Hey there! Most probably, you spend a considerable part of your day just like I do by going through social media. From the latest TikTok trends to sharing posts on Instagram or losing track of time in Pinterest boards, this is an essential aspect of our lives as people today exist in cyberspace. However, did you know that all this could actually make you some money? Indeed, the truth is – social media affiliate marketing is what I mean by saying so.

The Lightbulb Moment

It started a few years ago when I was watching YouTube videos for hours. I came across a content maker who explained how they made cash by means of affiliate sponsorship. They said that they posted links on their social media accounts and received money in return for doing so. A revelation took place within my mind at that time; I said to myself: “Well, I can also do this!”

Choosing the Right Platform

In the beginning, I had to determine the social media platform to home in on. Every platform has its own mood and target market; thus, there is need to choose one that corresponds with your content and objectives. For me, Instagram was the straightforward option since I enjoy taking pictures and sharing with some aspects of my life. Also, Instagram’s visual aspect makes it ideal for displaying merchandise.

Building an Audience

Before diving into affiliate marketing, I needed to build a following. This part took some time and effort. I started by posting consistently and engaging with my audience. I shared a mix of personal stories, product reviews, and behind-the-scenes content. Slowly but surely, my follower count started to grow.

Finding the Right Products

Once I had a decent following, it was time to find products to promote. I made sure to choose products that I genuinely liked and believed in. Authenticity is key in affiliate marketing. If you promote something just to make money, your audience will understand. I joined a few affiliate programs and started sharing my affiliate links in my posts and articles.

Creating Engaging Content

Creating engaging content is among the key components in affiliate marketing using social media. You need to ensure that your posts are not just advertisements but rather useful information that your target audience would appreciate. To promote the products I was selling, I began crafting posts that were both fun and informative. Furthermore, I made sure to use Instagram Stories in order to give brief reviews and unboxings. The more innovative and truthful you are, the better it is for you.

Tracking and Tweaking

Affiliates must always be aware that affiliate marketing is dynamic in nature. You have to keep watch of your performances while constantly adjusting plans. I check my analytics routinely in order to identify the posts that are doing well and those that aren’t. With this, I am able to know what my audience wants and change my contents accordingly.

The Results

And now, I am pleased to indicate that my efforts at affiliate marketing have borne fruit. I may not be a millionaire yet, but the additional cash is certainly welcome. Furthermore, it is satisfying to realize that one receives payment for doing what they enjoy most.

Marketing is tough and social media marketing is particularly challenging. However, the challenges should only encourage you to work harder and be more creative. Here's a fast fact for you. If you come with the right strategies, you will create a huge followership and market your goods and services to millions of people online. Below are some tips to help you achieve great results.

Engage with Individual Social Media Users

Maybe you are used to engaging with your would-be and existing customers by sending messages, videos, infographics and updates. Now, there is nothing wrong with this approach but you can a whole lot better. Human beings love to be appreciated so you should take advantage of this killer secret. Interact with individuals on the social media on a one-on-one basis. This will make them feel cherished by your business and they will become lifelong customers.

Post Frequently

Now, this one is a no-brainer. You are not the only person trying to attract and keep customers online. It follows that you must work hard because your rivals out there are working pretty hard. Post frequently and while you are at it, you should post high quality and easy to share content. This makes you relevant and the result is more sales and more cash in your bank account.

Use Different Formats

The beauty of social media marketing is that you have many viable options. You can use both content and videos to market your products. You can also use audio, infographics and webinars. Put on your creative hat and you will come up with innovative ways to carry out a killer marketing campaign.

Reward Loyal Customers

The repeat customer is the lifeblood of every business. It follows that you should keep track of your loyal customers and reward them for buying your products. You can give your customers a bonanza sometimes or offer them a discount. You can even carry out a promo and make sure it gets lots of publicity. Customers who benefit from these strategies will praise your products. This will spread the word and get you even more customers.

Publishers claim that affiliates give them more revenue than any other type of advertising

A recent study indicates a prosperous future for affiliate advertising and social media promotion.

The advertising tech sector has been changing over the past few years. Lots of publishers have looked to other advertising methods to generate revenue.

Vendors are trying to find an alternative to display marketing, because the online content landscape has been impeded recently by advert blockers.

Viglink, the content monetizing portal, wanted to understand what vendors and publishers thought about affiliate advertising services, with regards to value, spend and sentiment.

It asked 100 vendors and 500 publishers that presently use affiliate advertising programs.

Infographics have become a popular way to demonstrate a point visually and get links back to your site at the same time. You can take a long post and simplify the message into a visual presentation that readers will enjoy and want to share. Here are some great ways to make sure you get lots of traffic from your infographic creation.

Add the infographic to your site: If you have created an infographic, make sure to first post on your own site.

Provide an embed code so others can easily place the infographic on their sites. Also have Social Sharing buttons on the page so it is easy to share your work on social networks.

Promote your Infographic in your own social accounts and Facebook properties.

Nuevo Logo de Huasonic (Photo credit: Huasonic)

Branding will always be important when it comes to marketing your business. This applies doubly when using social media, as it helps to have an identifiable brand that follows you through a number of different sites. By creating a social networking logo, you create a way for fans and customers to find you much easier, as well as helping them decide on which products or products line is best for them.

English: Mike Hanbery is a professional speaker and writer on marketing and social media for business. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Importance Of Sales Leads For Business

When it comes to running a business, you are definitely going to need sales leads so you can market your product and services to customers over a period of time. List purchases and acquiring leads through social media outlets are common tactics used to collect valuable leads that allow a business to provide value to their market. An individual may believe that one of these types of lead acquisition methods are more reliable than the other, but in fact, this difference changes from business model to business model. Knowing how each method affects your business should be one of your main priorities as you decide which method to implement.

Image via CrunchBase

The team at Boticca.com are not only the purveyors of beautiful, independently designed jewelry and fashion accessories, but they are somewhat social media savvy, too. With more than 25,000 fans on Facebook and over 30,000 Twitter followers, Boticca has really taken the online fashion world by storm.

Boticca is also one of the first brands to team up with social gifting service, Drop Gifts, which enables users to send their friends and family vouchers for their favorite e-commerce sites via social media. Fantastic!

Image via CrunchBase

During recent years in field of search optimization, there has been a push for SEO strategies to incorporate what is known as social media optimization. Older, more established companies that still go the way of the dinosaur will say that there's no verifiable impact because most social media provides links that are "nofollow" Though it was a relatively small test, the data behind this infographic shows otherwise.

We at TastyPlacement, Inc. decided to conduct a test of six similarly situated websites. While the results are not concrete, the tendencies that each nearly identical website displayed are signs that are trustworthy enough which to take note.

In fact, the results make sense once you take a look at each of them. It makes sense that Google, no matter how sophisticated its algorithms may ever be, will find that the most reliable search results are those which people manually "approve". The basis for Google Plus activity affecting search engine ranking therefore make sense, as does the amount of Google Followers, Facebook promotion and even Twitter tweets.