If you are thinking about making extra bucks through social media, this article will help you a lot. Making money through Telegram may sound silly and unrealistic (like, who makes money with a messenger?!!) but it’s a thousand-dollar idea if you do it right. In this article, we explain how to make money with Telegram bots. If you have no idea what the Telegram bots are and how you can create one, read this article.
Why Telegram for Making Money?
- There are more than 950 million active users on Telegram (watch your jaw!). This number alone proves why Telegram is a great platform for starting your business.
- Creating channels, groups, or bots on Telegram is free. So, all you need is an idea, a clear strategy, and something valuable to offer.
- There are plenty of bots there that help you manage your channel or group, sell a product or service, automate tasks, advertise your skills or products, etc.
- Telegram’s channels and groups allow you to directly connect with your audience. So, you will build a strong connection with them and gain their trust.
- Telegram is incredibly safe. Telegram’s regular chats are encrypted and are stored on Telegram’s servers (distributed across multiple data centers worldwide). Therefore, you will not worry about data breaches unless you tell your password to someone that you shouldn’t!!
- It has fascinating features, like creating folders for chats, assigning more than one admin for groups and channels, making groups private and public whenever necessary, using hashtags for different purposes, sharing stories (only for premium users), and many more.
- Whether you are a tech enthusiast, crypto trader, language learner, or fitness fan, you will find lots of like-minded people on Telegram. All you have to do is search a keyword or hashtag (like Mountaineers or Bitcoin) to find them in three seconds.
- Telegram supports various formats of files, including docs, PDF, PPT, jpeg, jpg, GIF, png, webp, mkv, gif, avi, mp4, m4v, mpg, 3gp, and many more.
- Telegram is fast and always updated. The team releases several updates a month to add interesting features or remove bugs. This has increased the speed of the messenger, the quality that’s not found in many other apps.
- Telegram can be connected to other tools like websites, CRMs, or social media.
8 Ways to Make Money with Telegram Bots
In the following paragraphs, we have introduced 8 ways to make money with Telegram bots. You can choose one or more of them based on your purpose and financial goals you have in mind.
1. Sell subscription plans.
To start, let’s see what a subscription plan is. When you offer premium or exclusive content in your Telegram channel/group and charge people for it, it’s called a subscription plan. Based on the content you provide, you can ask for weekly, monthly, or annual payments from the subscribers. Examples of subscription channels are online courses, daily learning tips, cryptocurrency analysis, stock signals, diet plans, workout routines, etc.
Running a premium channel seems easy, but believe me, it’s NOT. You have to deal with users every day, answer their questions, check their subscription status, remove those who haven’t updated their plan, and do many more boring and time-consuming tasks. Since getting an online assistant is costly (around 2.500 USD), many prefer using Telegram bots to do the hard work.
Subscription bots, like the one made by SmartBotsLand, take care of all the repetitive tasks. They:
- Send reminders to users and admin
- Say welcome and farewell to users joining and leaving the group
- Analyze your channel’s performance
- Send files to users
- Track payments
- Answer users’ FAQs
- Connect those who need more help to a human operator
They also do many more tasks that you can see by clicking here.
A Quick Tip
To attract and retain paying subscribers, use the following techniques:
- Free Demo/Trial: Offer limited free access or a trial to showcase value.
- Referral Program: Reward existing users for referring others.
- Content Teasers: Share valuable snippets to entice users to subscribe.
- Social Proof: Highlight testimonials, reviews, and success stories.
- Discounts for Longer Plans: Offer reduced pricing for annual subscriptions.
2. Promote others and get a commission.
Affiliate marketing is one of the great ways to make money with Telegram bots. In this method, you make a contract with an organization or platform and add their affiliate links into your bot’s messages or bio. When a user clicks on the link and makes a purchase or takes an action (like filling out a form), you receive a commission. That easy! Keep in mind that you should have a large channel or group to use this method. Otherwise, why would people want to work with you?
Affiliate marketing works best for those who have e-commerce, education, tourism, software, digital currency, and fitness bots. Moreover, there are different types of it, including:
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click): You get paid for every click a user makes through your link.
- PPS (Pay-Per-Sale): You earn a commission when a user makes a purchase.
- PPL (Pay-Per-Lead): You get paid when users complete an action, like signing up or filling out a form.
- Recurring commission: If you advertise subscription-based services, you receive ongoing commissions. For example, you will get paid for as long as people stay in a group or channel.
Tips to get the most of affiliate marketing:
- Don’t add spam or broken links to your posts because the users will lose their trust.
- Divide people based on their needs. Then, suggest specific links to each group to maximize the conversion rate.
- Use images, videos, and buttons in your bot to motivate users to click on links.
- Every now and then, check whether the links work properly.
Example of affiliate marketing:
User: “Show me laptops under $1000.”
Bot: “Here are the top 3 laptops under $1,000 today! Click to see more details:”
[Product 1 to $999]
[Product 2 to $950]
[Product 3 to $900]
3. Create a bot to automate tasks.
Use your creativity and make a Telegram bot that automates tasks. These bots are very popular because they make tasks easier and faster. Here are some of the automation bots already available in the market. You can add new features to them or create a new one inspired by them.
