Social Affiliate Method: Agency ServicesWe think most agencies are awful.
Which is why we don’t operate ours like an average one.
Across our careers, we’ve seen it way too many times: agencies promising big results, then sending even bigger invoices—billing for KPIs they never delivered on. They shrug their shoulders and move on, leaving clients with not much more than big divots in their bank accounts.
We refuse to work that way.
We’re relationship experts, so we want our clients to feel like family, not like a notch on our resume.
And they do. Over the last 32 years, combined, we’ve built a word-of-mouth business that’s praised for actually delivering results.
(See our case studies and testimonials below for proof.)
And we refuse to tarnish that reputation.
So, when you work with us, you can count on that same level of care. It looks like this:
Nothing we do is cookie cutter. Every contract is custom-built around your brand, your goals, and your budget.
We also work in 3-month contracts, which we think is the goldilocks amount of time—long enough for us to measure growth, not so long that it feels risky to you.
Every quarter, we sit down, look at what's actually working, and adjust what isn't, including strategy, goals—and even pricing.
We stay flexible, pivoting when needed to make sure everyone involved is happy. That’s what family does.
And we’d love for you to become part of ours.
Some of the brands we've helped
When to work with social affiliate method
The types of brands we serve
Not every business needs an agency—or should hire one even if they think that’s the next step.
Social Affiliate Method isn’t about just collecting a paycheck, so we want to be clear about the services we offer, what it’s like to work with us, and whether we’re right for your brand…
Your Channel
• You want to launch a social affiliate channel but don’t know how to start, or you don’t have anyone in-house to run your program.
• You have an affiliate manager, but they need training or coaching to run this well.
• You have an existing social affiliate program, but it’s not performing the way you want it to.
• Your channel is scaling, but your team is maxed out. You need support but don’t want to hire anyone.
Your Budget
We do have plug-and-play toolkits for $197, but all of our other products and services start at $1,100. So, you’ll need to have budget to put behind your program. We are flexible on scope and retainer; however, if you’d like our full-stack team to handle complete channel management, you can expect to spend anywhere between $5,000-$10,000 per month—plus commissions. (Rate depends on several factors, including your goals, scope, and budget.)
We collect payment at the start of every billable month. Commissions are only collected when channel revenue hits $25,000/month, and they’re billed on Net 30.
If all that works for you, keep reading about the service that will suit you the most:
Full-Service Management | Starter Package | Outreach + Onboarding | Paid Partnership Management | UGC | TiKTok Shop Management
Full-Service Management
Who Needs It
No team, no time
Bring us on board FT if you who don't have anyone on staff, don't plan to hire anyone soon, don’t have the bandwidth to manage this yourself, and you want an experienced, results-driven team to own the channel.
Pro-tip
Brands should only go this route if they have enough inventory for seeding and selling. If you don’t have the budget for gifting or you run into supply issues frequently, you might want to put a pause on this channel.
We’re picky
We don’t work with just anyone. We’ll start by taking a peek at your star product and determining if social affiliates are the right way to market it. We’ll also look at your website and IG account. If we don’t feel like we can be successful at scaling your channel, we’ll politely pass on working with you—and let you know what you might want to do before you can begin building this channel (whether you work with us or another agency).
What’s Included
Your A-Team
We bring in a seasoned group of partnerships marketers who can cover all the bases—outreach + onboarding, community management, engagement, and admin—and who are pros at implementing our proprietary and proven Method.
Every brand is managed or overseen directly by one of SAM's founders, Suzanne or Courtney.
Yes, size matters
We have a rolodex of over 4000 social affiliates. We’ll certainly tap into our existing CRM to quickly get you qualified creators, we’ll also do cold outreach to find new affiliates well suited for your brand.
Our ask of you
We come to the table with the all-star team, and you’ll need to provide the rest: tracking platform, email + SMS platform, Google Workspace, graphics editing software (i.e., Canva), mail merge software, etc.—any and all productivity tools that will help us operate your program.
How It Works
Fast out the gate from the get-go
On Day 1, we have a kickoff call, during which we discuss a long list of important details, including strategy and goals. A sample agenda looks like this.
We also assess the state of your current program and what the initial top priorities are—building, re-building, re-activating, onboarding, etc.
Mutual respect
Once aligned, our team gets to work—with you giving us access to everything we need to dig in and do our jobs. While we love autonomy, you are the key decision maker, and we expect (and respect) your input.
Clear communication
We will schedule weekly check-ins and give you detailed updates on what we’re doing and how it’s going. We also expect to communicate as needed on your preferred platform (we love Slack).
We work in quarterly contracts and will have a tête-à-tête with you towards the end of each term to discuss best next steps for the upcoming months.
The Results
Timeline to success
How fast we scale depends on quite a few factors, including where your program is at when we start.
If you’re starting from scratch, you can expect to see revenue coming in around Month 2 or 3. It usually takes two months to have a roster with 50 affiliates (if you’re starting from 0). No matter where your program is, we like to see 25% growth in all categories, quarter over quarter.
