Affiliate marketing platforms can help any business, small or enterprise, promote its brand to wider audiences. By providing your company with expanded tracking abilities, it becomes easy to utilize affiliates from various apps and backgrounds to spread the word of your business to the world at large. Most companies approach this form of affiliate promotion by relying on social media strategies — utilizing the vast population featured on social media apps to increase brand engagement.
For many companies first getting started with affiliate marketing, their approaches to social media marketing will rely on hallmark apps: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Each has its own benefits, and there are specific audiences to be found among the three of them. But what about other popular social media apps? Also, will all of these hallmark apps really work for your brand?
In the case of Facebook, it might not be the marketing powerhouse it once was, especially for brands oriented toward younger audiences: The average Facebook user is older than 30 and many companies are starting to boycott the social media platform due to its older demographic.
If you choose to become part of this boycott, you might be wondering where you should go next. Moreover, you may even be considering how you can work to diversify your audience, moving away from the older audience of Facebook to capture the younger generations — people soon to grow into adults and consumers.
Businesses with an affiliate marketing strategy have started turning their attention to TikTok, a massively popular app similar to the now-defunct Vine. From meta-humor to political discourse, TikTok is producing massive celebrities and creating serious change throughout the world. Especially popular among the Gen-Z crowd, many people have started jumping on the bandwagon, creating profiles to promote their comedy, art, products, music, and more.
For companies already using affiliate marketing platforms, a question arises: As popular as TikTok is, does it fit into my affiliate marketing strategy?
The simple answer is yes, for many businesses TikTok is a viable avenue that should be immediately explored. The app is extremely popular, and it is producing influencers at a rate similar to Instagram, with many of them gaining millions upon millions of followers in short periods of time. How is this beneficial for your business and your affiliate marketing strategy?
A Younger Demographic
Current reports state that over 50% of TikTok’s base is below the age of 34, with more than a quarter of its audience consisting of users between the ages of 18 and 24. For businesses interested in longevity, it’s important that they begin lassoing younger adults to foster an audience that will stick around as they continue gaining capital.
Influencers Galore
Affiliate marketing only works through notable promotion, and you’ll need trusted influencers to promote your brand. The rate at which influencers are gaining followers on TikTok is notable, and it should be utilized by your company to its advantage. By finding content creators whose audience intersect with your own, you can begin reaching people who can be brought into the fold of your brand.
Even if marketing through TikTok sounds strange and doesn’t make clear sense, here’s the benefit: Influencers creating on the app are also likely to be leveraging other social media platforms, such as YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
So, even if you’re more accustomed to creating affiliate content for those platforms, you can still become connected with these TikTok influencers to promote your brand and products.
A Younger Audience, Influencers, and Proximity
Affiliate marketing is all about collaboration, and it seems that a lot of TikTok stars understand the benefit of cross-referential promotion. Many of them have started working in close quarters, sharing living spaces — sometimes called Hype Houses — to readily integrate their own audiences and regularly craft collaborative content.
This is a perfect way for your brand to become involved, as many other companies have started doing, to leverage these collaborators’ large audiences for the ultimate brand promotion. Not only are you becoming connected with a younger audience, but you can also be promoted to a wider, more diverse audience too.
TikTok might seem strange to veteran social media marketers, as they may not be as well-acquainted with its model and platform, but it shouldn’t be disregarded. Brands have a lot to gain from this app, and it’s worth incorporating it into your affiliate marketing strategy. Unsure how? Consider reaching out to one of our representatives to discuss how this social media platform can fit seamlessly into your affiliate marketing platform.
