Motom’s Post

High Level: - YouTube and Shopify launched a partnership in 2022 - Creators had the ability to search brands and tag them in videos, but was limited to only a few hundred brands - This newest push in 2024 opens up thousands of brands in an attempt to replicate (or one-up) TikTok Shop Pros: - Easier to scale across channels as it’s somewhat automated (Shopify facilitates generating a tracking URL / discount code, shipping product to the creator if needed, and helping brands to find more talents who want to promote their product) - YouTubers can tag any and all products they use rather than reaching out hoping to negotiate a deal with that brand - YouTube is overall way more searchable than TikTok: Shopify’s made a smart move to partner with the world’s #2 search engine behind Google - Brands stand to make more revenue for a predictable cost per acquisition / ROI due to the affiliate model Cons: - Lack of brand safety standards - Non-existent quality control: brands have no say as to which videos the creator tags them in, how long the product is on-screen (if at all) and therefore hard to model out sales on a creator level or from the program as a whole - Really unclear whether creators stand to “make more money” - traditional sponsors are willing to pay flat fees for content (integrations or dedicated videos) and commission-based payment structures only begin to benefit creators if they can drive 2-3X ROAS in comparison to their flat rate costs My take: Don’t get me wrong, I love tech that makes my job easier. But marketplaces like these are a dime a dozen in the influencer/video content industry and none of them have ever broken through to become the dominant platform for successful partnerships for brands and creators alike. As we have spoken a lot about recently, AI can never replicate or replace the very human nature of our industry. Sure, AI can assess a creator’s content and match a shaving brand with a creator who cuts hair and does tutorials. But on its own these marketplaces will not inspire creators to be enthusiastic about their brand partners. What makes that razor special? Maybe because its handle is engineered using nano tech used on aerospace parts. Why is this coffee maker so special compared to others? Only the creator can taste the smooth, grit free flavor of the beans. No amount of automation can replace the desire - and instinct - for human connection. My take? Brands and creators will always need to remain in close contact to ensure creators get paid for the awesome content they make and that the audience gets a real, authentic explanation of what the product is and why they’re seeing it.

One of the most common questions brands ask when launching on TikTok Shop 👇 👇 👇 What should our affiliate commission rates be? Here’s how to determine the right commission rate for your brand in 3 steps Step 1: Understand Your Finances The best place to start is by evaluating the financial reality of your business. Can you break even, do you have a target contribution margin and what are your variable costs? Use this formula example(COGs + Shipping cost + other variable costs) Step 2: Decide On Aggressiveness Most brands set commissions between 20% to 30% If you find 20% unaffordable, your margins might not be able to support this channel. However, if your variable costs are low (e.g., 10% of revenue), you can afford to be more competitive with higher commissions. Offering attractive rates helps you stand out. It also encourages them to promote your products not just once but multiple times, leading to more tagged media and earned media value. Step 3: Factor in the Halo Effect + Repeat Purchases Adjust your commission strategy based on your product lifecycle and sales channels. If you offer a one-time purchase product, ensure your margin is sufficient from the first sale. For instance: Retail price: $100 COGs: $25 Shipping: $10 Desired margin: 25% Commission: $65 - $25 = $40 If you have a product with high repeat purchase rates, you can afford to set a higher commission initially to gain traction. For instance: Retail price: $30 COGs: $8 Shipping: $8 Commission: $14 (47%) While this may seem high ^ but it helps secure early momentum and competitive positioning. For brands with multiple SKUs, you must carefully decide which products to include. You might exclude certain SKUs or bundle them, driving traffic to other channels like Amazon while running TikTok Shop more aggressively at break-even. And that’s how you can decide your TikTok Shop commission rate in 3 steps.

THIS IS HOW YOU START AND SCALE A DROPSHIPPING BUSINESS FOR FREE. Now you all know that Shopify offers a free trial period to build and launch your store, because of which we won't have to incur any expense to build a website. Now to market your product you will be reaching out to a bunch of micro-influencers and asking them to promote your product, but instead of paying them with upfront cash, you’ll be making them affiliates so that they will make money every time someone buys from their custom link. Now keep in mind that this would only work with very small creators since larger creators always charge upfront. In the case of small creators, they anyways do not have any brands coming to them so most of the time they would be ready to partner with you. But since you are partnering up with small creators, you would have to sign a bunch of them in order to see some substantial sales, so basically, it is a game of volume. You can even use the content that these creators produce as UGC for your paid marketing campaigns later when you have the budget. #dropshipping #ecommerce #marketing

