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Guide to Affiliate Marketing on TikTok

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Promoting affiliate offers is an excellent way to earn income on the side. However, relying on similar sources of traffic day after day can be pretty monotonous. A novel way of breaking the monotony is through the use of social media platforms, particularly TikTok. Here, we shall go over the nitty-gritty of affiliate marketing on TikTok, hoping to encourage you to be on board. 

Key Takeaways:

  • Affiliate marketing on TikTok offers content creators opportunities to monetize their content by promoting products or services and earning commissions on sales generated through their referral links.
  • The article provides a comprehensive guide to affiliate marketing on TikTok, covering topics such as choosing the right products, creating compelling content, and disclosing affiliate relationships to comply with platform guidelines.
  • Content creators can leverage various TikTok features, such as live streams, hashtags, challenges, and duets, to showcase products authentically, engage with their audience, and drive conversions through affiliate links.
  • Transparency and authenticity are essential in affiliate marketing on TikTok, as creators should disclose their affiliate relationships and provide genuine recommendations to maintain trust and credibility with their audience.
  • By implementing effective affiliate marketing strategies, content creators can monetize their TikTok presence, diversify their revenue streams, and build mutually beneficial partnerships with brands.

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms all over the world. It boasts over a million monthly active users from around the globe. While it might seem like an app for pure fun and entertainment only, the platform’s much more than that, especially for brands and marketers. TikTok has become the go-to app for brands, marketers, and creators wanting to engage with their audience. 

So, read further to learn more about affiliate marketing on TikTok. 

What is Affiliate Marketing?

The concept of affiliate marketing can be easily understood. With affiliate marketing, you promote a service or product and earn a commission for every successful sale. Affiliate marketing earnings vary according to company, but the most common ones range from 15% to 25%. Individual commissions aren’t usually high but can rapidly add up. 

Affiliate marketing is one of the largest advertising channels for numerous businesses and a great source of income for skilled affiliates. 81% of advertisers use affiliate marketing, thus proving it to be one of the most widely-used marketing efforts. 

Can TikTok Be Used for Affiliate Marketing? 

TIkTok Global Downloads by Month
The global downloads of TikTok have constantly increased from 2019 to 2020 until today. Source: billo

Which social media is best for affiliate marketing? The answer varies for every affiliate marketer. However, TikTok has proven to be an ideal platform for affiliate marketing. Because of its millions of active users, you could potentially share your content with a diverse and broad audience. Its short-video format allows for real-time product demonstration. Short video content may significantly impact your audience more than lengthy videos or simple blogs. 

If you have a TikTok business account, you can post affiliate links in the bio portion of your account. There are numerous examples of affiliate marketing on TikTok that you can see for yourself. 

What is Affiliate Marketing on TikTok?

Like any other affiliate marketing approach, affiliate marketing on TikTok involves special tracking links to direct viewers to a particular sales page through an intermediate affiliate page, social platform, or blog. If you want to enter TikTok affiliate marketing, your goal in posting content must be to build a wide audience you can monetize with affiliate sales. And what makes TikTok affiliate marketing exciting is that it is relatively new. 

Affiliate marketing on TikTok can help you bag new customers, foster trust and loyalty, and increase brand awareness. Current users are into interaction with exciting and personable brands; hence, they often go to TikTok because TikTok rewards them with that kind of content.

How Do I Become An Affiliate in TikTok? 

As mentioned, you can only place affiliate links in bio, and that is for a reason. The theory behind this restriction is that TikTok does not want users to leave the app. Thus, to be able to promote products and earn a commission, you must initially have a TikTok account and then follow these steps: 

Step 1: Upgrade to TikTok Business Account

A business account allows you to put a clickable link on the bio, unlike a personal TikTok account, where placing a link on your bio is prohibited. 

Step 2: Add Link

Another condition TikTok has is that you can only place one link on your bio. For viewers to know you are an affiliate, you must use the hashtag #linkinbio in your TikTok videos. To put the link in your bio, tap “Edit Your Profile” and place the link under “Website.”

