Category: Creators

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Creators Insights

$40k in one day: How Matt Meagher sold 700+ Spring hoodies with Shops on Instagram

When Matt Meagher learned he could earn 100% profit on all Spring products sold through his Shop on Instagram, he got to work. Fast forward 24 hours—and now he’s $40,000 richer.

Creator Matt Meagher, otherwise known as MMG (Madden Mobile Gods), built a passionate  community on YouTube around the popular sports video game ‘Madden Ultimate Team’. 

On November 2nd, Spring announced creators would earn 100% profit for each sale made through their shop on Instagram. Matt saw the opportunity and grabbed it:

“100% Profit is honestly insane. Nobody can compete with that, and it makes me feel so much better about releasing a high quality product to my fans.”

After launching his ‘Dialed In’ merch on Spring, he ordered samples, took photos, and shared them with his community. Using Instagram’s powerful shop features, Matt tagged his products in stories and posts so fans could easily discover his products right within the app. 

In just 24 hours, he sold 728 hoodies and earned over $40,000 in profit.

“The seamless integration makes the purchase incredibly easy for my fans. They don’t even have to leave the app. Easier for them, easier for me, it’s a win-win.”

Matt continued to promote his products on Instagram, bringing in over $75,666 in just five days. This is just the beginning, and we can’t wait to see what he does next. 

It’s your turn now. Check your eligibility by heading straight to the app below and start winning over the holiday season. Plus, U.S. based fans will enjoy free shipping (up to $15) on all Spring products sold through your shop on Instagram until December 31, 2021. What are you waiting for?

Check your eligibility

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Creators Insights

How to Announce a Sale on Your Socials

So you’ve got your promo code, what’s next? One of the highest priority items on your to-do list: plan effective promotional content to get your community flocking to your store and filling up carts.

The key: use sample imagery

Creators who feature samples in their promotional content earn as much as 200% more profit on their products. @loudmouthpod (below) and her photoshoot collages—genius as always. Head to Canva and you’ll have access to hundreds of free social media post templates.

Make your promo code stand out

For fans to apply your discount, they’ll need to know which code to apply at checkout. Ensure you either include it in your promotional imagery or within your caption. @hellomynameiswednesday (above) draws attention to theirs by including it in their graphic.

Thank fans for their support

Running a sale is a great way to thank your community for their support. Check out this video content too, featuring samples (of course). Absolute promo goals from @explorerffectgear, who has thanked their followers in their caption.

Include details of your sale in your caption

Don’t want to come across too ‘salesy’ or disrupt the theme of your content? Include the details of your sale within your caption instead. Also provide a link directly to your product (important one). @ms.christinacosta is making great use of the Instagram integration below. If you don’t see the “Add Shop” button, be sure to embed your store within your Linktree. 

Your discount amount should be the boldest part of your promo content. You need to give your community a reason to purchase your products in this limited amount of time‑ state the percentage or amount of money they will be saving.

Last minute sale? No worries. Use typography.

We’ve used an example from our grid here. A promo post can be text based and still catch the eye of your fans. Plus, it looks great (and unmissable) on your grid. Create Instagram stories to go with it, and you’ll watch the sales roll in.

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Creators Insights

Moriah x Rubik’s: A master class in creator and brand collaboration

On March 19, creator Moriah Elizabeth announced a surprise, never-been-done-before product launch: a fully customized Rubik’s cube. 

Now this is important for two reasons: First, it was the first-ever collaboration between a Spring creator and Rubik’s. And second, it generated an enormous response, becoming the most successful product Moriah has ever launched.

Let’s bring this back a bit. For those who don’t know, Moriah is a crafting genius with a YouTube channel of over 6 million followers. Late last year, a fan commented that Moriah should customize a Rubik’s cube. The comment blew up, eventually getting over 10,000 likes. 

It came at the perfect time. Funny enough, we were already in early talks with Rubik’s about partnering for creator collaborations. So with Moriah in mind, we locked in a licensing agreement. The terms were set, Moriah was in, and we went to work. 

First, we worked with Moriah to replicate her customized cube design. We then helped create an eye-catching promo video to amplify the launch, which got over 5 million views and over 80,000 comments. We created paid ads targeting her audience across YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as a drip email campaign geared toward her fans on Spring. 

As for the result? Moriah sold 10,000 units within the first 72 hours of launch. 

The folks at Rubik’s were pleased, too. “When we saw the overwhelming reaction from Moriah’s fanbase, it was a no brainer to join forces with her and Spring,” says xxx, Rubik’s. “We’ve worked with the biggest designers and household names in the world, so we’re thrilled to step into the booming creator economy for the very first time with Moriah.”

