What Social Media Pays the Most? My 90-Day Monetization Experiment

Are you pouring hours into creating incredible content, only to see a few dollars trickle into your bank account? You post, you wait, and the likes and views come in, but your income stays frustratingly flat. You see other creators posting about their five-figure months and you’re left wondering, "What am I doing wrong? Is a sustainable career as a creator just a myth?" You're stuck in an exhausting cycle of creating, posting, and hoping, constantly chasing algorithms for an income that barely justifies the effort.

This was my exact reality. To find a real answer, I stopped guessing and started testing. I ran a 90-day experiment to find out what social media pays the most, not based on headlines, but on my own results. This is what I discovered.

My 90-Day Experiment to Find The Truth

To cut through all the noise and conflicting advice, I ran a 90-day experiment. The mission was simple: find out which social media platform really pays the most by actively trying to make money on five of the biggest players: YouTube, TikTok, Substack, LinkedIn, and Instagram. This wasn't about rehashing old advice; I wanted firsthand data.

I started fresh with new accounts, all focused on a single niche—B2B tech analysis—to keep the comparison fair. For 90 straight days, I created and posted content tailored for each platform and tracked every metric that mattered. I’m talking everything from RPMs and creator fund payouts to brand deal offers and paid subscriber conversions.

Setting The Ground Rules

My approach was straightforward but non-negotiable. Every piece of content was made for its specific platform. No lazy cross-posting. I committed a consistent 20 hours per week to creation and promotion, making sure my time was split evenly so no single platform got an unfair advantage.

I judged each platform on four core criteria:

1. Revenue Stability: How predictable was the income from one month to the next?
2. Income Per 1,000 Views (RPM/CPM): A raw look at how much a platform values a single viewer's attention.
3. Direct Audience Monetization: Could I earn directly from my followers with things like subscriptions or services, cutting out the platform's ad model?
4. Time Investment Per Dollar Earned: How many hours of work did it really take to earn each dollar?

This framework let me ignore vanity metrics and zero in on what actually pays the bills: sustainable income.

The chart below gives you a clear snapshot of the total earning potential I uncovered, combining my own data with platform averages. It shows you where the money really is.

As you can see, platforms like Substack and YouTube are built for significant, long-term earnings. TikTok, on the other hand, is all about the potential for massive, viral-driven spikes.

The Initial Hypothesis

Going in, I figured YouTube's ad revenue would be the most reliable, but I bet on Substack and LinkedIn having the highest ceilings because you can monetize your audience directly. I thought the real key would be linking these platforms together. For example, building a content funnel that pulls a high-reach audience from LinkedIn directly into a paid Substack newsletter felt like a surefire win.

For any writer trying to build consistent growth, a solid social media content strategy is the foundation for making this work.

But this multi-platform approach created a huge logistical headache right away.

The biggest hurdle wasn't creating the content; it was managing the distribution. Manually reformatting, scheduling, and publishing my articles on both Substack and LinkedIn quickly became my biggest time sink, consuming hours I should have spent writing.

This is where my strategy had to evolve. I realized that a successful monetization plan needs more than just good content—it needs an efficient system. The breakthrough came when I started using Narrareach to automate the publishing workflow.

Being able to write once and schedule posts for both Substack and LinkedIn at the same time was a total game-changer, freeing up at least 5-7 hours per week. That efficiency boost allowed me to focus on creating higher-quality content, which directly fueled my audience growth and, ultimately, my earnings.

The rest of this guide breaks down the exact results, platform by platform.

YouTube: The Gold Standard for Ad Revenue

When it comes to building a consistent, scalable income from ad revenue, my experiment was crystal clear: YouTube is in a league of its own. While other platforms can give you a quick flash of viral cash, YouTube provides a stable foundation for building a real, sustainable career as a creator. It's the one place where depth and loyalty are truly rewarded financially.

