TikTok Affiliate Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Short-Form Video Monetisation for 2024

If you’re looking to make generate income through TikTok affiliate marketing, you’re in the right place.

According to Statista, TikTok videos from personal social media accounts get an average of 31,100 views, while an average business video gets 17,500.

With the sheer number of views you can generate out of your videos, you’ve got a great chance of generating loads of income through the platform.

Hopefully you see the massive potential of running your own affiliate program and marketing through TikTok.

In this guide, we’ll take a deep dive into TikTok affiliate marketing—what it is, why it works, and how to get started.

What is TikTok affiliate marketing?

TikTok affiliate marketing is a monetisation strategy that involves promoting products in exchange for referral commissions. Affiliate marketers earn a commission whenever users complete a purchase through their designated affiliate links.

The affiliate marketer promotes the brand’s products or services to their audience, and in return, earns a commission on sales or referrals made through their unique affiliate link.

On TikTok, you can do affiliate marketing in two ways.

1. Although TikTok prohibits affiliate links in videos, creators are free to insert and promote them via their profile bios. This allows TikTok creators to make money from traditional affiliate programs.
2. TikTok also allows a content creator to partner with brands directly through the TikTok Shop. TikTok Shop's affiliate program is a valuable resource for content creators looking to monetize their work, offering potential benefits in generating income through the platform.

Affiliate marketing on TikTok is a popular way for creators to earn money and build their personal brand. TikTok Shop's affiliate program offers content creators a valuable resource to monetize their work, with potential benefits in generating income through the platform.

Benefits of affiliate marketing on TikTok

TikTok Shop's affiliate program offers content creators a valuable resource to monetize their work, with potential benefits in generating income through the platform.

Below are some of the benefits of TikTok affiliate marketing:

Benefit 1: Start affiliate marketing with little to no overhead

If you're wondering how to start affiliate marketing with no money, look no further than TikTok.

Countless TikTok marketers rake in commissions from affiliate programs without spending thousands on elaborate content creation workflows. In fact, often, the most amateur-looking videos perform the best. They also don't need to invest in additional assets to generate sustainable affiliate marketing results.

For example, traditional affiliate marketers invest in domain registration and hosting to put up “money sites.” These are websites specifically built to draw an audience and promote affiliate products on other platforms. They need hosting, content, SEO, sometimes Google Ads.

TikTok affiliate marketers don't need to go through all that trouble.

Once you’re in an affiliate program, feel free to jump straight into content creation and promotional activity. TikTok already provides a platform to build an audience, publish content, and generate clicks.

Strategically selecting and promoting affiliate product links can help align with the interests of your target audience, particularly the younger demographic.

Benefit 2: Ready-to-use content promotion tools

TikTok provides a strong lineup of content promotion tools and features to reach potential customers. Check their creative center for the popular current trends and trending hashtags to boost your organic reach.

Hashtags and trending sounds, for example, instantly boost the searchability of TikTok videos. TikTok Stories will also help you stir user engagement with interactive stickers, "duets," and "stitches."

As the cherry on top, TikTok's advanced audience analytics feature helps you understand your target audience's content preferences. It tracks useful audience data, such as their active times, age groups, and cities.

Benefit 3: Step up your game with the TikTok Creator Portal

Although starting a TikTok channel is easy, creating high-quality videos that garner interest has a learning curve.

If you're new to the world of short-form videos, the TikTok Creator Portal will help you navigate this unfamiliar landscape. It contains a comprehensive library of learning resources on every stage of TikTok marketing—from content strategy development to hosting live streams.

On top of the TikTok Creator Portal, upgrading to a Business Account unlocks additional features to grow your presence, including:

• Auto-Message. Create automatic responses and welcome messages for your target audience.
• Create CTA buttons. Use the "Lead Generation" feature to publish call-to-action buttons, like "Subscribe," "Buy Now," or "Click Here."
• Insert an email button in your bio. A Business Account lets you feature a direct email button on your profile, enabling potential customers to inquire about your brand or affiliate products.

TL;DR: TikTok affiliate marketing is just like traditional affiliate marketing. The main difference is you don't need to invest in your own website or a robust content development strategy to earn commissions.

Growing Popularity of TikTok

Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has skyrocketed in popularity, amassing over 1 billion active users worldwide. With it's unique short-form video format, creative editing features, and an extensive music library that allows users to create engaging and entertaining content.

TikTok’s user base is predominantly younger generations, making it a goldmine for affiliate marketers targeting this demographic. The platform’s continuous innovation and user-friendly interface have made it a favorite among content creators and viewers alike.

As TikTok grows, it offers affiliate marketers a great chance to use video content to connect with a large, active audience, driving traffic and sales by linking directly through their links.

Opportunities for Niche Marketing

Affiliate marketers can target niches like fashion, beauty, or gaming by creating content that connects with their audience. Using TikTok’s hashtag system and collaborating with content creators in the same niche increases visibility and reach.

