Social ads or creator recommendations: what works when for driving sales?

Meta’s help pages say: “Usually, you’re charged based on the number of impressions that your ad receives”, unless you choose something else when you create the ad. On TikTok the bidding method decides: CPM (price per 1,000 impressions) and oCPM (also per 1,000 impressions, but shown to people more likely to act) are charged by impression, CPC by click, and CPV by a view of at least 6 seconds or an interaction within the first 6 seconds. According to TikTok, oCPM is the default bidding method for the conversions objective, so even then you pay for impressions, not for sales.

The creator discloses the recommendation in their own post. In Germany, § 5a(4) UWG (Unfair Competition Act) requires the commercial purpose to be made clear unless it is obvious from the circumstances, and receiving or being promised something in return is presumed unless the person credibly shows otherwise. If someone acting on your behalf commits the breach, § 8(2) UWG allows claims for injunction and removal against the owner of the business too, which can mean your brand. The platforms have their own rules as well: Meta says posts with an affiliate link should carry the “Paid partnership” label, even without a business partner tagged. TikTok’s Branded Content Policy requires creators to turn on the commercial content disclosure toggle when posting, including when they earn commission through an affiliate link or promotional code.

These figures don’t show if a recommendation sells more than an ad with the same budget. Only your own data can show that, for example if you track creator sales through their own links or codes and compare a period with ads against one without.

Above all, the figures assume that someone features your product in the first place. With an ad you buy delivery: you set budget, run time and audience, and the platform shows the ad. With creators on commission you buy nothing of the kind. An affiliate programme, or a platform where creators can pick your product, brings no reach on its own. Many partners in a programme never become active, and the very creators you want don’t post without a reason.

So the real work is activating creators, many at once, and then seeing who sells. What helps:

• an occasion with a date, such as a launch or a promotion week
• pay that covers the effort, such as a fee, a campaign budget or a bonus on top of the commission
• a short brief with the product, the time frame and a note on disclosure
• figures per creator rather than one total, so the budget goes to the creators who sell

With both formats the ad shows the creator: on TikTok the Spark Ad runs with their account as the identity, on Meta the ad includes their handle. You set budget and targeting in your ad account. According to TikTok, a private video becomes public once it is used in a campaign, and the caption can’t be changed after the post is authorised. If the caption needs an ad disclosure, it has to go in before authorisation.

Meta shows an “Ad” label (“Anzeige” in German) on boosted posts, just as it does on any other ad. If the creator has added the brand as a partner, “Paid partnership with” and the brand’s name also appear above the post. According to the guidelines of Germany’s media authorities (May 2025), a platform’s own disclosure tools saying “Werbung” (advertising), “Anzeige” (ad) or “bezahlte Werbepartnerschaft” (paid partnership) can serve as the only disclosure, provided the other requirements for recognisability are met, for example visible at first glance and without scrolling.

The permission in the app covers how things work on the platform. What you may do with the video, for how long and for what fee belongs in your agreement with the creator. Meta points out that creators are paid for partnership ads outside the platform.

Under German law, if a contract doesn’t expressly list the types of use, § 31(5) UrhG (Copyright Act) says the purpose of the contract decides how far the licence goes. If the video shows the creator, § 22 KunstUrhG (Art Copyright Act) allows it to be distributed only with their consent; in case of doubt, consent counts as given if they were paid to be filmed. The rule doesn’t say if that covers use in ads, so put ad use in writing. Your agreement could cover, for example:

• which posts may run as ads, and on which platforms
• how long the ad use lasts and what happens to running ads afterwards
• your right to cut, shorten or add text
• the fee for ad use, separate from the fee or commission for the post itself
• that the creator labels the original post as advertising before authorising it

1. Is there a fixed date coming up, such as a launch or the start of a sale? Then you need reach in exactly that window. Ads deliver it through a budget and run time you set yourself. Creators on commission post when it fits their own plans, or not at all. A date with creators is something you plan through an agreement with pay, such as a fee or a campaign budget.
2. Do you only want to pay for results? Then pay creators through an affiliate programme per sale, per click or both. With commission per sale you only pay the commission when someone buys; paying per click also means paying for clicks without a sale. Ads cost money even without a sale, because they are usually charged by impressions, clicks or views. Don’t count on commission alone getting enough creators to post, though.
3. Is a creator video doing well organically? Then testing it as a Spark Ad or partnership ad makes sense: the video stays with the creator, and you set budget and audience. It doesn’t work without the creator’s permission, so sort out permission and the agreement first.
4. Short on material for ads? A creator showing your product in their own bathroom, wardrobe or living room gives you videos made for the platform. Posts that land well can later run as ads with permission.
5. Are ads and creator links running at the same time? Then decide in advance which channel gets paid for a sale. Say someone sees your ad in the morning, taps a creator’s link in the evening and buys for €80. Depending on the attribution setting, Meta can credit the sale to the ad even if it was only viewed, and the affiliate programme may pay the creator for the same sale under its own rules. Your shop shows one order, your reports show two.

With wyrld Boost you put a campaign budget behind creators who feature your products, for a period you set, such as a promotion week. That is the occasion with a date and a budget that an affiliate programme alone doesn’t provide. The campaign is aimed at many creators at once, and each creator decides for themselves if they take part. The pool goes to the creators according to the KPIs they hit, for example sales, clicks, watch time or reach, and how it is split is agreed with wyrld before the start. You decide in which shops people buy, and creators label their Boost campaign videos as advertising.

With the brand and shop subscription, which runs monthly, you see every day which creators feature your products and who actually sells: clicks per creator, and sales where the shop reports them. You can set up your own terms with individual creators. wyrld has hundreds of creators, mostly in fashion, beauty and interiors with a young audience.

Payment runs through your affiliate programme with one of the large affiliate networks, through which creators can usually already pick your products, or directly with wyrld. Prices for the subscription and Boost are on request. We’re happy to talk through which form suits your plans: connecting your programme, the subscription or Boost.