Plan for success
There are a couple of steps even casual creators can take to prepare for possibly going viral. If you have enough followers, sign up for creator funds, which are pools of funds set aside to pay the creators that fuel the content on apps. For example, to join the TikTok creator fund, a user must have a U.S.-based account, be at least 18 years old, have at least 10,000 followers and have at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days. Once approved, creators can link a payment method to receive funds.
To earn money from YouTube, creators need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program. Creators need an account in good standing, more than 1,000 subscribers, and their public videos need to have more than 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months. They can then set up an AdSense account, which is how YouTube pays creators. Creators can even sign up to have YouTube notify them when they meet eligibility requirements. Parents can set up and link a separate savings account for platform payouts to help a child or teenager earn passive income on ads. There is also a separate YouTube Shorts fund but YouTube will reach out to creators to tell them if they qualify.
For folks that want to use their virality to take the next step as a creator, there are influencer platforms that can help connect them to brands, such as Whalar, Aspire, Obviously or #paid, to name a few. Creators can sign up for an account, or might be invited to sign up, as a way to help get discovered by brands. New creators can also charge a low fee for content, or take gifted content, to learn the ropes of working with brands.