Content and image creators: use AI to create high-quality articles and images. In 2024, this is the best way to make money with Telegram bots. You can charge monthly (for an unlimited number of articles and images) or per query.
Reminder bots: design a bot that sends real-time updates and reminders to users. These bots can be used to notify people about price changes (for example, in crypto or stock), send new job vacancies to job hunters, give weather updates, etc. You can charge a monthly fee for most of these bots.
Social media management bots: create a bot that schedules Instagram, Twitter, or Telegram posts. Content creators should spend hours planning when and where the posts should be uploaded, so your Telegram bot will be a huge help to them, and they will pay for it.
Customer support bots: these bots provide 24/7 customer support for businesses. They answer users’ FAQs, so people shouldn’t wait long hours for an answer.
Booking bots: create a bot and link it to different booking websites. The bot will browse these websites and find the options matching the user’s query (for example, a flight ticket from London to Paris under $250). People will make a payment within the bot to book a hotel, restaurant, salon, and flights. Moreover, you can get money from businesses to place them in the “special offer” section.
4. Entertain people with games.
Although there are plenty of free games on Telegram, they are basic and bore people after a while (like quizzes and word games). Therefore, design a strategic game that engages people for a long time and charge them for playing it. Team-based games are also popular in Telegram, so create a bot where multiple people can play a game and compete with each other. Board games, poker, and chess are examples of such games.
5. Make a free-premium (freemium) bot.
The freemium model is one of the most effective ways to make money with Telegram bots. In this technique, first you offer basic features of the bot for free to give users a taste of what the bot can do. Then, offer advanced features and additional tools only to those who purchase the premium version. Look at the following section to see which types of bots are suitable for the freemium model:
Educational bots: the teacher offers basic educational material for free. Then, charges a fee for the advanced one.
Problem-solving bots: the technician solves a part of the problem for free. Then, people should pay for the full solution.
Productivity bots: the bot owner offers basic tools like reminders, calendars, or task management for limited or single use. Users then pay for long-term or multiple uses.
Store bots: the shopkeeper offers basic products or limited customer support to free users. The premium users, on the other hand, will have access to fast and unlimited support, exclusive catalogs, and special offers.
6. Sell digital or physical products.
Telegram store bots are rising and becoming popular day by day. You can now find numerous shop bots in this messenger that make lots of money. Creating a store bot on Telegram is done in two ways:
- Using programming languages, like Python.
- Using ready-made platforms, like SmartBotsLand.
If you have coding knowledge or one of your best friends is a programmer, go with the first option. However, if you are searching for a simpler solution, use the SmartBotsLand bot maker platform and create your e-commerce bot in 3 steps. You can sell digital and physical products, manage the inventory, add multiple payment gateways, provide different shipping options, and much more.
7. Run an advertisement.
Monetizing Telegram bots through advertising or sponsored messages is challenging, but it’s definitely worth it. The advertisement fee depends on the type of ad (banner, text message, inline button, video, etc.) and the number of your bot users. Use the following tips when advertising:
- Make the ads engaging. For example, ask the users to click a button or share the post with others.
- Avoid too many ads, as it’s intrusive.
- Only accepts ads that are relevant to your bot’s content. For instance, a fitness bot can advertise healthy food plans.
- Keep the advertisement’s design simple and align with your bot’s theme.
- Use UTM links or tracking tools (Bitly or Google Analytics) to measure clicks and conversions.
- Offer rewards like discounts or bonus features for clicking on ads.
Now you might be asking, “Where should I find an advertiser?”. Well, if you have a well-managed bot, they will find you. However, there are some platforms like Telega.io and AdGram that connect bot owners with advertisers.
8. Ask for tips and donations.
In this method, users voluntarily support a bot’s developer, creator, or service provider. This method works well when your bot provides free and high-quality services, tools, or content. Why does the tipping strategy work? Because the users are NOT forced to pay. They do it willingly, without repeating intrusive messages or pop-ups. However, the only downside to this technique is that many people close their eyes on the “tip” button and enjoy using free content; therefore, you should set a limit for using content to prevent such misuses and make money with Telegram bots.
Here are some ideas for the tip button:
- “Buy Me a Coffee”☕
- “Support My Work”💜
- “Tip the Creator”🎁
- “Leave a Tip” 💸
- “Show Your Appreciation” 🌟
- “Tip the Team.” 🤝
- “Did I help you? Support me with a small tip!” 🥰
FAQs
- What is the easiest way to monetize a Telegram bot?
The easiest ways to make money with Telegram bots are paid subscriptions, running advertisements, and receiving donations.
- Do I need coding skills to make money with Telegram bots?
Not necessarily. In fact, you can use no-code platforms like SmartBotsLand to have an advanced and professional bot.
- What can I sell through Telegram bots?
You can sell both physical and digital products (such as eBooks, online courses, files, templates, etc.) to make money with Telegram bots. Fortunately, they support various payment gateways and files so, you will have no problem with this regard.
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