From how media should make profits, this article explains the down-to-earth ways to make money this year

People often ask me: "I want to create a self-media account, but how can I make money? Does it have to have hundreds of thousands of fans?"

Every time I hear this question, I want to ask a question: "Have you ever seen a boss who runs a canteen waiting for thousands of repeat customers to start purchasing?"

Don't be fooled by those arguments that "if you have few fans, you can't realize it." Today, in 2026, the logic of making money from media has long changed-it is not that you have fans first and then make money, but that you make money while doing it, and multiple channels bloom. Today, let's use the most popular vernacular to figure out this account clearly.

The first axe: rely on "traffic" to make a living, and the platform will pay you

This is the most basic way to make money. It is equivalent to "clearing wasteland" on the platform, and the platform will subsidize you based on your harvest.

If you post videos on Douyin, post manuscripts on Station B, and write articles on the public account, the platform will insert advertisements in your content. As long as there is traffic and someone watches the ad, you will get a share of the money. This is like a "running table" in a shopping mall. The greater the traffic, the more "sub-money" you will have.

Who makes money from this?

Film and television commentary number: Editing a movie, coupled with your own complaints, with millions of views, and getting a share of the advertising.

Life Vlog: Record daily life in rural areas, treasure mothers and children. Fans watch it with gusto, and the platform will automatically settle for you.

There is a creator in a third-tier city who relies on filming local street snacks and vegetable markets to bargain prices. He only has tens of thousands of fans, but the monthly platform share is stable at 3,000 - 5,000 yuan. Coupled with scattered cooperation, it is normal for him to earn more than 10,000 yuan a month.

New changes in 2026: Now AI tools can help you quickly edit, write titles, and even generate dubbing. It used to take half a day to cut a video, but now it is done in half an hour. The efficiency doubles. As the output increases, the income naturally increases.

Second axe: Live on "ability" and turn knowledge into commodities

If you know a little more than others in a certain field, this is your "gold mine".

What is knowledge payment? Pack up your experience and sell it. You can do PS retouching pictures, and you can give an "Intensive Portrait Course that Xiaobai Can Learn"; you can organize and store it, and you can sell "Farewell to the Disorder: 10 Classes Make Your Home Big by 20 Square"; even if you are only special. Good at collecting wool and finding coupons can also teach others how to save money.

Real case:

A creator who is good at Excel forms organizes the function formulas used in his work into e-books and video lessons, and hangs them in the account window. Dozens of copies are sold steadily every month at a unit price of 99 yuan, which is a passive income of several thousand yuan. It is produced once, sold for a long time, and someone pays for it while sleeping.

Special note: Don't think about waiting until you become an "expert" before starting. You only need to know a little more than your fans to teach Xiaobai who has just begun. College students teach high school students, and migrant workers teach interns. This logic is completely true.

The third axe: rely on "bringing goods" to make a living and selling other people's products to earn commissions

This may be the fastest way to get money at present and relatively friendly to the threshold.

The first type: Alliance brings goods (window window)

When you open the window function of your account, there are a huge number of goods in the shopping square, from snacks for a few yuan to small appliances worth hundreds of yuan. You link a product link to a video or live broadcast room, someone places an order, and you get a commission, usually ranging from 10% to 30%. The platform is responsible for delivery and after-sales, you just need to shout.

For example, the account "Tissue Princess" is behind the "Factory Second Generation" of the paper company. She posts videos on Douyin and opens a window to sell her own tissue. She has more than 300,000 fans, nearly 10,000 orders were sold in the window, and sales of about 300,000.

The second type: Live broadcast with goods (on-site sales)

Returning young people from Huan County, Gansu Province sell local soba noodles, handmade soy sauce, and mutton in the live broadcast room during the Chinese New Year. In front of the camera is the farmhouse, and the anchor is the next door's sister-in-law, making and selling it now. Daily sales during the Spring Festival stabilized at more than 10,000 yuan.

Key logic: You don't need to be a big Internet celebrity. Even if you only have a few hundred people online at the same time, as long as the goods are right and the people are trustworthy, the conversion rate will still be high. Trust is more valuable than traffic.

Fourth axe: Relying on "advertising" to make a living, the brand comes to you to invest money

This is the most familiar model to everyone: with more fans, brands come to you.

But the new trend in 2026 is that brands value "precision powder" more than "big water powder". What does that mean? A person who runs a fishing account has only 50,000 fans, but they are all fishing enthusiasts. Fishing gear brands would rather choose the 50,000 precision number than the 500,000 pan-entertainment number because of the high conversion rate.

Trade secrets: For vertical accounts with about 10,000 fans, an advertising quote ranges from a few thousand to tens of thousands, making more money than many "zombie accounts" with hundreds of thousands of fans. So don't think that your field is narrow, because it is valuable only when it is narrow.

The fifth axe: rely on the "private domain" to eat and put traffic into your pockets

This is a high-level gameplay and a long-term meal ticket.

Many creators channel fans from major platforms to their WeChat groups or personal accounts. Why? Because on the platform, traffic belongs to the platform, if the algorithm changes, the recommendations are gone, and revenue will fall like a cliff. But add it to WeChat, and your fans become your "asset".

How to make money?

Member community: Establish a paying group and collect tens of yuan per month. The group shares exclusive dry goods, industry resources, and even just accompanying people to answer questions.

Group buying goods: Initiate group buying in the group, fruits, specialties, and books are directly connected to the supply chain, and the profit is higher than the window commission.

Consultation/Service: If you have a career account, the group is full of young people who want to change jobs. Provide resume revisions and career counseling for 399 yuan/time, which is the service premium.

There is a blogger who does home decoration. He pulls his fans into the WeChat group, where he buys furniture and shares decoration experience. He earns 400,000 yuan a year alone in community membership fees and group purchase shares. This is the power of the "private domain".

A guide to avoiding traps for novices

1. Don't just focus on fan numbers

Which do you choose,"I have 100,000 fans but earn 2,000 a month" or "I only have 20,000 fans but earn 20,000 a month"? The latter is more common. The quality of fans is far more important than the quantity.

2. Don't stick to one way to monetize money

Smart creators are all "combination boxing": guaranteed advertising share + pocket money by bringing goods in the window to earn pocket money + paid for knowledge to earn profits + saved money in private domain. The east is not bright and the west is bright, the platform policy has changed, and you have other income.

3. Don't wait until you're ready to start

There was a "second-generation factory" who made videos to help his factory take orders. The first video was a daily routine in the workshop taken with his mobile phone. A month later, I really signed an order through a private letter. He made some calculations: if this order uses the traditional exhibition method, the cost of obtaining customers will be at least 100,000 yuan, while relying on self-media, the cost will be almost zero.

written in the end

Self-media profits, in the final analysis, there are two words:

Treat content as a product-every manuscript and video you make is your product manual;

Treat fans as friends-friends believe in you, and they will only buy what you recommend.

Those Bao Ma who make more than 10,000 yuan a month by photographing agricultural goods in the county, the "second generation of factories" who receive large orders by photographing machines in the workshop, and the young people who save their first bucket of gold by teaching Excel in rental houses, they are no different from you. The only difference is that they made it first.

In 2026, opportunities will still exist, and people who are down-to-earth, authentic and willing to work will be preferred. Starting today, taking the first video and writing the first manuscript is better than anything else.