Twitter-Logo[1]Amazon recently came out and said “No” to affiliate marketing via Twitter. They are a massive player, so it is understandable that they are keen to protect their brand. Opening their associate program up to Twitter could just encourage Spam … or will it generate quality leads?

But are they wrong to miss out on this opportunity? And what about smaller retailers and merchants?

For smaller retailers the issues around brand protection and incrementality are less poignant.  Small retailers are interested in any traffic that boosts sales.

The main problem is that Twitter is full of spammers.  I am constantly amazed by the number of spammers trying to follow my burblings on Twitter.

For affiliate marketing to work on Twitter, marketers will have to become a lot more intelligent.  Genuine recommendation (as with all marketing) is the most valuable whilst spam links add no value.  Indeed a genuine recommendation from a big celebrity, even to a large Internet player like Amazon, will have enormous value.  It follows that recommendations from reputable but less high profile Tweeters will also add value: less than the celebrity but more than the spammer.

But can Twitter get its house in order and curb the spammers?

It may be too soon to tell.  Twitter is a relatively new service, and is still having teething problems; it was down again
yesterday evening for me in the UK for example.a8f352a46f87f96cba77fd15c51d9830[1]

I also suspect that affiliate marketing networks and merchants will need convincing that Twitter is a manageable and safe place for their affiliates to promote their products.  This will take time.

Users will also need access to better tools to allow them to link to a wide range of retailers quickly and easily.  Tools like these are becoming available, ProfitBite is one such example.

Affiliate marketing through Twitter is already happening.  I suspect it will develop and grow into a large industry that will once again attract back the big Internet marketers like Amazon.  It will take time though.  The tools and technologies will be required before anyone can run successful affiliate campaigns with confidence from Twitter.

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Nick Woolley
Nick is currently based at ProfitBite, a new Internet startup based in Manchester, England, UK
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