How to Leverage Social Media Traffic Effectively for Affiliate Marketing

Social media platform is evolving with a great face. It is becoming more sophisticated as the number of users continues to grow. Unquestionably, social media has a great impact on consumer buying patterns. It has even changed the way firms or affiliate marketers drive traffic, generate revenue and make money.

Do you know that social media penetration worldwide is increasing at a tremendous pace? According to a Statista report, there will be around 2.77 billion social media users all over the world by 2022.

It is true that these networking channels play a vital role in reconnecting with family and friends. But do you know they also provide an ocean of opportunities for people who want to make money online?

Did dollar sign appear in both of your eyes? Gosh! You have a social media page bursting with followers, but never thought of earning from it! Now you know where to start from. Even website owners can leverage the same channels to drive traffic and boost their sales.

But the biggest question is how? Well, for most of the people, affiliate marketing is the key to get started. It’s like an advertisement, but on your own terms. Promote a product that you think would be ideal for your followers and earn from it as an affiliate marketer. Business owners, on the other hand, can offer promoters an incentive.

Let’s take a look at some tried-and-trusted tips to leverage social media traffic effectively for affiliate marketing.

Tips for Social Media Traffic to Your Affiliate Marketing Site

Pick the Right Channel 

Determining which channels to target, is the first step to get started. Depending on your business domain, your customers will choose specific platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and Snapchat. It might be a little confusing, but you’ll realize that people, who like your post, share your interest or read your content, usually spend time on two or three platforms.

Find out which social platforms drive the highest sales. Who are all using these channels? According to Heap, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube have proven to be the top converting platforms for social media promotion. But not every platform is meant for every customer. Every network has its own specialty, and each calls for a tailored approach.

With over 2.23 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media site. If you want to target the most significant social media audience, creating a social media page on Facebook is undoubtedly the best idea. However, do not underestimate the possibility of other networking sites.

Use a social media listening tool to find out the most popular platforms among your audience.

Tips to consider:

• Before you start your affiliate marketing efforts, check the guidelines of the platform thoroughly.
• Tag the brand(s) that you are marketing to appear in their followers’ feed.
• Utilize the features of the platform if it offers you.
• Be authentic and friendly.
• Do not just sell through your social media page but socialize as well.

Redirect your ugly Affiliate links

Today’s audience is pretty smart. They can easily spot your affiliate links (which are usually ugly). This might be a major turn off for your potential traffic. Therefore, cloak your affiliate links into memorable URLs by redirecting them. That will be more attractive for the audience to click.

Focus on quality content first, quenching promotional thirst later

When leveraging social media for affiliate marketing, you should pay close attention to your content. Share things that are worthwhile for people and compel them to follow you. This will create a loyal base of followers. Present yourself as a thought leader, engage with your audience and then sell.

Use photos and videos

Social media is a hyper-cluttered world. Using visual content is a surefire way to grab attention. Posts with images garner 650% higher engagement than simple text-only posts. Visuals are memorable and effective marketing tools as they help the brain process understand and store information quickly.

Of course, the relevance of the images matters! Share images and videos that are of interest to your prospects. If you are targeting teenagers or college-goers, you shouldn’t post pictures of families with kids. Instead, find out visuals that would be appealing to them!

Repost, Re-tweet, Share & Credit 

There is an old saying, “what goes around comes around.” This quote perfectly fits in today’s social media sphere. Drawing attention to others’ efforts is a great way to get recognized within a community. This is also helpful in bringing more attention to your affiliate program.

Remember, social media is a community, and we operate as a part of it. Connect with other affiliate marketers in your community. Repost or re-tweet a good story or idea that you find on Twitter. Share a post on your social media page like Facebook or Instagram that you think has some association with your brand. Also, give credit to the person who originally posted it. This will not only boost your exposure across these channels but help you generate new leads. This will further bring you more followers!

Leverage Social Media tools

You have found your social media channels, and you’ve kicked-off your efforts. But don’t let this effort devour your maximum time. There are various tools to enhance your productivity. They not only simplify our work but streamline everything. Yes, we are talking about social media scheduling tools.

Buffer and Hootsuite are multi-platform social media management tools. They help you plan the scheduling of your posts and pick the right channel. Both provide suggestions regarding the best time to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms.

These tools cover most of the social networking sites. However, when using the freemium feature, you may be restricted for some channels. You will have to choose the core features you require to promote your brand on social platforms.

The free versions of Hootsuite and Buffer are suitable for a small affiliate marketing program.

For Twitter, use the free tool Tweetdeck. It helps you schedule your tweets in advance. You can also analyze your timeline, direct messages, and notifications side-by-side. You will find everything arranged on a single dashboard.

Conclusion

In short, when leveraging social media traffic for affiliate marketing, don’t sell, but tell a tale! Let people on your social media page share a special bond with you.

If they feel attached to you, they will be more likely to click your affiliate link and buy. So choose a quality product, test it yourself, generate quality content, engage your audience and promote. That’s the way to success!