Oren John's TikTok Shop Playbook

Oren John has a few interesting insights on TikTok, TikTok Shop, and how TikTok compares with YouTube.

1. TikTok Shop: A New E-commerce Model

TikTok Shop is basically changing how people buy and sell online.

TikTok Shop relies on an affiliate model where creators make content for brands and earn a percentage of sales.

Many creators work on retainers, earning between $1,500 and $2,500 each month. For example, a toy brand might have 5-6 creators on retainer.

Larger brands could work with 50-100 creators.

Young college-going creators, aged 20-25, can earn between $10,000 and $25,000 per month from commissions.

Retainers are cheaper than giving a percentage of every sale you make but you need enough money in the bank to go with monthly retainers.

2. TikTok's Algorithm Advantage

The TikTok algorithm is very specific, showing users content that matches their interests closely.

For instance, when an American is in China, the app will show them content from other Americans in China.

This precision makes TikTok ideal for promoting niche products.

3. YouTube vs. TikTok for Brands

Oren's most controversial take is that YouTube is less effective for most brands than TikTok.

YouTube is best for mainstream consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands. YouTube Shorts needs "painfully mainstream" content to succeed.

In contrast, TikTok offers more quantifiable and scalable organic growth.

TikTok just finds your audience.

For example, if you're really interested in marketing around localized businesses in California, you'll get content around exactly that. It shows you exactly what you like in a very niche level.

YouTube can't do that.

4. Creating Successful Content on TikTok

There are 3 types of content on TikTok:

1. Value-driven: Content that people want to save or share.

2. Entertainment: Content that replaces TV.

3. Ineffective Content: Content that fails to engage.

Content should be savable and shareable, either providing value or replacing Netflix in the TV experience.

Oren's content gets shared in Slack channels of companies (small and large) everyday because it is specifically designed for that purpose.

Oren wants directors to drop his content into Slack channels with comments like "Why aren't we doing this?" and for creative people to send it to their teams saying, "I want to do this."

When making content on TikTok, focus on telling stories rather than just stating facts.

People care more about facts when they are part of a story.

5. Building a Business on TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop operates on a large scale, which is challenging for traditional marketing managers to understand.

It relies heavily on affiliates who create content linking to products, earning a percentage of sales.

Creators often earn good money through this system, with some making up to $25,000 monthly.

A Discord community called Your First Dollar trains young creators and connects them with brands.

This community helps them learn how to make videos and find opportunities to work with brands.

6. Incentives and Opportunities for Creators

Brands like Goalie offer huge incentives for top-performing affiliates, such as Rolex watches or even a Lamborghini.

This shows how far ahead TikTok Shop brands are compared to traditional brands.

In summary, success on TikTok requires providing real value or entertainment rather than just promoting a brand or product. The potential for organic virality in short-form content is immense and smart businesses are exploiting this opportunity to mint millions.

A tool to Turn Prompts Into AI Videos

Copycopter AI is a new tool that creates AI videos from simple prompts. It's especially useful for faceless creators looking to grow their social media presence.

The company was recently acquired on August 13 2024 for $900 MRR and has since grown to $10k MRR in just 5 weeks through effective marketing by the acquirer.

One recommended video on Making Content As A Creative Professional

This video gives phenomenal behind-the-scenes of content creation by a world-class marketer.

You learn about how to start making content to be seen as "an expert" plus the 5 content types experts can use to get rolling.

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Rabbit Holes

1. Nano vs. Micro-Influencer Marketing: What’s the Difference? - Influencer marketing can be effective when the influencer has a strong connection with their audience. However, it's often more cost-effective to work with multiple micro-influencers or nano-influencers instead of one larger influencer, especially if the influencer doesn't have equity in the brand. In many scenarios, 10 micro-influencers are better than 1 influencer.

2. Reddit Parasite SEO: A Practical Guide - The Ultimate Guide to doing Parasite SEO on Reddit.

3. Labor Arbitrage - Global hiring rocks for 3rd-world countries and it sucks for 1st-world countries. You can hire 5 people from Philliphines at the same cost as hiring 2 juniors or 1 senior from US with no difference in quality. If you are a businessman, it makes sense to save $300k-$400k and reinvest that amount into marketing or paid ads.

Until next time!

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