Are Creator Monetization Platforms Finally Coming To Blows?

Tensions are rising in the influencer marketing industry, as the battle of the creator monetization platforms sees its biggest shakeup in a decade.

Veteran platform, LTK’s pole position in the market has recently been threatened by newcomer, ShopMy, a four-year-old platform that also connects brands to the creators who promote them and the consumers who purchase from them. 

As a pioneer among creator monetization platforms, LTK essentially introduced the concept of digital creators being paid for recommending products to their followers in the social landscape. It’s long-standing leadership within influencer marketing initially underpinned LTK as a non-shakeable platform, but with ShopMy’s capabilities drawing in major talents in the form of Molly Sims, Courtney Grow, and Chrissy Rutherford, what can creators, consumers, and brands expect to see unfold among creator monetization platforms going forward?

The ShopMy Approach

Launched in 2020 by Chris Tinsley and Tiffany Lopinski, ShopMy’s goal was to create “a place where influencers could link everything that they were talking about”. 

Compared to LTK’s 300,000-strong army of influencers, ShopMy hosts just 50,000. However, where the two creator monetization platforms differ is in exactly who they host. Notable influencers on LTK include Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag, bloggers and influencers from the reality TV realm, while ShopMy appears to be pulling those in from the fashion world, including influencer-favourite jewellery brand, Dorsey.

Alongside Dorsey, ShopMy has over 30,000 commissionable brands in its network (LTK has over 1 million). Unlike other creator monetization platforms, ShopMy allows links to any products, not just brands, though influencers will not receive commission from the brands who aren’t ShopMy partners. Despite this, they can still see data around how many people clicked, strengthening their plight for forging business relationships further down the line. 

@kyndallames

love love love this site!!! makes it WAY easier for you to find links @ShopMy #shopmy #shopmystore #shopmystorefront #ltk #amazonstorefront #storefront #productlinks #organized #organizing #influencertools #influencertool #contentcreator #contentcreatortools #contentcreatormusthaves #contentcreatortip #contentcreatortips #contentcreators #contentcreatortiktok #contentcreatorsoftiktok

♬ original sound – Kyndall Ames

The benefits for creators doesn’t end there either. ShopMy influencers are granted the ability to directly message brands such as Macy’s, Nike, and J.Crew to request gifting or pitch a collaboration. Brands can then reply directly with a proposition, or simply say hello in order to get the correspondence rolling. To aid automation of the gifting process, ShopMy has just this year released a Lookbooks feature, allowing brands to invite creators to choose products from a digital lookbook synced to their websites. Once selected, an order is automatically placed as though it were a regular ecommerce order and the gifting partnership continues like normal.

@thetiarawillis

Most of my PR packages have been coming through Shop My! The platform is for affiliate marketing (like Amazon storefront but better), brand partnerships and PR packages. I have it linked in my bio #ugccreator #ugccontentcreator #influencertips

♬ original sound – Tiara Willis

Amidst all the glitz and glam of ShopMy’s interface, the platform proves its dominance over certain aspects of LTK through its available analytics. With a ShopMy subscription, a brand’s dashboard will show how many sales an individual influencer drove and what products they sold. On LTK, brands only have access to this data if they are running a paid partnership with that influencer; a deal-breaking difference between the two creator monetization platforms.

Co-founder of the footwear brand Larroude, Marina Larroude, signals the importance of these minute differences, as she says “we have more users on LTK, but we don’t have the transparency between brands and influencers” and so “we have been gravitating to ShopMy and using it more”. 

Similarly, AUREM co-founder and CEO, Matt Hoyle, celebrates ShopMy’s dedication to brand connection by expressing “our partnership with ShopMy has allowed us to expand our influencer relationships, and we have gained invaluable exposure to a whole new subset of creators”. This speaks to ShopMy’s future commitments to “driving greater innovation and fostering stronger creator-brand relationships”. 

With many successes already under its belt, we don’t predict it will take very long for the platform to recruit many more notable brands.

LTK strikes back

In a bid to remain number one among creator monetization platforms, LTK has filed a lawsuit in US federal court alleging its rival engaged in false advertising, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. The suit details 16 examples of what LTK believes to be “misleading claims” in ShopMy marketing materials, mostly concerning features it says it offers that LTK does not.

However, proving false advertising will be a difficult challenge in court, says Emily Poler of Poler Legal. LTK will need to demonstrate that “statements were actually false or there’s a tendency to deceive some substantial portion of the intended audience and that deception will influence purchasing decisions”.

Regardless of the details, this suit is evidence of the high stakes involved in who will come out on top among the creator monetization platforms. Though LTK has experience on its side, ShopMy’s rise reflects the new expectations of those involved, specifically those who have access to customer data and who control the relationship between creators and brands.

Though broadly competing within the same space, both ShopMy and LTK have found their most-devoted users in different sets of influencers, with LTK’s roster dominated by influencers from middle America and ShopMy’s with notable influencers within the fashion space. We hope this means the future of creator monetization platforms involves harmony and dedication to their allotted spaces.

Our influencer marketing agency and social agency are located worldwide, with our agency network based in the USA, UK, UAE and China.

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