Do you want to make money on TikTok but don’t have many followers? This article is for you!
Many people think you need a huge following to start earning as a TikTok affiliate, but that’s not true. You don’t need to be famous to begin.
Here, we’ll show you how to become a TikTok affiliate without 1k followers. Whether you’re just starting on TikTok or trying to make the most of your followers, our tips will help you begin making money as a TikTok affiliate today.
Let’s dive into it!
Everything You Must Know About TikTok Affiliate Marketing In 2 Minutes
TikTok affiliate marketing combines social media and performance-based marketing. In this approach, a TikTok user or creator showcases a product or service to their audience. They then earn a commission from sales made through a special link they share, known as an affiliate link.
In other words, TikTok affiliate marketing allows creators to turn their influence and creativity into income. They do this by connecting their followers with products or services they might like.
To do affiliate marketing, you can partner with merchants directly. You can also use TikTok Shop to find products you like and want to share. Then, you create engaging and creative video content that showcases these products in a fun and appealing way.
Your videos might include reviews, unboxings, and tutorials. Or, they might just show you using the product daily. The key is to make your content as engaging and genuine as possible to grab your viewers’ attention.
Within your video or its description, you can put your affiliate links. Otherwise, you can include a link in your bio that directs to a page featuring all the affiliate products.
When someone watches your video, clicks on these links, and then purchases a product, you earn a commission. This means you get a share of the sale price. The more people you can get to buy, the more money you can make.
As of 2023, TikTok had around 1.9 billion users worldwide. It has a massive audience. Even if you’re starting small, the potential for affiliate marketing success is huge.
Requirements for Joining a TikTok Affiliate Program
What will be the requirements for being a TikTok affiliate? Let’s discover them below.
Firstly, most affiliate programs require participants to be at least 18 years old. This ensures that affiliates can make contracts and are responsible for them. They have the legal capacity to do so.
Secondly, affiliates must abide by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations. This includes being clear about affiliate relationships. We must also clearly disclose when including affiliate links.
Thirdly, ensure your content is honest and follows TikTok’s community standards. It’s important to be clear and truthful when discussing products. This is to avoid misleading or banned content.
Fourthly, some programs may require a large number of followers. However, many others are accessible to newer affiliates with smaller audiences. You can partner with such merchants first.
If you promote options on TikTok’s product marketplace, TikTok Shop requires at least 1k followers to start. However, you can register a seller account via Seller Center. Then, connect it with your TikTok account. This way, you can do affiliate marketing via TikTok Shop without 1k followers.
How to Become TikTok Affiliate Without 1K Followers
Depending on the program, you might need 1k followers to start doing affiliate marketing or not. There are many options without a huge following. For example, you can partner directly with merchants or use an account on Seller Center.
However, you will need more than followers to be a TikTok affiliate. You must also pay attention to content strategy, niche targeting, and hashtag strategy.
Content Strategy
Developing a content strategy is essential for all affiliates. To do this, you must resolve many things. These include knowing your audience. You must understand your affiliate products or services. Also, you must analyze TikTok’s algorithms and trends.
But here, we want to focus on the most important thing. That is, making video content that is engaging and high-quality. This involves showcasing products or services that you truly appreciate. You would personally use them. The authenticity will influence your audience’s trust.
Following this area, the first step is to identify products that resonate with your interests and values. When your audience sees you using or recommending products you believe in, it boosts their trust and strengthens your credibility.
When followers trust you, they’re more likely to purchase the selling products, leading to higher engagement rates and conversions. This approach also makes your content more appealing to potential brand partners, as brands usually seek affiliates who can authentically connect their products with engaged audiences.
Next, you should focus on creating informative and entertaining content. This will help boost your visibility on TikTok.
TikTok’s algorithm favors content that engages users. So, don’t forget to incorporate trends, use creative editing techniques, and engage directly with your audience through comments. It contributes to the increase of your reach and potential impact.
Over time, consistent content creation and audience engagement show brands your commitment and audience trust. This makes you a great partner for brands seeking affiliates who truly connect with their audience.