TikTok’s affiliate program also allows marketers to earn commissions by promoting relevant products, boosting conversion rates. By taking advantage of TikTok’s social network and tagging products feature, niche marketing on the platform becomes a valuable opportunity in the affiliate product marketplace.

Building a Strong Foundation

Create high-quality content, engaging with your audience, and building trust with your followers.

Consistency and Content Quality

Post high-quality content regularly, use relevant hashtags, and engage with your audience through comments and direct messages. First build trust with your followers and establish yourself as an authority in your niche. Only after ensuring this, put forth your affiliate offers to them. That will boost your sales!

How to make money with TikTok affiliate marketing

Ready to get started with TikTok affiliate marketing?

Here are the steps you should follow:

Step 1: Decide your niche

Pick a niche and stick to it in your content marketing strategy. This will help you build the right kind of audience for your TikTok affiliate marketing business. Audience is everything.

Ideally, choose a niche based on your firsthand experience, hobbies, and expertise.

The more knowledgeable you are about your niche, the easier it is to create informative, high-quality TikTok content. This extends to your ability to find, vet, and promote affiliate products to your target audience.

To help you pick a lucrative niche on TikTok, take a look at the most popular content categories on the platform:

• Entertainment
• Dance
• Pranks
• Fitness and sports
• DIY and home renovation
• Beauty and skincare
• Fashion
• Cooking
• Life hacks
• Pets
• Travel and outdoors

Step 2: Upgrade to a Business Account

Before you look for affiliate programs, ensure that you have a TikTok Business Account first.

Launch the TikTok app, head to your profile, and click the hamburger settings button in the upper-right corner. From the pop-up menu, tap 'Settings and privacy.'

Tap 'Account' and select 'Switch to Business Account.'

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the switch. This includes choosing your profile category and entering your email address.

Step 3: Look for affiliate programs

With your account ready, start looking for affiliate programs that align with your brand and target audience.

Start with popular affiliate networks like Amazon Affiliates, ShareASale, and Commission Junction. To look for products to promote, create an account and use the search features.

Don't forget to look at the commission structure as well when choosing an affiliate program. Pay attention to the commission amount you stand to earn with each transaction. It goes without saying that you'd be better off with higher commission affiliate programmes - as long as it aligns with your audience.

Here's a quick look at the common affiliate program structures used in major networks:

• Pay-Per-Sale. Get commissions from purchases completed through your affiliate link. Affiliate marketing sales may have low conversion rates, but they usually lead to higher payouts.
• Pay-Per-Lead. Rather than earning commissions for sales, a pay-per-lead affiliate marketing program pays you for each lead you convert for your affiliate partner. Pay-per-lead programs generally pay less than pay-per-sale campaigns, but that doesn’t mean they’re not profitable—especially since it’s easier to convince users to subscribe than to make a purchase.
• Pay-Per-Click. Pay-per-click is the least popular structure for affiliate marketing. It’s more widely used in paid advertising campaigns, which run through networks like Google AdSense and Mediavine.

Step 4: Shorten your affiliate links

After signing up for an affiliate program, use link-shortening tools like Bitly and TinyURL to shorten your affiliate links.

Link shortening is a standard practice in social media affiliate marketing. It replaces long, ugly affiliate links with shorter URLs that are easier to remember.

To shorten your affiliate link, simply enter the URL into your preferred link shortener. The tool should provide you with a shortened version of your link with just one click.

Step 5: Add links to your bio

Head to your TikTok profile and tap 'Edit profile.' From there, tap 'Bio' and paste your affiliate link into the "Add a bio" field.

To make your affiliate link more eye-catching, write a short but captivating introduction at the top of your bio. Consider using a bridging or landing page to add affiliate links, which can help redirect TikTok traffic to external platforms. Concisely describe who you are, what to do, and what users should expect from your affiliate link.

Feel free to use emojis to draw attention to key information, like your CTA and email address.

For your inspiration, take a look at Sam San Shop’s TikTok bio:

Step 6: Publish relevant content

Use the power of content marketing to draw visitors to your TikTok page.

The game plan is simple: publish content about your audience's problems, highlight affiliate products as a great solution, and invite them to check your bio for more information.

On TikTok, the go-to content format for affiliate marketers is short-form videos.

Some ideas you can use are:

• Product unboxing videos
• Quick tutorials
• "Hack" videos
• Before and after reveals
• Product reviews
• Product comparisons

Bonus Tip: Use a mobile landing page builder to feature multiple affiliate links at once

Most TikTok affiliate marketers use a mobile landing page builder like Linktree to consolidate multiple affiliate links into one page.

Linktree is a drag-and-drop tool that creates a mini landing page with buttons for your affiliate product pages. This allows you to personalise your page to align with your TikTok brand.

Joining the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program

The TikTok Shop Affiliate Program offers a fantastic opportunity for creators to earn commissions by promoting products directly from the TikTok Shop.

To join the program, creators need to meet specific eligibility criteria, including having a TikTok Business account and a minimum number of followers.

