TikTok Affiliate Marketing Guide 2024
With the boom of TikTok Shop, those interested in creating content on TikTok have become curious about what it takes to sell on this app and where to start. Affiliate marketing and TikTok have become extremely compatible, with users’ need for second opinions and TikTok’s natural authenticity. Consumers flock to this app to find reviews and products they are interested in.
For creators, affiliate marketing on TikTok is a gold mine, because users continue to engage with this content. If you’re looking to improve your affiliate marketing strategies or want to start from scratch, you’re in the right place!
In this article we will dive into the basics of affiliate marketing on TikTok, and some tips that will help boost your affiliate sales. If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing yet, make sure to read this guide for more information:
What Is TikTok Affiliate Marketing?
Chances are, you’ve already seen affiliate marketing while scrolling through your TikTok feed. TikTok affiliate marketing is an advertising model where a creator receives compensation for promoting a brand product via their desired social media channel or medium. While many affiliates utilize social media networks, these products can be promoted on the affiliate’s preferred platform.
Most affiliates are given an affiliate link, in which users can find and buy the featured products. This link also allows the brand to track its affiliate sales, and win more customers from this partnership.
This mutually beneficial partnership is usually conducted through the brands’ affiliate program or through an affiliate network that connects brands and affiliates. There are hundreds of programs and brands that you can work with, however, to be successful, you need to work with a brand whose products align with your lifestyle, work, or interests in some way. This means conducting a little research to find which brands and programs will be best for you, and your audience.
Before I get ahead of myself, let’s dive into the process of getting started with affiliate marketing on TikTok.
Getting Started with TikTok Affiliate Marketing
So you want to get started with TikTok affiliate marketing. Where do you start? Before diving into the research, you need to take a step back and think about your goals in starting this endeavor. Do you want to generate a supplemental income? Grow a TikTok community? Leverage your brand?
Before signing on with a brand, it’s important that you trust in, use, and believe in the product you are selling. Authenticity is key for this type of marketing, and if you don’t use the product you won’t be able to create truthful content. Users can detect when a review feels fake and they will likely not trust your content again. So make sure the products you are promoting are ones you truly use yourself!
Create a TikTok affiliate marketing strategy
As you think about these overarching questions, use this time to create your strategy. Write down your main goals, and example objectives of what you can do to achieve these. Make sure you are aware of all the platform’s capabilities and consider watching other affiliate marketers on the app to see how they promote their affiliate products.
Once you feel more comfortable with how it works, brainstorm ideal products and brands you would like to work with that relate to your niche. If you are just starting and don’t have a “niche” yet, don’t worry. You can always start big, and narrow your focus from there. While working with Sephora might sound appealing, you have to keep in mind the competition that is already out there.
It’s more likely that a brand whose products align with your every day is going to be the best fit. Think about which products you use day to day and which you are most passionate about.
Research and apply to affiliate programs in your niche
Now it’s time to find the right program and brand to work with! As I mentioned before, there are tons of affiliate programs. You have probably seen creators link their Amazon products, which is likely conducted through the Amazon Associates Program, the company’s affiliate program.
However, nowadays most brands have affiliate programs so if you have a particular brand in mind, view their website to see if they offer an affiliate program.
You can also utilize affiliate networks such as Rakuten Advertising, ClickBank, CJ Affiliate, and ShareASale, where you can search for and apply to open programs. TikTok even has its affiliate program that you can apply for here!
Make sure to view the revenue sharing percentage, and that this matches your expectations before joining. Once you have found the right program, it’s time to plan your content effectively so you can maximize your results.
Strategize an affiliate content plan
You know the products you will be promoting, and now it’s time to create a content plan. Think about the solutions this product offers and what pain points this product can alleviate. Have you figured out your niche yet? Even if you are still finding your footing, it’s important to speak to those inside your niche personally.
When thinking of content ideas, write down the main benefits of this product and the impact it has had on your life. Right off the bat, you have a few ideas on video content you can create.
