Affiliate Marketing And Social Media (A4UExpo)

• 1. Lets Get Social Affiliates and Social Media Lee McCoy SocialMediaGeezer

2.

• Affiliates + Social Media = Monetizing Buzz

• Affiliates have been doing Social Media since Web 0.1

• Social media is just one commission generating option that competes for your:

• • Time

• • Attention

• • Money

Its All About Buzz Its All About Buzz 3.

• Wikis

• Social Networks

• Presence Applications

• Video Sharing

• Photo Sharing

• Virtual Reality

• Events Management

• News Aggregation

• Livecasting

• Episodic Online Video

• Media Sharing

• Social Bookmarking

• Online Gaming

• Social Shopping

Not All Social Media is Created Equal ! Wikipedia lists 15 types of Social Media sites: But wheres blogging? 4. Whats Right For You? Not all types of social media will be relevant or suitable Not all types of social media will be relevant or suitable

• • Vidcasting

• • • Do you like the limelight?

• • • Can you justify the time?

• • • Do you have the product knowledge?

• • News Aggregation

• • • Youve got to monitor it

• • • Is it easy to monetise?

• • • Not easy to get enough users early on.

• • Virtual Worlds

• • • Huge Budget

• • • Unbelievable Technical Skills

• • • Too long term a project?

• • Podcasting

• • • Too time intensive?

• • • Suitable for product engagement?

• • • Can you be bothered?

Not all types of social media will be relevant or suitable 5. Which Are Profitable?

• • • Social Networks

• 106 of them (Wikipedia)

The Easier Options

• • • Blogging

• • • Social Bookmarking*

• • • * Different Reason

The Easier Options 6. But Why Social For Affiliates? Think of all the pressures youve been under: But Why Social For Affiliates? Think of all the pressures youve been under:

• • Merchant Squeeze:

• • • No direct PPC

• • • Brand Name restrictions

• • • Numpty merchant rules

• • • Agencies learning fast, leveraging our innovations

• • Competitive Squeeze

• • • Many more affiliates pushing up PPC costs & building sites

• • • The bigger players are getting bigger

• • • Exclusive deals are harder to get (everyone wants them).

• • Googles PPC Squeeze:

• • • PPC Restrictions (1 advert per URL)

• • • Minimum Bids

• • • Landing page criteria

• • Googles SEO Squeeze:

• • • Gone are the 50,000 pages in a lunchtime.

• • • Need to build long term strategies

• • • Cant do big cross-linking anymore

Think of all the pressures youve been under: 7. Advantages of Social Media

• • Proliferation of information

• • • You dont have to be a journalist or a big staff.

• • • Use Google News Alerts, NewsNow or Technorati

• • Ease Of Publication

• • • Anyone can blog

• • • Easy to look like an expert

• • • Anyone can start a Facebook group

• • • Anyone can use Twitter or submit their RSS feeds

• • Rewards Are There

• • • Innovate to Success

• • Consumers Hate Marketing

• • • Theyre getting blind to adverts

• • • Theyre suspicious of traditional methods

• • Consumers Digest Social Media Tirelessly

• • • They actively seek product reviews from their peers

• • • Theyre eager to tell their story

• • • Search: City link are crap

• • It Offers and Alternative

• • • If you cant risk PPC, or dont like design try social media

There are so many reasons (cant fit them all on) Advantages of Social Media Advantages of Social Media There are so many reasons (cant fit them all on) Advantages of Social Media

• • Proliferation of information

• • • You dont have to be a journalist or a big staff.

• • • Use Google News Alerts, NewsNow or Technorati

• • Ease Of Publication

• • • Anyone can blog

• • • Easy to look like an expert

• • • Anyone can start a Facebook group

• • • Anyone can use Twitter or submit their RSS feeds

• • Rewards Are There

• • • Innovate to Success

There are so many reasons (cant fit them all on) 8. Be An Opinion-Former So At The End Of The Buying Cycle So 9. Lets Look At Some Examples

• • Blogging In Detail:

• • • Easy to set up

• • • People love buzz and opinion

• • • Easy to get links

• • • Benefit of social bookmarking

• • • Basics of SEO are there

• • • Great for niche offerings

• • • Build up a head of steam before events

• • Blogging In Detail:

• • • Short-term Adsense / Shirt / Ticket Sales

• • • Long-term travel sales (if we qualify)

My Football Site (Chuffing Ruskies) 10. Using Buzz / Creating News

• • Effect of Buzz

• • • Created page about the new England Football shirt before to launch

• • • It was fake

• • • Massive links through out football forums

• • • Loads of traffic (2500 extra visits in just 1 day)

• • • Generated sales

• • • Encouraged links off forums

• • • Helped SEO

My Football Site (Chuffing Ruskies) Using Buzz / Creating News

• • Effect of Buzz

• • • Created page about the new England Football shirt before to launch

• • • It was fake

• • • Massive links through out football forums

• • • Loads of traffic (2500 extra visits in just 1 day)

• • • Generated sales

• • • Encouraged links off forums

• • • Helped SEO

Using Buzz / Creating News 11.

• • Missy Ward & Shawn Collins say:

• • • They setup WeViews.tv with video content to leverage affiliate sales because they saw its impact on tra