With over a decade of eCommerce experience, we at Fyresite have seen a lot of new ideas and tools. One new tool that we’re excited for is Shopify Collabs. Shopify Collabs gives merchants the ability to work with social media creators to sell their products. We’ve outlined the basics and what merchants and creators should do to get the full benefits of Shopify Collabs.

What is Shopify Collabs?

Shopify Collabs is a way for a Shopify merchant to collaborate with a creator on social media to promote and sell products. Shopify merchants can create an application where they outline who their brand is and what audience they want to sell to. Creators who are a part of the program can fill out applications for the merchants that they would like to work with. Currently, merchants can work with creators to promote on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch.

What Role do Merchants Play in Shopify Collabs?

Merchants are responsible for installing Shopify Collabs, creating an application for creators, and choosing the creator they would like to work with. To make the most your application, Fyresite recommends the following:

Define Your Brand

Before a merchant begins creating an application, they should make sure their brand is clearly defined and they know what audience they are trying to reach. Defining your brand allows your chosen creator to advertise within your brand guidelines.While a creator can help you reach the audience you want, they can’t without knowing what audience you want.

Create an Application

In the application, mention who the brand is, what audience you are targeting, and what benefits a creator would get if they worked with you. If you would like images on your application, add them here.

Make an Application Survey

Ask questions to get to know the creator and see if they’re a good fit for your brand. These questions are up to you, and should help you determine the best creator for your business.

Send a Gift

Once you find creators that you would like to work with, then you send them a gift. This can be a free product, a discount code of percentage off, or a discount code for a dollar amount off. When the gift is claimed, an order will be sent to your Shopify Admin. Partnering with a creator will allow you to see social media metrics for their posts to get a grasp on how successful the collaboration is. You can also generate an affiliate code for them to share and track sales they’ve made that way. To pay your creators, you will be using PayPal. You must have a business PayPal account and you must have PayPal Payouts enabled.
Pick Creators That Fit Your Brand

What Role do Creators Play in Shopify Collabs?

As a creator, you’ll be using Shopify Collabs to find merchants that you would like to help promote. When you get access to Shopify Collabs, you’ll be able to apply to work with merchants/brands. It is important to note that currently, Shopify Collabs is only in early access, so you’ll have to join a waitlist to join as a creator. To make the most of Shopify Collabs, this is what Fyresite recommends.

Fill out the ‘tell me about yourself’ page thoroughly

The ‘tell me about yourself’ page allows you to share who you are as a creator and the types of brands and products that you would like to work with. This is also where you’ll share your social media for potential merchants to view.

Apply

When you are in Shopify Collabs early access, you will be able to view application pages for various merchants. You can apply to work with merchants by filling out their forms.

When a merchant approves your application, that is when the partnership begins. The specific needs of what ads you will do will be decided by you and the merchant. Pay per post depends on factors such as how many followers you have and your engagement rate. To be paid, you will have to connect your PayPal with your Shopify Collabs account.

What’s Next?

You’ve done your part as either a merchant or a creator. What now? Now is time to make the most out of your collaboration. Merchants can reach out to more than one creator to sell their products/grow their brand, and creators can work with more than one merchant to help curate the best products for their followers.

If you are a merchant who is not currently selling with Shopify but would like to migrate to use Shopify Collabs, you can contact Fyresite, a Shopify Plus Partner, to see if we’ll be a good fit for you or use this affiliate link.