Once we kick off, we’ll be able to set precise targets and give you a reasonable timeline for hitting them.
#winning
No matter what, our team is dedicated to getting you wins. And because we review progress every quarter, not just at the end of the year, you'll know exactly what we’re doing to get them.
Case Study
EQUIP FOODS
When we started working with Equip, they had about 35 active affiliates and were generating low-mid 5-figures per quarter in affiliate revenue. They were off to a good start, but they had no one dedicated to managing the channel. We came in and immediately started engaging with the existing roster, then organized communications, optimized the offer and onboarding method, and began running affiliate-wide and custom campaigns. We got clear on the type of affiliate we wanted to recruit, and made it so it was easy for them to say yes. Curating a community and making the Equip creators feel like they were part of something amazing were our top priorities.
A year later the channel was generating 10X the revenue with ten times the affiliates (ROAS ~ 3-4X). Engagement rate was around 30-35%.
“
I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you. I work with a few companies, and truly, you are hands down the best. ZERO comparison. Thank you for all you do!
—Brittnie LaCroix”
Outreach + Onboarding
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Bandwidth + Hunting vs Farming
If you have an affiliate manager running your channel, and they’re working solo, they might not have enough time to focus on outreach and onboarding.
Also, typically, AMs are excellent ‘farmers’ — masters at engagement, which means they might just not love doing the ‘hunting’. Getting an assist from someone who does means your AM can spend their time on the tasks they enjoy—ensuring all existing affiliates are actually active.
We have a phone book full of creators
One other reason you might want to get some help with outreach is if you don’t have relationships with creators. We do. Lots of them. And not only do we have a very long list of active affiliates, we have the experienced Hunters on are team to find new ones.
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We handle everything related to getting your brand, brand new affiliates who are a great match to promote your products. We:
Create the leads lists
Write the outreach scripts
Reach out to potential affiliates
Follow up with those creators
Get them to sign up
We’ll also approve applications and make sure the product seeding process is nice and smooth.
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We’ll sit down with you and get clear on who your current and target customers are.
From there, we’ll identify the type of creators we want to work with—who have the followers who match your buyer demo.
Then, we’ll create a leads list—pulling from our database and also doing cold research—adding names to our detailed outreach tracker.
We write custom outreach scripts and personalize those for each potential affiliate. We kick off the conversation, follow up when needed, and get affiliates to sign up!
Contract
We always work in 3-month contracts. So, you can hire us just to get you started, or keep us on retainer for as many quarters make sense for you!
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If you have between 0 and a small handful of affiliates, we consider this starting from scratch. Our goal is to get you 50 carefully curated affiliates within the first two months. Then, we aim for 25% growth each quarter.
If you have 50+ active affiliates promoting regularly, onboarding will be faster, as you’ll have more social proof that makes it easier for affiliates to sign up.
Longer lead times
If you have a product that the affiliate needs to try for a while before they decide they want to promote it (i.e., supplements or anything that takes time to see the ‘before and after’), the duration between outreach and onboarding will be longer.
We will discuss everything before we start and come up with reasonable goals for growing your roster.
“
We had only been working with affiliates with email lists and didn't know what protocol to follow when finding social creators. Social Affiliate Method helped us identify whom to look for and how to message them so we stood out from our competitors. They found us our first 50+ affiliates, making it easy for us to take over and add to our list every month.
—Vibrant Blue Oils”
Paid-Partnership Management
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Many social affiliate programs don’t need to supplement their channel with paid deals. However, they can be an excellent way to get more visibility to your brand, bring in new customers, and drive up channel revenue.
If you’d like to enact this halo effect and have a budget to work with, paid deals are a smart move.
Warning!
If anything affiliate-related is suffering because your AM is too busy managing paid deals, consider hiring someone who specifically manages them—like us.
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We handle everything related to vetting, onboarding, and managing paid partnerships, including:
Negotiating contracts
Creating clear campaign directives for each partner
Making sure their content is in line with goals, brand vision, and and compliance standards—and posted on time
Monitoring performance
Negotiating renewals
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Setting the budget
We start with determining your budget and any specific type of content you’d like to see from the partners.
Based on how much you have to spend, we recommend how many creators we think we can work with. Then, we come up with a list of possibles, pulling from your affiliate roster (if applicable), or creators we know who have a clear record of performing well.
Litmus test
We start each partnership with a test, negotiating a rate that feels good to the creator and is also not too risky for you. We want to see if the influencer can sell in a short amount of time. If they do, we keep working with them. If they don’t, you haven’t lost too much money, and you walk away with impressions and more social proof.
Payment
In addition to a monthly retainer for managing paid partnerships, we also collect a small commission percentage on their sales.
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Month 1
This time is spent sourcing and vetting paid partners, negotiating and signing contracts, and aligning on content and deliverable dates.
Month 2
Content goes live, and we monitor performance. We continue with the partners who had promising performance , setting up new contracts with them for Month 3.
Month 3 + Beyond
As profit increases, so might your budget. Whether that extra money goes to existing paid partners or creating deals with new ones, we maximize whatever you have to spend—always aiming for a minimum 2X ROAS.
