Javi Flores (@ewwphotoshop)/Alexander Stemplewski
Alexander Stemplewski.
- TikTok has created a new generation of influencers who rose to fame quickly due to the app's fast-growing user base and viral-content-friendly algorithm.
- Photographer Alexander Stemplewski, 30, signed up for TikTok at the end of October and already has 3.6 million followers and more than 50 million likes on the app.
- Like many TikTok creators, Stemplewski charges hundreds of dollars for paid song integrations and earns thousands of dollars from brand partnerships.
- He also uses the app to recruit clients for his online photography-coaching business, which costs $1,500 for two months of training.
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As TikTok matures into one of the most popular video platforms with more than one billion downloads globally, its creators are looking to cash in.
While some TikTok influencers have signed contracts with Hollywood talent agencies and landed sponsorships with brands during big events like the Super Bowl, most make money on the app through smaller deals for sponsored videos and paid song integrations.
Photographer Alexander Stemplewski, 30, signed up for TikTok in October and already has 3.6 million followers and over 50 million likes on his account, Alexander the Great.
"I knew that the organic reach on TikTok was pretty phenomenal," Stemplewski told Business Insider. "You can have essentially zero following and have a video reach literally millions of people just like that. I've just been producing a lot of content until I figured out what content performed really well, which was street photography."
Stemplewski recently quit his job as an insurance actuary to focus on making money from TikTok and social media.
Here are the three ways he earns a living from the app:
1. Song integrations
Artists and record labels pay TikTok creators to include their songs in the background of videos. The app's ability to make a song go viral is well-documented, and musicians will pay hundreds of dollars in pursuit of Lil Nas X level fame.
Stemplewski charges for paid music integrations, earning a fee to include an artist's song in one of his videos. He works with the influencer marketing company, Muuser, which pays him $600 per video.
Other TikTok influencers, like college students Cosette Rinab and Salina, previously told Business Insider they charged around $200 to include a song in a video.
2. Brand sponsorships
One of the most common ways to earn money on TikTok is by making sponsored videos for brands. The practice is so common that TikTok created a marketplace to connect marketers with creators.
Stemplewski hasn't partnered with brands in the three months since he joined TikTok, but he said he's in the final stages of closing a $5,000 sponsorship deal with a camera company to use one of its bags and tripods in his TikTok videos.
Other TikTok creators, like video producer Greg Auerbach, focus heavily on sponsored videos as their source of income. Auerbach charges a flat $500 fee to cover production costs for a TikTok video and then a variable rate for views or app downloads depending on the brand he's working with. He recently completed a sponsored video for Chipotle as part of the company's Super Bowl #tiktoktimeout campaign.
3. Photography coaching
Stemplewski's videos focus on what he calls "street photography," where he films himself doing impromptu photo shoots of strangers. "People absolutely love it on TikTok. I've seen people copy me down to the caption and song selection," he said.
He now offers an eight-week photography-coaching program where he teaches his followers how to take and edit photos, grow an Instagram account, find models, and network with other photographers.
He recruits students from his millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram and charges $1,500 for eight one-hour Skype sessions. He has trained five students so far, he said.
For a complete breakdown on how Stemplewski attracted three million TikTok followers in just three months, read our full story on Business Insider Prime:
A TikTok photographer explains how he gained 3 million followers in 3 months and was able to quit his job as an insurance actuary
And for more on how brands and TikTok stars are building a business on the app, check out these other Business Insider Prime posts:
- A milkshake brand blew up on TikTok, and its 460,000 followers have changed how it approaches marketing and its target audience: With 460,000 TikTok followers, the milkshake maker F'real has built a larger following than national brands like Chipotle, Walmart, and Burger King.
- How a pair of 30-year-old video producers turned TikTok from a side gig to their main job: Greg Auerbach and his childhood friend Nate Twer are building a business making funny videos on TikTok. They have more than 600,000 followers and nearly 14 million likes on the app.
- How TalentX plans to rule TikTok, starting with 32 influencers and a Los Angeles mansion: TalentX Entertainment is eyeing brand partnerships, merchandising, live events, and television and film development for its roster of TikTok stars.
- Marketers share what it's like to use TikTok's invite-only tool for finding the right influencers to hire for brand deals: Business Insider spoke with marketers who are beta testing TikTok's new matchmaking tool for influencers and brands, Creator Marketplace.