Niche Targeting
Niche targeting on TikTok is about focusing your content creation efforts on a specific area of interest. This should align with the affiliate the array of products you wish to promote, whether they are high-earning products, digital products, or just some sample products. This strategy is crucial, especially for those without a large follower count.
Choosing a niche is a multi-step process. If you don’t know how to do it yet, you can start by identifying subjects you’re passionate about or know well. This passion or knowledge translates into authenticity in your content, making it more engaging and trustworthy to your audience.
Next, do some market research to verify that there’s a big enough audience for that topic. You should aim for a niche with moderate competition. Choose profitable niches with various products or services. Also, ensure your niche has lasting appeal and steady interest over time.
When having your niche, focus on producing content around it. You may create content that educates, entertains, and engages your audience by diving into the specifics of your niche. Share your unique insights, tips, and personal experiences that can add value to your followers.
Niche targeting will help you attract a targeted audience. These individuals share a keen interest in your chosen niche and are more likely to engage with your content.
It’s about attracting followers with a higher purchase intent. People who follow niche content usually look for recommendations, reviews, and insights about products or services in that area. They value the opinions of creators who can offer genuine advice and solutions. So, they will be more likely to click on affiliate links and buy products.
When consistently creating content within your niche, you foster a sense of community among your followers. This engagement creates a loyal audience base that looks forward to your content and is more receptive to your affiliate promotions.
Moreover, focusing on a niche allows you to become an authority. You can gain insights and knowledge that enrich your content, further building your credibility. That may make you more attractive to brands in the niche.
Hashtag Strategy
You will need a hashtag strategy to be a successful affiliate on TikTok. Relevant hashtags allow you to increase the discoverability of your videos and reach potential brand partners.
On TikTok, users can search for and follow content through hashtags, making hashtagged content easier to find. Unlike other platforms, TikTok’s unique For You page (FYP) is tailored by its algorithm. It primarily suggests videos to users based on hashtags, influencing what they see.
So, using hashtags smartly means putting your content where your target audience can find it. This increases your visibility and ensures your videos reach people who are more likely to be interested in what you are promoting.
The key to a successful hashtag strategy lies in relevance and research. You may spend the time finding the right hashtags for your content by searching for ones connected to your niche, theme, or topic.
These can include general terms that describe your niche and more targeted ones that relate to specific aspects of your content. Also, make sure that they are actively used on TikTok. Searching may involve checking your competitors’ hashtags and identifying relevant ones.
In addition to niche-specific hashtags, consider using trending hashtags that fit your content. Trending hashtags are powerful because they tap into current interests and can significantly increase your content’s reach. You should ensure that your trending hashtags are relevant to your video.
When you take the right approach to using hashtags, you can expand the potential audience for your content. By making your videos more discoverable, you attract viewers who are interested in your niche. This also helps you catch the attention of those who are likely to engage with the products you promote.
This increased visibility demonstrates your ability to reach and engage a relevant audience. It can bring you more potential brand partners.
An efficient hashtag strategy also contributes to your presence within your chosen niche. This can result in a dedicated audience that believes in your suggestions, enhancing the effectiveness of your affiliate promotions.
Don’t forget to track the performance of the hashtags you use. It enables you to understand which drives the most engagement and discoverability for your content. This way, you can adjust your hashtag strategy over time, focusing on those that generate the most interest in your content.
How to Track and Analyze Performance Without Tiktok For Business
TikTok Creator Analytics
The built-in TikTok analytics is the first tool for tracking and analyzing. This powerful feature is available to anyone using the platform’s creator accounts.
To check your analytics, you can go to your profile and click on the three dots. Then, pick “Creator tools,” and then click on “Analytics.”
It will give you great insights into how your videos are performing. Here, you will see three areas: Overview, Content, and Followers.
In Overview, you can see how your followers, video views, and profile activity (likes, comments, and shares) change over time. You can check these changes over the past 7, 28, or 60 days or pick your period of up to 60 days. The Overview’s Engagement section shows your videos’ performance based on likes, comments, and shares.