We transformed one of our brands' TikTok Shop into a £1M GMV powerhouse in just 90 days. This can be replicated by any other DTC brand. Here’s the winning formula we used: 1️⃣ TikTok Shop Setup- Build a fully optimised TikTok Shop. -List your SKU’s, each with optimised descriptions and visuals. -Store Design- TikTok Shop now allows for custom design elements, which we leveraged to increase conversion rates. -3PL Setup: We established a third-party logistics partnership to handle orders smoothly as sales volume scaled. 2️⃣ Affiliate strategy: Give them the freedom to create. They know what resonates with their audience. We had a commission-only structure with high commission rates early on to drive volume and attract as many affiliates as possible, then gradually tiering them down once momentum built up. Interestingly, many of our top-performing affiliates were those with little content experience prior. 3️⃣ Creative strategy: Our affiliates brought their own creative flair. We encouraged them to experiment, which led to unique and engaging content. -Review the data and recycle top ads every two weeks. -Successful creative concepts were repurposed for other platforms, extending the reach and impact of the content. 4️⃣ Paid ads strategy: Paid ads helped us expand the reach of successful affiliate content. -We tested all top affiliate videos as much as our budget would allow, grouping them by creator to identify which ones consistently drove high GMV and views. -Daily optimisation: TikTok seems to favour engagement over conversions. Monitor engagement closely- you need to be on top of this to avoid wasting ad spend. -Conversion campaigns first: We focused on conversion campaigns until we achieved a proof of concept, then scaled up to GMV campaigns with a high volume of creative assets. 5️⃣ Scale smart: We categorised content and scaled horizontally by expanding demographic targeting and lookalike audiences to drive incremental reach and scale. - For our best-performing affiliates, we created exclusive promotions with higher commissions, turning them into ambassadors for our brand. Key takeaways? ✅TikTok Shop is a platform that thrives on momentum and novelty. ✅ Keep it fresh- New products and campaigns are essential to maintain momentum. ✅ Embrace creator mentality: Affiliates and creators are your partners. Provide them with the tools, freedom, and incentives they need to succeed. ✅ Optimise daily: This is an engagement-driven platform, so stay on top of your creative and financial metrics. In just 90 days, we took a calculated approach to harness TikTok Shop's potential. With the right mix of affiliate support, creative freedom, and data-driven advertising, we turned our store into a high-performing sales engine. Get in touch and I can help you.

🚀 Navigating Hurdles: The Rise of Content Commerce 📈 The landscape where content and commerce intertwine is evolving with YouTube betting big with a new affiliate marketing program, paying creators commission for sales made through product links under their videos. This was an effort to tap into social shopping, mimicking but differing from the struggles faced by Instagram and TikTok. The key to success? ✅ Emphasizing entertainment first. Audiences crave authentic narratives and engaging formats over blatant sales pitches. Whether it's game shows or lifestyle vlogs, the integration of commerce needs to feel seamless. However, adoption isn't widespread yet. Creators on YouTube face hurdles like: 👉 Lack of product diversity in certain niches, making the program less appealing to all. 👉 Reluctance to depend solely on one platform for income, fearing demonetization risks. 👉 Eligibility restrictions limiting access for smaller creators or those outside the U.S. Here's a bright side: these challenges will all be solved, because -quite simply - there is too much money to be made. With a focus on adaptability and strategic collaborations, the future of content and commerce on social-platforms looks promising. And it isn't just reshaping how we shop; it's transforming how we consume digital content altogether. #content #commerce #marketing #strategy #innovation #evolution

12 Steps to Launch a TikTok Shop - only if you want to get to $100k monthly in GMV in 90 days... Step 3 is by far the hardest one... Have you done this and seen success? 1 - Set up the Shop at https://lnkd.in/erv-a5WM 2 - Connect the Shop to Shopify to import products and more easily manage logistics 3 - Create Viral style hooks and guidelines for the creators 4 - Set up the ad account to run paid ads with the Shoppable Content 5 - Set up your commission rate in the Affiliate Center - suggest 20-30% if the brand is smaller and 10-20% if the brand already has a big presence on TikTok 6 - Set up your discount code / promo 7 - Reach out to 500 affiliates per day via both your direct creator network, cold email and messages in the Shop 8 - Monitor the best performing videos (views or sales), and grab the Spark Code from the creator 9 - Refine the guidelines and share best performing content to new and past affiliates to improve affiliate performance 10 - Launch paid media strategy utilizing the top performing videos 11 - Once you gain traction, pay flat fees to Top GMV creators to both inspire new content ideas, and execute on existing content strategies that have already worked 12 - Do this every day for 90 days Notes: This is an incredibly work intensive strategy that requires constant attention, refinement and most of all.. the right products. Likely one product will really catch on so you can decrease the commission on that product and increase it on other ones that are moving slower. You probably need at least $10k a month for paid media to really move the needle and the algorithm working in the Shops favor. So far, we have seen that you need a mix of quantity and quality affiliates to really get things moving.

