If you’re not using social media as part of your affiliate marketing strategy in 2024, you’re leaving the majority of your sales on the table. 15% of the entire digital media industry is affiliate marketing sales and this totals to hundreds of billions of dollars each year. From TikTok to Instagram, there are billions of active users every day that search for products to meet their needs. In this article, we’ll explore the different kinds of platforms, affiliate strategies and what new affiliates should do to leverage social media as part of their affiliate marketing.
Choosing the right social media platform:
The first and most important decision you will make when using social media for affiliate marketing is choosing the right social media platform. Although on the outside it may seem like all social media platforms are similar, each one has its own unique audience, features, and best practices for engagement. For example, Facebook is drastically different to Reddit although both are considered social media platforms. The best way to find which platform suits you best is to find out what products you are trying to promote and where your users will be.
The main social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest and YouTube. Just by reading that list, you can probably guess which platform will be best for your affiliate marketing strategy. A B2B product will likely thrive on LinkedIn while cosmetics will probably do well on TikTok/Instagram. An actionable way to proceed with this information is to clearly write down the niche you want to promote and write three possible platforms to advertise on. This will give you a working model of what platform you’d like and you can test each of them out and double down on the most effective one.
Create content or partner with existing creators
After choosing a platform, it’s time to choose whether or not you want to create or partner with creators on a platform. Most affiliates immediately assume that if they are getting into social media affiliate marketing that they have to post content themselves. If you’re running a busy affiliate business already, you can opt to work with an existing creator on the platform and they can be an affiliate partner of yours. The benefit in partnering with existing creators is that you don’t have to create content and you can also spend that time partnering with other creators and broadening your affiliate network.
If you have a long-term plan of building a brand, you can create content on the platform as well. Depending on the platform you choose, it might take 6-12 months to get a sizable following assuming you’re consistent with content. This can ultimately turn into an owned media channel for your affiliate business and can pay dividends later on.
Choosing an affiliate content strategy
If you’ve decided to post content on a platform, it’s best to narrow down what your content strategy will look like. This doesn’t have to be complicated, but having a rough idea of what you want to post will make it easier to be consistent and you’ll have a more clear brand. For instance, if your strength lies in visual content, you might want to explore using a photo editor to enhance images for platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. The different types of content you can choose to post include:
- Educational content: This can be content centered around common questions related to your primary affiliate product. Continuing to answer these on a platform can help you become a niche authority on a product. A great example of this is Samantha North who built a LinkedIn audience for coaches. This eventually turned into a full fledged business along with her affiliate income from her blog.
- Reviews: Reviews are a great way to build authority and increase affiliate sales. If you build a brand around being an honest reviewer of products in your niche, you’ll only need one platform to build a successful business. There are many YouTubers, TikTokers, etc. who have built multi-million dollar affiliate businesses simply from reviews.
- User generated content: UGC is content created by your audience or customers that features your affiliate products. This type of content is incredibly powerful for increasing sales because it provides authentic, relatable testimonials and demonstrations. Encourage your followers to share their experiences with the products you’re promoting through photos, videos, or written reviews.
Consistency:
Even with the best affiliate strategy, social media platforms generally reward consistent creators. It’s very rare to publish your first piece of content and go viral. Generally, you’ll need a consistent publishing schedule and post a certain amount of content per month. It’s best to start with something sustainable that you can do even with a busy schedule. This is why it’s important to choose a platform that plays to your strengths.
If you have experience in or enjoy one platform more, tailor your content strategy around that. Write if you’re a writer, post videos if you’re good in front of a camera etc. Your competition cannot keep up with you if you play to your strengths because it’s easy and natural for you. This ultimately reinforces your consistency which will lead to your success.
Analyzing performance
After doing all of this work, it’s vital to be objective and analyze your affiliate performance. Start by revenue and work your way back. Did you actually make affiliate sales this month? Did you get enough clicks to your landing page? What was your conversion rate? The more clear you can be on what metrics you are tracking, the better your affiliate marketing will be. This will inform the work you need to do, so it correlates directly with affiliate income.
The vast majority of these platforms have tools that can help analyze your social media performance. You can export all of this data and use it to track your affiliate marketing. You can track metrics like:
- Engagement rate: Likes, comments, shares, and saves on your posts
- Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of viewers who click on your affiliate links
- Conversion rate: The percentage of link clicks that result in sales
- Average order value: The average amount spent per sale through your affiliate links
- Revenue per post: How much money each promotional post generates
- Audience growth: Increase in followers over time
Following the tips given on this post can help start your social media affiliate marketing journey and avoid many of the common pitfalls beginners make. It’s important to reiterate that you only need one platform to be successful. Starting out and doing multiple channels without generating revenue from any is a recipe for failure. Start by choosing a platform you’re familiar with or enjoy and post content or reach out to an existing creator. First-hand experience doing this will help inform your strategy and you can continue to iterate until you make your first sale.