For more detailed info, the Content tab gives you stats on each video, like how many people watched it, liked it, commented, shared it, and how long they watched it for. It only shows data for the last seven days.
The Followers tab tells you about your audience, like where they’re from and when they’re most active. You can also see how your number of followers has changed recently and check your profile views in the last 7 or 28 days.
If you go live, you can see your live video stats in the LIVE tab. They include views, new followers, total watch time, and Diamonds earned, either over the last 7 or 28 days.
Understanding the performance of your videos through analytics is crucial for anyone looking to optimize their content strategy. This built-in functionality allows you to see how many people are watching your videos and how they are interacting with them.
Are viewers watching the whole video, skipping parts, or re-watching certain segments? Such insights can inform you on what works best and what needs adjusting. It guides you to produce more of what your audience loves.
When you regularly check analytics, you can amend your content strategy. You can focus on what generates the most engagement, increasing your success on the platform.
Affiliate Program Tracking (if applicable)
Another choice for tracking is using affiliate program systems or software. Of course, this option isn’t applicable in all situations.
For example, if you do affiliate marketing via TikTok Shop, you need to use TikTok Creator Analytics for detailed information. However, if you promote an affiliate program on ShareASale, you can use the network’s statistics and analytics.
The tracking systems will give a clear picture of how your affiliate links perform in terms of conversion rates and commission earnings. When you understand these metrics, you can evaluate your effectiveness and optimize your strategy for better results.
Upon checking your affiliate marketing performance, you can identify trends and make better decisions about future content. When you see certain types of products tend to have higher conversion rates, you might focus more on them.
For instance, when you use UpPromote, it allows you to monitor the clicks, conversions, and commission you earn from promoting products on TikTok.
Thanks to the reports provided by the app, you can track which products or content types are generating the most interest and sales. It gives you insights into your audience’s preferences and purchasing behavior. The information can guide your content strategy and help you maximize your affiliate marketing success.
Data-Driven Optimization
Optimization is necessary to enhance your performance and engagement. Whether you use TikTok Creator Analytics or affiliate program tracking tools like UpPromote, you should carefully analyze the results. This way, you can have a deep understanding of what content resonates with their audience and why.
To have good data-driven optimization, you should consistently review the metrics like video views, engagement rates (likes, comments, shares), click-through rates for, and conversion rates.
They provide information about audience preferences and behavior. For example, high engagement rates on specific videos can indicate that your audience enjoys that content type or topic. So, similar content could also perform well.
Once you have known which patterns perform best, you can adjust your content strategy to concentrate more on those areas. Create more videos on popular topics, use certain hashtags more frequently, or even amend your video style to match audience preferences.
In addition to focusing on what works, data-driven optimization also involves identifying what doesn’t work. This also helps you to make necessary adjustments. You may stop certain types of content, change the way you promote affiliate links, or even alter posting times.
This ongoing process of analysis and adjustment is key to maximizing engagement. It helps grow your audience and enhance your effectiveness in affiliate marketing on the platform.
How To Build Relationships with Brands Without 1K Followers
Direct Outreach
Direct outreach is a powerful strategy for content creators to build affiliate partnerships, especially for those who haven’t had a huge following yet.
This approach involves identifying and researching brands whose products or services resonate with your content and audience. The goal is to find companies that align with your values, content style, and the interests of your followers. Once you have found these brands, the next step is to craft personalized proposals suggesting potential affiliate partnerships.
To have a successful outreach strategy, you should understand the targeted brands deeply. It’s necessary to know their products and services, potential customers, marketing methods, etc.
Next, you should personalize your message. It should clearly explain the benefits of what you can do for them and may contain a call to action. You may also need some follow-ups without being annoying, keeping the conversation alive and moving forward.
Direct outreach has a lot of benefits. It’s a way to take control instead of waiting to be discovered by brands. This can be particularly effective in a crowded market where standing out is a challenge.
Reaching out directly also lets you show off what’s special about you and your content. You can tell brands why they should work with you, like what makes your audience or your videos a good match for them.