Step 3: Create A Landing Page

Disregard this step if you’re an affiliate for a single brand. However, if you are an affiliate for multiple brands, you may use third-party tools to create a landing page to host all of your links. That way, you don’t have to limit yourself to one brand or seller. If you’re a blogger or vlogger, you can direct your viewers to your blog page or YouTube channel and promote your affiliate products there. 

What are Tips for Successful TikTok Marketing Affiliate for Beginners? 

Starting is often the most challenging part, but once you are able to do so, you can gain momentum. As for your affiliate marketing on TikTok, several factors are requisites to your success. So, here are a few affiliate marketing TikTok ideas and strategies to help you get started and be successful in your TikTok affiliate marketing efforts. 

Observe Consistency With Your Content

Content creator filming on phone
Being able to resonate with your audience gives you a higher chance of keeping them.
To keep their audience, creators must be consistent with their content.

TikTok’s algorithm functions on regularity. So, to heighten your reach and gain your audience’s trust, you must post your content consistently. 

Similar to written content, the best strategy is to come up with a publishing schedule and stick to it. Posting at least one short-form video a day will suffice. Posting 2 to 3 times a week will be enough for long-form videos. 

Carefully Select Your Affiliate Marketing Products

While the diversity of TikTok users is over the roof, the platform’s demographic skews young. Most of its users are under 30 years old, and half of them are below 20. Hence, working around those age groups is a wise move. So, sticking to products that appeal to Gen Z and Millennial users is highly recommended. 

Students also make up a large portion of TikTok users so cost-friendly products might be worthwhile. 

Jump into New Trends

You may often feel the urge to tread the unique path, and that’s understandable. However, to be a successful marketing affiliate, you must focus on what’s popular—TikTok’s algorithm popular content are those with the most views. Hence, you will get more impressions with trending content. 

Analyze what’s popular on TikTok and jump into the trend. But always see to it that you can relate the trend to your niche because not everyone is your market, and you want sales. 

Discover Your Niche

If you want to foster trust and relationships with your audience, you must make them feel you understand them. And the key here is to focus on a specific audience only. Once they see that you know their needs, they will learn to trust your solutions or recommendations. 

First, you may look for your target market on other social media platforms and bring them to TikTok. Once you’ve identified them, start digging into the type of content they often engage with, then think of ideas to draw them to you. 

Work on A Strong Channel

Affiliate marketing involves working with numbers. The number of sales you would get has much to do with the number of impressions on your videos. You have more conversion opportunities if your videos receive thousands of views. 

Building a strong channel is a smart way to get the views you need. To do this, you must:

  • Use hashtags appropriately
  • Capitalize on content that could probably go viral
  • Keep up with the trends

Consider TikTok Promoted Content

Like most social media platforms, TikTok offers paid ads or promoted content. With promoted content, your impressions are guaranteed. TikTok offers various types of promoted content, such as in-feed ads, brand takeovers, and branded hashtag challenges.

TikTok charges high for promoted content, and most small brands and affiliate marketers prefer basic in-feed ads. Although the standard ads are excellent at driving impressions and increasing your reach. 

Use A Call-to-Action

Redirecting your TikTok audience to another platform or your website is a brilliant way to earn more sales. And you can do this by adding a CTA to your TikTok video content. 

Your CTA can sound like this: “Know more about this product on my YouTube channel.” It’s simple, but it has the potential to generate more passive income. You can also maximize your CTA to get your audience to subscribe to your email list. 

How To Monetize Affiliate Marketing on TikTok?

You already know how to become an affiliate. Now, we shall go over the steps for monetizing affiliate marketing on TikTok. 

Step 1: Build Your Audience

audience
Being able to resonate with your audience gives you a higher chance of keeping them.

You might’ve gotten the hint already, but it’s worth mentioning explicitly–build your audience. TikTok considers how frequently an influencer marketing affiliate posts content while looking at the number of views that content gets. 

Step 2: Select An Affiliate Program

Once you become a full-fledged affiliate marketer, you can work directly with an adviser or join an affiliate program. “Can I use ClickBank on TikTok?” you may ask. And the answer is yes. You can find various affiliate marketing niches there.  