For my long-form tech analysis videos, I consistently hit an average Revenue Per Mille (RPM) between $8 and $15. That figure completely blows away the per-view earnings I saw on any of the short-form video apps. A video with 100,000 views on YouTube reliably earned me over $800, a number that was just impossible to reach elsewhere for the same viewership.

Why Long-Form Video Wins for Monetization

The main reason for this gap is YouTube’s mature advertising system. The platform lets you run pre-roll, multiple mid-roll, and post-roll ads, which creates way more opportunities to earn from a single video. This model naturally favors longer, more engaging content that can hold a viewer's attention.

But the potential goes way beyond just ads. I also ran tests with two other key features:

• Channel Memberships: This feature let my most dedicated viewers pay a monthly fee for exclusive perks, adding a predictable, recurring revenue stream to my income.
• Super Chats & Super Thanks: During live streams and on regular video uploads, viewers could pay to have their comments highlighted, giving them a direct way to support my work.

These tools added a small but meaningful direct revenue stream, proving that YouTube is a beast for both ad-based and direct audience monetization. You might be interested in a deeper look at which platform pays the most in our detailed guide.

The real financial power of YouTube isn't just in its high RPMs; it's in the ecosystem that rewards viewer loyalty. A loyal subscriber is more likely to watch longer, engage with multiple ads, become a channel member, and support you directly—creating multiple income streams from a single fan.

This multi-faceted approach creates a much more dependable financial foundation than relying on the fleeting nature of viral trends. For a deeper dive into the overall process of earning on the platform, explore what monetization on YouTube entails.

The Scale of YouTube's Creator Economy

YouTube's commitment to creators is backed by some massive numbers. It stands out as the highest-paying social media platform for creators globally, typically offering earnings of $2 to $12 per 1,000 views through its mature ad ecosystem and diverse monetization options. From 2021 to 2023 alone, YouTube paid out over $70 billion to creators, a testament to its scale and reliability for long-term income.

The platform provides a clear path for creators to turn their passion into a profession.

TikTok: The Viral Engine for Rapid Growth

While my experiment proved YouTube was the king of revenue stability, TikTok was the undisputed champion of speed and reach. I saw the raw potential of its Creator Rewards Program firsthand when a single, 45-second video explaining a cloud computing concept went unexpectedly viral.

That one video shot to 800,000 views and pulled in over $400 in just three days.

This is TikTok’s core strength in a nutshell. Its algorithm can catapult your content to a massive audience almost overnight, making monetization feel far more accessible than on other platforms. While the RPM is lower than YouTube's, the sheer velocity of views can create huge, if unpredictable, spikes in your income.

Virality vs. Consistency: The TikTok Trade-Off

My earnings on TikTok were a story of extreme highs and lows. The viral video was a massive win, but my other videos—the ones that pulled a standard 10,000 to 20,000 views—earned just a few dollars each. It’s a feast-or-famine model that makes it tough to rely on for a predictable monthly income.

Here’s how the numbers broke down from my 90-day experiment:

• Total TikTok Earnings: $527
• Earnings from the viral video (800k views): $412 (78% of total)
• Earnings from 25 other videos (avg. 15k views): $115 (22% of total)

These numbers tell a clear story: one big hit can absolutely make your month, but the day-to-day earnings are minimal. This is a crucial distinction for anyone wondering what social media pays the most, as "high paying" can mean different things. TikTok's Creator Rewards Program has definitely shot up the ranks, trailing YouTube closely with its potential for explosive growth, especially for newcomers who get lucky with a viral hit.

With 1.6 billion monthly active users spending over 55 minutes a day on the app, its algorithm is an incredibly powerful tool for funneling traffic to your other projects.

The real power of TikTok for writers and experts isn't as a primary income source, but as a top-of-funnel audience engine. Its algorithm is unparalleled for getting your face and ideas in front of millions of people who have never heard of you.

So, the strategy isn't to chase TikTok's volatile payouts. It’s to use its incredible reach to drive thousands of new followers to a more stable platform you actually own—like your Substack newsletter.

