I Earned $503 in 1 week from Making Tiktok Filter without a Single Client — My AR Side Hustle
First Week of January— Revealing my TikTok Effect House Paycheck
If you have known me for a while, you know I am a nerd for Augmented Reality. I have been making AR experience since 2019, it started as a hobby- as a tech geek. Then, I focused on building an Augmented Reality Experience for Social Media with my AR Studio —Filterqu. We have been creating social media campaigns utilizing Augmented Reality for brands; games, quizzes, beauty & makeup effects, costume effects, VFX, and more.
I have worked with Meta, Watsons Malaysia, Ditusi Gaming, Hansaplast Beiersdoff, and Implora Cosmetic.
I specialized in more complex effects; games, visual effects, scripting with JavaScript, etc.
However, for my personal TikTok account, I tried to test out some fun effects, something that is engaging.
What is the Augmented Reality Effect?
Augmented reality effects (the media called it filter) are a fun and engaging way to enhance your social media presence. Previously considered as a niche technology feature, AR has become more mainstream thanks to social media filters that have brought the technology to the eyes of a global audience. What used to be one-off fun is now including multi-use and everyday utility.
Many people asked me why I make filters on social media when I can make something more fancy with my AI and machine Learning domain(or more useful) knowing I am working in the Data Science field. Well, for me the answer is simple.
The Joy of Sharing
I have reached 5 Billion total impressions with 5 years of experience building AR in social media for my projects and my clients.
And hey, this is on social media, which means by launching my AR work on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, I have eliminated the barrier for my future users to access my creation.
Apart from that, for my Machine Learning project, I signed an NDA with clients that prohibited me from sharing the project details…
Duh! Of course, you work in Data, Ellen!
Another fun relatable example of AR is Pokemon Go.
More industry examples:
- DHL uses augmented reality to assist in the picking process.
- Boeing uses augmented reality for electrical wiring training.
- Bosch uses augmented reality for automotive workshops.
I have created more than 150++ TikTok experiences since 2019.
And.. no.. I don’t monetize all of it. Roughly I monetized 30% of it — and mostly through client deals. I was commissioned to make AR Experiences for my clients- typical tech gigs.
This year-2024. I haven’t had any AR work.
However, with Tiktok Effect House Creator Rewards — I got rewards based on the number of qualified videos published by Tiktok Users who use my effects.
Today is 8 January 2024,
This is how much I made…
I made $503.83 USD on first week of 2024 on a single effect from Effect House Creator Rewards.
These rewards are based on 200.127 qualified videos published from one effect I made — my Roman Empire. Creators collect rewards based on total qualified video publishes, or unique videos from eligible regions that used their effect within the first 90 days.
This is the full stats based on my effect — however, not all published videos are monetized.
This particular effect I have created has generated :
- 159 M views in total
- 54 M views since last month
- 213 K public UGC (user-generated content)
- 16 M likes
- 10 M opens
- 314 K shares
The reward is also varied based on the RPM cost (Reward per Millie).
Rewards per Millie is the amount of money that TikTok will pay creators per 1000 qualified videos published, it depends on the users region who used your effect. My current RPM for this particular effect is 2.52 USD. It keeps changing based on my audience data. Currently, the majority for both viewers and creators are United States.
How many followers do I have on TikTok?
Compared to my Instagram AR Exposure, I am not so active on TikTok, I only have 3239 followers to this date. I have made AR Tiktok since its version 0 — I was invited as the Beta Tester for Effect House — Software to develop AR Effect for Tiktok. However, due to my work, I haven’t been that active, but I was surprised with the result.
So yea, it does not take that many followers, you just need to have viral effects to earn ;)
Well, how can I monetize my TikTok Filter without a Client?
- Winning a challenge
- Effect House Creator Rewards
When the rewards program was started, the first step to monetize effects was quite hard, only a limited number of people were accepted to the EH Creator Rewards Program, and creators had to have 500000 qualified videos published. It’s not an issue for me as I have been on the platform for some time.
On October 2023, TikTok Effect House updated the rule, which is easier to achieve — at least 5 effects published and 3 effects used in 1,000 videos each.
Despite my small followings, I am accepted because I have ticked all the boxes below.
Who can join Effect Creator Rewards?
Effect Creator Rewards is open to Effect House creators who meet the following criteria:
- At least 18 years of age
- Based in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, or Vietnam (subject to change).
- A Gold, Platinum, or Diamond Badge creator, with at least 5 effects published and 3 effects used in 1,000 videos each
- Have completed tax and payment method setup
Ellen.. You only have 3K followers... How come Tiktok wants to pay you?
TikTok is quite generous with its Creators. You can get rewards by their active mission or challenges and EH rewards.
This is an example of missions or challenges from Effect House.
The missions and challenges are more like bonuses, you can get money incentives, prizes, or various swags from the sponsor.
You can get invited to various events; AR Conference, Art Festival, and even the Cannes Film Festival!
The community is amazing! I got to meet with wonderful people.This is me in TikTok HQ in Singapore on Tiktok AR Mixer.
In this article, I would like to elaborate more on the Effect House rewards.
They do not care about my followers, as long as I tick all the boxes above, I can get EH rewards.
I can say the journey with AR effects has been exciting too. While I only have 3K followers on TikTok, My impressions of my profile’s AR effect on my TikTok have reached 1B Impressions and generated 2.2 M videos. This is pure stats from my profile — excluding my clients.
My most viral TikTok effect to this date is the Valentine Effect.
During the beta testing of TikTok Effect House (Jan 2022), I made a viral filter that generated 1.3 M posts.
So..
- It’s not a get-quick-rich scheme…
- It takes time…
- It takes knowing which idea will work…
- It takes viralness…
- It took me 5 years to know the secret sauce…
It took me 2 hours to develop this effect — I am lucky this is the simple one, so it sounds like a cool comparison;
I only have 3 thousand followers on my personal TikTok account. 🤷♂️
On a side note, not all my effects went viral. 🔄
There are filters that I spent a few weeks building, yet they generated 0$.
It took me 5 years and 150++ effects to know the secret sauce of virality with the AR campaign. My colleague and I used to joke about:
Understanding viral campaigns for social media needing more than just A/B testing; it felt like ABCDEFGHJKL…XYZ testing. 😂 Especially for Gen-Z…
Wrapping Up
So, there you have it. My AR journey on TikTok isn’t just about the $503 in a week; it’s about diving into what I love and seeing where it takes me. It’s not about the follower count, but about creating something that clicks with people. The takeaway? Find your niche, stick with it, and enjoy the process. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to turn a hobby into a rewarding side hustle.
Who knows? Maybe your passion can pay off too.
If you want to know more about my AR works — you can access my AR profile here — or see it on @filterqu Instagram
I shared my tech internet income journey on this Medium Reading List.
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