How to Successfully Mesh Affiliate Marketing and Influencer Marketing

As our blog recently noted, influencer marketing is one of the hottest trends in affiliate marketing. Your ability to leverage satisfied customers in your affiliate business can dramatically boost your success. One key challenge is figuring out how to connect with influencers that sometimes view affiliates as a competitor for opportunities to promote a brand.

The following is an overview of some top strategies and tips to help you leverage influencer marketing to boost sales and profits in your affiliate marketing business!

Enable Reviews on Product Pages

Allowing your customers to post reviews on your product landing pages is one of the most effective ways to leverage influencers or people that like to share opinions. As seen in the infographic below, 92 percent of consumers look to online reviews when evaluating purchase options.

Another benefit of reviews on your site is the potential boost to your search engine rankings. Google realizes the value its users place on peer reviews. On-site reviews also build content depth and relevance on your product landing pages.

(Courtesy of Vendasta)

Direct Interaction via Social Media

It may take time, but you can reach out directly to influencers via social media. Spend some time searching social channels to identify people who post a lot about product experiences.

The tricky thing for affiliates is that you are a voice for the brands you represent. Thus, how do you leverage influencer partnerships for your business? Offering exclusive discounts, promo codes, and even compensation are options. As long as your influencers disclose that they received some form of compensation for posting messages about your business and products, this approach is okay.

Case Studies and Testimonials

Reach out to top customers for testimonials and case studies. You might identify your best customers through their buying activity or by noting a consistency in positive reviews.

Satisfied customers are often willing to provide testimonials about their experiences with your business. You can use these testimonials in on-site and off-site promotions. Case studies go more in-depth and offer customers insight as to how a customer used a given product to resolve a need. A strong case study helps establish why a new customer should purchase the same solution.

Paid Content

Though it can get expensive, another option is to pay influencers to post sponsored content on their blogs and social media channels. Large influencers normally have blogs where they post articles and reviews of businesses and products.

You could partner with an influencer to create an advertorial, which highlights the need and benefits of a particular product you offer. Paying the influencer gives you access to his or her audience. As with other forms of advertising, consider the reach and audience the influencer offers. Again, proper disclosure is important to meet Federal Trade Commission standards.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketers and influencers are often viewed as contrasting ways for a brand to gain promotion. However, with some creative engineering, affiliate marketers can build partnerships with influencers in ways that help both entities achieve better results!