Social Media Oppsfor Affiliate Marketers

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Presented by Wade Sisson, Director of Marketing, Partn Social Media ortunities for liate Marketers

description

Social Media Opportunities for Affiliate Marketers outlines the ways that affiliate marketers can leverage social media to expand their brands in order to reach new and existing customers.

Transcript of Social Media Oppsfor Affiliate Marketers

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Presented by Wade Sisson, Director of Marketing, PartnerCentric, Inc.

Social MediaOpportunities for

Affiliate Marketers

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What You Need to Know about SM ...

- What it is- Why it matters- How it affects you- How it can HELP you- How it helps others- How to plan a strategy- How to succeed

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Social Media – What is it?

Social Media is thedemocratization of information, a shiftthat has transformed consumers into controllers of information and influence.

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Traditional Media – One WayTraditional media (print, radio and TV)are one-way roadsto information sentdirect from the medium to theconsumer.

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Social Media – users become drivers

Social Media putsconsumers in thedrivers seat. Theygenerate the contentand make thedecisions aboutwhat to likeand dislike.

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Why YOU (as an affiliate) should GET SOCIAL - it generates a LOT of traffic- it brings search engine attention, strong placements- it increases click rates to the site(s) you promote- it increases conversions (clicks, leads, sales, etc.)- it already has your competitors' attention- it will surely be the future of search engine algorithms

Need more reasons?

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Why YOU (as an affiliate) should GET SOCIAL - PPC restrictions are hampering your success- Social media entries are taking top organic listings- Link building doesn't work as well as it used to- Agencies are stealing your innovations- Competitors are pushing up paid search costs- Exclusive deals are getting harder to arrange

Still need more reasons?

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Why YOU (as an affiliate) should GET SOCIAL - Connect with consumers in a way that goes beyondtraditional marketing, which they actively despise.- Provide the product reviews customers want- Interact and share

Keep in mind ...- you don't have to be a professional writer- anyone can blog, Tweet or submit RSS feeds- it's easy to become an 'expert'- anyone can start a Facebook group

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It's time to GET SOCIAL (if you aren't now)You can become aninfluencer by creatinga presence for yourselfin Social Media.

As with any marketingeffort, you need to bestrategic: Who will you reach?Where? How?

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Social Media takes many forms ...

SOCIALMEDIA

Wikis

Blogs

Video

SocialNetworks

Photos

OnlineGaming

Book-marking

NewsAggre-gators

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And You'll Want to Be Selective ...

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Start by asking yourself a few questions- Who do I want to reach?- How much time will I devote to this each week?- Do I have time/technical know-how for podcasting?- Do I want to be on camera and produce videos?- Do I have the time and patience to build a news aggregation site?

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A look at what others are doing ...If you're influencedby the actions of others, this lookat how marketerswere using Social Media as part of their marketing plans in 2008 might help youdevise your own planof attack.

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Important step – Create your identityYour social media identity is important. Some things to keep in mind:- The identity should fit the brand(s) you promote- The identity should be real and honest. No fake IDs!- The identity should be consistent across all SocialMedia site that you join.

Use usernamecheck.com to make sure your login / userid is available across all social media platforms you're planning to target.

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Making your Social Media SelectionsIt's important that you target the Social Media sitesthat are the right fit for your identity, your brand andyour customers. Some things to consider:

- The 900-pound gorillas have ALL of your customers,so don't ignore Facebook or Twitter.

- Find additional social media platforms that fit theimage and demographics you want to target.

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EVERY affiliate should be have a blogWhy, you ask? Consider:

- More than 346 million people worldwide read blogs. - 77% of active Internet users read blogs.- TechCrunch, a popular technology blog, has more than 1,750,000 RSS subscribers.- 59% of bloggers have been blogging for at least two years. Do you need to catch up? No time like now.

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EVERY affiliate should embrace YouTubeWhy, you ask? Consider:

- Nearly 1 billion videos uploaded so far- Half a million publishers have shared videos here- More than 100 million videos viewed here every day- The most popular video has received more than 112 million views.- Average age of a YouTube uploader is 26. - It would take you 412 years to view every video nowavailable on YouTube.

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EVERY affiliate should be on FacebookWhy, you ask? Consider:

- Facebook is now the No. 1 social media site in the U.S. - It has 200 million active users, half of whom log onat least once a day. - Users worldwide spend an estimated 2,600,000,000 minutes in aggregate on Facebook daily- Each user has an average of 100 friends. (Think of the potential referrals if you could convince just 1 to buy!)

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Make Facebook friends with your customers Once you've joined youcan create a Facebook group specific to your brand(s).

As you add friends, so will your list of friends grow - and it will start to grow virally on its own as well.

You can update the page and e-mail members directly,creating a pipeline to people who've decided theywant to hear from you. Powerful!

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Link back to your site from Facebook pagesDon't forgetto link backto your site.

Use the Discussion Board on your Facebook Group page to linkback to the latest news from your site or blog. This makes the writing you do twice as effective and should increase site traffic and conversions over time.

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EVERY affiliate should be on TwitterWhy, you ask? Consider:

- More than 1 billion Tweets have been sent so farAt 3 millions Tweets / day, the number will grow (fast).- 165,414 - number of followers of the most popular Twitter user (@BarackObama) - but he’s not active- 86,078 - number of followers of the most active Twitter user (@kevinrose)

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A few things to remember when TweetingAs you compose your message (or Tweet), Twitterwill offer a countdown to the allotted 140 characters and will notify you if you've exceeded the limit so that you can edit then and there.

Use tinyurl.com to shorten any URLs you want to include in your Tweet.

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Tweets can accomplish a range of goals:

Promoting a product (in context of holiday):

Sharing helpful information with fellow users:

Encouraging use of a new widget or application:

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A cautionary tale regarding affiliate linksThe use of affiliate links in Tweets has become acontroversy recently. To avoid raising eyebrows withyour own Tweets, make sure to:

- be clear (and honest, of course) in your Tweets. - disclose affiliate links when you use them- make sure people know when you're trying to make a sale. Don't conceal your intentions.

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A cautionary tale regarding affiliate linksIn fact, to follow best practices as an affiliate you should ONLY use affiliate links in Social Media when: - The links are disclosed. - The links are directly relevant to the content provided or interaction taking place. - The links do not create a conflict with your duties if you are acting in a professional capacity and/or are using your employer's 'podium'. - You've provided something of value (eg. an honest, thoughtful review) that could contribute in some way to a purchasing decision.

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Remember the Rules of EngagementSocial Media has its own etiquette. Breaking theseguidelines will harm your social media strategy.

- Don't be selfish. You must give more than you take. If you always ask for things (like product reviews) and send out affiliate links in hopes of making a sale, you are not going to make friends and influence sales.

- Quality over quantity. It's not a race to see who canget the most friends. Neither is it a race to see who can make the most Tweets in a day. Don't be so quick

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Remember the Rules of Engagementto accept every friend invitation. Be selective. Also,make sure every post has some kind of value. Don't post something random just to make some imaginary quota.

- Share information. Part of earning friends and gainingrespect and trust comes from being a contributingmember of the community. Share cool tools, helpfulhints and the occasional personal story.

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Thank you Questions?Contact me at wsisson @partnercentric.com

Follow me on Twitter @partnercentric1