, Venmo etc.
- Input your account usernames/handles for each linked payment service
Once your Tips setup is complete, followers visiting your profile can begin sending you monetary contributions.
Tips Management Tips
- Monitor your “Earnings” tab to track incoming transfers
- Add new payment methods if you gain access to additional services
- Notify loyal followers of your tipping feature to increase adoption
You can return to the Tips configuration page anytime to view earnings, connect new accounts, disable tipping etc.
Changing Twitter Subscriptions Settings
Given Subscriptions are still being tested, you may not see the option appear immediately depending on your access level. Here‘s how to access settings:
On Mobile App:
- Open the slide-out sidebar menu
- Go to “Professional Tools”
- Select “Monetization” > “Subscriptions”
- Check your eligibility status and apply/join waitlist accordingly
- Once accepted, start creating subscriber-only content
When Subscriptions become enabled, this is also where you’ll configure:
- Subscription pricing tiers
- Exclusive content offers
- Subscriber badges/labels
- Earnings withdrawal etc.
On Web Browser:
- Click your profile to access the sidebar menu
- Select More > Professional Tools > Monetization
- Go to the “Subscriptions” tab on the right panel
- Check eligibility and submit application if eligible
- Manage pricing tiers, content, payouts etc. upon approval
If accepted into the program, you can start creating subscriber-only content and managing special perks. If waitlisted, keep increasing followers/engagement until eligibility criteria are met.
Best Practices for Successful Twitter Monetization
While setting up Tips and Subscriptions gives you monetization foundations, maximizing income in a scalable, sustainable way involves some additional strategies.
Here are some expert tips:
1. Create Value for Your Audience
The core engine that powers effective creator monetization is delivering engaging experiences to your viewers and followers repeatedly over a long time horizon. Without this, any monetization method will struggle to drive revenue.
Some proven value creation ideas:
- Post entertaining and informative threads regularly
- Host Spaces audio rooms around topics followers enjoy
- Respond to follower DMs providing assistance
- Share insights from your expertise/life they won‘t get elsewhere
The more ways you can make your audience feel special and heard, the deeper their support will be. That leads to more people subscribing, tipping and amplifying your work.
2. Grow Your Audience Strategically
A larger, more invested follower base directly translates to higher monetization potential.
Tactics to gain followers:
- Optimize your Twitter bio to highlight value
- Leverage hashtags and topics gaining momentum for discovery
- Engage with influencers/brands to get reach from their networks
- Run follower contests requiring retweets and other engagement
- Analyze follower stats to understand your audience more granularly
Balancing organic community building with calculated growth efforts is key for longevity and trust.
3. Collaborate With Brands and Influencers
From a monetization lens, connecting with brands, creators and public figures on Twitter unlocks partnership potential through:
- Sponsored tweets – Getting paid to promote products/services
- Affiliate links – Earning sales commission
- Cross-promotions – Shoutouts, takeovers and other exchanges
Proactively networking beyond your core followers provides income diversification and introduction to new audiences.
As your personal brand and content gains prestige over time, demand for collaborations will increase. But laying the groundwork early is key.
4. Track Metrics and Optimize
To accelerate monetization further, be data-informed by:
- Monitoring tip volume and sizes to ID giving trends
- Measuring subscription content resonance based on views, retention etc.
- Benchmarking you earnings and progress against other creators
- Running A/B tests changing variables like content formats, call-to-actions etc.
The more you can back growth decisions with performance insights vs guesses, the more effectively you will gain paying supporters.
Twitter‘s Ongoing Monetization Innovation
As highlighted earlier, Twitter remains highly invested in building creator revenue opportunities. Beyond existing features, their roadmap hints at what additional monetization capabilities to expect.
Coming Soon
While timelines may shift, Twitter aims to launch these in the near future:
- Gifting: rewards and special items followers can purchase to show appreciation
- Verification for subscription accounts: confirming legitimacy of subscribers
- New subscription tiers: more pricing and content flexibility
Future Possibilities
Twitter is also openly exploring options like:
- Feature gating: granting access to select features for paid users
- Contributions across creators: tipping ecosystem similar to Twitch
- Royalty payments: earning revenue share based on off-Twitter conversion value generated
While still in research mode, the scope indicates Twitter’s focus to make creator income scalable, predictable and sufficient to provide full livelihoods.
Keeping tabs on platform developments will allow capitalization of opportunities faster as they expand.
Key Takeaways
If starting out or ramping up your Twitter monetization efforts, some key pointers:
- Ensure account/content compliance with platform policies
- Turn on Twitter Tips to receive direct supporter contributions
- Leverage Subscriptions for monthly recurring revenue via exclusive content
- Strategically gain followers and keep them engaged
- Monitor analytics and run experiments to boost income
Though still evolving, Twitter now provides genuine income enablement for creators vs just reach and influence historically.
Unlocking these revenue streams both sustainably funds your work while aligning incentives to grow viewership long-term.
Are you looking to monetize your Twitter audience and content? What approach are you planning to use? I‘d be happy to offer any other thoughts and advice!
