Side Hustle Surge

Written by Brook Schaaf

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Last week’s post left me feeling a bit down – even if there is reason (indeed, expectation) for hope of a better outcome. It’s sad to think that so many content creators are dying because their traffic has dried up without redress, even if they are, unlike Kafka’s unlucky protagonist, able to get inside the actual castle (here, the Googleplex). 

Let’s turn our attention to happier news in affiliate marketing, something more akin to a wedding than to a funeral if you will – the marriage of content platforms to affiliate links. 

SocialMediaToday references an X thread by consultant Lia Haberman with an overview of “TikTok’s looking to encourage creators to add direct shopping links, which are added within the upload flow.” There’s even a screenshot of links to CJ, Impact, Rakuten, Amazon, and other merchants. LTK has received special attention for its integration.

It cannot go without saying that TikTok’s days in the United States may be numbered (a possibility I raised previously). Current President Biden signed the so-called TikTok ban (under threat of a sale) in April with a divestiture deadline in January, around which time a pending court ruling could appear. President-Elect Trump indicated on the campaign trail he’d save TikTok, though his proposed FCC chair has argued for a ban.

Whatever comes to pass, the important thing here is the validation – perhaps even the inevitability – of the monetization model. Just as most of Amazon’s marketplace is made up of third-party sellers that are most in tune with changing buyer habits, so, too, does it make sense for a large media platform to support and even collaborate with thousands or millions of creators who have the best sense of commercial value for their links. 

Affiliate marketing is a mainstay for this creator class, especially for Gen Z. We are witnessing the cementing of the accretive partnership of walled garden advertising and affiliate monetization on the platform. 

Even if TikTok croaks, countless other platform-and creator partnerships will live on happily ever after.