How to Grow Your Affiliate Channel in Q4
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Erica Grabijas, Marketing Manager at ShareASale.
The end of each year is arguably the busiest for online retailers, starting as early as October. Year over year, the amount spent shopping online around the Thanksgiving holiday has substantially increased. In 2015, Cyber Monday sales reached $2.98 billion dollars and last year, it hit $3.45 billion! Ecommerce retailers put extra effort planning their Q4 strategy in hopes of getting in on the shopping craze.
As you continue your Q4 strategy, consider these helpful tips for growing your affiliate revenue in 2017.
Plan in Advance
Probably the most important (and most obvious) step is to organize your content calendar and plan ahead. While this will look different for everyone, here are some planning aspects that every influencer should consider:
- Diversify posts
Add variety to your posts. Q4 is prime time for featuring gift guides, Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal roundups, product reviews, and “Best of…” posts. Mix up your routine posts to include holiday specific campaigns or even mix up the types of affiliate links you are using. Try linking a personal image or switch up your banner to a simple text link.
- Pay attention to your calendar
Do you know when all the major holidays and shipping days fall in Q4? You need to know these dates so that you can plan posts and promotions around them.
Be sure to add these dates to your calendar:
The best thing that you can do before Q4 is anticipate which partnerships you want to build and grow. Now is the time to prioritize retail partners who are well suited for gifting so keep that in mind as you prioritize applications. More and more brands are incorporating affiliate or influencer channels into their marketing strategies, which means networks are onboarding new Merchant partners every day. In fact, ShareASale alone onboards over 100 programs a month. Find new brands that your readers will love in Q4!
Review Past Data
As your planning is underway, are you looking back at what worked last year? If a campaign or a process from last year caused a spike in revenue, repurpose it or model a new campaign after it. There is no better proof in the success of your work efforts than revisiting past data and reporting. This concrete evidence is a surefire way to guide your future Q4 campaign decisions.
Engage on Social Media
Social media is a great source for inspiration and provides general insight into consumer behavior and marketplace trends, especially during this gifting season. From gift guides and wish lists to holiday party ideas, new ideas for content are abundant on each platform. Your promotional strategy should also include consistent and continuous social posting. During the holidays, direct linking to products on the platform in addition to providing links to content posts is effective. Increase your conversion rate by adding affiliate short links to your social posts.
Review Account
Now is not the time to make any structural or tech changes to your website. Instead of thinking about updates, invest your time and energy into ensuring that your external platforms, such as your affiliate account, email provider, hosting and security are set up for success.
- Is your website ready to handle an increased traffic rush?
- Take a look at your affiliate account and verify that your information and bio is up-to-date.
- Set your payment preferences to the easiest and quickest form of payment. Don’t let your hard-earned money just sit in your account; ensure that you are getting paid.
On the ShareASale network, we have several payment options to choose from. Even international affiliates can receive their commissions as fast as a direct deposit by using Payoneer.
Be Flexible
Deals can creep up and you need to be prepared to fit them into your content or social media calendar. Don’t leave your website on autopilot! Brands will be posting new and time-sensitive offers at any point leading up to or on big holidays. Your audience and readers will look to you and love you for staying on top of and sharing each new, unbelievable deal.
ShareASale is here to help answer all your affiliate questions. Let us know how we can help you have the most successful Q4 yet!
ShareASale has been in business for 18 years, exclusively as an Affiliate Marketing Network. By facilitating relationships between Affiliates and 4,000+ Merchants, we provide our clients with strong, value-based growth by helping them tap into a new source of revenue.