Another advantage is the chance to create strong connections with brands right from the beginning. This helps you build the relationship based on understanding each other well. This can result in collaborations that really match your style and content, which is great for both your followers and the brand.
By selecting brands that match your niche and presenting tailored proposals, you can establish profitable and lasting collaborations. This helps you grow in the affiliate marketing world.
Affiliate Marketing Networks
Another method for you to build relationships with brands is via affiliate marketing networks. The networks like Upfluence work as a bridge between content creators and brands looking for affiliates.
These platforms are beneficial for those starting their affiliate marketing without having a large follower count. When joining, you can gain access to many affiliate programs across various niches, which may not have been directly accessible otherwise.
The networks also simplify the process of finding and managing partnerships. You won’t need much time to search for the brands; they bring all the opportunities to one spot. This makes it much easier to find brands that fit well with your videos and followers, making it much simpler to start working together.
Moreover, the networks usually provide tools and resources to help manage these partnerships. They allow you to track your performance and earnings, provide insights on how to optimize your content, etc.
Optimizing Your TikTok Profile – Hot Tips
Bio Optimization
You should create a captivating bio that showcases your niche, passions, and what you can offer to brands.
Use specific keywords to clearly show what kind of content you offer, like “fitness” or “healthy lifestyle” for a fitness influencer. Emphasize your unique selling proposition to stand out and attract your target audience.
This approach also attracts potential brand partners by giving them a snapshot of your audience’s interests and the unique value you bring.
Call to Action
Incorporate a call to action (CTA) in your bio to guide viewers to a landing page or website for more details on affiliate products or services. This encourages followers to engage further, enhancing your affiliate marketing efforts on TikTok.
Compliance and FTC Regulations
Have you navigated the compliance and FTC regulations? It is crucial for any TikTok content creator to know these regulations. They are about the transparency of affiliate relationships.
When your content is sponsored or contains affiliate links, you need to disclose that.
It’s essential to clearly disclose when your content is sponsored or contains affiliate links. This helps you adhere to legal requirements and build trust with your audience.
A simple way is to include terms like “affiliate link” or “sponsored content” in your video descriptions or within the content itself. Otherwise, you can use the built-in TikTok shopping tools. These tools make it easier to follow FTC rules and improve the experience for your viewers by making promotional content identifiable.
By keeping your content in compliance with FTC regulations, you protect your reputation. This also helps you maintain a positive relationship with your audience. It’s a practice that underscores honesty and responsibility, key attributes for long-term success on the platform.
Remember to stay informed about the latest FTC guidelines to ensure your content remains compliant, as these regulations can evolve.
FAQs
- Can I sell on TikTok without 1000 followers?
Yes, you can. You can register a seller account via Seller Centre and then connect it with your TikTok account. After the connection, you will have the TikTok Shop feature for product demonstrations. You can also directly partner with brands to sell their products without 1000 followers.
- How do I start an affiliate on TikTok?
First, you will need to identify affiliate programs or networks that fit your niche. Then, create engaging content that integrates the products you want to promote. You can include the affiliate links in your video descriptions or bio. You will get commissions when users buy via such links.
- How many followers do you need to be a TikTok affiliate?
There are no specific requirements on follower count. You can start an affiliate when you still have few followers by joining merchants or networks’ affiliate programs.
- How to get 1k followers for free on TikTok?
To gain 1k followers on TikTok for free, you should concentrate on creating unique and engaging content that resonates with your target audience. You may use trending hashtags, participate in challenges, and post consistently to increase visibility.
You may also engage with other users by commenting, liking, and sharing content. Collaboration with other creators can also boost your reach.
Conclusion
Now, you know how to become TikTok affiliate without 1k followers. It’s not a simple monetization process, but it’s not a complicated one.
Success stories will be feasible with the right strategies, like creating high-quality, niche-targeted content and utilizing a smart hashtag strategy. You should also track and analyze your performance and then optimize the strategies in a better way.
Also, remember that success doesn’t solely rely on follower count. It’s more on the trust and engagement you foster with your audience.
Keep these tips in mind and start your earning journey on TikTok!
