Here's what we're covering in today's episode:

• Affiliate vs Campaign monetization (1:10)
• Diversification across platforms for better earnings (2:39)
• Facebook's algorithm changes affect external link reach. (10:14)
• High purchase intent audience means better conversion (14:55)
• Impact of external linking and app tracking (16:05)
• Different experiences with linking solutions like Tap to Shop and ShopMy (18:45)
• Introduction of Lemon8, a visual micro-blog platform. (22:30)

Episode Links

Lemon8 https://www.lemon8-app.com/

ShopMy https://shopmy.us/home

TaptoShop https://www.collectivevoice.com/creators/taptoshop/

Facebook's Transparency Site https://transparency.fb.com/

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[00:00:26] Monica: Question one. Also, don't forget, you submit your questions to us. We'll make sure they get answered. Yeah, we want to make sure this is engaging for all of us. So the first question we have is, How can I make money through product links on social media, affiliate and campaigns? There's a difference between the two.

[00:01:16] Monica: If they're like swipe up for my top, that's affiliate.

[00:01:49] Michelle: So like, uh, not to confuse both of them, but basically if you are, uh, doing affiliate on a [00:02:00] regular basis, like you're going to be generating a ton of links. Um, and like Monica said, it's going to look more organic. Um, and. How, what ends up happening is you get the CPA rate, which is the percent of the sale that you drove for every link.

[00:02:26] Monica: Yep. It'll depend based off retailer and the platform that you use. So like a collective voice, a howl. Shop my, an LTK and you'll notice that people are starting to diversify. Like you may have used to see. This creator only links to LTK and you'll know that if when you click on it, it says our style, for example, that's how you know, it's an LTK reward styling creators will join all these different ones because there can be times where a [00:03:00] retailer negotiates an exclusive rate.

[00:03:11] Michelle: And, oh, one other thing that can vary. So this is where doing some homework is important because sometimes Um, and it's becoming more common. Retailers, we kind of use them interchangeably with brands, but like a retailer would be like a Nordstrom.

[00:04:05] Monica: so that's definitely something to be aware of.

[00:04:28] Monica: And so they put it on their website and it's like, you can create a Lululemon link because the apparel is commissionable and therefore it would let you create a link for the mirror, but the mirror was technically still kind of not Lululemon and so then it wasn't commissionable. So there's always little things like that and the more you start to pay attention to it, the more naturally it'll come to you to like kind of pick up on, Ooh, that seems like it wouldn't be.

[00:05:52] Michelle: Instead of like, Oh, well I clicked on the thing like, Oh yeah, it was cute. But actually I really like these earrings and [00:06:00] then earrings are not commissionable and then you don't. Get any money from the sale that you rightfully drove.

[00:06:14] Monica: I think, yes, be aware of when you are trying to do the commissionable part, but there's something to also being okay with sharing something, even if you can't earn from it. And I think it's really interesting how ShopMy allows you to link to retailers. That aren't commissionable. So like, for example, if you use LTK and there's a retailer that you want to link to, and they're not partnered with them, then you can't link to them at all.

[00:07:14] Monica: The exact one that they could find new with tags, even on Poshmark, just because I can't earn from it. And I think that builds some trust too, of like, okay, this person is going to give us the real deal, not just like a closest thing when the real thing really did exist. And they just didn't know, you know, I don't know.

[00:07:55] Michelle: and I think that that, it's also about figuring out like what actually [00:08:00] works for you.

[00:08:29] Michelle: Money. So like, you know what,

[00:08:48] Monica: You could then take that data and then pitch directly to that brand. For a campaign. So maybe you can't make on, on [00:09:00] like affiliate commission from it, but you now have collected this data that can prove to them that you do drive sales and either they can create like. a promo code for your audience that then they can track on their end and give you a commission directly from them.

[00:09:33] Michelle: Yep. And that's, um, I think that that the importance of being able to do that is overlooked because it can be very overwhelming. Like if you're like, okay, I need to get all my data in order.

[00:10:11] Monica: kidding. We're here. Hi.

[00:10:21] Michelle: So like, then you show them that data and then you're like, okay, when I get my campaign, yes, you're going to pay me 2, 000. But like, I've shown that on this social media platform, this works really well. So I, I think that that's really good points. And that's like one big benefit about affiliate, even though you are getting like a, 10% or whatever percent of the sales that you're driving that are commissionable, but it does help set you up for those campaign opportunities.

