Affiliate Marketing is a popular way for people to earn money online. By promoting other people’s products or services, affiliates, also known as publishers, earn a commission for each lead or sale they generate. Social Media is a powerful tool to promote products and services to a large audience. To work smarter, there are essential steps affiliates need to take when creating content using social media.
Identify Your Target Audience
The first step to creating content to promote a product or service is identifying the target audience. Affiliates need to know who their ideal customer is, their interests, the problem that needs to be solved, and how the product/service can solve that problem. After identifying the target audience, content can be created that speaks directly to them. Creating content that resonates with the target audience is crucial to gaining trust, which will more likely lead to audience members following a ‘Call to Action’ (CTA).
It can be helpful to list the target audience’s characteristics – age, interests, lifestyle, relationship status, etc. Some affiliates find it beneficial to think of their target audience like a character in a book and create a story, or some even create an avatar. These assist the affiliate in ‘staying on track’ when creating content for their target audience that solves their problem, addresses their pain points, and speaks to their barriers of resistance.
Choose the Right Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms have different user behavior and types of content. For example, LinkedIn is mostly used by professionals vs. Pinterest is used by hobbyists.
Facebook is the largest social media platform with over 2.8 billion users. It has a diverse user base and a variety of ad formats. Besides ads, affiliates can also create specific pages and groups to promote products/services.
Instagram is a visual platform used more by millennials and GenZ. Instagram is commonly used for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products. Influencers also promote products/services to their followers.
Twitter is a fast paced platform popular amongst news followers and opinion leaders. This a good platform if the target audience is interested in tech products, news services, and political campaigns. Twitter also allows for participation in conversations which leads to higher engagement with the target audience.
LinkedIn, being used primarily by professionals, is the best platform to promote Business-to-Business (B2B) focused products/services like software, consulting services, and professional development courses. One way to engage with a target audience is to share industry news and insights to engage with potential customers.
TikTok/Clapper are both short video formats (less than 3 minutes) used by a wide variety of people. You can post live or edited videos and host live shows. Videos will contain a CTA to click on the link in an affiliate’s profile, which directs viewers to a website, Facebook page, YouTube Channel, etc.
YouTube uses longer video formats, and affiliates use these videos to post reviews and short tutorials (how-to). Affiliate links can be listed in the description to support the ‘Call to Action’ (CTA) highlighted in the video.
Create Engaging Content
Social media users are bombarded with content daily, so affiliates’ content must be engaging and valuable. Besides promoting a product/service, an affiliate has a short amount of time to demonstrate the value of that product/service. Different types of content include blog posts, videos, infographics, and images. Affiliates will test different types of content and social media platforms to determine what works best for their target audience.
Use a ‘Call to Action (CTA) – CTAs encourage the target audience to take a specific action. They’re vital because they encourage engagement and give specific instructions. Common CTAs are click on this link, go to a website, join a mailing list, download the app, sign up for a free trial, etc.
Used Paid Advertising – By using paid advertising, an affiliate can target ads to their target audience and increase their chances of making sales. Ads need to be visually appealing and have a clear message. However, this can be expensive as it is best to hire a writer and designer in addition to the actual ad fee.
In Closing
Promoting on social media requires a strategic approach. With the right strategy, affiliates can increase sales using social media to promote products/services. By identifying your target audience, choosing the right platform, and creating content that contains a CTA, an affiliate can increase their chances of making sales and earning commissions. In addition to free options, paid advertising can be used. No matter what platform an affiliate uses, the message needs to add value to their target audience by solving a problem, be engaging content, and disclose the affiliate relationship.