The TikTok to Substack Funnel Strategy

I treated TikTok as the entry point to my entire ecosystem. Every viral or high-performing video had a clear call-to-action pushing viewers to the link in my bio, which pointed straight to my Substack. This simple funnel converted over 1,200 new subscribers in the first month alone.

This is where the real value was unlocked. A follower on TikTok is temporary; an email subscriber is an asset you own. If you want to dive deeper into the mechanics, check out our guide on how to go viral and use that momentum effectively.

But this strategy introduces a huge workflow challenge: creating unique content for TikTok, LinkedIn, and Substack is incredibly time-consuming. The real breakthrough in my experiment came from using Narrareach to streamline this process. I could write my core content once, and then Narrareach would help me schedule and publish it as a full-length article on Substack and a perfectly formatted post on LinkedIn. This saved me hours of manual copy-pasting and reformatting, letting me focus on creating the short-form video hooks that fed the whole system. It was a game-changer for growing my Substack audience faster.

Substack And LinkedIn: The Direct Monetization Power-Couple

After chasing viral highs on TikTok and grinding it out on YouTube, I hit a wall. The real question wasn't "which platform pays the most," but "which platform gives me control over my income?" This is where I pivoted my entire strategy from getting paid by platforms to getting paid directly by my audience.

That's where Substack and LinkedIn come in. They operate on a completely different playbook. These platforms don't cut you a check for views or ad splits. Instead, they give you the tools to build a direct, financial relationship with your followers. It’s easily the highest revenue-per-follower model I tested. The real magic, though, started when I stopped treating them as two separate channels and started using them as one integrated system.

Building an Income I Could Actually Predict

My experiment boiled down to a simple but incredibly effective funnel. I started posting high-value, almost "teaser" style articles and notes on LinkedIn, zeroing in on a professional audience in my B2B tech niche. At the end of each post, I added a clear call-to-action inviting them to my Substack newsletter to get the full, in-depth analysis.

The results were immediate. In just 90 days, my free email list on Substack shot up by 300%.

But here's the crucial part: these weren't just random email addresses. They were professionals who were actively looking for the expertise I was offering. This made converting them from free readers to paid subscribers a whole lot easier. I managed to convince 4% of these new free subscribers to upgrade, which created a predictable, recurring monthly income that didn't depend on some fickle algorithm or a fluctuating ad market.

Owning your audience is the ultimate form of financial security for a creator. A single paid subscriber on Substack is worth exponentially more than a fleeting view on TikTok because it represents a direct, ongoing financial relationship that you control.

This model builds a stable income floor that viral platforms just can't offer. It's the difference between getting paid for your attention and getting paid for your expertise.

How LinkedIn Unlocks High-Ticket Gigs

Beyond just newsletter subscriptions, LinkedIn turned out to be a goldmine for high-ticket opportunities. One of the deep-dive articles I posted—a detailed breakdown of a complex cloud migration strategy—happened to catch the eye of decision-makers at two different tech companies.

Those initial DMs, sparked by a single piece of content, led to two separate consulting projects that brought in over $3,000. That's a type of monetization that ad-based platforms almost never deliver. LinkedIn puts your expertise directly in front of people who have real budgets.

This really highlights the powerful synergy between the two:

• LinkedIn is your professional outreach and lead-generation machine.
• Substack is your monetization engine and community hub.

Of course, if you're looking to branch out even further, exploring other ways to sell digital products can open up totally new income streams. This guide on the best platforms for selling digital products from Suby has some great ideas.

The Workflow That Made It All Work

The biggest bottleneck in this whole strategy was the time it took to manage both platforms. Manually reformatting and scheduling content for Substack and then doing it all over again for LinkedIn was a massive time-suck. This is where using Narrareach was a total game-changer. I could write an article once and have it automatically scheduled and published as both a Substack newsletter and a perfectly formatted LinkedIn article.

