As social media continues to integrate more deeply into our lives, many of the outlets are finding ways to support their own profitability, but they aren’t the only ones turning a profit. Users are now learning how to leverage their personal brands to extract value of their own on these social media websites.

Earlier this week, Sour Patch Kids opened it’s second house dedicated to hosting traveling musicians. The “Austin Patch” is Sour Patch Kids’ attempt to generate buzz at this year’s South by Southwest festival. For just the cost of a tweet or Vine video, musicians are able to stay in Austin for free during one of the most important festivals of the year.

Klout is a tracking system that calculates a user’s influence across the internet by analyzing their social media accounts. Simply by being active and receiving engagement (favorites/retweets/etc.), users can increase their influence. Once users have a high enough score, Klout will offer them “perks” based on their interests. Books, beauty products, alcohol, and even electronics are just some of the free “perks” of tweeting in an amplified way.

On YouTube, a handful of active beauty vloggers have turned their respective personal brands into lucrative careers. In preparation of the Digital Content NewFronts, Outrigger Media estimates that top beauty vlogger Yuya— with over 9 million subscribers– is able to make over $50,000 a month off of her YouTube videos.

What Sparks Our Fire: Brands recognizing the value of social media customer-ambassadors