Brandy Leigh was a 50-year-old mother of six in Indiana who was looking for a career where she could work from home. After spending most of her adult life raising children, her options seemed limited. Then she discovered TikTok Shop.
Leigh, who has about 1,000 followers, began making videos of herself testing various products in May. Her videos have a raw, homemade feel: She sells razors by shaving her armpits in front of the camera, or by riding a kid’s bike herself. Viewers can order products directly from TikTok videos, and Leigh earns a commission from each order.
Now, she has more than 30,000 followers and earns about $95,000 in commissions.
“I’ve never made so much money in one year in my life,” Leigh said. Rest of the world. “It’s life-changing.”
“People like me, just doing this at home, we can easily relate to. (Companies) don’t have to pay as much as they would for a big celebrity. But they’re getting that relevance,” she said.
Influencer marketing is already multi-billion dollar industry. Traditionally, businesses have paid influencers an upfront fee to publish information about their products. Instagram creators often need more than 90,000 followers to command more than $1,000 per post, according to Statista survey.
On Instagram, creators often earn commissions based on sales made through personalized links or promotional codes, a model known as “affiliate marketing.” Although Instagram has a built-in affiliate program, it Reduce in-app shopping Focus on advertising.
TikTok Shop, launching in the US in September 2023, takes affiliate marketing a step further by allowing creators to sell directly from their videos. The feature has turned a new group of amateur users into shopping influencers. On TikTok Shop, creators only need to have around 1,000 followers to become a “member.” On the app, they can search a list of qualifying products, request free samples to create videos for, and earn a commission (usually 10% to 30%) if their videos lead to actual sales.
According to an emailed statement from TikTok, the platform began testing a lower follower threshold for eligible TikTok Shop creator affiliates earlier this year, with the goal of bringing monetization opportunities to more creators.
Juozas Kaziukėnas, founder of e-commerce analytics company Marketplace Pulse, said TikTok Shop makes it easier for businesses to work with tens of thousands of small creators and track their sales than Instagram. Rest of the world. “On a platform like Instagram, someone with 1,000 followers is unlikely to get any similar offers because tracking the brand’s overhead would be a nightmare,” he said. “TikTok is spreading the number of potential influencers to millions or more users.”
TikTok/@brandybuys11
Earlier this year, Momofuku, a brand founded by food tycoon David Chang, sold a 15-serving noodle pack on TikTok at a 50% discount. Hundreds of creators ended up making videos of themselves buying, cooking and eating noodles. Their followers range from a few thousand to millions.
“This is absolutely crazy,” one creator named “tiredmama,” who has about 3,700 followers, said in a video filmed in a supermarket aisle. “For less than $20, you can buy a three-pack of five and try a variety of flavors.”
Temeka Valentine, a 47-year-old stay-at-home mom in Virginia with about 3,300 followers on TikTok, used to post photos of herself and her fitness routine. In June, she started selling skin care and health products on TikTok Shop to earn commissions. After seeing others selling Momofuku noodles, Valentin also made a video of him eating the noodles. She ended up selling 24 orders and earning about $138 in commission.
Leigh also filmed herself buying noodles from a local grocery store and then making a bowl in the kitchen. “It’s really good and punchy,” she tells the camera before eating some more noodles. “I’m going to eat some noodles. You go get some too.” Leigh’s commission rate is 20% and she earned more than $8,800 from this video alone.
Kyle Evanko, a former employee of TikTok parent company ByteDance, said that thanks to TikTok’s algorithm, when a product becomes popular, more creators will post articles about the product in the hope of earning commissions. He now runs Evanko Consulting Group, a TikTok-focused consulting firm. “This process created a beautiful snowball effect that helped dozens, if not hundreds, of businesses across the United States become popular on TikTok Shop,” Evanko said. Rest of the world. “Social marketing brings huge spillover effects to other platforms.”
Although other larger brands such as L’Oréal and Benefit Cosmetics have signed on, TikTok Shop is still far from becoming a mainstream shopping destination. After witnessing the explosive growth of live-streamed shopping on Chinese video app Douyin, ByteDance has been pushing to make e-commerce its next revenue driver. In the past year, TikTok Positively recommended Video with shopping link. The company is currently hiring hundreds of e-commerce people in the United States, according to its job portal.
Bloomberg report In January, TikTok planned to grow its U.S. e-commerce revenue to $17.5 billion in 2024. analysts said estimated TikTok missed the mark. In contrast, U.S. consumers $14.2 billion spent Only during Amazon’s two-day Prime event. Most products sold through TikTok are low-priced items from lesser-known brands.
“Instagram has always been about crafting a beautiful aesthetic and selling a lifestyle. Content on TikTok is more raw, candid, and unpolished.”
The Biden administration enacted a law requiring ByteDance to sell or spin off TikTok before January 19, otherwise it will face a ban. TikTok is also facing an existential crisis in the United States. TikTok is now Challenge the law in court. The platform did not respond to a request for comment Rest of the world.
Lia Haberman, a California-based influencer marketing consultant, said the real potential of the ban appears to be to put some brands off. Rest of the world. She said TikTok needs more top brands to prove its ability to sell on a larger scale, but in order for brands to sell effectively on TikTok Shop, they need to tailor their advertising campaigns to the platform.
“Instagram has always been about crafting a beautiful aesthetic and selling a lifestyle. Content on TikTok is more raw, candid, and unpolished. So you can cross-post videos, but to be effective, you really need to have a plan that’s specific to TikTok content strategy,” said Haberman.
Despite the looming ban deadline, TikTok Shop’s new influencers are still trying to make more money. Leigh’s following continues to grow as she posts videos almost daily. Her latest products are LED “light therapy” masks and flocked Christmas trees.
This has become the most lucrative career of Leigh’s life. “If it’s true, then it’s true,” Lee said of the TikTok ban. “I’m going to enjoy it and get what I get out of it.”