How to market affiliate links (Part I)

Whether they are from MOFFAS (a Cartpool event URL or a Phi Bloc link) or external sources, you might have a few links and codes across the Internet that you want to get more traffic to or, simply put, more clicks for. In this Best Practice post, we will discuss how to get more of those "clicks" or impressions, in general. You can experiment with our ClicKey campaigns, which use genuine clicks as metrics to measure performance. We also hope that you find it useful out of MOFFAS too - if you get better, we can all get better, together.

The social media struggle

Of course, social media is going to be at the top of the list. Honestly, it probably is at the top of many lists related to marketing these days. However, like we mentioned in our blog post before, the invasion of bots is making it very difficult for real people to stand out, ironically. I’ve even seen “PG-17” bots ranked ahead of major celebrities in comment sections. The platforms won’t have an effective solution any time soon, if ever, so if making use of the replies and comments sections of popular social media posts is your main approach, as many do, the struggle is real. It is probably only going to get worse from here - more crowded space, more bots, more tricky algorithms, more scammers, etc.

The spammer alert

Another popular method is to go with the good ol' person-to-person or person-to-group chat (nowadays) route, i.e., send it to friends, family, associates, etc. Does it work? Yeah, I think it works and, honestly, I think it’s more effective than posting it on social media timelines and praying for someone to get interested, as long as the relationship you have with your audience is an authentic one. My mom is a fervent Groupon-ish shopping addict. One of the things she has to do to win a better discount is to have other people retweet that product page (a link apparently) for her. It’s never an issue - she always hits her target when she really wants something, because of the numerous group chats she is active in daily, filled with her family members, dog friends and cat friends. I double as a family member AND a cat friend, by the way.

However, the interpersonal marketing approach comes with its own problems too. Targets are always limited, and after a while, it gets a bit awkward to always send over these things to certain people. If it’s a social circle, you sure do not want to seem transactional or, even worse, “desperate.” My mom is not a digital marketer and does not profit directly from doing what she does occasionally. Efficient (and very likable) as she is, she still feels like she has to say sorry sometimes for bothering others. It’s normal. Quota is going to run out at some point.

OK, try these

So what’s the best practice then? Actually, that does not exist, at all, in my very humble opinion. The truth is: it will be completely different from one person to another, depending on a variety of factors, from your personality, social circle, to the technologies you are most comfortable with and adept at. Any universal strategies and techniques? Maybe. Let’s go through them quickly and, hopefully, you can get a couple ideas here and there.

Me, myself and I

I will always highlight this whenever we talk about growing your own “brand.” No matter which campaign you get to work on, with us or with another platform/brand, the first and most important thing should always be about you and your brand, not the campaign target. Campaigns come and go; some last longer than the others, but they all end. Your “brand” stays forever with you and no computer scripts can ever truly replace it. 

What’s this brand then, you might wonder? Well, it is the same thing as any other brand in the world, CocaCola, Zara, Walmart, etc. It represents you, your ethics, your taste, your integrity and your passion. It is unique because there's only one You in this whole world, throughout a million years. For example, my mom is well known in her own community for being a pet mom. She has four cats 🐈 and a dog 🐶 , all healthy, spunky and full of life. She posts pictures about them and mentions them all the time. When she recommends a new type of dog food, people naturally respond to that. If she really monetizes that, she probably can easily pocket a hundred dollars just being her normal self (not an influencer or anything, the relationships are all real). She can achieve that because within her own group, her brand is a caring and responsible dog mom with a good heart. 

Therefore, a good first step will be to figure out who you are and who you want to be, and enjoy being that person and the journey of being better at being that person. If you love fashion, then you should build a brand around fashion 👠. If you love cars, don’t hold back - it’s fantastic. Talk about your passion, on the Internet or in real life. Read books and magazines; get more educated and knowledgeable about these topics. Every effort is going to count. Use social media genuinely (be yourself and that’s it) and understand how it works. There are many great articles on the Internet that teach you about developing influence and, of course, you are always welcome to come here to learn a thing or two. We’ll suggest that you use a social media management tool, such as Hootsuite and Buffer, both of which offer a free plan, to boost performance and efficiency. Admittedly, social media softwares are indeed quite expensive these days, not that individual/freelancer friendly. There are a few companies that do give you a free trial. If you are intrigued and wonder what advanced tools they have in their arsenal, you may want to try it first in the trial.

Another thing we want to encourage you to do is to have a personal blog (of course, a site will be even better - you rockstar). We put out a post just about this yesterday. Check it for a refresher and we’ll skip it here. Once you get your own space secured, your online presence instantly gets elevated to a different dimension. Place the URL to your blog (site) in your social media account biography section, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You can also try Sky and put multiple links, including the one to your blog, in your bio altogether. That way, you have a much fuller and more professional-looking profile on the Internet. Sky is free to use and packs some cool features in its tiny body. The biggest difference between Sky and other in-bio link service providers is the native support for our in-house events and campaigns. You can push your Cartpool, Phi and other MOFFAS biz directly to Sky through Skylight. Other than that, we provide basic analytics that others may charge for (just sayin’ 😺 ).

Your Sky

We will look at more technical stuff in the Part II, out tomorrow, such as how to use the free tools provided by MOFFAS to automatically and quietly publish your “news” to your audience, and the best way to engage people using both technologies and conventional wisdom. Sounds spicy! See you then. 

Next: Part II

Photo by Mikael Blomkvist from Pexels

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