Brand collaborations bring tremendous potential for creators, and this is just the start. As we think of it—partnerships like these go beyond the new normal; rather, we call it “the new possible.”

Moriah’s custom Rubik’s cube

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Creators Digital

If at first you don’t succeed, try digital. Robert McEwen on his e-book

Creators can upload an e-book to sell with just about any content and following. Downloadable e-books are one of the most versatile digital products and applicable to any industry. We’ve seen tons—vrom how-to guides, poems, fiction, e-zines (digital magazines), sheet music, and many more. Aspiring writer Robert McEwen shares how publishing his children’s story book as a downloadable digital product has been game changing. 

From 100’s of hardback books… 

Beginning his writing hustle and publishing his first ever story book for children in 2014, Robert felt inspired by the virtues and life lessons he teaches his son—such as honor and courage. He printed several hundred and hosted several readings at children’s book shops, selling copies and spreading the word. Although this was an enriching experience, Robert found it challenging to reach communities further than his hometown. Plus, printing and publishing a book is a huge investment, with financial risk involved. 

To unlimited digital e-books

Robert needed to rethink his approach and explore other avenues. With the introduction of digital products on Teespring, Robert saw his chance. Distributing his children’s book by sharing a simple URL on social media meant no risk, no expense and allows him to spread the word worldwide. Plus, he benefits from high profits with zero expenses incurred, and freedom to release more e-books which are easily accessible with instant delivery to all fans (or readers). Creating his e-book digitally also opened up the opportunity to collaborate with illustrators worldwide to work on the cartoon-like imagery, complimenting his writing and enhancing the product. Young Spartacus: Virtues Of a Warrior is compatible with a kindle, a tablet, and mobile device and accessible to all readers easily and quickly.

For writers and authors, selling downloadable e-books makes for an incredibly innovative way to test and experiment with their work. By sharing online, creators can very simply gage their popularity, measure engagement, track sales, and get fast feedback. Start by arranging your content into .pdf or .jpeg format, test it out on your devices, then upload it to the Digital Launcher. Designing a book cover and selecting a few sneak-peek pages is also a good idea for your product preview images shown on your digital listing.

Digitally publish (upload to the digital launcher 😉) your e-book ready to start sharing in 2021 and head to Robert’s store to check it out.

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Creators Digital

Revolutionizing fitness: How Champsworth’s gym went digital

Fans will be preparing globally for 2021 over the coming weeks by planning their fitness and wellness goals. With gyms closing and social distancing in place, health and fitness creators are finding perfect opportunities to help their communities achieve the same results independently indoors.

LA based creator and fitness instructor Champsworth Online & Uncensored is living proof of how digital products are game-changing for his industry. Stick with us and find out how.

@teespring

Fitness creator Champsworth Online & Uncensored shares how after his gym closing, he dropped a digital fitness program for fans to work out at home.

♬ original sound – Teespring

Keep calm, drop a digital fitness plan, carry on

After Harris Martin, founder of Champsworth Online and Uncensored discovered the chance to continue earning by offering his services and content digitally. Having to close and re-open his gym several times forced him to consider other options. Not being able to train clients or deliver fitness plans face to face meant digitizing his content and profession meant keeping his hustle moving, setting him up to keep profits going in the new year.

  • The ability to keep fans (and himself) active social distancing restrictions and regulations changing regularly
  • Guiding and encouraging clients to achieve their goals independently through his thorough content without being physically there with them 
  • An opportunity to keep generating income and continue doing what he does best—helping his followers become better versions of themselves, despite the obstacles of 2020
  • Instant delivery. With a simple download, fans can get going right away while they’re feeling motivated, without any excuses.

In it together and getting fit from home 

What’s so smart about the content included in the program is it’s tailored not only for individuals with real goals and determination, but it’s designed specifically for working out at home. His content taps into his entire community’s needs (and beyond), from beginners to fitness fanatics—plus, no weights are needed and no goal set is unreachable. 

The downloadable fitness program bundle includes 9 workout videos, a nutrition plan, biweekly weigh-ins, and fitness examinations. Above the fact that Harris is able to share his expertise and positivity through his product, promoting on social media platforms such as Instagram has reaped insane success so far. 

The digital fitness bundle gives fans a sense of community in sharing their fitness journeys, tips and experiences together on social media. Harris and his fans are going through the same experience right now, so launching a digital product was the perfect way to adapt, stay fit, and keep connected. The Digital Launcher was everything he needed to make his gym, services and concept accessible to anyone.