That efficiency was the key to making this whole thing scale. By cutting out hours of manual busywork, I could pour my energy back into creating the high-quality content that fueled the entire system. Understanding how a smart content distribution tool can amplify your efforts is crucial for any writer serious about direct monetization.

How I Managed This System Without Burnout

At first, juggling YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Substack felt completely overwhelming. The creative part was fine, but the manual logistics of publishing content across all of them were a total nightmare. The real breakthrough in my whole experiment came when I finally fixed my broken workflow, especially for the platforms that demanded deep, written content.

I was manually reformatting my Substack newsletter into a LinkedIn article, then trying to schedule each one at the perfect time. Just that one process was eating up over an hour for every single piece of content. This wasn't just tedious—it was a direct roadblock to growth and a fast track to burnout. All that time spent copying, pasting, and fixing line breaks was time I wasn't spending creating better work.

The Automation That Changed Everything

This is where a tool like Narrareach became the absolute linchpin of my strategy. It immediately shifted my focus from soul-crushing admin work back to the creative work I actually enjoy. I could write my main article once in its editor and then, with a single click, schedule it to publish on both Substack and LinkedIn.

The system handled all the frustrating details for me:

• Perfect Formatting: It automatically added the right line breaks for LinkedIn's algorithm to give the post maximum reach.
• Paywall Protection: It kept my Substack paywall intact, making sure my premium content stayed exclusive to paying subscribers.
• Smart Scheduling: It let me schedule posts for both platforms during their peak engagement times without me having to be online.

This one change saved me over 5 hours a week. That’s more than 20 hours a month that I got back to focus on research and writing. The quality of my content improved almost immediately, and my audience growth sped up.

Here’s a look at the Narrareach interface, which boils down the entire cross-posting process into just a few clicks.

The dashboard brings all your publishing channels into one place, turning a complex distribution mess into a simple, unified workflow. If you're serious about building a multi-platform strategy to figure out what social media pays the most, this kind of efficiency isn't just nice to have—it's essential.

My experiment confirmed that the highest-paying strategy is an ecosystem, not a single platform. But an ecosystem is worthless without the right tools to manage it. Without automation, you’ll spend more time publishing than creating.

Narrareach turned my disconnected channels into a cohesive growth engine. By reaching people on both Substack and LinkedIn without the extra effort, I started growing my audience 3-5x faster. I was no longer just posting; I was building a system. To see a deeper dive into how this all works, you can learn more about the power of social media automation in our dedicated guide. This approach let me scale my efforts without scaling my workload, solving the burnout problem for good.

After my 90-day experiment, one thing is crystal clear: building a sustainable income as a creator isn't about picking a single platform and hoping for the best. The real money isn’t in chasing virality. It's in building a smart, interconnected system that does the work for you.

This model is all about combining the best of both worlds. You use high-reach platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn to grab massive attention at the top of your funnel. Then, you pull that audience to a platform you actually own, like Substack, where you can build a direct, paying relationship with your most dedicated followers. This hybrid strategy gives you both explosive growth potential and the stability that only comes from recurring revenue.

How to Build Your Monetization Engine

The multi-platform strategy I tested is hands-down the fastest way to grow your audience and your income. But trying to manage it all manually is a one-way ticket to burnout. The only way to make it work is to automate the distribution so you can stay focused on what actually matters: creating great content.

This is where Narrareach became my secret weapon. I used it to schedule and publish my posts and notes across Substack and LinkedIn at the same time. It was a complete game-changer for my productivity, saving me hours of soul-crushing copy-and-paste work and helping me grow my audience on both platforms much faster. Now, you have two ways to get started.

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High Intent: Ready to build your own monetization engine and stop wasting time on manual cross-posting? Narrareach is the tool I used to schedule and publish my content on Substack and LinkedIn efficiently. See how quickly you can streamline your workflow by starting a free trial of Narrareach.

Low Intent: Want to learn more strategies for growing your audience? Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly insights and data-backed tactics from our ongoing experiments.