[PODCAST] Teach Me, Senpai, E13: Content creation and LazAffiliates with The Millennial Couple PH

What if I told you that there’s a way for you to shop and earn from it as well? If done right and responsibly, your budol could turn into a legitimate business.

The meaning of budol has changed in recent years from originally referring to a swindling scheme where people are tricked into handing out cash to fraudsters. These days, the word budol is usually used when one is so strongly convinced to buy something they saw someone post online.

There’s a whole new culture around it called Budol Culture. It’s fueled by the trust that we consumers give to influencers and content creators who share their firsthand experiences with a product in a raw and more relatable manner as opposed to ads and promos.

The word budol is almost like a meme these days. In fact, in Rappler’s own #CheckThisOut community channel, members call each other budol besties because we budol responsibly by sharing products we actually like and why.

Communications consultancy firm Vero writes that Budol Culture is our iteration of what is internationally known as the “Experience Economy.”

I often compare this phenomenon to our experience as kids who grew up watching family members browse through shopping catalogs shared by our friendly neighborhood Avon lady. These are ordinary people who can help you experience something first before finalizing your purchase.

Avon used a direct-selling business model. These days, we call it affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is a model where platforms, like Lazada, allow third-party creators to earn commission for products they post.

Lazada calls this its LazAffiliates program. Simply put, anyone can browse through Lazada’s pages, find a product, generate a unique link for it, post, and earn every time a purchase is made.

Affiliate programs work differently for each platform. For Lazada, it traces the last link clicked by a customer before placing an order, and whoever that link belongs to will earn a commission. Product categories also have different commission rates — some are higher than others. Plus, there are seasonal promotions where creators can earn higher commissions than usual (most recently as high as 40%!).

Being good at affiliate marketing, however, is a different story. To be an affiliate marketer, regularly making content is just a part of it. You also need to understand how social media algorithms work, when sales and promotions are happening, and capturing as well as getting to know your own audience.

In this episode of Teach Me, Senpai, we speak to Ken and Chez de Guzman, known online as The Millennial Couple PH, whose combined follower count across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has reached close to 900,000. The duo is known for their cozy content where they showcase products they use at their own home in a relatable and practical manner.

The couple shares that they started posting online just for fun. At first, they posted about random things they do on the daily. They first noticed an uptick in their following and engagement when they posted about their all-black wedding. Soon after, people started asking them about the products they used at home because they had a distinct wood and white aesthetic.

Then they found out about affiliate marketing and LazAffiliates, so they started posting product links as they decided to try and become full-time content creators. A few years down the road, they have now saved up for a car and are soon transitioning from being renters to homeowners.

The couple believes that being authentic and fostering trust in their community is important, so they only post about products they genuinely think are worth the purchase, oftentimes stopping themselves from posting about products that don’t live up to their expectations.

In this episode, we try to learn from their own experiences. We ask how they did it, how they continue to create relatable and practical content, and what advice they can give to those who want to be LazAffiliates themselves.

Follow us on Spotify bit.ly/RapplerTeachMeSenpai.

Ready to be a LazAffiliate? Sign up here and start earning from your own content. – Rappler.com