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I Tried Selling on Tiktok Shop for 1 Week…and IT WORKED!

I Tried Selling on TikTok Shop for 1 Week…and IT WORKED!

I've spent a week experimenting with TikTok Shop, and I'm genuinely excited about its potential. Initially, I was hesitant because I didn't fully grasp how it worked and how potential customers would purchase products on the platform. I typically seek websites where buyers are already looking for what I’m selling, so I don’t have to rely on ads to attract customers. My objective is to leverage organic traffic and sales.

Discovering the Platform

For a while, I was under the impression that TikTok Shop required me to go live to sell products or constantly make videos pitching them. This seemed like a lot of work, but I decided to dive in, and it turns out it can be quite effective if done properly.

Building My Shops

In this week, I launched two different shops, listed several hundred products, created two corresponding pages, and made dozens of videos. Here’s what I learned:

  1. No Volume Approach: Unlike other platforms like Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, or Poshmark, where listing many products and seeing what sticks works, TikTok Shop requires a more refined approach. Buyers don’t organically search for products here. Instead, they view your page and evaluate your shop based on what you have listed.

  2. Niche-Specific Pages: It's crucial to create targeted, niche-specific TikTok pages. For example, build a page for painting enthusiasts and then dropship painting-related products. This method feels authentic because everything happens within the TikTok platform, allowing for seamless product pitches in your videos.

  3. Effective Strategy: The GaryVee's "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook" strategy works well here—create regular, engaging content (the jabs) and blend in product pitches (the right hook). Your audience is more likely to tolerate occasional product pitches if you provide valuable content most of the time.

The Integrations

The game-changer is that TikTok Shop lets you link products directly in your videos. This reduces the friction of sending users to an external site, which can often lose the customer's interest.

Finding Affiliates

Another fantastic aspect of TikTok Shop is the ability to partner with high-follower accounts in your niche. You can offer them free samples to review your products. This leads to mutually beneficial collaborations—you get free marketing, they get content, and potentially, a commission if their followers buy the product.

Backend and Setup

You can only create one shop per Social Security Number, ITIN, or EIN, which is a limiting factor unless you apply for multiple EINs. However, this can complicate your taxes. Also, the backend of TikTok Shop is filled with useful analytics and features, much like Facebook Shops when it launched.

Content Balance

Maintaining a healthy balance is crucial—about 70-80% of your content should be engaging and non-promotional, with the remaining percentage being product pitches.

Leveraging Existing Reviews

To save time, utilize review videos from Amazon for your dropshipped products. While creating unique, high-quality product videos is ideal, using existing content can be an effective placeholder to test the market.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m very impressed with TikTok Shop and plan to explore it more. This platform shows strong potential for drop shippers, maybe even surpassing the buzz Facebook Marketplace created a year ago.

Keywords

  • TikTok Shop
  • Drop shipping
  • Niche-specific pages
  • Organic traffic
  • Product pitches
  • GaryVee strategy
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Analytics
  • Content balance
  • Amazon reviews

FAQs

Q1: Can I list multiple shops using the same EIN? A1: No, TikTok Shop allows only one shop per Social Security Number, ITIN, or EIN.

Q2: Do I need to create my own product videos? A2: Not necessarily. Utilizing existing review videos from Amazon is an alternative, though unique, high-quality videos are the ideal approach.

Q3: How do I attract customers to my TikTok Shop? A3: Build targeted, niche-specific pages, and use the "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook" strategy to blend in product pitches with regular engaging content.

Q4: Is it possible to collaborate with influencers? A4: Yes, you can partner with high-follower TikTok accounts by offering free sample products for review and potential commissions on sales.

Q5: What balance should I maintain between content types? A5: Roughly 70-80% of your content should be engaging and non-promotional, with 20-30% containing product pitches.

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