Utilize SEO keyword tools or the search function in TikTok itself to see what viewers are searching for related to the product. This can also help generate more content ideas, and give you insight into which keywords you can add to your content.
Create authentic content
Time to film! When creating your affiliate marketing content, you want to make sure your reviews, testimonials, and promotions are genuine to your experiences. You will not win your audiences’ trust if they don’t believe you are telling the truth. Your community is just as important as the content you create.
You want to entice your audience in the first three seconds, so they are more likely to watch the entire video. Keep your explanations short and to the point, and remember that you don’t have to market this product in just one video. Focus on one aspect at a time, so you don’t get off track or overwhelm the viewer.
How to Use TikTok For Affiliate Marketing
Thanks to TikTok’s linking and shopping capabilities, affiliate marketing on TikTok allows creators to promote their products in a few different ways. Since you have the basics of this under wraps, you can now start to create your content and optimize it to reach your ideal audience.
It’s important to note that most of TikTok’s linking and product tagging capabilities are only available for those users with a TikTok Business Account.
To help you navigate this journey, here are some tips and ways you can use TikTok for affiliate marketing:
Include a link in your bio
TikTok allows you to have a link in your bio, which you can utilize for your affiliate marketing sales. We recommend creating a link-in-bio page, where you can include all your important links in the same place. Whether you have multiple products, want to link your other social media platforms, or drive traffic to your affiliate website, a link-in-bio has multiple benefits.
Here at Metricool, we have a link-in-bio tool, SmartLinks, which allows you to create a page with links to websites, events, products, images, videos, and social media posts. Plus, you can customize this page with your brand logos, colors, and a custom background image. Once you have published these links, you can then view the analytics to see how many people have clicked on these buttons and the CTR %.
You can add a link to your bio by navigating to your profile and clicking on the Website option under the “Business Information” tab. Here you can add the link that will appear on your profile.
Utilize relevant hashtags and keywords in your content
Hashtags are a great way to find your ideal audience, as they can often act like keywords themselves. When creating content, conduct keyword research to see what words or phrases are trending for this topic.
Then, use these as hashtags in your content so that your videos are more likely to appear in search results. The same goes for keywords. Adding these in your caption, on your thumbnail image, and in-screen video text are all ways your content can be ranked for SEO.
Mention your URL in videos
It’s important to disclose your affiliate link as well as mention this in your video so you receive sales commission via your link. If possible, try to customize this URL so that it’s easy to remember and will resonate with your brand. This could be your name, your company name, or a catchy nickname. This will increase the chances that someone buys a product through your link and that you reap the benefits of these sales.
Offer discount codes
If the brand you work with offers you a coupon code, share this with your audience to incentivize them to make a purchase. You can mention this in your videos as well as in your caption. Make sure to include the details of this code, including the trial length, expiration, and how to apply it. The easier and clearer you can make it for your audience, the better.
Analyze your content
At the end of the day, you won’t know what has worked well if you haven’t viewed your metrics. It’s important to see how your content is working and if you are seeing link clicks and purchases through your content. Thankfully, some tools supply this data for you. Metricool offers a TikTok integration where you can view your content analytics with data such as engagement, interactions, average time watched, impression sources, and your top-performing content.
When it comes to your affiliate link, view your link clicks and affiliate purchases. You should be able to view this in your affiliate dashboard that the brand or program provides. Once you have seen which content has worked the best, you can replicate these strategies for upcoming videos.
Conclusions
As you can see, TikTok affiliate marketing is pretty straightforward and allows creators, large or small, to tap in and earn commission from brand sales. However, it’s not a breeze if you don’t take the beginning steps to do the research and understand the product that you will be selling.
It also is crucial to have a social media management tool and analytics dashboard that you can use to analyze your content and continue to improve your strategies. If you want to utilize the Metricool features mentioned above and manage your social media content in the same place, create your free account and start today!