To fully monetize affiliate marketing, you must also look at the data, and you can do this by using analytics tools. Check out these TikTok analytics tool on our Crowdfire review and Buffer review.

What Are Examples of Affiliate Marketing on TikTok? 

Affiliate marketing on TikTok is a great source of revenue, and it might seem like a competition, given that numerous creators are now affiliates. To prove that affiliate marketing works, here are a few examples of TikTok’s top affiliate marketers. 

  • Nadya Okamoto – Nadya has over 1.7 million followers. Her niche can somehow be placed under women’s health. She posts educational content on some women’s issues. In her TikTok and YouTube channels, she promotes tampons. 
  • Rachel Meaders – Meaders has a whopping 2.1 million TikTok followers through Amazon’s Associate program. She has a content series on “Things You Didn’t Know You Needed Off Amazon” and uses LinkTr.ee to store the links of the featured things from Amazon. 
  • Tory Dunlap – Dunlap is a creator in the personal finance niche. She started both TikTok and IG accounts simultaneously and now has 2.1 million and 390,000 followers, respectively. She is proof that TikTok is a notch more affiliate marketing-friendly in contrast to other platforms. 

You can also head over to the accounts of famous brands to check out samples of affiliate marketing on TikTok. Some brands you can check out include NBA, Chipotle, Fenty Beauty, and Dunkin’ Donuts. 

Affiliate Marketing on TikTok Best Practices

It’s beneficial to keep your best affiliate marketing practices stash full. Here are some ideas:

Keep It Concise

TikTok is a short-form video-sharing platform. Its users are used to concise videos. With that, you must keep your marketing video content short but meaningful. The first five seconds of your video are crucial, so make the most out of them. 

Maintain Creativity

TikTok is a fun and creative platform, and as a TikTok affiliate marketer, you must ensure that you use most of your creative juices in creating fun and engaging content. User-generated content works best with TikTok, so try to be personal and avoid being too commercial. 

Maximize Relevant Hashtags

hashtag tiktok on phones
Using the right hashtags is crucial for TikTok marketing success.

Hashtags are a TikTok essential, so maximize them and use them wisely. Don’t just pop in random hashtags. Instead, look for the relevant and trendy ones and place them in your video’s description. 

Is TikTok Good for Affiliate Marketing?

thumbs up
TikTok is approved and recommended by affiliate marketers.

FAQ:

What is affiliate marketing on TikTok, and how does it work for content creators?
Affiliate marketing on TikTok allows content creators to monetize their content by promoting products or services and earning commissions on sales generated through their referral links, offering opportunities to diversify revenue streams and build partnerships with brands.
What topics does the guide to affiliate marketing on TikTok cover?
The guide to affiliate marketing on TikTok covers topics such as product selection, content creation, engagement strategies, and compliance with platform guidelines, providing comprehensive insights and guidance for content creators looking to monetize their TikTok presence.
How can content creators leverage TikTok features for effective affiliate marketing?
Content creators can leverage TikTok features such as live streams, hashtags, challenges, and duets to showcase products authentically, engage with their audience, and drive conversions through affiliate links, maximizing their reach and impact on the platform.
Why is transparency important in affiliate marketing on TikTok?
Transparency is important in affiliate marketing on TikTok as creators should disclose their affiliate relationships and provide genuine recommendations to maintain trust and credibility with their audience, ensuring ethical and compliant promotional practices.
What are the benefits of implementing effective affiliate marketing strategies on TikTok for content creators?
Implementing effective affiliate marketing strategies on TikTok allows content creators to monetize their presence, diversify their revenue streams, and build mutually beneficial partnerships with brands, unlocking new opportunities for growth and success on the platform.

If we haven’t stressed it enough just yet, let us say it loud and clear– TikTok is an excellent platform for affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing on TikTok, affiliate marketers can generate a decent amount of earnings, whether through organic traffic or paid ads. 

When done properly, you can do it even if you’re just starting to learn the ropes of TikTok affiliate marketing for beginner, your venture can become very lucrative. So, give it a try before you get left behind on the trend. 

Learn more about TikTok for business in this article, “How to Use TikTok in Business 2022: 10 Ways to Maximize Your Brand.”

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