Affiliate Marketing on Social Media Here’s How

Trying to find ways to drive more sales for passive income? You’re going to want to check out this post on how to use affiliate marketing on social media.

Photo by Timothy Hales Bennett on Unsplash

 

For the last couple of years, social media has been the go-to platform for businesses to promote their services & products to the public. As per Smart Insights, the average user stays on social media for around 2 hours 29 minutes every day, giving companies a huge opportunity to push their products to the public. It also gives affiliate marketers a solid opportunity to reel in companies as they look for affiliates in the industry.

Did we mention Affiliate Marketing? We sure did. If you are not familiar with the meaning of Affiliate Marketing, keep reading.

Promoting products and services of other companies and earning a commission for every sale you make is known as affiliate marketing. It is one of the popular ways for brands to promote themselves without spending too much money. Even though Affiliate Marketing sounds easy on paper, it involves a lot of techniques and patience to make it successful. 

How is Affiliate Marketing on Social Media Beneficial for a Company?

Higher Sales

Affiliate Marketing drives sales through social media platforms on your retail website. It is safe to assume that if a person visits your website by clicking on a link, they are interested in your offer. Even though not all potential customers leave after buying a product, many do, helping to drive sales.

Different Platforms

As a business, you have many social media platforms that can help you increase your business through affiliate marketing. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp are well-developed markets for affiliate marketing. Do not forget the more elevated platforms like Quora, LinkedIn & Pinterest.

Partnership Building

Businesses can collaborate with different content creators that align with their brand to advertise to a large audience. Different incentives like coupon codes, flat discounts, and percentage discounts help increase engagement and revenue opportunities.

We could keep talking about the benefits of Affiliate Marketing. The list goes on. It is a cheap, faster, and awesome way to promote your business. But if you are still not convinced, click here to learn more about the benefits of affiliate marketing.

How do Businesses Prepare for Affiliate Marketing on Social Media?

As a company, you need to strategize on different things to make your affiliate marketing campaign a hit. The most important strategic points are mentioned below:

Budget

You first need to think about your marketing budget. How much money can you spend in search of higher sales? Do you think these higher sales will compensate for the discounted prices? How much commission can you pay your affiliates without running your business underground? Money is the most important factor in any business decision, and deciding your Affiliate Marketing budget will surely influence how good or bad your campaign results turn out.

Social Media

Not every business provides the same product. In the same way, not every company’s choice of social media channel can be the same. Some companies would work better on platforms like Facebook, or Whatsapp, which have a larger penetration of the older audience with a higher spending potential. In contrast, others may resort to Instagram & Youtube, which consist of a large chunk of the younger social media users. Even though these platforms are considered highly formal, companies can still use socials like Quora & LinkedIn for marketing. Not to say that these social media platforms are mutually exclusive, but as a business, it is really important for you to figure out a healthy combination of different platforms to maximize profits.

Affiliates

Like social media, choosing affiliates will immensely affect your revenue growth. Your choice of affiliates to promote your products/services depends on the type of audience you are trying to reach. Factors like Age, Gender, Location, and Spending potential come into play while selecting your Affiliates. For example: As an athletic wear brand, your strategy would be to reach younger audiences through people like fitness trainers & nutritionists. 

Payment Method

Affiliate Marketing provides different ways for companies to set up their program. A company can decide when it would pay a commission to a marketer on a monthly or weekly basis. There are several pay-out methods, depending on the terms of the affiliate program.

• PPS – PPS or Pay Per Sale. This is the most desired commission payment method for any company using affiliate marketing. As the name denotes, an affiliate marketer is paid when a customer makes a purchase in this strategy.

• PPC – PPC refers to Pay Per Click. Many companies pay their affiliates to bring clicks to their links. Customer buys a product or not; it does not make a difference. However, this payment method is not that popular.
• PPL – Pay Per Lead or PPL is a method in which affiliate marketers get paid for the leads they generate. 

 

Content Creation

Companies traditionally used to advertise their products through banners & billboards. But not anymore. While these means are still relevant, in today’s fast-paced internet culture, social media is the real game which is why companies choose to create relatable content for prospective customers. When creating content for different social media platforms, keep in mind the need of the audience. Discount links and special offers can be easily attached to different posts – photos and videos to drive customers to your website.

