How To Build Your Own Influencer Program

The TeePublic affiliate team has plenty of tips up our sleeves for account management. Whether it’s a flash sale, coupon code, giveaway, or design content, we’ve done it all and are always looking for new ways to help you promote your store. Today, we want to talk about making your own “influencer programs” and how your friends and fellow content creators can help out with your store!

Let’s talk influencer marketing

The title sounds formal, doesn’t it? Its defined as a form of social media marketing leveraging people and organizations who have expert level of ownership, knowledge, or social influence. Typical influencer programs revolve around product placement in a photo or video, exchanging that for money.

Traditionally when we think about “Influencer Programs” we think about Amazon or even TeePublic and our affiliate program, but it doesn’t have to be so serious or intense! You can build your very own influencer program with your community. 

Do you have friends?

Sounds silly to ask, we know. Maybe we should specify: do you have friends who are influencers in their own spaces? Do they create podcasts, are they active on Twitter or Instagram, do they like to make YouTube videos? Those are great people to ask for help! Utilizing their influence, their followers, and their platforms can help signal boost your merch store. Even better, you can promote them back! (And if they’re not on TeePublic yet, maybe we could sign them up with our referral program.)

Do you know other content creators?

Maybe they’re not your close friends but you’ve been tweeting back and forth or promoting each other. Maybe they’re in your #PodernFamily. Maybe they’re just someone you gave you a random shout out the other day. Whatever the case, feel free to reach out to your fellow creators and see if you can exchange promotions. Thanks to our curation feature, if you’re all on TeePublic you can add their merch into your store too!

Do you host guests?

Guests coming onto your channel or podcast makes for a great opportunity to have someone else help you promote your merch. Hand them a mug or a sticker to show off for an episode, or maybe a post-show selfie. Also gifting your guests can never hurt the relationship! 

Who do you look up to? 

Take a stab at contacting any influencers or creators you admire to see if they might be interested in helping you out. Some people are very open to receiving free products and others love to support other creators. We can’t make any guarantees but we can definitely say it’s worth a shot!

Of course, in all these scenarios, we’re not asking you or anyone you contact to ask anyone to do this for nothing. If you’re interested in trying this tactic out, let’s get talking about how many samples you’re looking to send out and what we at TeePublic can do to help you make your influencer program dreams a reality. Send an email to your account manager or affiliate@teepublic.com and we can start chatting!