Case Study
ION LAYER
We had been managing Ion Layer’s affiliate program for over a year and started to see a plateau in sales that wasn’t related to a seasonal slowdown. We decided that adding a few paid partnerships would give us a measured lift, so we started with a small budget of $5,000. We kicked off with five test partnerships, pulling from our most active affiliates, and aiming for a 1.5-2X ROAS.
In just one month we saw a 3X return on spend and the highest sales from social creators in six months.
UGC Collection + Management
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If you want to increase the reach and results of your social affiliate channel by running paid ads, then UGC collection is a perfect place to start.
Caveat
To create ads that convert, you need strong content.
The key is collecting UGC from existing affiliates who understand your customer, can communicate your product naturally, and can create content that feels native to social.
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We create and manage the full system for building a repeatable UGC pipeline: finding creators, outreach, vetting, rates + negotiations, gifting, creative briefs, contracts + usage rights, content collection, organization and creator retention.
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Strategy ,first
We’ll determine what content you actually need, where you'll use it, creator criteria, deliverables, usage rights and the systems we'll use to manage everything.
We’ll also figure out what to budget for creator fees, product seeding, and shipping and usage rights. Clear guidelines will be set for gifting-only UGC vs. UGC you pay for.
Creation, second
Now, we recruit and vet creators, send briefs + product, manage deadlines and collect content that feels authentic to the creator while still hitting your brand's goals.
Optimization for the win
We track which creators, hooks, concepts and content styles perform best. We then rehire your strongest creators and use those learnings to guide your next round of content.
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You’ll have a content engine running full steam ahead
The goal isn't to constantly scramble for content or start from zero every time you need a new ad.
You want to work from a repeatable system that keeps fresh creator content coming in while building a roster of creators who already know, and know how to talk about, your brand.
In as little as 3 months, you’ll have a starting library of UGC that should last you for months, plus a solid system for adding to your content database whenever you need fresh assets.
“
After just two months, our ad team had enough video content that we had to put a pause on collecting UGC! And the A- and B-roll that we collected helped us see a measurable boost in our ad performance.
—Ion Layer”
TikTok Shop Management
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If you want to build a scalable TikTok Shop affiliate program but aren’t sure where to start or have a Shop live but aren’t seeing consistent creator activity or sales.
Pro-tip
TikTok Shop works best when you have inventory available for product seeding and are willing to play the volume game. This isn’t traditional influencer marketing, and it takes a decent amount of spend to make it work.
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Your A to Z TikTok Shop playbook
We handle the full system, from setup to scale: shop + affiliate infrastructure, creator recruitment, sample seeding, commissions, automations, creator briefs, promotions, LIVE, Spark Codes, performance tracking and more.
Let’s talk $$$
We break down what to budget for samples, commissions, tools and optional paid amplification and how to decide which creators are actually worth investing in.
Note: Typically this channel tends to be very transactional. We like to take a slightly different approach and find TT Shop creators who are more mission- than money-based. Your scale might be slightly slower, but you’ll wind up with content that’s anything but cringe.
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First, we build
We get your Shop, products, affiliate structure, creator assets, systems and tracking ready to go. If there are no roadblocks, this can take as little as 30 days. If TT throws some restrictions at us, this process can take a few months. We’ll keep you in the loop every step of the way.
Then, we activate
We recruit creators at scale, approve qualified sample requests, get product into their hands and follow up to turn samples into content.
Then, we optimize
We take the time to track what’s selling, identify your strongest creators and content, and put more resources behind what’s actually working.
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Build the flywheel
TikTok Shop takes time to build. Your exact timeline depends on where you're starting and how much money you want to put into Spark ads, but as your creator pipeline grows, so does your opportunity for content, sales and learnings.
The goal is a repeatable system:
Recruit → Seed → Post → Sell → Find Winners → Scale → Repeat
Case Study
PURITY COFFEE
Purity had been trying to get their TikTok shop approved and off the ground for over a year before working with us. We stepped in and accomplished in just a few weeks what Purity had struggled to do on their own, taking them from square one to a fully functioning TikTok shop and TikTok shop affiliate program. We helped them navigate setup and approvals, establish the program, recruit and engage affiliates, and ultimately put the systems and processes in place to set our team up for long term success.
Revenue started to increase 10% month over month, and more importantly—they were getting the mission-based content they required, helping them get the kind of customers Purity was looking for.
“
The Social Affiliate Method team was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, responsive, and consistently went above and beyond to support our team. They brought the expertise and hands on support we needed to finally get TikTok Shop up and running, and we’re incredibly grateful for everything they accomplished with us. I would highly recommend them to any brand looking for a knowledgeable, proactive, and genuinely invested partner.
—Melysa Roshan, Purity”
Tell us how we can help!
Take just a couple minutes to fill out that short form, and we’ll get back to you in as many business days. You can also email us at team@socialaffiliatemethod.com.
Not sure what you need?
Take our quick quiz to find your best path. Then, reach out when you’re ready to move forward!