Need to monetize content? Check out Patreon and Locals
Per usual, Triumph received no financial compensation from the listed companies for writing this article. Straight from the heart, baby.
Turn your creativity into a career
In a content-driven economy, it can be difficult for the most creative among us to find a way to effectively monetize their genius. And let’s be honest, YouTube ad revenue alone, at least at the time of this publication, ain’t enough to cut it as a lead income stream. Not even close.
Altruistic as you may be, it’s simple not fair to yourself to give away large amounts of exclusive content without proper monetary reward. You deserve payment for your hardwork and, in rare occurrences, dumping large amount of information onto the internet for free may come back to bite you:
It’s not likely, but keep it in the back of your head.
You deserve to be recognized for that big creative brain of yours. But if only there was a fair way to organize, monetize, and market the product you create. Better yet, if only there was some sort of system to reward your consumers with more content if they contribute more to your project cost. Oh wait, I guess someone really thought this through—because now there is. Welcome to Patreon and Locals.
The power of membership
Patreon ain’t the new kid on the block. This creative monetization platform has been around for a while now, and has successfully helped tens of thousands of creatives turn their talent into a viable career (or side-hustle) option.
Patreon’s value proposition is simple but powerful. The platform allows creators to organize their content into subscription tiers and build monthly membership rolls. Whether your content is written, visual, a podcast, or really anything else you can think of, Patreon allows users to seamlessly control who sees what—and for how much.
For example, say you have a burgeoning YouTube & Rumble presence (because you’re sharp and read our article on it), but you’re looking to expand your content offering even further. By linking your online presence to Patreon, you’ll then be able to monetize exclusive content behind custom monthly membership tiers.
This is where you can really let your creativity shine. Maybe for $10 a month, you’ll let your members see video content a week before it hits the general web. Then for $15 a month, your members can also enjoy exclusive content that won’t be available on your public channels. Finally, if you really want to stir up your base, you could even offer live Q&A’s for community members that contribute $25 a month.
Patreon is a build your own adventure in the truest sense. You have complete and rather nuanced control over what content is available, who can see it, and how much is fair to pay. You can create an identical system to the one we laid out above, or you can scrap all of our ideas and go in a completely different direction. Either way, we’re confident you’ll find success.
Now we know what you’re probably thinking right about now, “what of the fees?” Well, our frugal friend, you’re in luck. Patreon does charge for the use of their platform, but not in a way that will put you in debt.
Rather that charge creators a flat monthly fee, Patreon simply keeps a percentage of your monthly earnings. The platform offers three tiers, ranging from 5% of sales to 12% of sales. The mid-tier option, coming in at 8% of sales, is what we usually recommend. It’ll give you access to a host of monetization and creative features without forcing you to give way more than a tenth of all your earnings. Losing that much value through processing fees is, frankly, not a very cash money way of doing business.
If you think Patreon might be the right fit for you, check them out here. If they feel a little too pricey for your blood, keep reading to check out another great option, Locals.
Keep it Local
Locals has recently emerged in the creator monetization market as a direct competitor to Patreon. Think of it this way: Locals is to Patreon what Rumble is to YouTube. Locals is less liable to censor, but there’s also less traffic on the platform overall (at least at the time of publication). Beyond that, the two sites’ value propositions are nearly identical—except Locals refers to monthly supporters as your “community” rather than your Patreon members.
The power of community
Instead of allowing direct monetary transactions, Locals “gamifies” the subscription process by allowing viewers to purchase and gift “coins” to their favorite content creators. This fictional currency adds another element of fun to the creator-consumer relationship, and the standard conversion rate is 10 Locals Coins = $1 US.
After doing some math on the coin conversions, it appears that Locals charges a 10% transaction fee across the board, but they also offer the full suite of monetization options to every creator on the platform. So, think of this 10% as equivalent to the 12% tier plan option on Patreon.
Returning for a moment to our opening analogy, Locals also has a partnership with Rumble that allows creators to imbed their Locals page directly within a Rumble video page. So, if your primary revenue driver is Rumble, Locals might be the best place to begin your content monetization investigation.
If any of this intel piqued your interest, consider buying local and checking out the Locals platform today.
See mom, creativity can be a career
If you’ve built up a substantial following on the internets, and are ready to translate that good will into additional capital, consider giving Patreon and Locals a look today. I mean, hey, what’ve you got to lose? There’s no money down required. And if the relationship works out, shoot us over the link. We just might join your Community or Membership block. If you’re really special, maybe we’ll join both.
As always, feel free to Ask Triumph with any additional questions and consider Supporting the Team.
All views expressed in the article are opinions of the author and should not be misconstrued as professional consulting or legal advice. Users are responsible for verifying all information before taking action, and Triumph Group LLC is not responsible for any outcomes. Pursue subjects at your own risk. Seriously, man. It’s your life.
