Using Social Network Affiliate Advertising to Find New Affiliates

Can you really use social network affiliate advertising to bring in new affiliates? Most people want to find motivated people to join their affiliate. The whole point of locating those who are looking for a potential business plan is to help them raise their income while raising your own. Thus, where you find your potential affiliates actually does matter.

The most motivated people to join your affiliate team are going to be those who feel as though they have a connection with you and can trust you. The relationship that you can develop with potential affiliates through social network affiliate advertising can be very powerful. Because it’s not that hard to find interested individuals in business, marketing, and your marketing niche you can develop a following of fans that not only relies on your opinions but also values your contributions.

Because social network affiliate marketing is based on the idea that social networks are interactive rather than sales platforms you want to go about this with integrity. Think about how you might not like to be sold to every time you open up your page. Think about the kinds of things that would interest you when you open up your page. Using a social network involves a bit of human psychology and understanding. You don’t have to hold a degree, of course, but being able to understand basic human nature is helpful. Users want to feel as though there is more to the relationship than just a marketing plan. This isn’t hard if you put your focus on people before profits. That’s how the profits are made.

Keeping your focus on people who are interacting with you (or vice versa) will help guide you toward more potential affiliates. The more you are able to connect with your potential affiliates the more that you will find it easy to transition them from “potential” to “actual.” With so many marketers hitting the sales and hype angle so hard, those who slow down and focus on the people end up building trust in a short period of time. Anyone who has looked online for a business of any sort is much more likely to feel comfortable when there is someone to talk to and connect with before joining anything. It’s just natural.

As you progress through the social network affiliate marketing plan you’ll find that you’ll be able to increase your efforts ten fold to find more fans, find more potential affiliates, and transition more to actual affiliates. Many marketers that have been doing this kind of social marketing for more than a few months state that they have a new affiliate interest almost daily. This is why it has become such an important method and such a popular idea.

Using connection and people skills to build an affiliate business does not need to be deceitful or manipulative in any way. You’re just logging on to interact with people, let them get to know you, and then offer them a chance to join the marketing business. It’s really that simple.

Using Mobile Applications to Market to Social Networks: Ready, Set, Check-In!

Marketers are a buzz over the potential mobile marketing offers. Experts predict that almost half of US mobile phone users will have a smart phone by the end of 2011, so interest in marketing to mobile users has reached a tipping point.

Social media marketing appears to be the “low hanging fruit” in mobile marketing. According to Simon Salt, author of Social Location Marketing, it is defined as marketing based on location sharing applications like Foursquare, GoWalla, Facebook Places, and Yelp. These applications let members of a user’s social network know where they are and what they are doing at that location. The user “checks in” via the application on their smart phone.

What are some social marketing techniques that businesses can use to leverage mobile applications and social networks?

Coupons

Many retail establishments now offer discounts when someone nearby checks in on Foursquare. Think how much more effective a coupon is when it is delivered to prospects near the actual store, vs. left in the Sunday newspaper. Coupons range from a free coffee drink at a fast food establishment to a free appetizer at a restaurant.

Sweepstakes

There are free sweepstakes, such as a “7-Eleven Check-In to Space,” which offered a chance to win tickets to the Super 8 movie, a free zero gravity experience, and a sub-orbital flight. Just like off line contests, social media contests must adhere to sweepstakes rules and regulations.

Mayor Reward

Repeat business is generated when members of social networks to compete for the title of Mayor of a locale, a title Foursquare gives to the person who most frequently checks in to a location. Places provide incentives to the mayor, such free sub sandwich for the mayor.

Trips

The Gowalla application has a trips function which works something like a scavenger hunt. People can pursue a “trip”, which is a series of locations a related to a theme. By using the smart phone to check in at each location, participants complete the trip. Examples of trip applications are as follows:

Education-visitors to a venue can check-in to various places to add interest to their visit, such as the Fort Worth Zoo Safari, which serves as a personal guided tour. The application shares interesting facts about each exhibit, while visitors contribute to the content by sharing pictures of the jaguars, tigers, and elephants.

Sponsor Reward-The Social Media Club of Dallas offered a thank you tour for its sponsors that offered members prizes for completing a trip by checking in to its various sponsor locations. This served to encourage sponsor patronage.

Enhancing Membership-Chamber of Commerce organizations can create new member trips, demonstrating value in the membership by encouraging existing member to patronize their respective businesses through completion of a trip.

In conclusion, there are a variety of promotions and discounts already being used by businesses and organizations to generate trial, build repeat business, enrich the experience, and add value to the membership.

There is much discussion about how effective these new social location marketing activities are. However, history has demonstrated that businesses that enter a new marketing channel can reap disproportionate response rates while the field remains uncrowded.

Ready, set, check in!