The Affiliate Strategy

I don't have any advice, I am writing for my own self-reflection. Almost like a set of instructions for what "not" to do when attempting to monetise from Affiliate links, perhaps?

I don't have a formula for success yet. I have been rather sporadic with my attempts.

Let me rewind a bit... when I reached 10,000 followers on Tik Tok this January, I felt highly motivated, "Yes! I am now a micro-influencer!" I wanted to start setting up links (in my bio) and offer my followers a way to navigate to some shopping -- so then I could earn some commissions.

I've found a few companies, I've got some buttons there. But I haven't really focused on them too much beyond that. It's only recently, this week, I've sat down and looked at my calendar/planner and decided, "Okay, let's try to strategise with this..."

So maybe I will have a formula of success to report on in 2 to 3 months time (here's hoping!) or maybe I am just taking another stab in the dark.

Maybe the average social media user is now desensitized to affiliate links, 10% off codes, and other online offers. Maybe almost everyone is being affected by the "cost of living crisis" and budgets are tightening -- there's no room for frivolous spending, let alone clicking.

I've noticed this difference with Tik Tok lives as well -- people tap on the screen to send likes, which costs them nothing -- but they're not sending the gifts, which are monetary in value. (Well, that might be for another story another day -- perhaps I'm not on there long enough to start collecting!) but in previous lives of similar lengths of time, people had randomly gifted. So, a stroke of luck for those instances.

Affiliate links, in my opinion, as a small creator -- you have to spend money to make some money. You still have to set aside a budget to buy the products from that affiliate provider, record your own unboxing video and review. It's not like you're getting paid for it, you're investing in these products to create content, generate enough attention and hope that people will then click and buy.

It's like your own small business. A small business partnership with that affiliate link provider. Yes, you'll get the commissions! And it'll be great once people start clicking and buying.

So it's certainly not a no-cost option, but relatively, it just might be a low-cost option. You could set aside $20 a month, $50 a month, $100 a month on affiliate products -- or at least, that is my new strategy.

I will build up from there. Starting low, of course. And keeping track of this type of spending for tax time.

I don't know if I will be successful, so I'll have to report back whether my strategy worked or failed.

Frequency of posts and "not bombarding" your usual followers is also another factor. Unless your channel is solely dedicated to UGC, which I have to admit, I haven't seen that many who make it look that good. You still need to generate your usual entertaining content and not put off your audience with too much selling.

So, I'm thinking just one affiliate post a day. And I'm alternating between channels. I don't know if this is going to work, but this is how I'm going to do it. Alternating between Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Pinterest... I don't have a specific, set pattern yet. I want to test it out and see how it goes. Get a feel for it before a proper structure and routine is set.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other experiences or strategies. I'd love to hear from other creators who've been able to make this work!