We’re obsessed with the tenacity of this creator and everything he’s achieved (despite the obstacles) with determination to make his digital fitness program not only keep himself afloat, but support others. Thank you to Harris for sharing his story. Find Champsworth Online & Uncensored on Instagram, or head straight to his store. 

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Creators

Halocene: music, merch and more with UNLOCKD

Joseph, Brad and Addie are a three piece band from Phoenix, known as Halocene. With 4 original albums, over 300 covers on YouTube, and live concerts streamed on Twitch 3 times a week, they have built a loyal fan base that continues to grow.  

Merch inspired by a deeper message 

In conjunction with the release of Halocene’s new single “Devil Inside Me”, the band decided to create a new line of merchandise. Both the music and the merch raises awareness of an issue that affects so many lives in different ways—the never ending loop symbol speaks of struggling with addiction.

“In our music video, mine and Brad’s stories are constantly interlocked. What’s unique about this song is that it’s our first duet, and we play with the concept of having two voices speaking to each other throughout the song.”

Halocene x UNLOCKD

Halocene’s exclusive design is screen-printed on Champion’s premium garment range, as a part of Teespring’s UNLOCKD program. Fans will be able to purchase the design on both Champion’s double dry eco hoodie and unisex t-shirt. The signature Champion ‘C’ is also embroidered on each garment for authenticity.

“As independent artists, we’ve spent years making this band the best that it can be. The fact that we’re able to launch merch printed on Champion branded products is something we never even imagined would be possible.”

UNLOCKD is Teespring’s brand partnership program—recognizing talented creators like Halocene, giving them the opportunity to drop customized products from iconic and recognizable brands. Allowing the band to create unique merch in partnership with Champion allows not only an elevated commerce experience for their followers, but means they finish up with merch their community won’t want to miss out on.

Generating hype with merch drops 

Using branded merchandise as a tool for music promotion has a long-standing history in the industry. Selling customized products to fans allows artists to create conversations, spread the word, and encourage excitement. This Champion branded merch gives Halocene’s fans the perfect opportunity to show their support and loyalty by wearing the band’s designs.

We’d like to thank Halocene for sharing their experience with us and wish them the best of luck with their newest awesome single “Devil inside me”. 

Be sure to check out Halocene’s merch, Instagram and YouTube channel.  

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Creators

How Sanne Vander built a successful merch brand on YouTube from her bedroom

Lifestyle YouTuber Sanne Vander is passionate about creating health and fitness content for her community. Sanne’s wellness–focused channel educates and inspires viewers with beauty tips, healthy living and fitness plans.

Continue reading to discover how Sanne built her brand (VNDR), created a dedicated community of fans (a.k.a. her “Vander family”), finds design inspiration, promotes her products, and more.

Building a relatable brand

“I fell in love with the concept of being able to create video content, upload it from your bedroom and share it with the world. Whether you are making videos or merch, all creative processes start with a story. What message do you want to get out to the world? Don’t be afraid to change your direction along the way.“

Sanne’s brand VNDR official has rocketed since growing her following across YouTube and Instagram. The secret behind her success is being able to engage with fans on a personal level. On Sanne’s YouTube channel you’ll find the “girl chat” playlist, discussing her personal struggles—covering everything from mental health to periods and shaving. Opening up in such a genuine way helps her connect with viewers, building trust around her brand. Fans are able to join Sanne on her fitness journey too, following her work–out experiments and transformation challenges. Her engaging, relatable video content has enabled Sanne to establish a large, loyal following of people who are proud to wear the products she creates.  

Designing products fit for ‘Vanders’

“Creating merch with Spring is super easy and efficient. I use the launcher to create designs directly without using other software like Photoshop or Illustrator.”

By creating her own sleek storefront, VNDR official merch, Sanne joined a network of thousands of influential, young entrepreneurial women using Spring to grow their personal brand.

As well as making design concepts personal to her story and identity, a lot of Sanne’s merch inspiration comes from her fans directly. Sanne’s products include not only variations of her branding, but uplifting messages on her clothing and accessories. For example, her Let’s Glow hoodie features two dragons on the back, encouraging Vanders to “become the strongest, most powerful” versions of themselves. 

Selling a range of products from athletic wear to hoodies, Sanne motivates followers to get #vanderfit and wear them while following her workouts. Take note–she’s successfully integrated top trending loungewear and is seeing promising sales from new products like fanny packs, sports bras, socks, and beanies. 

