Meta Metric, Influencer Gold, and The New TikTok Shop Playbook

We’re going to skip the political stuff this week. We’ll no doubt circle back soon, but for now we’re going to focus on the stuff that we can mostly control: optimizing Meta, working with influencers, and trying to crack the code on TikTok.

Plus, uncover how to scale your brand without overspending, guided by the essential freelancer compensation report every founder should download right now.

Today:

• Meta Optimization: Focusing on What Matters (+ a new Meta bug)

• How To Run Your Influencer Marketing: Vital insight from Sean Frank

• TikTok Shop Secrets: Revealed by Simple Modern’s Bryan Porter

• Quick Hits: Find out how scalable your brand is…

Meta Optimization: Focus on What Actually Matters

Key Performance Metrics Beyond ROAS

According to Harry Delmege, SPEND is a leading indicator of an ad's potential: "If you drop an ad into the account and it gobbles up spend, you know you're onto something."

This is why Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) and Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) are so effective - they create a "meritocracy" of ad performance where winning ads naturally receive more budget.

"If I have a video that takes up a lot of spend but has an above-target CPA, I will never just turn it off and forget about it," Delmege explains. "Usually, you just have to change and tweak the first 3 seconds, and it'll become a printer." This approach has helped him scale ads to over $500k in spend from initially underperforming creatives.

Frequency - This metric indicates where your ad sits in the funnel (TOF, MOF, or BOF) and signals audience awareness level.

• High frequency fix: Test storytelling ads with delayed product introductions to reset fatigue

• Low frequency fix: Implement reviews, press mentions, or offer-centric creatives to improve mid-funnel performance

CTR (Click-Through Rate) - "I rarely see a winner under a 1% CTR," says Delmege. Low CTR often signals weak emotional appeal or poor problem framing.

• Low CTR fix: Create more tension in your ads, target stronger emotions, or amplify the problem you solve

Hold Rate - Measures audience retention throughout your video content.

• Low hold rate fix: Use "open loop" techniques that promise a payoff at the end, and incorporate "rehook" elements throughout longer videos

But…Does Hook Rate Really Matter?

While hook rate is a popular soft metric to consider in performance marketing (percentage of people who watch the first 3 seconds of your video), surprising new data suggests this might be an entirely misplaced effort.

Peter Quadrel recently conducted an in-depth analysis across thousands of data points from multiple clients and found virtually no correlation between hook rate and any meaningful business outcome:

• Hook Rate to CPA: 0.06 (No Correlation)

• Hook Rate to Revenue: -0.12 (No Correlation)

• Hook Rate to Spend: -0.04 (No Correlation)

"Despite its popularity, hook rate is not a reliable predictor of ad performance," Quadrel concludes. "Whether you're looking at revenue, CPA, or spend, hook rate doesn't give you the insights you need."

Seems counter-intuitive but consider that hook rate only indicates initial interest - just one small step in the conversion journey. A high hook rate is meaningless if your targeting, product, or funnel are weak.

You can easily create a controversial or sensational video with an astronomical hook rate that drives zero business value because it doesn't align with your product or target customers who might actually buy.

Quadrel recommends focusing on metrics like average watch time and engagement rates, which have shown much stronger correlations with revenue, profitability, and new customer acquisition.

Comment Management: The Hidden Lever

Reddit can be a cesspool at the best of times, but it also hides some interesting insight if you’re willing to dig.

A recent post reported that actively managing ad comments (without changing creative, targeting or spend) resulted in:

• Follower growth: Up 53%

• Reach: Up 39%

• Engagement: Up 31%

Here “actively manage” means responding to questions and complaints (or hiding the persistent haters).

Nothing on whether this resulted in more revenue, but improving engagement and reach certainly can’t hurt.

🚨 ALERT: Meta tROAS Bug Affecting Campaigns

Meta advertisers experienced a significant bug this past week wiping out tROAS values in ad sets, causing campaigns to ignore optimization parameters and overspend. Changes to tROAS settings aren't saving, and Meta has (as far as we know) provided no notification about the issue.

Immediate Action Required:

• Check all tROAS campaigns for missing optimization parameters

• Document bugs with video evidence for potential refund claims

• Submit support tickets and consider temporary budget shifts to other platforms

Takeaway: There are plenty of softer metrics in your Meta ad account to keep an eye on and improve. But, it’s best to remember how many variables stand between you, a click, and a sale when it comes to advertising. Be sure to find ways to test for actual business impact when it comes to stuff like hook rate, hold rate, etc.

Oh, and if your account ignored your tROAS goal late in the week, be sure to follow up with your Meta rep and ask for a refund.

How To Run Your Influencer Marketing

We’ve talked a lot about influencer marketing in Q1. Big brands have found that platform-native UGC is the best way to scale on Meta to kick off 2025.

Sean Frank frames the opportunity perfectly: "Influencer marketing is the closest to being able to pay for word of mouth marketing."

