CHICAGO (SCS) — He took a video of himself drinking lemonade every day for over 6 months, then called himself CBS2. Why is this a story? Well, the Sycamore man was making money doing it, and Morning Insiders got to thinking: how do influencers make money?
Lauren Victory took a look at sausage making on social media with the help of two local TikTok stars.
It was 105 degrees in Douglass Park, but Robert Carpenter was there to increase the pressure on his TikTok account.
“I try to post at least three to four times a day,” the 21-year-old said.
Older people may not understand the appeal of content creation, but Carpenter’s seemingly mundane challenges — like drinking lemonade for 200 days straight — helped him meet famous people, like Cole Bennett of Lyrical Lemonade, music video director.
Losing it while playing “Sweet Home Alabama” for 7 hours straight caught the attention of CBS 2 last year. We told the band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd singer invited Carpenter and his friends to a gig.
The influencer accumulates cool experiences and pockets money. He estimates that he has earned about $2,000 over the past three years.
“When I finally started getting paid for TikTok, I was like, ‘Wow. I have an opportunity. I have a real chance,'” said Carpenter, who lives in Sycamore.
Millions of people have seen videos posted by Dr. Katrine Wallace of the University of Illinois at Chicago. She creates content about COVID-19 and other diseases.
She gets paid based on views every few weeks on TikTok Creators Fund. The guidelines state that video creators can get money if they have an account in good standing and:
– Be at least 18 years old
– Have at least 10,000 subscribers
– Have at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days
– Publish original content
“I won $648,” said Wallace, who showed us his 1099 federal income tax form.
The epidemiologist could earn more if she accepts sponsorship opportunities or is tied to certain products. She says she declines the offers.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with these things. It’s just that my mission is public health information, and I have to build trust in order to get people to believe what I say,” Dr. Wallace said.
Carpenter does a few endorsement videos, but most of the time he’s sweating it out trying to break into the digital marketing industry.
ICT Tac devotes an entire section to the rules of “branded content” on its website but there is no simple explanation of what is allowed for a paid partnership.
Perhaps a sign of the times — the Federal Trade Commission has created a guide called “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers”.
Lauren Victory
