TikTok Shop and What Has Worked For Me
WHEN I STARTED?
I have been on TikTok since 2020 as a creator in home decor. About six months ago, I signed up to be on TikTok Shop (TTS) as a creator (not seller), which means I can request free samples and make video reviews from these samples and then receive a commission from the shop when I sell the item.
FIRST PRODUCT REVIEW
I have had my showcase since July of 2024 and posted my first product review video on July 14, 2024. The product was a sheet set and it got over 1,000 views but no sales came from that video.
First TTS Video Sheet Set
SECOND PRODUCT REVIEW
The next product video I did was for a luggage set on July 23, 2024, that was bright yellow (almost lime green) and I called it “Luggage You Will See Coming.” The video got around 800-900 views and I did not sell one luggage set from that video. I then reposted a shorter version of the luggage set on July 28, 2024 and again, no sales.
Second TTS Video 3-Piece Luggage Set
On August 19, 2024 I posted a shop video for a mattress foam topper which got viewed about 1,500 times. I thought that was pretty good, but again no sales from this review video.
Fourth TikTok Shop Video Mattress Topper
BRAND DEALS
I started my social media career on Instagram in 2014 as a home decor creator and I joined other platforms along my journey including YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, and TikTok. I mainly post DIY’s, home rennovations, and anything related to home decor. I have had amazing brand deals along the way with brands such as Lowe’s Home Improvement, Living Spaces, Hunter Fan, LoLoi Rugs, RUGSUSA, At Home, Home Goods, Energizer, Coca Cola, Tuesday Mornings, Skippy, Kroger, 3M Command, just to name a few. I was able to tour the HGTV Dream home several years ago in Minnesota and that was a fun experience and I have been featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine as well.
If you are someone who wants to work with brands, reach out to them! In my experience, if you don’t ask, it will never happen. Do not wait for brands to reach out to you. Be proactive and put yourself out there! What is the worst that can happen? They say no, but they can also say YES!
MANIFEST WHAT YOU WANT!
I guess I thought it would be easy to sell on TTS. Just post a video and the sales will come. I would come to find out it’s not quite what I thought and it would not be as easy as I thought either. Just like anything it takes work and determination. I just keep thinking to myself, “If all these people are doing it, so can I.”
I am a big believer in manifesting the thing that I am trying to accomplish and I believe it works! It’s all about mindset. I mean think about it: if you are always negative and use excuses like “life is not fair,” negativity will follow you. On the other hand if you think positively and look for the good, that will follow as well.
Most successful creators on TTS post 3-5 times daily and I just always thought “well those are the serious people who dedicate their whole TikTok pages to TikTok Shop”. In the back of my mind, I knew that I needed to post more shop videos if I wanted to be successful but I did not do it. I did not want to be one of those annoying people that only post shop videos. I wanted to remain a home decor influencer and add TikTok Shop videos here and there when I wanted to. I was stopping my success by having this mindset. So I started manifesting what I wanted.
WHO IS NICK?
It was around this time that I kept seeing videos from a creator named Nick Fowler. He seemed like a regular guy who had figured out how to make a lot of money on TTS. He’s a family guy, a dad, and also works in the military. I found his videos to be educational for people like me trying to figure out how to make money on the platform. I would usually save his videos and I learned a lot from watching them. His videos would always come up when I was scrolling my TikTok feed. I was impressed by his work ethic and how he could work in the military and still find time to be very successful at TTS. He also talked about how he helped his sister do what he is doing and she was killing it! I was impressed.
Meanwhile I was still posting more TTS videos that amounted to no sales but I was not posting consistently. I was still worried about coming off as “salesy”. I wanted to maintain the integrity of what I had built over the past few years and was not fully committing to posting daily TTS videos.
WHAT IS AFFILIATE FORMULA?
One day I came across one of Nick’s videos about a teaching platform he had started called “Affiliate Formula” and I could join for free or there was also a paid option for $30 bucks a month, which I thought was cheap. I thought it was a cool idea and I saved the video, but still wanted to try and do it on my own.
A little time went by and after three months of no sales on TTS and after watching many videos that Nick had posted about Affiliate Formula, I said enough is enough! I was going to join Affiliate Formula because what is the worst that could happen? I would lose $50 bucks (price had gone up from $30 to $50 monthly). I really had nothing to lose except $50. I was going to try it for one month and see if it made any difference. So I decided to pull the trigger and I joined Affiliate Formula on September 7, 2024.
I joined the FREE side of Affiliate Formula first and that lasted about 2 days. I realized that I needed more help and decided to really dive in and invest in myself and pay the $50 because I could afford to lose $50 if it did not work, but I also decided I wanted to invest in myself for the first time! I was going to do this!
I started off by watching all of the classroom videos in Affiliate Formula which were very helpful and I learned things that I should be doing and things that I should STOP doing. I learned about products and how to select them. It was very educational and helpful. I used the tools I had learned from the classroom videos and applied them to the TTS videos I was creating and it was starting to click for me.
