TikTok Shop has evolved considerably over the last year. What was once a platform associated heavily with private label sellers and individuals looking to generate additional income is now attracting established, multimillion-pound brands that see TikTok Shop as part of a much wider ecommerce strategy.
The approach to succeeding on TikTok Shop has evolved too.
A year ago, much of the focus was on brands producing a constant stream of their own content. Brand content is still important, but for established brands looking to scale on TikTok Shop, affiliates have become a much bigger part of the opportunity.
Alongside a strong TikTok Shop affiliate strategy, brands need their own organic content, paid advertising and, once those foundations are established, LIVE shopping.
So, what does an effective TikTok Shop strategy look like today?
TikTok Shop affiliates are key to scaling content
Content remains at the heart of TikTok Shop, but creating the volume of content required entirely in-house is not always economically viable or scalable.
This is where TikTok Shop affiliates become so important.
Rather than relying solely on your brand to produce content, you can get your products into the hands of multiple creators who can create content for you.
There is another important benefit. Affiliates already have their own audiences and have built trust with the people who follow them. Your product is therefore being introduced to potential customers by someone they already know and engage with.
For established brands, this provides an opportunity to increase reach, build awareness and generate a much greater volume of content.
The number of samples you send to affiliates will depend on factors such as your product and price point, but generally, the more relevant affiliates you can activate, the greater the opportunity to generate content at scale.
A TikTok Shop affiliate strategy goes beyond sending samples
Affiliate marketing on TikTok Shop should not simply be a case of sending products to creators and moving on.
Once you identify affiliates who are performing well, you need to think about how you nurture those relationships.
How can you retain your strongest affiliates? What additional incentives can you provide? How can you encourage them to continue creating content around your products?
Building relationships and developing a community of affiliates can help turn individual pieces of creator content into longer-term partnerships.
For established brands in particular, affiliate management should be an ongoing part of your TikTok Shop strategy, rather than a one-off sampling exercise.
Your own TikTok content still matters
The increased importance of affiliates does not mean brands should stop producing their own content.
Organic brand content might not be responsible for a significant proportion of your direct TikTok Shop sales, but it plays another important role.
Think about what happens when a potential affiliate discovers your brand and visits your TikTok account.
If there is very little content there, they have limited opportunity to understand your products, brand personality or tone of voice. This is particularly important if your brand is less familiar to that particular creator.
Your organic TikTok content acts as a representation of your brand. It helps build awareness and gives affiliates an indication of how your products and brand can be represented through content.
The goal is not necessarily to produce every piece of content yourself. Instead, your brand content forms part of the foundation that allows your wider TikTok Shop content strategy to grow.
TikTok Shop ads should amplify what works
Paid advertising is another important part of a TikTok Shop strategy.
Rather than treating ads as a completely separate activity, think about how paid media can amplify the content that is already working.
Brands can use GMV Max to put more weight behind their own content, while paid activity can also amplify content created by affiliates. When an affiliate creates content that is performing well, putting ad spend behind that content can help extend its reach and get more from the content your affiliate network is already producing.
This creates a connected approach: your brand produces its own content, affiliates create content at scale and introduce your products to their audiences, and advertising helps amplify the content that is already gaining traction.
TikTok Shop LIVE is the icing on the cake
LIVE shopping is part of the TikTok Shop ecosystem, but it should not necessarily be the first priority for every established brand.
We see LIVE as the icing on the cake.
Before focusing heavily on LIVE, brands should have the foundations in place. That means developing an affiliate network that is producing content consistently, maintaining your own brand content and supporting successful activity with advertising.
LIVE can then sit on top of that ecosystem and provide another way to engage audiences and generate real-time sales.
TikTok Shop can also create an Amazon halo effect
One of the biggest mistakes brands can make when measuring TikTok Shop performance is looking only at sales generated directly through TikTok.
TikTok is a demand generation platform. Someone can discover your product through TikTok content without ultimately purchasing through TikTok Shop.
We are seeing a significant TikTok to Amazon halo effect, where customers discover products through TikTok but complete their purchase on Amazon.
There can be several reasons for this.
With higher-priced products, customers may feel more comfortable completing their purchase through Amazon. At a lower price point, shipping can also influence the decision. If delivery charges apply through TikTok Shop but the same product is Prime eligible on Amazon, the customer may choose Amazon instead.
This is why established brands should consider TikTok Shop alongside their wider ecommerce channels rather than evaluating the platform in isolation.
TikTok activity could be generating awareness and demand that ultimately converts elsewhere.
What does a successful TikTok Shop strategy look like?
There is no single element that makes TikTok Shop work.
For established brands, the opportunity comes from building an ecosystem around your products.
Your own content represents your brand and builds awareness. Affiliates enable you to create content at scale and reach audiences that already trust those creators. Ads amplify what is working. LIVE adds another opportunity once the foundations are established.
The key is understanding how each of those elements works together rather than treating them as separate activities.
TikTok Shop support for established brands
For established brands, launching or scaling on TikTok Shop requires more than simply listing products and waiting for sales.
At eCommerce Nurse, we help established brands build and execute their TikTok Shop strategy. From launching on the platform to creating content, managing affiliates and running TikTok Shop ads, we can support the different elements required to establish and grow your presence on TikTok Shop.
Whether you're considering TikTok Shop as a new sales channel or already have a presence and want to develop it further, we can help you build a strategy that works alongside your wider ecommerce goals.
Looking to launch, grow or strengthen your brand on TikTok Shop? Get in touch with the eCommerce Nurse team to find out how we can help.
