The rise of social media in the last decade and a half is something unprecedented. There never was a more convenient way to keep in touch with loved ones as well as companies and celebrities. Add in the fact people are doing both while being able to express themselves, and you got a recipe for success. Social media has proved itself to be a great asset to companies and affiliates alike. If they utilize the platform’s full potential, that is.
What are the benefits of marketing through social media?
Using social media platforms within an affiliate campaign is, first and foremost, the easiest way to connect with your audience. Creating posts linking to your newest content is and offers makes sure your audience sees them in a timely manner. Additionally, if you really take the time to write or film content that brings value to your visitors, there is a great chance for the post to be shared and seen by even more people who may have not heard about you. As you see, your audience has the power to extend your reach for free. For example, you can earn revenue from your YouTube channel by providing extra value to your audience through affiliate marketing. While this platform provides various built-in ways of monetizing your content, affiliate marketing on YouTube allows you to directly control what products you promote and to earn more of the proceeds.
The ease of setting up a social media account is a great benefit as well. That is not to say you should go into social media without a plan. As any venture that has the potential to pay off, you will need to do some research, get as much data as possible and comprise a strategy. The first line of business will be deciding on the best platform for you.
How do you choose a platform?
It may be tempting to join all the social media platforms to get the absolute maximum out of your campaign. As we already stated, setting up a profile is easy and doesn’t take a lot of time. However, we can’t recommend this as a sustainable strategy.
Running a social media account takes preparation and imagination to make sure your audience isn’t getting bored and, in turn, less active. Additionally, you don’t want to post the exact same thing on multiple platforms, as your audience can get annoyed with seeing the same thing over and over again. Hence, the best way to go is to choose one or two social media platforms and focus on them.
When choosing the platform you will be using you have to think about your audience. Your analytics will give you the most important data you need, including average user’s
- Age
- Gender
- Location
With these facts at hand, you can do further research. This time you should focus on social media sites themselves. See which demographics are most represented in each site’s user base, and take the time to see how those sites work with affiliates. For example, Facebook may be the most widely used social media platform globally, but you may not be able to advertise through it due to the site’s ever-evolving terms of use. You need to make sure not to get buried within the algorithm, or else your thoughtfully created posts won’t be visible to many or fulfill their potential.
Including different media into posts
Simply posting a link to your site and providing a description isn’t enough to garner attention on social media. The current era is highly focused on visuals. That is why Instagram is such a success and its popularity doesn’t seem to be waning. If you give this platform even a casual look, you’ll notice the text is very small compared to the pictures, and one needs to click the read more button to see the bulk of the caption. This is a growing trend among social media sites, and it stems from user behavior. Thus, your best bet is to incorporate visual media into your posts.
Make sure the visual impact is strong enough to intrigue an average member of your target audience. Only then they will actually pay attention to the actual post itself. A great way to get your visitors to interact with your posts is incorporating other media besides photos, such as GIFs, animation and videos (if the platform allows it). Indicating a limited amount of time, or giving a time-sensitive coupon or code are also great ways to increase your conversion rate. Social media is just the right place for that as well!
Use the data you get from your audience
Your audience’s activity on any of your pages gives you a truly valuable tool – feedback. Whether it is writing comments, liking and sharing your posts, or, on the other hand, lack of activity, audience feedback can show you the best way to run your social media profiles. In this case, you don’t have to rely on books and other people’s experiences, since the progress of your own campaign itself is the best measure of success. That is why you should include your followers into the campaign too.
At first you should read and respond to as many comments as possible. Look for feedback when it comes to your writing style or editing technique, as well as ideas when your content is concerned. It is absolutely okay to start off with a smaller following, and not knowing all the ins and outs of photo editing and caption writing is a part of the process. However, you should look for inspiration in other posts within your niche, and learn from them.
Of course, this means also giving other people’s style your own spin and finding your voice. As you get more comfortable with running your account you will notice you’re gaining more followers and your links are getting more hits and interaction.
Give back
A great way to thank your audience, as well as extend your reach even further is to celebrate your profile milestones by holding giveaways and different competitions. This may seem counterproductive, but as you may have noticed, giveaways tend to have different conditions, immensely benefiting the organizer. For example, you can allow users to compete only if they share the contest post on their own profiles, whether as a post or story, or tag another user.
As you can see, you need to take some time to decide on your preferred platform, schedule your posts thoughtfully, and plan their overall look. Additionally, you should make sure your followers are having fun and staying engaged by your posts enough to share them to their own followers.
Namaste UI collaborates closely with clients to develop tailored guest posting strategies that align with their unique goals and target audiences. Their commitment to delivering high-quality, niche-specific content ensures that each guest post not only meets but exceeds the expectations of both clients and the hosting platforms. Connect with us on social media for the latest updates on guest posting trends, outreach strategies, and digital marketing tips. For any types of guest posting services, contact us on info[at]namasteui.com.