‘Glowing up’ social media to promote merch

Sanne excels at promoting on social media. She’s got Instagram totally figured out, taking full advantage of the platform’s full range of useful tools and features. Sanne follows promotional techniques on Instagram like highlighting her store link within her account bio, using Instagram stories to feature fans wearing VNDR products, as well as posting photos and videos wearing her own products too.

“My Vanders share a lot of photos of themselves wearing VNDR official merch on social media. It makes me happy seeing how amazing the designs look on them.”

Sanne also effectively promotes her products on YouTube. She’s set up the Teespring x YouTube merch shelf integration to showcase products and increase sales. She’s also optimized her channel banner to feature merch images and most importantly, wears her products in her video content too. As viewers watch her content they’re able to preview and purchase the same product from her merch shelf below the video.    

Thank you to Sanne for sharing her story! You can check out Sanne’s merch on her VNDR storefront, join the #Vanderfit club by subscribing Sanne’s Youtube Channel or check out her VNDR official instagram.

Get started on building your brand and designing your merch below.

Launcher
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Creators

How conservationists are combatting COVID-19 setbacks with merchandise

Deon Appelcryn, the director of Untamed Brewing Company, has one mission—to save Africa’s wildlife, one beer at a time. Centering their work around conservation and inspired by the African wild dog, they collaborate with non-profit organizations. Using income from sales, they support the ongoing struggle to preserve endangered animals and their habitats. Untamed Brewing embraces their passion for beer, Africa and wildlife to fuel their business, vision and product collection. 

Diversifying income with their social store

Unfortunately, like many other small businesses worldwide, COVID-19 has severely impacted Untamed Brewing. Being locked down for several weeks has forced the company to close its doors, unable to sell alcohol or even distribute merchandise to their international customer base. Despite their recent hardships, the team is finding new ways to keep themselves afloat and stay active with conservation efforts through merchandise. 

“COVID-19 has already caused a huge impact on our business, so if it’s extended further, we don’t know how we will recover. However, we have plans in place and are positive we will see this through. In the meantime we can continue to sell our merchandise globally through Teespring to fund our business and raise awareness.”

Finding ‘wild’ inspiration 

Untamed Brewing’s products are created around the face of the business—the African wild dog, making their most popular design the ‘Logo Dog Range’. Deon’s volunteer work with the species is the inspiration and story behind Untamed Brewing’s merch designs. Apart from their popular t-shirts, they offer sweatshirts, hoodies, athletic wear, and kids clothing too. Based on recent sales trends they’ve also expanded their collection to include a range of homeware and accessories like mugs, pillows, wall art, phone cases, bags and socks.

Selling on social media  

As a passionate, global group of supporters on social media, Facebook is their primary platform for promoting merch. By following our Facebook promo guide, they are able to generate high engagement and click through rates on the content they share. Notably, the team also wears samples of their products regularly to raise awareness for their brand, conservation efforts, and drive sales.  

 

“We use Facebook adverts as well as selling merchandise at events. All staff are always wearing branded clothing. We get people stopping us on the street asking for shirts! Our adverts on Facebook cause spikes in sales on Teespring, so we’re pushing those more and more.”

Building a conservation community

From connecting with locals at events to spreading awareness of their work (and beer) on social media, Untamed Brewing’s story demonstrates how you can turn a passion (or two) into a successful business that makes a real, positive impact in real life. Their merch enhances brand building by creating opportunities for followers to support their business, contribute to a worthy cause, and raise international awareness. 

“Creating a custom store on Teespring provided the best option–from fast products to customer service. It enables us to build our brand and sell products at scale without having to worry about fulfillment logistics and customer support.”

Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic the Untamed Brewing team maintains a positive mindset and looks to the future. We’d like to thank them for sharing their story and wish them the best of luck in the future!

Want to support Untamed Brewing Company and their ‘pack’?

Check out their store, follow @untamed_brewing_company and visit their facebook page Untamed Brewing.

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Creators

Chef Christian’s tips on creating profit with merch during COVID-19

Christian Hayes is passionate about food. After starting a successful catering company with his wife, Christine, the couple decided to open their restaurant, The Garrison. Located in Yarmouth, Maine and surrounded by the rushing Royal River, their restaurant serves ‘thoughtful food’ and prides itself on having a brilliant and kind team. 

Generate pure profit

Business was booming until COVID-19 spread across the world. Like many small businesses, social distancing and lock downs have hit The Garrison hard and forced Christian and Christine to make some very difficult decisions. 

“It’s been awful. Restaurants, hospitality, and catering are all centered around the pretty basic concept of humans congregating. When a pandemic’s direct response is for people not to gather for an unforeseen amount of time – that decimates our industry. We already function on the slimmest of margins. One week off, and you start to feel the pressure. Having to lay off our invested staff who have built these companies beside us was heartbreaking.”

