ICYMI: Inside TikTok and Starbuck’s Employee Creator Program
ICYMI: Inside TikTok and Starbuck’s Employee Creator ProgramAn interview with TikTok's Head of Creative Operations, Moritz Bartsch
In June, TikTok quietly shared the news of their Starbucks partnership at Cannes Lions, dropping it in between AI updates and creator cameos. I’ve been curious ever since — most of my client calls have revolved around employee advocacy this year. So, I followed up and TikTok kindly agreed to answer all my questions, below. Things I’ve read and watched this week: Brand mascots and puppets are having a moment; We’re in template hell; Hinge went from newsletters to podcasts to reach Gen Z; Tate McRae’s Neutrogena ad is genius rage baiting; Laura Mercier is trading influencers for SMEs; and I shared my thoughts on the Disney x TikTok deal. ⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY
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Related Substack News:🔑 ONE BIG THING☕️ Inside TikTok and Starbuck’s Employee Creator ProgramLook, we can’t all be as lucky as Staples — who watched from the sidelines as print specialist Kaeden “Baddie” Rowland unexpectedly rose from the ranks to make the company go viral. Staples has since supported Rowland but had virtually nothing to do with the creator’s success or the spotlight they brought to the office supply company. Others aren’t leaving it to chance. There has been an increased awareness in corporate circles and among tech platforms that your average employee advocacy program is just not going to cut it — which typically includes employees cutting and pasting links from the company’s intranet to LinkedIn. Put down the TPS reports, pick up the ring light, and welcome to the era of ECP (employee creator program) and EGC (employee generated content) on social media. You might have seen the news about Gap expanding its creator affiliate and ambassador program to employees. “Our employees know our brands, products and customers better than anyone,” Marketing SVP Damon Berger said in a release. But it’s not just about knowing the difference between barrel versus baggy jeans. Another good reason a company might want to tap into their in-house ambassadors: 74% of people surveyed by The Harris Poll said that employees are more influential than traditional marketing in shaping a company’s brand. Meanwhile, 61% of Gen Z consumers say they frequently discover a product or service through employee-generated content, according to Sprout Social. No wonder leadership’s looking around at these potential new influencers with a gleam in their eyes. In this regard, Starbucks has a head start. The coffee chain announced a special partnership with TikTok this summer that would build upon its already-existing Green Apron employee advocacy program. For its part, TikTok calls this beta program the Custom Creator Network. It’s a test to amplify employee content through TikTok Ads Manager — part of an ambitious plan that will roll out to all advertisers on the platform. I caught up with Moritz Bartsch, Head of Creative Operations at TikTok, to ask about how the program works and what impact this could have on how companies think about employees and creators: 1. Starbucks can now pick from an almost endless supply of employee generated content to use as paid adsHere’s how it works: Employees opt in to the Green Apron program. Once approved, they’re automatically tagged in Starbucks’ Custom Creator Network within TikTok Ads Manager. This gives Starbucks the ability to easily locate and identify the content and automatically put paid spend behind it. If there are specific campaign needs, Starbucks can post a brief to its Custom Creator Network detailing what type of content it’s looking for. Or they can search for content that’s already trending organically within the Green Apron network. 2. Employees are compensated through TikTok’s Custom Creator Network.Employees who opt in to the program will be able to benefit, just like any other creators, earning rev share on TikTok Spark Ads. Payments do not come through their Starbucks paychecks. The payoff is pretty clear all around:
3. For TikTok, there is no distinction between employee and creator.“A lot of creators who became famous actually started out as everyday people posting about their job and about their daily lives,” Bartsch told me. “We consider them as creators already. It’s not like we compare, ‘This is an athlete and this is a creator.’” For brands, it means the Custom Creator Network can extend beyond employees to your loyal customers or other brand ambassadors. To be clear, it’s not that creators are disappearing but the definition of who gets to be a creator is becoming much broader. We’re seeing this from Gap, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and others employees and customers are incorporated into their creator and affiliate programs. “Who can tell your story best?” Bartsch recommends prioritizing. “You might have access to a network of customers and you could say, ‘Post videos on your social handles, and if you post really good content, we’re going to reward you.’ There are a lot of ideas on how to design these custom creator pools.” The bottom line: When it comes to social media, your job title matters less than your editing skills and loyalty to the brand. 4. There’s no limit to TikTok’s ambitions.The Custom Creator Network is going to be a generally available product. “That is our ambition,” Bartsch told me. “We’re starting with Starbucks and we’ll see how far we can push this.” When I pointed out this is a single platform solution and asked whether TikTok would ever expand this to flag content on other platforms and become more of a full social ecosystem solution, here’s what Moritz replied: “We want to provide those insights. We want to provide those solutions where people are already building their creatives. We’re very open and excited to have discussions with our partners. If there’s a partner that says, ‘Hey, this is amazing. How can we build something like this?’ We’re having those conversations.” 5. My takeaway: this could be a game changer.If you’re building out an employee influencer program, this is something you need to have on your radar. TikTok’s creator marketing tech stack is, well, stacked. The Custom Creator Network tool touches on so many areas: Employee Advocacy, Community Rewards, Social Listening, Social Ad Management, Creator Discovery and Creator Management — it’s one big vertical integration, all owned by TikTok. Of course, this is a TikTok-only solution (for now). But if TikTok can find a way to support brands that have stronger advocate networks on other platforms, like Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn… watch out! 💻 WHAT MAKES IT WORK3 Options for Finding the Next Staples Baddie
5 Conditions That Improve the Chances of a Successful Program
I’ve yapped a lot about employee advocacy this year, here’s where you can see more:
* Fun FactI’m mortified to admit I pitched a marketing strategy when I worked at E! that included employees posting to their personal Facebook profiles to let friends and family know about the second season premiere of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. It was 2008 — I’m not even sure there were social media guidelines to prevent us from asking staffers do this. Early employee advocacy was obnoxious — I’m so sorry if you worked with me at the time! Note: you cannot force employees into an advocacy program. 👀 ICYMI: THIS WEEK’S KEY TAKEAWAYS
🌮 PLEASE VOTEIt’s panel picker time for SXSW, which gives the community a say in what sessions are programmed. Christina Le put together a brilliant pitch — including me, Sarah Whittle and Ademola Adelakun — to dig into how we monetize our expertise, whether it’s a 9 to 5, launching an agency or building out a newsletter like this one. I need your vote to make it to Austin 🙏 You're currently a free subscriber to ICYMI by Lia Haberman. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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