From Zero to Viral: Our Journey with a TikTok Shop Agency Partner
Product launches only part of the equation. The hard work is presenting that product in front of the right eyes — and turning views into sales.We were at zero followers, no TikTok Shop, and healthy dosages of doubt whether TikTok would actually give genuine conversions. The end result was radical. It not only repositioned sales funnel of ours but reimagines entirely what we know of influencer marketing and user-generated content (UGC) campaign.And it all begins with where we worked with a TikTok Shop agency partner with all the insight on turning scrolls into sales.Here is the step-by-step process of going from being TikTok unknown to viral product sales success with the assistance of only intelligent TikTok Shop configuration, creator collaborations, paid commercials, and expert advice through one of the world’s premier TikTok Shop ad companies. Functioning From Scratch with No TikTok Account We were never insta-influencers. We never had followers. We never were on TikTok.As with much of the companies attempting to pick through the shifting landscape of social commerce, we had fiddled with Facebook and Instagram ads, experimented with some influencer sponsorships, and experimented with Amazon—but TikTok was unknown.The TikTok Shop product was appealing yet intimidating at the same time with their fast-speed, algorithmically-orchestrated fads, partnerships with creators, and rigid product approval protocols.We had no reference point of where to start, nor if TikTok commerce would be compatible with our category: mid-range health/wellness end-products. But as organic reach on all other platforms were on the decline and acquisition were sky high, we had no choice but to give it a shot. Here is Our TikTok Shop Agency Partner Finding the ideal TikTok Shop partner agency all added up.We did research on certain businesses, yet the business we did end up with had an unconventional strategy—their method wasn’t plopping us into tried-and-true systems; they reverse-engineered going viral with TikTok-natively native behaviors.They were familiar with TikTok Shop setup top-to-bottom, but what they were really familiar with was sales-driving through the science and art of storytelling, partner creators, and optimizer-driven decision-making.They had stand-alone beauty, lifestyle, and CPG businesses under their belts—the vast majority of them with no ex-ante TikTok experience. Their TikTok Shop mechanics and strategy-content-driven experience distinguished them within other TikTok Shop agencies, whose strategies felt more ad dollar-driven.Here’s what they did for us. Day-by-Day Experience TikTok Shop Installation: Getting It Right with Setup Initially, it was fine-tuned and tried under the TikTok Shop framework. The agency handled:Documentation of shop and registration: All product information and requirements of compliance being adhered to.Catalogue enhancement: Product image, product titles, product long description enhancement according to TikTok trends and search pattern.Shop branding: Developing an aligned brand page with native creative design on TikTok, such as category tagging and thumbnail planning.Fulfillment integration: Our TikTok Shop-driven store’s Shopify-induced setup had to integrate correctly with TikTok Shop for order management, shipping, and returns. They set up live monitoring tools as tools of tracking attribution of video campaigns of influencers, paid campaign campaigns, and in-shop conversions—but functionality that we would have never learned of on our own. Influencer Onboarding: How to Select the Right While being top of mind for targeting mega-influencers was of primary concern for our TikTok Shop partnering agency, as long as they had earned credibility within the space of wellness and beauty.They did it all for her:Creator outreach and filteringNegotiating affiliate commissions ratesSeeding of productScripting and creative brief help Most of those creators had already sold daily through TikTok Shop affiliate marketing campaign, and they had experience of the best way of product presentation organically with call-to-action.Our agency actually constructed a custom creator dashboard to monitor whose uploaded it, what worked, and what amount of revenue each of the videos generated—all while providing real-time insight into ROI. UGC Generation: Large Scale with Transparency One of the biggest of these was user-submitted content.Our company collaborated with creators and clients side-by-side on the production of UGC at scale—short natively-appearing-to-organically-appearing TikTok creations but with conversion as the end. They were available in all imaginable forms like:“TikTok made it buy it” haulsMorning routine functionsDuet with viral recordingsCustomer reviewsUnboxing and reaction videos These assets were then utilized with specific purpose on organic as well as paid ad campaigns, all of it while having at hand high-performing creatives without having to invest thousands on photo studios.UGC was invaluable. We can experiment with hundreds of hooks, tones, and styles without creative exhaustion. Paid Ad Campaigns: Scaling Things That Worked Following momentum with creators and UGC, our TikTok Shop agency of record pressed on further into paid media.They did what exactly with it?Spark Ads: Promoting top-performing creator videos straight from the creators’ handle in order to ensure originality and enhance reach.Catalog ads: With product carousels linking directly through to our TikTok Shop product listing.Retargeting Campaigns: Showing live ads for those users who had clicked on the TikTok Shop page but did not convert, with time-limited discounts.Lookalike Audiences: Using pixel data of TikTok to create audiences that resemble those that had previously bought. The agency tested more than 60 creatives within the first month of work alone, and it only managed through performance those top 3 performing creatives and set weekly spend allocations based on performance. It did keep CAC in check while scaling reach. Shop Optimizations: Optimization for Conversion Behind the scenes at the agency, we were constantly optimizing the TikTok Shop page for conversions:Replaced weekly-pinned uploads with most recent uploads added by creators.A/B testing of thumbnails and product descriptions.With reviews, FAQs, and “hot” badges in the listing.Bundle tailoring and paying per pattern per traffic. They also created repeat flash sale events, that instilled FOMO and allowed creators to tell narratives of “limited supply” or “flying off the shelves” situations—are we in TikTok already? Historical Find Virality through A Piece of UGC The actual trigger occurred on month two, as on her platform, a micro-influencer uploaded an easy morning routine video of our supplement with the hook below:“This little pill rewrote my energy within 3 days.”The post went viral within three … Read more