Despite the hardships Christian and his family continue pushing forward. He’s committed to finding new ways to generate income until this passes and life returns to normal—including creating branded merchandise.  

“Business is about playing offense and defense, and adapting. You got to pivot. Teespring allowed us to add a revenue stream of pure profit, with no expenses. That’s invaluable in times like these.”

Create appealing designs

Christian was able to create a new merch collection, a custom store, and started getting sales within a week of signing up to Teespring. His designs are inspired by his love of rock & roll and motorcycle culture, and similar to his restaurant the aesthetic uniquely combines a high-end look with a bit of attitude. The main thing for Christian was creating products he would want to wear. 

The Garrion’s merch features several different design collections. Their most popular product so far is the premium tee in the Snake Bite design. Apart from tees, Christian also offers sweatshirts, hoodies, tote bags, tank tops, women’s tees, and die cut stickers featuring each design.  

Community is key

Christian’s merch collection has enabled his community and loyal patrons to show their support for the business. He’s utilizing social media to let people know about the products and has been overwhelmed by the response. Following promotional best practices like sharing visual posts is effective for creating engagement and driving sales. 

“Obviously social media is paramount, and staying ahead of the curve on those platforms is key. We have an incredibly loyal customer base who desperately want to help, so fueling the fire by creating things they can get excited about is priority. The way the community has gathered around us to offer support and words of encouragement has been so overwhelming and humbling. It reminds us that human beings are incredible.”

Never give up

While no one knows what the future holds, Christian plans to further diversify income through merch and creating new services at the restaurant like prepped meals, staple boxes with fresh ingredients, and more.  

“Stay up. It’s times like these that make us who we are, so keep swinging, and look out for each other. It’s the only thing we can do.”

Want to support Christian and his family? Check out his store and follow @thegarrisonmaine.

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Creators

PLASMA Magazine: Earth Day designs

Earth Day will be celebrated on April 22, 2020 by millions of people around the world. This year is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and this year’s theme is “climate action”—the pressure is on to take action (and fast) and combat climate change! Earth Day aims to increase awareness of the planet, pollution, climate change, endangered species, and many other environmental issues to drive transformative change. 

With the recent launch of our Conscious Collection, now is the perfect time to create eco-friendly products in line with Earth Day 2020. PLASMA Magazine is an international publication that combines art + science to inspire curiosity and appreciation for the planet and the space that surrounds it. PLASMA have just launched their own Conscious Collection, so we caught up with them to learn more about their publication and how it inspires their designs.

Diana Wehmeier, CEO and Creative Director of PLASMA Magazine

Creating product collections

The team at PLASMA was initially drawn to Teespring’s sustainable business model, where products are only produced on demand. After seeing trusted companies use the platform for merch needs they decided to give it a try for themselves. 

After the success of several product collections, PLASMA has incorporated new items from the Conscious Collection into their store, which aligns perfectly with Earth Day. These products give buyers the chance to purchase apparel and accessories with reduced environmental impact while supporting environmental non-profits.

“Researching space exploration and planetary studies only bring us closer to our own planet and helps you appreciate everything a little more. There is no other place like earth (as far as we know). This planet is precious and the only home we have, it is imperative to save and protect it for future generations.”

PLASMA Magazine’s Conscious Collection

Finding design inspiration

The magazine’s content is designed to engage younger people and communicate science and technology in a more fun and appealing way. Each issue is jam-packed with stories, behind the scenes sneak peeks, photo series, posters, nerd guides, all things art + science, plus interviews featuring scientists from diverse fields  talking about their personal motivations and passions.

The magazine’s content is also what inspires the unique design featured on their products. 

“The latest science news and events is what influences and inspires our merchandise designs. For the focus of our eco-conscious collection we selected a few fan favorite pages that create an awareness not only for planet Earth, but also other celestial bodies like the moon and Mars!”

A page from PLASMA issue 5 that inspired one of their top selling product designs.

Promoting products

PLASMA successfully launches new products using a combination of promotion best practices. During the pre-launch phase they generate hype and interest by sharing ‘sneak peek’ sample photos with their online following.

“First we test with a teaser or sneak peek, by ordering samples and taking photos we can see the products firsthand and gauge the response on social media.” 

PLASMA also asks fans to share photos and videos with the products once they arrive. This enables them to collect social proof which can be used in the future to drive more sales. 

“We often get mentioned in stories or tagged in posts or people send us lovely messages about their merch, that’s always very sweet and motivating.”

PLASMA fans and readers repping their merch