Self-media is still a shortcut for ordinary people to make money!

This article deeply analyzes the current situation and future trends of the self-media industry, and answers the question of whether self-media is still an effective way to make money. It is recommended for individuals and content creators who are interested in self-media entrepreneurship, and hopes to provide guidance and inspiration for your creation and monetization.

Hello, fellow villagers. I am the village chief.

On May 24, 2023, WeChat official accounts issued an announcement to regulate marketing content.

Soon after, on July 11, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued 13 articles on the control of self-media.

In addition, content platforms such as Douyin and Toutiao have different control measures.

On one hand, it is difficult to monetize, and on the other hand, the number of followers increases slowly, so many friends are asking, is there still a chance to make money by doing self-media now?

1. Users always have a demand for content consumption

The most important criterion for determining whether an industry is profitable is to see whether there is user demand.

Just like now, if you still plan to publish a newspaper or a magazine, it is 100% a failure.

The reason is simple, most users don't need it.

Compared to newspapers, users can read on their mobile phones anytime and anywhere, and obtain more information than a newspaper, and most importantly, it is free.

But if you look at the essence, from books, newspapers, magazines to television, forums, public accounts, Douyin accounts, Toutiao accounts, etc., what changes is the carrier, and what remains unchanged is the content.

In the past, newspapers published news, and now public accounts and Douyin accounts also publish news.

In the past, submissions to newspapers included business reviews, interviews with people, analysis of phenomena, and resource cooperation. Today, the same is true of what you see through Toutiao, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Kuaishou.

Therefore, in another ten or twenty years, users will still want to read jokes, beauties, hot news, and business reviews.

2. Everyone has the right to express themselves and everyone produces content

The reason why everyone finds it difficult to create their own media nowadays is mainly because everyone can become a content creator.

Regardless of the quality of the content he creates, at least he, experts and writers have equal rights to express themselves.

This has led to a saturation of content supply in the market, with some random content even being read more than carefully crafted content.

Because of this, the requirements for our content creation have also increased.

But many people get scared and confused at this stage.

Recently, many self-media authors have said that their income has declined. I believe that this period of pain will last for a long time. This is essentially a means for the platform to screen users.

It all depends on who really wants to create great content and who is just here to take advantage of others.

Of course, this reminds us that if we still want to do self-media now.

The era of shoddy work is definitely over. If the content you write is not good and is just blindly copied and pasted, it will definitely not last long and will not be able to be profitable.

In the past, when they were editing TV series and movies, they just had to move the footage around. Now look at how refined the editing of TV series and movies has become.

3. Higher requirements for monetization capabilities of content creators

In the past, when running your own media, you just had to reap the advertising revenue from the platform.

Some content creators can earn thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars from a popular video or article.

However, this method of monetization is both simple and dangerous, after all, the platform is losing money.

Once the platform reaches a certain scale and cancels or significantly reduces its share of the profits, it will be a fatal blow to many self-media.

And what does the platform need?

What the platform needs is that you can bring in traffic and generate revenue at the same time.

So you see why the platform supports live PK, live streaming with goods, picture and text columns, etc., because it is you who bring creative income to the platform.

So when you are doing self-media, you must think clearly about what your future monetization method will be?

Is it selling goods and courses on the platform? Or is it directing traffic to private domains to engage in paid communities, offline training, and paid consulting?

You must design and improve your own back-end monetization path. Most self-media authors, even if they have 1 million followers, ultimately fail in monetization because the platform cannot keep paying you money.

4. Self-media is still the simplest and most effective way to make money

For ordinary people, apart from work, self-media is really the cheapest opportunity for trial and error.

Of course, you can also choose to deliver takeout, express delivery, or set up a street stall. As long as you can endure the wind and sun, the probability and amount of making money will definitely be higher than that of self-media.

But in terms of cost-effectiveness, writing articles, shooting short videos, and doing secondary creative editing are relatively easy.

As for making money through self-media, I personally still think there is a chance.

1. Users always have the demand for content consumption, from reading articles, story novels, news, TV dramas, watching you dance, sing, act, and watch comedy plots.

2. At least in the next five to ten years, platform subsidies for content creation will still exist. As long as there is competition, there will be platforms willing to spend money.

Even if the revenue from this part is less, you can still make money from high-quality content.

3. As merchants and brands, they all have the need to promote their products, whether it is opening a physical store offline or selling tickets, movie tickets, merchandise, group purchase coupons, etc. offline.

Especially for those born in the 2000s and even the 2010s, their way of life and consumption is the Internet.

The Internet is their core channel for obtaining information, communication, transaction, learning and monetization.

4. From the perspective of selling products and services, online self-media is your core means of attracting traffic and realizing monetization.

Either you have your own products and use Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu to build your own persona and drive product promotion and transactions.

Either you have your own private domain, and you can direct traffic to WeChat through Zhihu, official accounts, video accounts, etc. to make conversions in the private domain.

So sometimes when you are doing self-media, although you don’t make money directly from a certain platform, you make money by directing traffic from the platform to WeChat private domains, WeChat groups, and offline physical stores.

Just like there was a tour guide from Xinjiang who became popular not long ago. Although he did not sell goods on Douyin or do live broadcast rewards, he had more than enough requests for offline interviews every month through private message inquiries, because one video brought tens of thousands of real local tour guide leads, which is real money.

Therefore, don’t have a one-sided understanding of making money through self-media as just earning a share of the platform’s traffic, live broadcast rewards, or taking advertisements. Remember that self-media is a monetization channel, and the core of making money still lies in the acceptance of your products and services.

Author: Shili Village

Source: WeChat public account "Shili Village (ID: shilipxl)"