In the world of digital marketing, popularity is currency – Anonymous
Understanding and exploiting Influencer Affiliate Marketing is a powerful strategy for brands to reach their target audience and motivate them to action. By aligning with a content creator who has already built a longstanding viewer relationship, a brand can access a hitherto untapped market share – a case of love me, love my friends.
How It Works
An Influencer Affiliate is an intermediary with a database of millions of social media influencers. Using analytics and research, they can pinpoint the perfect spokesperson or content creator to promote a brand. The influencer gets a ‘pay per plug’ fee and in turn, the brand boosts their profile and increases sales. The relationship may not be wholly focused on selling a brand’s product. In some cases, it may be to align a brand with a charitable cause that underscores their philanthropy or environmental activism.
Depending on what a brand is trying to achieve, the influencer can use a variety of methods to achieve the brand’s objectives. This may be by directly promoting a service or product, putting it through a test or as part of an ‘unboxing’ review.
The relationship between a brand and an influencer is symbiotic, where both parties profit. A brand connects with an influencer who is positioned within the market they wish to gain a share of– either directly or through a high-yield, Influencer Affiliate Program.
The cost of advertising this way will naturally have some correlation with the number of subscribers an influencer has, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend big to get impressive results, as we will explore further below.
Advantages of Affiliate Programs
It is not unusual for popular content creators to be sent products directly by brands in the hope that they will be positively reviewed. Anyone who has watched a negative unboxing video will appreciate that this is dangerous ground to tread. Influencing is a two-way street, and what the content creator giveth, they can also taketh away…
The benefit of targeted Influencer Affiliate Programs is that you are creating a business relationship. Your product is organically advertised in a manner that is blended seamlessly and naturally into a creator’s content and it is always positive! Most content creators will want to try your goods before endorsing them. Their audience base is their bread and butter and it is important they retain their credibility.
Influencer Affiliate Programs also provide access to an unprecedented pool of creators from all social media networks– numbering in the tens of millions! This reach enables brands to pinpoint influencers who align closely with their products and with their values.
The social media site/s you concentrate on will depend on your target demographic but will likely come from one or more of the following:
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Douyin
- Red
Tracking Effectiveness
Once you have identified your influencers, developed the content and created a marketing plan for your product, you need to be able to quantify and track results. The most effective Influencer Affiliate Programs will enable you to quantify results of your campaign and insights into conversions, product sales and other loyalty indicators.
To further enhance and track the effectiveness of a campaign, brands often give influencers a code that their viewers can use to access discounts and other benefits. This code draws a direct line between the influencer and the success of the campaign, allowing a brand to gauge its effectiveness.
Return on Investment
The vast majority of influencers are keen to link up with brands to boost their bottom line. Want Kim Kardashian to rave about your new hair gloss? With 334 million followers on Instagram, she demands around $1.5 million per post. It is worth noting, however, that this extreme outlay won’t necessarily garner a better ROI than partnering with a nanoinfluencer, who may only have 5,000 followers. This interesting phenomenon has been attributed to the minimal engagement rate of Kim’s followers. They may be subscribed but they have low rates of liking and commenting on her posts.
Conversely, nanoinfluencers often have a hyper-engaged audience, due in large to more personalized content, response to comments and the ability to be more interactive. It is not a one-way conversation.
Ongoing Benefits
Unlike advertising through traditional media such as television and radio, the content on platforms such as YouTube remains available for viewing in perpetuity. As influencers attract new audiences, the content is fresh and the sales conversion is constant.
Where to Start?
If you are a new brand looking to leverage off the popularity of an influencer through Instagram, YouTube, Weiba or any other major worldwide platforms, you need to begin with a proven, effective Influencer Affiliate Program. Using an Influencer marketing platform is the single most powerful way to identify and connect with complementary content creators.
There is a huge pool of potential to exploit for anyone willing to take the plunge. On Instagram alone, there are around 64 million creators who are considered Influencers. In Australia, Influencer marketing is worth a staggering $1.6 billion.
If you are ready to exponentially expand your business opportunities, then jump in the pool, the water is fine…
Also Read: Buy Instagram Followers: Real, Trustworthy Sites That Influencers Use
