How to Make Money on Telegram in 2024

Natalia Tsvetkova Natalia Tsvetkova
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Reading time:  10  min.
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Messenger marketing is a cutting-edge strategy that provides countless opportunities for marketers. Telegram is one of the tools that seem to be cut out for marketing purposes. People use it to communicate, find answers to their questions, get customer support and reach out to brands. In this post, we’ll tell you how to earn money on Telegram,and share some actionable tips on creating and promoting your Telegram channel. Besides, you’ll learn how to make money using Telegram bots and how to track your Telegram campaigns.

What Is Telegram

Telegram is a cloud-based fast-growing messaging app. It is available both for desktop and mobile and is known for its high-level of information security. Created in Russia, Telegram is now widely used in many countries around the world. It is the third most downloaded messenger app, with India, Russia, and the United States as leading markets.

Telegram has a competitive edge over other messengers both in terms of communication and monetization as it allows users to create full-fledged easy-to-make channels. Another advantage of Telegram is that there is no advertising on the app. This attracts educated audiences who are in the know about the latest online trends. 

Telegram statistics 

Here are some facts about Telegram which may be useful to marketers.

  • About 15 billion messages are sent daily on the app.
  • Telegram has 800 million active users.
  • The app has spent $0 on advertising.
  • 85% of Telegram users are on Android devices.
  • Telegram is available in 66 languages.
  • There are 58.6% men and about 41.4% women on Telegram.
  • The largest age groups are 25-34-year-olds (31%) and 18-24-year-olds (22%).

What Makes Telegram a Good Monetization Channel?

There are many ways to make money via Telegram. But what makes it so good for monetization? Here are some things which make the app a perfect money-making tool.

  1. The audience on Telegram is active, educated and well-off.
  2. There’s no advertising on the platform, so people aren’t prone to banner blindness. That’s why they’re more likely to respond to your marketing efforts in a positive way. 
  3. Telegram marketing is a new strategy, so the competition is relatively low.
  4. Open rates on Telegram are higher in comparison with other marketing methods.
  5. Messenger marketing resembles 1:1 communication, which allows marketers to create a seamless user experience.
  6. Telegram allows marketers to deliver relevant content to their followers.
  7. Creating a Telegram channel is free and doesn’t require any special skills. Telegram channels have an unlimited number of subscribers, so you can send messages to a great number of users. 
  8. You can build a customer-facing chatbot to achieve your marketing goals. A bot can save you a lot of time as it can serve many purposes, for example, provide your customers with the information they request and send them videos, documents, images, etc. 
  9. There are private channels which provide extra monetization options.
  10. User information is well-protected.
  11. The app is user friendly.
  12. Push notifications in Telegram channels help people keep track of what you’re posting.
  13. You can set a self-destruct timer to delete messages which are relevant only for a short period, for example, when announcing some limited-time offers.
  14. You can pin the most important messages at the top of the channel. This will help you attract users’ attention to the most important information. 
  15. You can transfer files of different formats on the app.

How to Monetize Your Telegram Channel

Now we’ll answer the daunting question many Telegram newbies have—how can I make money on Telegram channels? Here are some ways to monetize your Telegram channel. 

Affiliate Marketing

The crux of affiliate marketing is that affiliates are paid a commission whenever a visitor redirected through their affiliate links performs a desired action on the advertiser’s website.

This money-making strategy is one of the most lucrative ones on Telegram. To earn on the app, you should join travel affiliate programs and promote third-party products or services, for example, Viator’s tours and activities and share your affiliate link. When a visitor buys a product after clicking on your link, you get an affiliate commission.

Telegram is perfect for promoting time-limited offers, for example, last-minute offers in travel. So, you can create a Telegram bot which will help people search for a product, for example, for flight tickets and accommodation, and get a commission whenever a visitor books via your affiliate link.

A screenshot of Telegram travel channels
Examples of travel bots on Telegram

The Travelpayouts partnership platform allows you to earn on various travel products, such as flights, hotels, tours and activities, insurance, SIM cards, and more. With this platform, any project can start earning. Even if you have just created a Telegram channel about travel, you can immediately start monetizing it.

Simply register on the platform (it will only take two minutes), join to programs that best fit your project, generate affiliate links, and promote them via Telegram and other messengers. You can earn up to 20% on each booking for a travel service. In 2022 alone, Travelpayouts paid partners over $14M. You can be among them if you join the platform now.