[00:10:59] Monica: Okay. Well, that [00:11:00] honestly perfectly takes us into the second question. What social platform does affiliate perform best on? I think this is super interesting because we've talked about this before. Things pivot. So if you're listening to this episode nine months from now, we're in August, 2023, it could be different.

[00:11:29] Michelle: And also with some of what we'll talk about, like think, think about if you're listening to this in the future, future people, think about how you can apply this to what you're seeing right now.

[00:11:45] Monica: Well, I think something that has tremendously impacted the industry has been how the last eight months. Facebook has been making updates to their algorithm and trying to make [00:12:00] it less spammy, more trustworthy. I think a lot of it comes back down to like the news and how they're trying to like make sure their algorithm is giving legitimate things to people.

[00:12:41] Monica: We don't want them to go somewhere else. And so a lot of creators who were Facebook heavy have been impacted by that.

[00:13:03] Michelle: Because if you think about it, if Apple is trying to like. External linking or tracking or whatnot, then it's in Facebook's interest to keep you in Facebook, right? So it's something, um, by the way, uh, we can link this in the show notes, but you can actually go to transparency. F B. And I mean, I have to give Monica all the credit here for sifting through everything because it, it can be a little bit heavy, but they do explain some of these changes that they're making to external linking.

[00:13:54] Monica: And I think that's another important thing. The reason why I went on the [00:14:00] rabbit hole, went down the rabbit hole for this was because it's really easy for the rumor mill to start when it comes to algorithms and all of that.

[00:14:29] Monica: So you can always go to the source instead of relying on the random people that pop up on your feed. Because not everyone is the most trustworthy. It's really easy to film a video and say, This is how, this is the best way to do X, Y, Z. And maybe that worked for them. It can come from a genuine place, but it doesn't mean it's the source,

[00:14:59] Michelle: Yes. [00:15:00] And so going back to the source of truth. Um, and Facebook essentially limiting exposure of posts that have external links. Or by the way, the one that I still think is the most interesting is if you quote post more than the average person, right, that

[00:15:31] Monica: Photo and they haven't posted in six months.

[00:15:52] Monica: Oh, same at least. Yeah, but I check it.

[00:16:32] Michelle: The link, instead of putting the link in their post. And I see, I mean, there's hundreds of comments, so like people should not be deterred if they do have to adjust strategy in that way, you can even think about it. Like. Oh, wow. I just thought about this. So if someone is posting, um, like cute dress and they're like comment [00:17:00] link, if you like this and I'll DM you, the person that comments link is also, they have a much higher, um, intent to purchase.

[00:17:35] Monica: so true.

[00:18:02] Monica: And so to that point, let's talk about Instagram and Instagram Reels and Instagram Stories because you can, so Instagram Stories is the easiest, right? Because you can put the link right in their face, say to tap and whatever. I think one thing that people get hung up on when it comes to that is what happens when A consumer has the app on their phone.

[00:18:46] Monica: Like you probably just use the ones for like Amazon Nordstrom and then I guess Walmart. I don't know. Like, I don't, like, I don't download the app for, I guess, okay, I take that back. I'll download the app for [00:19:00] multi brand retailers. Revolve, I have the Revolve app, but I'm not gonna download the app for like, Rag and Bone.

[00:19:28] Monica: Yeah.

[00:19:43] Monica: Like they did with Amazon for sure.

[00:19:59] Michelle: And [00:20:00] we mentioned this briefly in the first episode. I think there's more value like over app to app. It's really. What about like the logged in experience? Are you able to trigger with the app? I mean, with any app, unless you have a not good reset, you're going to be logged in for a while. Um, but I think that if you could do that in a website, like that's kind of.

[00:20:39] Monica: so true because on Instagram, if you are in the Instagram browser, it's not going to even pick up like what's in your key chain to like automatically populate. So annoying. Which is.

[00:21:00] Michelle: Couldn't log into it. Forgot the password or like, didn't want to like look it up and then you're like, okay, I'll just do this. Like when I'm on my computer

[00:21:14] Monica: It's like they are going to purchase from what is the most convenient. Even if it's not, like, the ideal thing, convenience wins

[00:21:43] Michelle: And then you have shop my, which is, they have the shelves, shelves. Yes. Um, and it's really interesting because I, so I pulled my. Instagram [00:22:00] friends who not in the industry. And I also, so I set up a tap to shop and I set up a shop, my shelf. And I also was looking at analytics. So I asked on the, on my story is like, what one would you be more likely to shop from in, um, Tap to shop is a little more like compressed and modular versus what I had in Shopmy.

