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Before there were social media influencers, there were bloggers. But as more writers and creators create email newsletters about everything from cooking to fashion trends on platforms like Substack, it seems we\u2019re coming full circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest new platform that I know of since I don\u2019t even know,\u201d Tiffany Lopinsky, co-founder and COO of affiliate marketing platform ShopMy, told Marketing Brew.<\/p>\n
As platforms change (and, in some cases, face a potential ban), Substack has emerged as a way for writers and creators to engage with their biggest fans in a direct and often intimate-feeling way. Brands and brand founders are also noticing the value of newsletters as an affiliate marketing channel with its more than 3 million paying subscribers<\/span>, even in spite of some recent backlash over its content moderation policies.<\/p>\n\u201cSocial media has just become overloaded,\u201d Libby Strachan, director of brand marketing at Free People, told us. \u201cI think going back to the old-school blog world was almost inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it and click<\/h2>\n
Melanie Masarin, founder of non-alcoholic ap\u00e9ritif brand Ghia, created her Substack newsletter, Night Shade, in 2023 to write about her interest in fashion and travel while seeking to build a follower community through longer-form content.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, when you\u2019re the founder of a visible brand, it feels like there\u2019s this unilateral image of you,\u201d said Masarin, who has around 6,000 subscribers. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to add a little bit of depth and show some behind the scenes for the more engaged people who are interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to plugging Ghia every now and then, Masarin said she\u2019s worked with fashion resale platform Vestiaire Collective and travel app Amigo on co-branded newsletters, and she uses commissionable and affiliate links generated through ShopMy.<\/p>\n
Those have led to some quantifiable successes, like when she said more than 300 pairs of sandals or thousands of dollars of hair products were bought using her affiliate links. Masarin often takes that data to other brands she\u2019s interested in working with as an affiliate proposition, she said.<\/p>\n
Most of the time, however, she said that brands are coming to her, often with gift requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve actually turned down quite a bit of sponsored Substacks,\u201d she said. \u201cFor me to say, \u2018Okay, I\u2019m gonna spend a whole Saturday doing this,\u2019 it has to be either because it\u2019s really related to my content or I really love the brand or want to build a relationship with them, or I\u2019m writing about travel, because everybody\u2019s asking me.\u201d<\/p>\n
SEO and searchability of Substack newsletters is one of the potential benefits of using the platform, Lopinsky said, and Masarin said she continues to see activity on links in posts that she wrote months ago, like a Costa Rica travel guide from earlier this year. It\u2019s not always fruitful. Sometimes, when someone clicks on links in an older newsletter, Masarin said, \u201cthe links are broken because things sell out and it\u2019s so seasonal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Microinfluencers? Or microwriters?<\/h2>\n
Brands using ShopMy to find affiliate partners might find that creators moving a lot of product, particularly in the premium and luxury apparel category, aren\u2019t necessarily those with the most Instagram followers, Lopinsky said.<\/p>\n
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Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cUsually those are Substackers,\u201d she said, citing Jess Graves\u2019s The Love List and Megan Alida Strachan\u2019s WIPOT (What I Put On Today) as examples. ShopMy has tracked several fashion Substackers who have moved upwards of $100,000 per month via commissionable links, she said.<\/p>\n
At Free People, Strachan said her team has specifically sought out \u201ca luxury-leading subset\u201d of Substackers like Strachan and Courtney Grow, author of Unpolished, to share products like chino pants and sandals in their newsletters via affiliate links. So far, Strachan said Free People\u2019s Substack returns aren\u2019t yet at the level of a creator post on Instagram or TikTok, but she noted that they have only done one paid Substack sponsorship so far.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Free People struck up its first paid Substack newsletter partnership with business writer Emily Sundberg\u2019s newsletter, Feed Me, which included a sponsored newsletter and an IRL happy hour for subscribers to follow. While she did not share stats, Strachan called it a \u201creally big success.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Substack, writers are often able to give more context around a product than in, say, an Instagram Story, Lopinsky said. When Free People worked with Sundberg, Strachan said Sundberg had full control over all content and language used, as well as the products she chose to describe and link out to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always trust each individual writer to tell us what they think is the right balance,\u201d she said. \u201cYou never want something to feel overly sponsored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allison Yazdian, SVP of creator growth and success at affiliate platform LTK, told us that while consumers are used to affiliate content, readers tend to respond to writers who don\u2019t come across as if they\u2019re just \u201chawking goods.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the creators who are, like, \u2018This is me wearing these pants because I bought them and I love them and they don\u2019t rip or lose quality after one wash\u2019\u201d that can resonate with audiences, she said. \u201cGiving them all that detail is what keeps them coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowing that an audience is paying to read a certain writer\u2019s work can also be a pretty good indicator they\u2019re going to trust and be supportive of that writer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are really going out of their way when they\u2019re paying subscription fees,\u201d Strachan said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be an engaged audience and interested to shop, which is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before there were social media influencers, there were bloggers. But as more writers and creators create email newsletters about everything from cooking to fashion trends on platforms like Substack, it seems we\u2019re coming full circle. \u201cIt\u2019s the biggest new platform that I know of since I don\u2019t even know,\u201d Tiffany Lopinsky, co-founder and COO of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-marketing"},"yoast_head":"\n
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