Join the Travelpayouts Partnership Platform

Access exclusive tools and the best travel partner programs, including flights, hotels, car rental, insurance, tours and activities, all in one place.

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If you need more guidance on how to create affiliate links with Travelpayouts and promote them effectively, visit Travelpayouts Academy.

Selling Advertisements or Paid Posts on Your Channel

In 2022, Telegram launched a paid advertising platform called Telegram Ads which allows advertisers to display their posts in public channels with 1,000+ subscribers. However, one of the more efficient ways to promote a channel is still networking with other creators and advertising on other channels. Make sure you promote only trustworthy and reputable channels related to your niche. Otherwise, such advertising can undermine your reputation.

A screenshot of Telegram channels featuring ad examples
Examples of ads on Telegram

Charging a Fee for Joining a Private Channel

Another way to monetize a Telegram channel is to charge people a fee for joining it. Usually, the strategy works the following way. You create a public channel (or an account on social media) which you promote and in which you provide exceptionally valuable content. Also, you create a private Telegram channel in which users can get access to premium content for a fee.

A screenshot of private channels on Telegram
Examples of private channels on Telegram

Selling and Promoting Your Products or Services

You can also use the platform to sell your products or services. For this, you’ll have to run a content-related channel and promote your product. For example, if you provide educational services, you can offer users valuable educational content.

A screenshot of the IELTS educational channel on Telegram
An example of educational channel on Telegram

 You can also promote an app and provide your audience with an overview of its new features.

A screenshot of the Telegram X channel promoting the brand’s mobile app
An example of mobile app promotion on Telegram

Raising Funds

If you have a loyal following, you can ask your audience to make donations to help you achieve a goal, for example, to publish a book.

Creating Telegram Bots for Other People

If you’re good at it, you can create bots for other businesses. Creating a bot isn’t a difficult task but requires some technical knowledge and creativity.

Selling Stickers

Stickers play an important role in Telegram marketing. So, if you’re a creative mind, you can create and sell stickers for different Telegram channels. 

Alf and Marilyn stickers example on Telegram app
Sticker section on Telegram app

Consulting People on Telegram Promotion

Once you’ve created and grown your channel and learned the ins and outs of Telegram promotion, you can drive income from sharing your expertise with other people. For example, you can consult people on how to create and use a bot, what niche to choose, what content performs better in different niches, etc.

Creating and Selling Telegram Channels

You can create and grow channels for businesses making the most of your experience and expertise.

Becoming a Virtual Telegram Assistant

You can help other people manage and promote their Telegram channels. For this, you’ll have to create content, publish it consistently, communicate with advertisers and clients, etc.

Driving Traffic to Your Blog

You can use Telegram to boost traffic influx to your blog or website.

A screenshot of a post on Telegram featuring links to external blog posts
An example of a Telegram post with links to blog posts

How to Make Money With Telegram Bots

What is a Telegram bot? It’s a Telegram account run by software, not a person. 

Telegram bots give the app a competitive advantage over other messengers. Bots can serve a lot of marketing purposes and can save marketers a lot of legwork when communicating with clients. Telegram bots can: 

  • Provide real-time customer support
  • Teach
  • Share information
  • Help perform searches
  • Remind users of some events
  • Broadcast
  • Integrate with other services
  • Schedule
  • Process orders, etc.

Bots are used to boost communication with clients and help solve their pain points. In this post, you can learn how to build a Telegram bot from scratch.

6 Characteristics of a Great Telegram Bot

  1. A good bot is user-friendly with easy-to-understand menus and a simple interface.
  2. The communication with a chatbot mimics 1-1 communication. 
  3. The bot provides users with valuable content.
  4. Your clients know they are communicating with a bot, not a person.
  5. There’s a well-developed sequence of messages which help reveal the interests and problems of a user.
  6. There is a human touch to your bot and it even demonstrates a sense of humor.

How Can You Advertise on Telegram?

There is no paid advertising on Telegram. However, it doesn’t mean that there are no paid ways to promote your channel. Paid promotion is possible on other Telegram channels and groups in your niche. All you have to do is to contact the channel admin and specify how you can get advertised on their channel. Cross-promotion is another way to get more followers on Telegram.

You can also promote your Telegram channel on other social media, for example, in your Facebook group or on Instagram. 

Besides, you can have your channel listed in Telegram catalogs, for example, in:

How can you track Telegram campaigns? 

It’s vital to track your Telegram campaigns to see what performs best and what resonates with your audience most. Getting this information can help you make improvements and tweak your campaigns for success.

