Affiliate marketing is a great choice to monetize your TikTok account. It’s different from influencer marketing (that we’ve discussed in the previous lesson).
With influencer marketing, you get paid upfront by the company but with affiliate marketing, you promote a product and get a cut of the sales your followers generate.
Got your attention? Keep reading…
How does it work?
- First, you need to identify a company that has an affiliate program and that is relevant to your audience.
- The next step is to register for their program and get accepted.
- Lastly, they’ll give you a special link that you’ll use on your TikTok profile
Every time one of your followers clicks on the special link and ends up buying a product, you get a commission. So you see how profitable this can get (knowing how easy it is to get followers on TikTok and grow a large following).
Passive income
The best thing about affiliate marketing though is that it’s a rather passive type of income!
After you posted the special link on your account, you simply need to focus on getting more followers and growing your account (and not on negotiating contracts with brands and other time-consuming tasks as is with influencer marketing).
As you can see, affiliate marketing is very appealing! On Instagram and even Facebook, people generated hundreds of thousands of dollars using affiliation. This is a very lucrative business and you should start milking it now!
Other benefits
- You have much more control over the campaigns
- You never have to have a direct relationship with the company
- You can sell, promote, or market the products any way you want (of course each company has TOS for their programs, but it’s rather loose
- you have a lot of space to be creative and promote the products (or services) however you like.
How much can you get?
It depends on the company and the product, but it can range anywhere from 10% to (even) 75% in the case of some ebooks (and such products).
How much you make depends on you! It depends on relevancy to your audience, it depends on the percentage you get paid by the company, and it depends on a lot of other factors as well. Don’t worry though, you’ll get through it in no time – there’s no steep learning curve to affiliate marketing! It’s pretty straightforward and you’ll get a feel of it (and the potential) in a couple of tries.
Income specifics
The specifics of your audience will influence your earnings a lot. To maximize your income:
- focus on creating a following that resides in a rich country
- sell expensive products
- work for companies that offer big commissions
Agreed, it’s not an easy task! It takes research, but optimally this is what your target should be.
Also, your income will depend a lot on the relationship you have with your following. Strive to create a kinda personal/close relationship, try to gain your audience’s trust, and always offer valuable information that they can’t get in other places. This will turn them into believers, and it will make them reach into their pockets to buy the product you recommend (without hesitating).
Integrity first
Remember: to keep trust high, only promote quality products that you try yourself and find to be the best! Never try to trick, scam, or otherwise take advantage of your following. People are smart and you can ruin your account if you do not have strong principles and integrity!
What are the best affiliate platforms?
There are a lot of platforms that offer affiliate programs. So, my best advice here is to do your research and focus on relevancy. The products and services you choose must be a great match for your following. They need to fit in like a glove. They need to positively influence your audience and convince people to grow the trust they place in you (as their mentor and role model).
ClickBank is one of the most used platforms. The best thing about it is that they offer huge commissions. You can easily find products that offer up to 75% in commissions. If you think about it, it’s better than owning the product yourself! Most products on ClickBank are digital so they’re a good fit if you have a following that’s spread throughout the world.
On the other hand, if you are looking to promote physical products your best bet is Amazon. The largest e-shop in the world offers a rather interesting affiliate program that may fit your audience. The best thing about being an affiliate to Amazon is that you get a cut of all of the products your followers will put in their cart (even though you’ve only promoted one thing). So, even if you only promote the TV, if your follower ends up buying a fridge and the mattress as well, you get a cut of all of these products! Yup, that’s pretty cool, I know. Make sure you take into consideration becoming an Amazon associate, a lot of people reported earning big money with it.
If you are looking to promote and sell clothing, then you may try TeeSpring. You can also use it to create your own T-shirts (or hoodies) and then promote them on your account.
With affiliate marketing the options are endless. It all comes down to the research you do and specifics of your audience.
To conclude
Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest strategies in the book (it started back when blogs were the rave).
It works through special links that track the user and the sales.
You get a good percentage of each sell and it is a very lucrative business to be in.
Your earnings will depend on your implementation and audience specifics.
Affiliate marketing may well be the best passive income method there is.