YouTube Shopping announced a native integration with Shopify today, but here's what I wish they announced for creators instead. 👇 The Details: YouTube is making it possible for creators to tag products from any Shopify powered store and receive affiliate revenues. BUT: Where's the WOW?...it's Google! The Context: - Tagging affiliate links to social posts takes HOURS - Typical affiliate rates range from 5%-20% - AOV (Average Order Value) is around ~$50 on social commerce. - YouTube shared they are seeing a ~3.5% conversion rate from product link tap to purchase The Math: - To generate $100, one creator will need 571 unique people to tap a single link and 20 people to place an order (assuming a 10% avg commission, $50 AOV) ROI on time = Not great. Which is why affiliate based creator commerce has historically been a soft channel for many. Bird in the hand: The ROI on time for a creator being paid for creative, ugc, or branded content is far greater than affiliate revenues. It's also guaranteed revenue once a brand deal is signed vs affiliate which depends on the quality of the audience built which can be highly variable. Key Insight: Google built the world's best visual recognition technology of any tech platform in the industry. What do I wish YouTube Shipped?: Leveraging visual search tech, for Creators participating in the YouTube Affiliate program, every video that creators post will be automatically tagged with products featured in the video. The Consumer Experience: Consumers simply swipe up on any video and the visual search tech matches the products featured in the video. Consumers browse the products and tap through to buy on the brand's website and creators receive commission on orders. The WIN/WIN/WIN: This would be 0 additional work for Creators to get paid on their content, it solves the consumer friction of wanting to know every item in every video ever made, and Google uses its chops in tech. Bonus: Brands can boost their products in these results and additional Ad revenue can flow to both YouTube and Creators for featured products in content. So when does THIS ship? 👀 #socialcommerce #creatorcommerce #affiliate #YouTube #youtubeshopping

Linktree shows us that what you are in the beginning and what you evolve into isn’t always as it seems. Linktree solved the most annoying problem that users felt with Instagram not having links in captions. It has grown to be the largest and best known among the dozens of startups offering link-in-bio tools-the landing pages that link creators' social media accounts to product pages, podcasts and videos-is expanding into social commerce. The seven-year-old startup is testing an affiliate marketing program with Sephora, Revolve and Urban Outfitters. Creators will earn commissions of about 12% to 15%, although it may vary by the brand and product in the future. Linktree won't take a cut during its early testing phase, but said it would be a nominal fee. Didn’t see this coming! It’s an interesting world we live in as creators! … … Linktree SEPHORA Oliver Brainerd Sara Caitlin Shannon Hayner #creators #creatoreconomy https://lnkd.in/ebacNx_i

TikTok Shop Fundamentals There are only four things that you need to focus on as a buyer to do $100k+ on TTS --- Product --- Marketing --- Shop Health/Fulfillment --- Product Reviews 1. Product: "how do I know if my product will work on TTS?" Two questions sellers need to answer, "does my product solve a common problem?" and "does my product have 3+ benefits that can be used as talking points?" E.g. micro ingredients collagen has many talking points/benefits: 1. better and glowing skin 2. stronger joints and nail 3. anti-aging 4. longer and thicker hair A product that can appeal to the masses has a higher chance of doing well on TikTok Shop 2. Marketing: "how exactly do I grow revenue, is it just sending samples to affiliates?" The playbook has evolved --- between affiliate, own content, ads, and hiring creators, you should be doing two activities minimum simultaneously Many brands like to start running ads as well as doing affiliate marketing but the top brands also double down on own content to get quicker traction You can't only rely on sending affiliates products and waiting for a video to go viral anymore 3. Shop Health/Fulfillment This is an area I feel like no one really talks about in the space because it's not sexy. However, we take it very seriously because without a good health standing on TTS, your store is on the fast lane to getting suspended, worst even permanent banned. If you can't dial in your fulfillment, it's best to wait till you can find a better 3PL or fulfillment partner like Shipbob or send inventory to TikTok to handle shipping directly 4. Product Reviews: Top shops have 4.5 rating on average Dropshipper of the world will find it easy to make quick money but very hard to sustain a long term growth due to inferior products. You can't be on the top trending shops without having actually a good product TLDR: Four areas for new sellers to focus on: Product, Marketing, Shop Health and Product Reviews If you found this useful, leave a like and share with people you think will find it helpful!

TikTok Shop is revolutionizing sales for products that naturally fit into content. From energy drinks to cookware, the platform is seeing remarkable success. Setting up on TikTok Shop can be intricate, involving more than just linking your commerce platform. It's about giving TikTok the data it needs to understand and cater to your target audience's preferences, from product types to color shades. TikTok's real-time persona building and its smart content serving are designed to increase your conversion rates, especially for products with a low average order value (AOV). While the AOV might be lower on TikTok compared to your online store, the volume and conversion rates more than make up for it. (Pro Tip: Use the "AfterShip Feed for TikTok Shop" for an easier setup process.) Once you're up and running, focus on manually setting up your products to ensure descriptions match user intent. Think of your product pages as landing pages, compelling and informative. Launch an affiliate program to leverage TikTok's emphasis on social proof. It's not just about making those first sales but setting yourself apart from competitors. And with TikTok offering new shoppers 30% off their first purchase, brands can take advantage of this and use this as a means of customer acquisition.