On Telegram, there are several main metrics to assess, including subscribers and views for channels, and members, the number of messages and activity for chats. How can you get this data? There are several ways.

  1. Manually. You can study the information Telegram provides you with and analyze the number of times users interacted with your content, and how fast your audience is growing.
  2. Using UTM tags.
  3. Using promo codes. 
  4. Using third-party analytics tools and bots, for example, @ChannelAnalyticsBot, @TGStat Alert Bot, Telegram Analytics, Popsters, Chainfuel, etc.

How to Build and Promote a Telegram Channel

Channels are great tools to help you make money through Telegram. Here’s a step-by-step guide on building a Telegram channel.

How to create a Telegram channel 

  1. To create a new channel on iPhone, go to the chats tab and tap New message in the top-right corner.
A screenshot of the Telegram app featuring the "New Message" button
“New message” button on Telegram (iOS)

Then, click on the New channel option.

A screenshot of the menu on Telegram featuring "New Channel" option
“New Channel” option on Telegram (iOS)

To create a channel on Android, open the list of chats and click on the Menu icon.

A screenshot of the Telegram app featuring the "Menu" button
“Menu” button on Telegram (Android)

Then, select New channel.

A screenshot of the Telegram menu featuring the "New Channel" option
“New Channel” option in the menu on Telegram (Android)
  1. Create a channel name, upload a channel photo and add an optional description.
A screenshot of the "Create Channel" window and "Channel Name" section
Channel name section on Telegram
  1. Set your channel settings. You can either make it public or private. Public channels can be found in Telegram search and anyone can join them. Private channels can be joined only via an invite link.
A screenshot of the channel settings on Telegram
Channel settings on Telegram
  1. The next step is to add users to your private channel if you opt for one.
  2. Appoint admins to help you manage the channel. For this, tap the information button in the top-right corner of your channel and then, select the Administrators section. Then, add admins.
A screenshot of the "Add admin" section on Telegram
“Add admin” section on Telegram
  1. Once you’ve chosen the right user from your list of contacts, you can choose what a new admin can do, for example, change channel info, post messages, delete messages, etc.
A screenshot of the "Admin" section on Telegram
“Admin” section on Telegram

How to Grow and Promote Your Telegram Channel

Once you’ve created a channel, it’s time to grow your following and start monetizing your efforts. Here are some easy-to-follow tips on how to make money on Telegram channels and increase your audience. 

  1. Create a name that is easy to remember and that reflects the personality of your brand. Don’t be a copycat, think of a unique name. This will help you stand out from your competitors. 
  2. Make sure your logo is memorable and reflects your brand and its values. 
  3. Enlist your brand’s benefits in your Channel description.
  4. Create top-quality, compelling content that will strike a chord with your audience and provide solutions to their pain points. Use various content formats, including photos, gifs, short videos, etc.
  5. Watermark your images or videos. This will help you get more eyes on your channel.
  6. Post consistently. Map out a posting schedule and stick to it.
  7. Make sure there’s no irrelevant or outdated content on your channel. This may be off-putting for the newcomers. If you find content like this, delete it.
  8. Promote your channel on social media and Q&A platforms like Quora.
  9. Use your blog to promote your Telegram channel. For this, place a link to your channel on your blog and vice versa, embed a link to your blog in the bio of your channel.
  10. Host giveaways on your channel or offer a lead magnet.
  11. Join groups in your niche and participate in discussions actively. Promote your channel in the discussions you’re taking part in.
  12. Never change the theme of your channel. If you need to expand the range of topics, choose some related to the main theme.
  13. List your channel in channel directories. 
  14. Personalize your channel with the help of Telegram stickers. Apart from adding some fun to the channels, branded stickers are perfect for boosting your brand awareness and increasing engagement on your channel.
  15. Register on the Telegram Ads platform and create sponsored messages (of up to 160 characters) to be displayed on public one-to-many channels with 1,000+ subscribers. You can also select approximate topics or specific channels on which your ads are to be displayed.
  16. Don’t get too carried away and post too often. The never-ending deluge of messages may scare your followers off.

Can You Make Money on Telegram?

Sure. The earning potential of the app is huge. But, though Telegram offers a lot of money-making opportunities, you have to invest a lot of time and effort to get your Telegram business off the ground.

So, you need to work hard, create top-notch valuable content, post consistently, build a loyal following and make sure you are one step ahead of your competitors. And, if you play your cards right, eventually, Telegram will become a lucrative revenue stream for you.

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