[00:23:10] Michelle: It's like, yeah, good clicks versus shop. My had much less and it's because shop might, even though it looks prettier for all of their shelves, you click into the thing and then you're taken to another page and then from that page, you click out. So I think that that's a very relevant thing to talk about, even in just like.

[00:24:03] Michelle: Right. Versus do you just want to get them to the retailer? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:29] Monica: So why not just pull your audience and do the same thing and see. What happens because it might surprise you. Okay, speaking of surprises. We got to talk about lemonade because Michelle has not downloaded lemonade. She hasn't played around with it I have so I don't want to spoil some thoughts on it We're gonna do like a live reaction to this app

[00:25:03] Michelle: They are owned by the same company that owns TikTok. So they're like trying to, I don't, I think the

[00:25:22] Michelle: You definitely like from following them on Instagram It's like I'm sensing a vibe Yeah, um, okay. Wait, I'm gonna record my screen too. Yes.

[00:25:47] Michelle: Okay, oh my goodness.

[00:25:54] Michelle: recordings. Okay, what are my interests? Definitely makeup, skincare, wellness, travel. I think home. [00:26:00] Oh, home. Nails. There we go. Oh,

[00:26:06] Michelle: like three.

[00:26:13] Monica: characters or less. Oh, so like some people couldn't do their full name. I can't do my full name. Yeah. I probably wouldn't

[00:26:22] Monica: my username?

[00:26:25] Michelle: Maybe I'll just do Michelle

[00:26:32] Michelle: Widdoms. Is that your username? Yeah. Well, no. Okay. Here's the weird thing. My, my username is my full name. Yeah. But why is my other, there's like this other name that can't be, Ooh, things I do to feel best in my.

[00:26:48] Monica: your first impressions? Like, were you expecting the feed to look like this?

[00:27:13] Monica: It's very, it's like a micro blog. Yeah. It's like Tumblr. Yeah. It's Tumblr for the Gen Z's that never, never had it. Yeah. Okay. Here's what I want to know. Okay. So like, go find like a top or a dress or a beauty product or something that you would want to shop. Okay.

[00:27:35] Michelle: Trader Joe's, old money outfit. It's probably that quiet luxury that people are talking about. Okay.

[00:28:17] Michelle: even think of I like have been seeing that and I'm like oh interesting like looks a little like fancy and conservative

[00:28:26] Michelle: the office.

[00:28:28] Monica: I know coincidence, it's been in a republic making a comeback right now. This is, this is their zone of genius.

[00:28:45] Michelle: Oh, okay. That's actually so it does show how many likes but what's interesting is that the ones with a lot of length likes are not surfacing to the top which I kind of like because I like

[00:29:04] Michelle: Um, no

[00:29:12] Monica: So you could you can't if there is a link, you can't click out, which if you think about tick tock, you can't. You can't exit TikTok either unless except for the one link in your bio But like you can't be on a video and go to the caption and hyperlink out to a link

[00:29:39] Michelle: Yes. Okay, so Wait, maybe

[00:29:59] Michelle: I'm gonna find [00:30:00] you seven followers plus me.

[00:30:03] Monica: killing it at

[00:30:09] Monica: like they really don't want you to go like they even kind of scare you. They're like, be cautious be blah,

[00:30:34] Michelle: Or

[00:30:40] Michelle: would be likes. Yeah. You'd have to figure out what is Lemonade's Social analytics platform, like, oh my gosh, that would be a whole thing. Figuring that out and then you would also need a, like they would, I mean, they kind of do this on [00:31:00] Instagram, right?

[00:31:12] Monica: And then, cause the other thing is. If you can't directly monetize from it and you have to choose, you only have so much time in a day of where you can put content out and lemonade because it is more bloggy.

[00:31:47] Michelle: it.

[00:31:53] Monica: I don't know. That's I worry about like the longevity of it. If people are having to put it to the bottom of their priority list. [00:32:00] Yep. It's TikTok. They have so many resources and know so much that there's got to be a reason behind it. It's

[00:32:10] Michelle: The thing that you're getting that you wouldn't get from your blog is an audience. Oh, a hundred percent. So if you are, if you're trying to grow a blog from square one. Do this instead of,

[00:32:35] Monica: I mean, it's doable, but a pain. But so this would be like the easy option. This is what the cool kids would do. I, I choose the more difficult route of deciding that I want to customize a template, like it's a Zynga and do code behind the scenes.

[00:33:08] Michelle: And if you would do neither, what would you do? So I'm kind of wondering. Let us know.

[00:33:39] Monica: Hi,