Easy tips to use Social Media for affiliate marketing
Promoting affiliate programs is one of the best possible strategies to monetize your website or blog.
If you are cautious about the content you post and you carefully choose programs which you think will interest to your readers the most and then share them on social networks, then well done! Good on you!
Social networks are the perfect tool to boost sales. But, are you exploiting them to their fullest potential? It’s time to check it out!
This is a big field but there is little information about how to do it well. There are no precise formulas and as so often is the case the only option is trial and error. But not to worry, help is on hand! We know some good practices that will shorten your path to success:
If your strategy is based on launching tweets with direct links to your product or sending Direct Messages with the same content, then STOP!
You’re doing a great disservice to your business, marketing and you. The basic rule with Twitter is to create a relationship with your community, so that each tweet sounds as if it is coming from a real person and not from a robot that never stops spamming. That the tweet comes from someone who cares and genuinely wants to help. The million-dollar question is how to create that confidence?
Creates lists. Both public and private, as both will help you.
- A private list is ideal to control the public interest. It is a bit like “spying” on what they post, what interests them, with whom do they interact… it is another way of picking up on their interests without them knowing.
- The public lists allow you to organize the audience in more specific and relevant segments. In addition, for many it is also a recognition, by being public: they know that they have been added and at least they know that you are interested in their content…
The best way is also to follow them (many will return the follow). This way you can create a closer relationship and launch offers or discount codes, but sparingly, for example by combining them with other more informative and interactive tweets.
How to swell the lists?
You need to monitor the words and phrases related to the products that you are selling and know what is being said about it so you can find new prospective leads and add them.
The ultimate goal is to sell, and like in everything else, we trust the person we know, even if it is just via twitter, rather some stranger. True?
It is a natural platform for e-commerce. Pinterest users flock to it to find ideas on fashion, decoration or travel. Until not too long ago affiliate links weren’t allowed..but now you have a free hand! The only thing you have to do is to optimize your profile in order to don´t spam and annoy your followers.
To optimize your profile you have to:
- Show the product you are selling at a glance. Describe in detail your business and create boards by themes. It is important to use keywords in the titles of your pins, so that they are the first to appear when someone does a search.
- Choose which product you want to promote and add it to the appropriate Board. Once done, edit the pin by writing the description that best describes it using keywords and adding the website affiliate link and save it.
- Increase the exposure. A good way to drive traffic to your products is to share it across other social networks. But having said that, you must make sure that the board is at its optimum and that it shows not only products that you are wishing to sell, but there are plenty of ideas and solutions related to the product.
This social network is beginning to get really interesting for affiliate marketing, as up until now, you could only add your products links, which weren’t clickable unless you post it in your Bio, and then only one link was permitted. So, this meant you needed to think hard about which product you wished to promote. But now, things have improved because you can add links to your Instagram Stories that direct your followers straight to your product. Just what we have been waiting for! Haven’t you? Most influencers and publishers are now using this strategy.
How to add a link to your Instagram Stories:
- A business profile.
- Minimum 10k followers.
Do you fit the bill? Then if so, use that advantage to the max! If not, then it is time to start working on your Instagram account!
This is the platform on which you are sure to find your target. The sheer numbers of users is its greatest advantage, but one must know how to find the right niche and exploit it.
If you have a profile with enough users folowing you, who already know your blog and your products, then it is best to them create a fanpage. The vast majority will follow you if you advertise it well. It is the perfect place to share your content and interact with your community.
As with the rest of the networks, don’t just concentrate on sales but advice and provide solutions of interest. An advantage of the fanpage is that it allows you to measure the reach and popularity of your posts. So if a post has had some relevance, then use it by promoting it to get new potential customers thus increasing your sales. Another option is to create Facebook Ads with an affiliate link to the product and taking into account very carefully the images you use to promote it.
If you do it right, you’ll see that social networks are more than just entertainment. They are literally a gold mine of information and, as we all know, information is power!