Let’s go through Sean’s thread…

The Five Essential Ad Units

What makes influencer content so powerful in 2025 is the attention quality. While Facebook ads are "a swipe and gone," YouTube creator integrations can command two full minutes of undivided attention. "The 'time impression quality' of these ads are high," Frank notes. "YouTube creators, in particular, are getting 100% attention share—it's the closest to word of mouth marketing you can pay for."

According to Frank, you only need these five formats to scale to eight figures:

1. In-feed social posts - Standard sponsored content on TikTok, Instagram, etc.

2. Story posts - More casual, time-limited content with different engagement patterns

3. In-content ad reads (YouTube) - Integrated mentions within longer-form video content

4. Podcast ads - Audio integrations that benefit from the podcast host's credibility

5. Content rights - Purchasing the rights to use influencer-created content in your own channel

Base CPM Varies Dramatically By Category

Frank's data shows implicit "base CPMs" vary significantly:

• Established brands like Ridge Wallet: $10 base CPM

• Crypto brands: $500 base CPM

• "Taboo" products: $50-$500 base CPM

These rates are determined by your brand's perceived risk, product category, and time in market. Brands with long-standing influencer relationships signal they're "influencer safe," reducing costs.

Non-endemic Often Outperforms Endemic

Surprisingly, creators outside your product category (non-endemic) often outperform those within it: "The fishing YouTuber risks their credibility recommending fishing gear, but has zero risk recommending a wallet."

How to Whitelist

More on influencer marketing, Ash went over a checklist of best practices that drive Obvi’s whitelisting growth this year:

1. Ignore follower counts

2. Ban scripts

3. Match creators to personas 

4. Prioritize specific stories 

5. Always get raw files and B-roll 

6. Keep it raw and real 

Takeaway: You’re probably not going to scale without a quality influencer and UGC program in place this year. If you’re lagging in this department, time to lean in.

TikTok Shop: Data-Driven Tactics From 80,000 Orders

Bryan Porter of Simple Modern shared surprising insights after achieving 80,000 orders through TikTok Shop—revealing a very different reality than conventional wisdom suggests.

Let’s go over some of the key insights from his thread…

Surprising Sales Breakdown

Perhaps the most unexpected revelation from Porter's data: samples to creators—often considered the cornerstone of TikTok Shop strategy—accounted for only 7% of Simple Modern's total 80,000 orders. The actual breakdown of where their TikTok Shop sales came from:

• 40% from product card - Customers organically discovering products within TikTok's ecosystem. Critically, Porter notes these orders don't incur commission fees, making them especially profitable.

• 60% from videos - Primarily from affiliates who either already owned the product or simply showed product images in their content without even having samples.

When they did send samples to affiliates, they achieved a 3x ROAS direct on TikTok Shop. Factor in halo sales on Amazon and their DTC site, and that jumps to an impressive 6x ROAS—though Porter cautions that half of their sample-driven revenue came from just one particularly high-performing affiliate.

The 100%+ Halo Effect

TikTok Shop's biggest value may be its halo effect. Porter reports successful TikTok videos typically drive more sales on Amazon and DTC than on TikTok Shop itself.

"The real magic is when TikTok videos goose Amazon listing placement permanently," Porter notes.

The 50K Sweet Spot

Revenue per video plateaus once creators reach 50,000 followers.

Porter's data shows:

• 0-1K followers: $13 per video

• 1K-5K followers: $25 per video

• 5K-10K followers: $40 per video

• 10K-50K followers: $75 per video

• 50K+ followers: $100 per video

The surprising finding: creators with 50K followers generated the same revenue per video as those with 1M followers.

Winning Product Attributes

Best sellers aren’t necessarily the needle movers on TTS. Products that succeed typically have at least one of these qualities:

• Interesting - Visually compelling

• New - Recent launches

• Culturally relevant - Tied to trends or seasons

• Niche cult following - Products with dedicated fan bases

Finally, the "Sample Grifter" Warning..

Of 51 affiliates who received 4+ samples, only one generated a sale. This amounted to 13% of total samples going to "grifters."

If you’re running a sample program, keep an eye on anyone with excessive asks before they’ve ever made a sale for your brand.

TTS Viral Framework

Brian Blum also offers a complementary playbook based on top TTS performers Goli. There’s a bunch of insight in the thread, but here’s the Coles Notes version:

1. Work with trained creators who understand conversion

2. Use tiered commission structures & rewards tied to volume

3. Scale through creator volume rather than individual reach

4. Pair with irresistible offers (Goli offered 31% off retail)

5. Leverage network effects through strategic ad spend

Takeaway: The most successful TikTok Shop brands aren't relying on organic virality alone. They're building systematic approaches that combine trained creators, compelling offers, and strategic amplification.

Quick Hits:

• Want to know how scalable your DTC brand is? Take this free audit from Triple Whale to find out.

• Door Dash signs a deal with Klarna to provide installment payment options for…takeout delivery for some reason?

• Haus partners with Crisp to provide incremental impact measurement for CPG brands in retail.

• How much did TikTok’s (temporary) removal from the App Store impact CPMs on Meta? Find out here.

• Don’t forget to download The Starter’s free guide to DTC Freelancer Compensation.