Once accepted, creators can easily find products to promote, share their contact information, and add products to their TikTok Shop.

This program is designed to streamline the process of affiliate marketing on TikTok, providing creators with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

By joining the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program, creators can tap into a vast marketplace of products and start earning commissions through their engaging content.

Eligibility Criteria for TikTok Shop Affiliate

To be eligible for the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program, creators must meet the following criteria:

• Have a TikTok Business account
• Have a minimum of 5,000 followers on TikTok
• Maintain a strong engagement rate on their TikTok account
• Have a niche or audience that aligns with the products offered in the TikTok Shop
• Agree to the terms and conditions of the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program

Meeting these criteria ensures that creators are well-positioned to succeed in the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program.

By aligning their content with the products available in the TikTok Shop and maintaining a strong engagement rate, creators can maximize their earning potential and build a successful affiliate marketing business on TikTok.

Growing Your Audience

Growing your audience is essential for success in affiliate marketing on TikTok. This involves using various strategies to increase your reach and engagement.

Simple Tactics to Boost TikTok Engagement

There are several strategies you can use to increase engagement on TikTok, including:

• Using relevant hashtags to reach a wider audience
• Collaborating with other creators in your niche to drive traffic
• Running contests or giveaways to encourage engagement
• Using TikTok’s Duet feature to collaborate with other users
• Utilizing TikTok’s Reaction feature to encourage engagement
• Sharing user-generated content to show that you value your followers’ contributions

By using these strategies, you can increase your engagement and grow your audience on TikTok.

How to sell affiliate products through TikTok Shop

If you have an established presence on TikTok, you can sell affiliate products directly on the platform via the TikTok Shop.

This option comes with the following advantages:

• Easily find TikTok products to sell. Use TikTok Shop for creators to quickly find relevant products your followers will enjoy.
• Promote products on LIVE streams. Sell affiliate products using the sense of urgency with LIVE streams.
• Build your TikTok Shop showcase. Create an affiliate product store on TikTok without third-party tools.

To become a TikTok Shop affiliate, make sure you have a Business Center account with TikTok Shop and LIVE stream access. TikTok Shop's affiliate program offers valuable opportunities for creators to monetize their content effectively.

From there, head to the TikTok Shop Affiliate page and join as a creator. When done, you’ll be able to find products to sell, share your contact information, add products to your TikTok Shop, and earn commissions.

TikTok Shop affiliates can also request product samples from partner brands. This is useful for creating certain types of content, like product reviews, tutorials, and unboxing videos.

Tips to grow your TikTok affiliate marketing business

Affiliate marketing is an effective way to generate passive income and build wealth as a TikTok brand.

But just like any other online business, it requires your full commitment to a content marketing strategy that brings in potential customers.

Here are three additional tips to help grow your TikTok brand and earn more commissions from affiliate marketing:

Tip 1: Balance affiliate and organic content

A key ingredient in how to become famous on social media is a balance between promotional and authentic content.

Don't use your TikTok profile as a 100% commercial channel that only has promotional content. In order to win followers, publish videos that provide value to users without pushing for a sale. Most of your content should be organic, and not promotional.

Tip 2: Use trends to gain traction

Supercharge content engagement with trends such as effects, sounds, challenges, and hashtags.

You can easily find relevant trends on the "For You" page in the TikTok app. Alternatively, simply create a post using the TikTok editor.

TikTok makes it easy to find trending elements to include in your video. For example, when adding hashtags, TikTok immediately generates a list of popular hashtag ideas along with their cumulative views.

Tip 3: Increase conversions with special offers

To increase conversions, offer coupon codes or special discounts to customers who use your affiliate link.

Promoting special offers is one of the proven hacks to convert more visitors for affiliate marketing. This requires an affiliate program that can provide marketers with their own branded promotion campaigns.

Unfortunately, not all affiliate programs offer this feature. And in most cases, affiliate programs that involve discounts and coupons only offer such campaigns at limited times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you do affiliate marketing in TikTok?

Yes, anyone can do affiliate marketing on TikTok. You can earn commissions by using paid ads, promoting affiliate products, and sharing clickable links in your TikTok bio. Leverage Tiktok features and analytics tools to assess the performance of your affiliate links.

How many followers do you need to make money in affiliate marketing?

Most affiliate programs don't require marketers to have a specific number of followers to promote products on TikTok. But in order to make TikTok affiliate marketing a viable business, aim to have at least around 5,000 followers.

How do I become an affiliate in TikTok?

Once you're accepted into an affiliate program, you can start earning commissions by sharing affiliate links in your TikTok bio. Creators can also partner up with brands and promote products as affiliates through the TikTok Shop.

Succeed at TikTok affiliate marketing with expert content marketing

TikTok affiliate marketing can be a great source of passive income.

With the right strategies, it can be your stepping stone to establishing your online business empire.

You need expert content marketing to do this.

If you need help with your TikTok affiliate marketing strategy, don't hesitate to reach out so I can help jumpstart your successful affiliate marketing business.