Affiliate Magazine » Social Networks

Effectively Communicating With Affiliates – By Deborah Carney

Colleen — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:00:26 +0000

Affiliate marketing forums are a great way to communicate with affiliates, yet many affiliate managers, merchants and OPMs (Outsourced Program Managers) ignore or fear them. The basis of online forums and social networks is to build relationships.

People go to forums of interest to them to learn about a topic and to meet other people interested in the same topic. Affiliate marketing forums are filled with people interested specifically in affiliate marketing. They want to talk about it and find other people that do what they do.

General affiliate marketing forums are a good resource for recruiting and communicating with affiliates, because affiliates are able to speak freely without the conversation being controlled by the merchant or network.

Even negative feedback about a merchant is a great opportunity for an affiliate manager to come in and address issues they may not have realized were a problem, plus show affiliates that they are not afraid of constructive criticism.

Being a vocal participant on affiliate forums helps establish an affiliate manager as an authority in the industry, as affiliates read what managers have to say. Helping affiliates by answering questions not just related to the program(s) they manage shows affiliates that they care about the industry and helping their affiliates succeed.

Managers that restrict posting on forums to just information about their own program are limiting their reach and not taking advantage of a wide range of affiliates that are watching, reading, and ultimately deciding who to work with.

Forums are the original social media and should be a part of a plan to use all methods of communication with affiliates instead of relying on specifically social networking via sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Social networking sites are great places to offer communication and support, but some affiliates also prefer to be somewhat anonymous, especially when they are first getting to know a manager or want to learn about a specific merchant.

They want to be able to ask questions, discuss problems and issues without managers and merchants knowing who they are. Some affiliates fear retribution if they bring up problems or support issues that have gone unanswered.

Forums are a great place for managers to do “damage control” by allowing issues to be discussed, and then providing support and solutions. Even if a manager has an issue that isn’t able to be totally resolved to some affiliate’s satisfaction, how the situation is handled can make affiliates decide to work with a manager (or not).

Affiliate marketing forums also offer advertising to affiliates that a merchant wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. Forum software is optimized for search engines, and your ad can show up quickly, as well as in RSS feeds to social networks and blogs that you wouldn’t normally have access too.

Online relationships built in forums and other social networking can then be expanded easily to offline networking conferences like Affiliate Summit, making the limited time you get at conferences more productive.

Deborah Carney is an OPM, as well as administrator of ABCsPlus.com and the Affiliate Summit forum.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 13 here – http://www.scribd.com/doc/45332687/FeedFront-Magazine-Issue-13
FeedFront issue 13 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2010/12a>

How Social Networks Validated the Soft-Sell – By Brian Littleton

FeedFront Staff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:29:08 +0000

I am not a fan of the “hard sell”. Infomercials, long-form sales letters and persistent aggressive sales calls cause me to zone out, rather than creating any interest, on my part, in the product.

As a sales alternative, I have advocated “soft sell” techniques, focusing on the product, needs of potential clients, and letting demand build organically, instead of by force.

For years, I’ve often been told that I am wrong on this point. However, recent reactions from social networks, with respect to the emergence of marketers, have shown that soft sell techniques are already playing a big role in the new marketing arena.

EARLY RETURNS ARE IN
Many marketers agree that social networks are the next big playground. Unfortunately, most have seen disappointing early results. I believe it is because their marketing approach has been off the mark.
Strong-armed sales techniques are nearly universally ignored on social sites. These types of campaigns can actually have a negative effect on brand; not to mention an enormous waste of time and resources.
Members of social networks prefer to interact amongst each other, peer-to-peer. Hard sell techniques serve as an interruption to that conversation.

A means to encourage conversation and interaction, such as a person or application is far better suited for this marketing channel. Marketers shouldn’t be afraid of jumping in to social networks, but they need to be respectful of the people who make up the community, and the unwritten rules of engagement.

SOFT SELL
In social networking, a marketer’s best play is to become part of the community, not just to market to it. This approach takes considerably more time, effort, and creativity, but has far greater long-term potential.
Quality conversation, sincere opinions, and just being an interesting person to follow, builds loyal bases. Followers don’t want to see just your latest and greatest deal; they also want to get to know you.

Social networks are communities, and, as such, have different expectations and tolerance levels for the marketers among them. Carry yourself more as if you are a new guest at a party.
You wouldn’t be to popular if you just walked in saying “Buy my stuff!”

REPEAT BUSINESS
Repeat business is the core of any business’ success. Selling a customer on a product which doesn’t deliver on its expectations or providing poor customer service will result in less overall success – even if the original sale technique is working.

On the flip side, marketers drawing in followers or friends in social networking will have difficulty in the long term if their feeds don’t continue to deliver.

Even worse, a marketer can experience a drop in followers if their feed is consistently filled with over-marketing that annoys their readership.

Using social networks to interact with and help current customers is one of the soft sell techniques gaining a lot of traction as well as media attention.

Companies who have a real presence on message boards, blogs, and other social platforms can build brand loyalty and increase the chance for repeat business.

Brian Littleton is the President/CEO of ShareASale.com, Inc., a retail-focused affiliate network for businesses of all sizes.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 4 here – http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue4.pdf
FeedFront issue 4 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/category/issue-4/