Affiliate Teacher

In the 21^st century, more and more businesses are using online services as a way to of promoting their brand to their audience. Affiliate and network marketing is becoming a key component of this marketing effort as a way to maximise their return on investment from internet advertising. The rise in popularity of social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook has certainly not gone unnoticed by companies who can see the potential in communicating with more people in a less traditional manner. Today, more than half of all companies use Facebook as part of their marketing strategy, while Twitter marketing has risen considerably to almost 50% in 2009. Until recently it was primarily websites and blogs that were referring affiliate sales rather than individuals via a social media platform.

Companies realise that a product recommendation made through social networking websites is simple; it can be embedded within a post/tweet and it can reach out to all of the users’ followers. This route has had a powerful impact on the affiliate marketing industry, with a progressive increase in the use of blogs and social networks meaning that virtually anybody can become an affiliate. Domino’s Pizza recently launched a trial “social affiliate” widget that enables anybody with a network page or blog to advertise a selection of brands. People using the widget can plug products and subsequently earn commissions from sales. The idea was developed by BLM Quantum in partnership with Domino’s. Publishers simply sign up and download the dashboard to track generated sales, which works through the Affiliate Window network. Dan Clays, Managing Director of BLM Quantum says “Brands benefit by aligning with sites run by fans who are more likely to drive a sale, while site owners can generate revenues from their Facebook page or blog”.

Domino’s is the first brand to integrate affiliate marketing and social media this way, although similarly social networking site Facebook has launched their own tools to connect their users with the affiliate marketing industry. At their most recent regular F8 conference, the connection between social media and users respective interests was examined and as a result, 3 unique tools were launched which would also connect social media with affiliate marketers. One of these is the new Social Plug-in which includes already recognisable features such as the current ‘Like’ button. This is has been extended to publishers to allow users to see when their friends have clicked the ‘Like’ button on a site outside of the Facebook network. With this tool affiliates can bring a bigger level of social media to their sites in a more cursory way. There are also graphs to enable users to see how promoting a product can reach out into the user’s circle of friends and Facebook can then offer targeted recommendations according to what the user’s interests are, based on their promotions. One of the most significant developments will be the consequence this will have on Google. In theory it should reduce a websites individual reliance on Google for traffic, and ultimately rank higher in future Google searches.

On face value, the launch of the new tools would appear to be a positive move in creating an effective Facebook relationship with affiliates; however, it is clear there will be challenges associated with this new form of marketing.

It will be interesting to see how users react to both the Facebook tools and the new Domino’s ‘social affiliate’ test. The way they form a relationship with their sub-affiliates could be crucial. Communication is essential to maintaining a healthy relationship between the brand and affiliate and if this overlooked it could have a detrimental effect on the payment process. Social media users are unlikely to remain committed to the brand if they have no form of commissions for their referrals, therefore an ordered system of payments would be effective as a reward for the affiliates work. The brand also needs to effectively manage these new affiliates so that they continually drive traffic and in a favourable manner. Social media is becoming increasingly significant to affiliate marketing. Once these challenges have addressed then the benefit of this new form of sub-affiliate could be a big advantage to an expansive range of brands.

For more information go to:

• http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=17035&Title=Domino%E2%80%99s_Pizza_trials_world%E2%80%99s_first_%E2%80%98Social_Affiliate%E2%80%99_tool
• http://www.affiliates4u.com/news/2010/04/what-do-facebooks-new-tools-mean-affiliates/