Another big draw for me in Affiliate Formula was the added bonus of an amazing and supportive community that I could learn from and also help others on their TTS journey. It was a win/win. People in the community are just like me trying to succeed. There are people who are just beginning and others that are more advanced. Everyone is at a different level and it’s cool to be able to connect and learn from everyone.
COACHES
There are also amazing coaches that are already successful on TTS and I had access to them as well and they answered my questions and gave me encouragement.
WEEKLY CALLS
There are weekly Zoom calls where they announce new campaigns, TTS updates, and just give tips in general to be successful. They partner exclusively with a company called Outlandish, who is the leading TikTok Agency.
TOP 3 (WEEKLY ACCOUNT AUDIT WINNERS)
I loved having access to all of this information that would help me succeed. I decided I wanted to chat with a coach and so I reached out to Coach Felipe. He got right into it and asked me what my goals were and why I joined. I told him I was going to succeed and learn all I could and my goal was to get into the TOP 3!
Affiliate Formula keeps a tally of everyone’s points (you earn points by being active in the community) and the TOP 3 students every week will earn a detailed account audit with one of the coaches and they will tell you what you are doing right and wrong. This was very important to me because I wanted that account audit.
So I began my journey in Affiliate Formula on September 7, 2024 and working very hard to help others if I could but also learn and soak up everything to be successful while also leaning on the community for support.
Meanwhile I was still getting samples from TTS for free (I love that) and making videos and adjusting the way I was making them with the help from Affiliate Formula and hoping that one would hit.
VIRAL TTS VIDEO
I posted a TTS video on September 12, 2023 with a sample that I actually bought because the shop never approved my request (which happens from time to time). It was a product I wanted for my home, floating Harry Potter candles for Halloween. I am big into Halloween and post DIY’s and projects all month. I hung the floating candles above my dining room table around my thrifted chandelier. They looked amazing and I was excited to make a video about this purchase. If I sold one floating candle, I would earn $1.10 in commission, which wasn’t a lot but the idea is to have many videos working and making sales and those commissions add up.
I made a simple video with no voiceover that showed my hand with the wand turning on the floating candles and then I showed the table, which was decorated with witch hats and pumpkins. The end of the video shows the wand again and the floating candle lights go off. The video is probably 10-12 seconds long with a caption that reads, “Only $10 Free Shipping”. It was a quick and simple video but it looked really cool in the Halloween setting with the chandelier and Halloween decor. I posted it and went to bed.
If you want to view this video it’s pinned at the top of my TikTok Page @sueandherhome
Ninth TTS Video First Sale
FIRST SALE!
I remember waking up on September 14, 2024, it was a Saturday, and I opened my app and I saw that I had sold one floating candle! I was freaking out that I had made a whole buck!
It was a small win but I took it and was so happy for the rest of the day because guess what? Sales kept creeping in and by the end of the day on September 14, I had sold 25 wands and made an estimated commission of $40!!
I finally had a video that was making sales! It was a great feeling.
First day of sales!
This video is now over 800,000 views with 3,175 shares and 3,385 saves.This is my most successful TTS video and it’s where I have made most of my sales. I do have other TTS videos that I post regularly (1-3 daily). I have sold items here and there but nothing like the floating candles. The floating candle video is pretty solid and makes me anywhere from $20 to $50 a day.
Halloween is not going to last forever, so the plan is to keep making videos on products I receive on TikTok. I only show products I love and I stay in my lane of home decor.
For the month of Septemeber 2024, I made $800 in sales and sold $10.9K in GMV which means Gross Merchandise Value. Today it’s October 11, and I have $4K in GMV and my commission are at $295! I am doing this!
AM I HAPPY WITH MY DECISION TO JOIN AFFILIATE FORMULA?
There’s no question it has really helped to guide me on my way to be successful on my TTS journey. I have found a genuine community that wants to help one another and coaches that want me to succeed. Help is just a question away and I ask a lot of questions and chat with members all the time to see what is working for them and what I can do to further my success.
Presently, I get up to 100 requests per day of TTS owners wanting to send me their products. It gets overwhelming and a lot of the requests are for products I would not use or are not in my home decor niche, but many are in my lane and those are the products I target on my TTS page.
I am no longer worried about being too “salesy”. I just post my regular content along with TTS videos and it works for me.
MY BIRTHDAY!
Eleven days after I joined Affiliate Formula on September 18th, my birthday, I was announced as one of the TOP 3! I earned an account audit and review and I can’t tell you how happy I was especially on my birthday!
Mike Teluma, who is an amazing coach at Affiliate Formula, audited my account and gave me solid advice on what to do and what not to do in my videos and he spent a half hour going over ways that I could improve my position going forward with TTS. I was so grateful to Mike for taking time to audit my account. He has helped me so much on my journey. I am so proud of myself that I accomplished my goal of being TOP 3 after being in Affiliate Formula for only 11 days!
IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!
If you are someone who has been trying to succeed on TTS and needs some support and help, consider joining Affiilate Formula. I am so glad I joined and I am proving to myself everyday that I CAN DO THIS and if I can, SO CAN YOU!
HOW TO JOIN AFFILIATE FORMULA
If you want more information on Affiliate Formula I will drop a link below and you can check it out for yourself.