Competitor Analysis

With the increase in online shopping and new marketing tactics developing daily, competition is getting cutthroat. When preparing for affiliate marketing, you would want to make sure you do a deep competitor analysis to understand the status of the market. Providing very high discounts to tackle your competition can burn a hole through your pocket. There is no point in making higher sales if you cannot achieve profits. Understand your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and strategize accordingly.

Track your Socials

A company needs to track its social media performance regularly to understand more about its audience. Metrics like engagement, reach, mentions, active time, and many more can help you optimize your marketing strategy for the best results. As a business, you might also want to track the performance of your affiliates.

Regular Payments

As a business, your reputation is everything. So when you partner with people to promote your website, you want to ensure their commissions and payouts are regularly paid to keep things running smoothly. Nobody would want to collaborate with a brand that abuses its partners.

Keep Optimizing:

Nobody has free money to give away. You want to make sure that your money is being put to good use. So when you partner with affiliates, make sure to analyze their performance regularly so that you can optimize their performance. Add or remove affiliates based on their performance to prevent losses.

How To Ace Affiliate Marketing on Social Media?

There are always two sides to the coin. One side is the companies, retailers, and brands discussed above. The other side is the affiliate marketers. These people are at the forefront of Affiliate Marketing on social media. So, what are the main points that these professionals need to keep in mind while promoting products/services to their audience?

Background Check

As a person whose audience listens to what they have to say, it becomes highly important for the marketer to vet the brand they are trying to affiliate with completely. They need to ensure that the products and services they are promoting are 100% genuine and safe and will work for the betterment of their audience. Paying no heed to customer reviews can dent the reputation of the company and the marketer in the long run.

Research for Options

In a globalized market, thousands of brands sell the same product, and most have an affiliate program. When choosing a company to affiliate with, a marketer should do deep research around their options to maximize their Return on Investment. 

High-Quality Content

In today’s world, where everyone is creating content, how does your content stand out? You need to have solid and unique content. Why would the audience read your blog or watch your videos if you do not have a Unique selling proposition? Companies, too, aim to partner with content creators who are unique and creative with their content. So, make sure that you do not disappear into the crowd.

Attractive Links

Let’s be honest here. As a potential customer, you would never click on a cumbersome link. These links look unprofessional and untrustworthy. Even if you are giving away the best deals, unattractive links can be a dealbreaker. So make sure you optimize your affiliate links into smaller and readable links. You can use tools like EarnKaro Magic Tool to start with this process.

Competitor Analysis

Like companies, marketers have to pay attention to their competition. The commission you charge from a retailer depends wildly on what your competitor is charging. If you ask for any wild number, the brand will go to the next best person for the job. You do not want that to happen. So keep a tab on your competitors.

Limited Edition

On a psychological basis, it just isn’t cool enough if everyone has the same product. People like to own limited edition products that are not always available for cheap in the market. And you can use this psychological bias to your advantage. If you are a content creator, diversify your partners’ roster to provide your audience with limited edition sales throughout the year.

Key Takeaways

Audience

After understanding both the companies’ and marketers’ points of view, it is easy to say that audience is the most important part of Affiliate Marketing. A person/company who will understand their audience well will be able to earn success through affiliate marketing on social media.

Partnership

Partner analysis is the next most important after audience analysis. Neither a marketer nor a company would want to affiliate with someone who would negatively affect their reputation. The participants should take extreme care while choosing partners to create long-term business opportunities.

Social Media

The choice of social media channels becomes crucial. Even if you have a great affiliate marketing strategy, huge discounts, best products, you would not be able to benefit from any of it if you are advertising in the wrong space. 

Conclusion

If you have come this far, you must be looking to gain insight into affiliate marketing. These points will help you begin your journey, whether a business owner or an affiliate marketer. If you are just an intrigued reader, here is a small tip. You, too, can start your affiliate marketing journey from the comfort of your house through platforms like EarnKaro. All you have to do is register on the platform, share deals with your network and sit tight. Your network buys products, and you earn a passive income. Make sure to check it out today!