How to monetize as a LinkedIn Content Creator

This is one of the most common questions I get - “How do you make money from LI?”

Okay, so I’ve been saying I started posting on LinkedIn 10 months ago but obviously I’m not a mathematician because January to October is 9 months.. 

But anyways, today I wanted to share how I monetize as a content creator on LinkedIn! 

Most of them are general ways that content creators will generate income but the first one is probably the easiest to do through LinkedIn and the first way I monetized. 

🌟 BTW - Join the waitlist for my LinkedIn Growth Accelerator Program: https://forms.gle/DcobbMHtirLyi9wh9

1. Beehiiv Boosts Marketplace 

I’ve talked about Beehiiv in most of my previous posts (I use it as my newsletter platform), they have a number of ways to monetize but this one is called Boosts. 

Basically, when someone lands on my newsletter website, which generates most of its traffic from LinkedIn, they’ll see an option to subscribe to other “sponsored” aka boosted newsletters.

There’s a Boosts marketplace where you can apply to boost other newsletters that’re in your niche and they pay you per verified subscriber. 

Beehiiv will do all the backend for verifying if the subscribers are real and you get paid pretty decently and it’s basically passive income for you. 

Plus, you get to check out the other cool newsletters in your niche and I’ve noticed it helped put my name out there with other cyber creators. 

Shameless plug for my Beehiiv affiliate link 👀 - you can try it out with a 30-day free trial + 20% off for 3 months using my sign-up link - https://www.beehiiv.com?via=Sandra-Liu 

2. Post Sponsorships 

This one’s easy to explain since most of you should know it. Basically when companies pay creators to post about their brand/products. 

Usually there’s a CTA (call to action) for the creator to direct their audience to that benefits the brand in some way, whether through buying a product or getting views/impressions. 

I’m not new to sponsorships since I have experience with it on YT/IG, but the general rule of thumb is that brands pay $100 for every 10k followers for a post. So - 50k followers = $500 for a post. 

HOWEVER** I feel this does not accurately represent engagement, niche value, audience loyalty, etc. I would not use this in “real-life” negotiations but it’s more of a benchmark (as a baseline amount). 

I have done sponsorships that go above this general rule-of-thumb calculation, but each brand will have vastly different budgets for sponsorships (e.g. startups vs big tech). 

I can make another post about how to get sponsorships and negotiate for them on LinkedIn as well if you guys are interested!

3. My Digital Products 

This is one of my smaller streams of income, but I know creators who have 7-figure digital product revenue so don’t sleep on this. 

Just for reference, these are mine: https://withsandra.square.site/ 

Most of them range from $5-$25 so it’s a pretty fair price, especially since my audience is primarily entry-level/early career. 

This is an income stream that is also very passive since you can create a product once and then sell it (and update as needed) forever! 

I don’t push my digital products very often but your monetization strategy might focus on them, especially if you sell courses. 

Always nice to know your options and keep them in mind! 

4. Premium Newsletter Subscriptions 

This is a fairly new stream of income for me. As discussed, Beehiiv has lots of way to monetize and one of them is paid newsletter subscribers. 

I send out my newsletter weekly but I’ll add a Premium section on there that can only be seen by my premium subscribers (really like how Beehiiv has lots of customization options for this). 

This could share insider info, resources, or anything else that provides value to your audience. 

I usually share a plug for it at the end of each newsletter and it’s around $8/month. (Ex: https://www.withsandra.dev/subscribe) 

5. Affiliate Programs 

When you’re posting about a product that you’ve used and recommend, affiliate links give you a small kickback when someone buys from your link. 

Most of them have 30-60 day cookies so a sale gets credited back to you if someone buys within that time window. 

Many brands are on sites like Impact, CJ, Partnerize, etc and they usually have affiliate marketplaces so you can apply to individual affiliate programs. 

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Okay! These are the 5 ways I monetize my LinkedIn :) I started some of these on Day 1 of posting when I had below 3,000 followers so you can start this at any size to see results.

But first and foremost: Your content should bring value to your audience. 

There is no easy cash grab here. No one will trust what you share if it’s obvious you’re just posting for a quick buck, people aren’t dumb and it’s easy to tell. 

Stay true to your audience, focus on organic growth, and monetize in a way and a pace that makes sense for you and your community! 

Hope all of this helps. Have a great rest of your week :D 

- Sandra