Social media platforms play a major role today in how people communicate with each other. It all started with Facebook. Now there are so many of them. If you are starting an affiliate marketing business you are probably asking yourself the following question. What is the best social media platform for marketing. Especially Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing using social media are critical skills to help drive traffic to your website and content. The big question is which of the many social media platforms should you use for this purpose?
This article is an introduction to major social media platforms that can play a critical role in your affiliate marketing business. I will be covering most of the main ones and will help you to understand how each one works in different ways to drive traffic to your website.
Once you have this information, you can decide for yourself what platform you wish to start with. As a beginner, it is best to pick one and get really good at using it before you move to the others. The best way to tell is to see how much your traffic will grow as you use it consistently. That is the magic word. Consistently.
Major Social Media Platforms
I shall list 7 of the major ones first and then make a few comments oh each of them. In upcoming posts I shall go into more detail on how to develop the unique skills to use each one effectively. Since they are all so different, I hope the information you gather here and in the upcoming posts will help you decide what ones are best for you.
- YouTube
- TikTok
Be mindful that unlike your website where you can make your own rules since you own it, all social media platforms have rules that you need to learn about and follow them. Otherwise, you will be in danger of having your website disabled and even deleted.
Facebook was launched in February 2004. 22% of the worlds’ population is on Facebook. That is approximately 1.7 Billion people. Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in terms of the number of subscribers as well as the number of users who actively use it each month.
If you are new to Affiliate Marketing, Facebook in my opinion is the best platform to start with. Your personal page is not recommended to conduct business. However, it is perfectly fine to invite your friends to check out and subscribe to your Facebook Business Page. Facebook offers several business pages designed for different pursuits.
In case you didn’t know, Instagram is owned by Facebook and complements it very well. Instagram is best used for marketing using pictures. You cannot create links to external website within your Instagram posts. However, you can include an external link in your profile. While Facebook provides more flexibility, Instagram is best used for still and video imagery to catch a visitors’ attention. It is not intended for the dissemination of a lot of information like Facebook
Instagram marketing has grown in importance and effectiveness and is worthy of consideration. I am sure if you have an Instagram account you receive ads every day.
Since Donald Trump became President of the United States, Twitter has become more prominent. One of the great attributes of Twitter is you have the ability to reach a very large number of subscribers, assuming you have been successful in acquiring them.
An effective way to use Twitter is to do advance notice campaigns on your latest upcoming website blog post. After you publish the blog post, Twitter is great for a follow up tweet. You are limited on the length of your Twitter message. Therefore, it is best used for brief messages.
Always ask for visitors’ to retweet your messages to extend your reach.
Pinterest has grown in popularity recently in the business field. Since it was launched in 2010 as a visual discovery tool it has grown in significance in affiliate marketing. It uses visuals to attract attention. Once that occurs, the visitor is drawn to click the picture, called a PIN, to get to the website for more information on whatever is promoted. The Pins you see in Pinterest have active links embedded that when clicked will take you to the owner of the Pin’s blog post. There you will be able to get more information on whatever topic is promoted.
Today, Pinterest has become very effective in acquiring followers and channeling more traffic to your website. There are well proven techniques and procedures to maximize your results. Training will take you a long way to make Pinterest work for you.
YouTube
Did you know YouTube is owned by Google? The use of Video in connecting with your audience is growing in importance. Once you open a YouTube account, one of the easiest ways to create content is to use ideas related to your website content. Since you have already done your research, it will take less time to formulate a video presentation by using screen casting programs to guide your viewers through your website content.
Coming up with a Power Point like presentation, illustrated with pictures is also an effective way to create YouTube videos. If you are shy about showing yourself on screen, you can use your voice only to guide your audience through your website content.
As you gain confidence, intersperse the video showing yourself talking directly to your audience. More details on all aspects of making YouTube videos for affiliate marketing will be revealed in my blog post on YouTube.
LinkedIn compared to all the above social media platforms is a different kind of site. It is targeted to career professionals. This is where CEO’s and high level managers hang out. Together with the staff who work for them. All fields of business are covered.
You would think if anybody could see the value of affiliate marketing it would be members of LinkedIn.
Not so fast. First they have to convince themselves if they really need to start an online business. They may be quite happy doing what they do. The thought of coming home each evening and getting in front of a computer to create an online business may not be so appealing.
Hence, if you wish to target this market, a different kind of approach is necessary. All these details will be addressed in my upcoming blog post on Linked.
Tik Tok
Tik Tok has recently taken the world by storm in popularity. Not only is it very popular, Tik Tok has embroiled itself in controversy in the US. It is owned by Chinese Nationals in China. The US Government got cold feet and started worrying if this was a way for the Chinese Government to do some mischief in the US. In other words, undermine the US National Security. Other countries have also felt the same way and banned Tik Tok from operating within their countries.
So far the platform is still active in the US. Discussions have been held for Tik Tok to be acquired by a US entity. CNN published an article on the subject of banning and other areas of controversy.
When you consider these uncertainties, it may be wise to be mindful of using Tik Tok to promote your business.
Social Media Platform Training
How would you like to become really good at driving traffic to your business using social media? In upcoming posts I will be sharing with you top-notch training in the form of webinars given by experts. Of course, you could wing it and hope for the best. Wouldn’t it save you time and make you more effective if you went through training that shows you what the experts do to make these platforms work for them?
In the beginning it is best to focus on just one social media platform and get very good at it. You will know this by tracking the traffic you get using Google Analytics.
Look out for future blog posts where I will devote one article to one social media platform. I will introduce you to superb training that will give you the skills necessary to know the secrets of each platform.
However, if you wish to get a head start, click here:
In the meantime please ask any questions or make comments below. I will answer them promptly. Before you leave I have a very informative YouTube video on Social Media marketing to check out.
I wish you all the very best in your online marketing business.
Edwin Bernard
For me, I would stick with the good old Facebook as I have been using it for years now and it has seemed to be the best yet, as It gives you access to an unlimited number of prospective customers that would definitely like the product that you market.. I have also used Instagram too but I haven’t really dived in deep to really see how it could benefit me when it come to marketing.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Facebook and Instagram. How well has Facebook sent you traffic that resulted in sales?
All the best to you.
Edwin
Hey Edwin…Thank you very much for dropping this insightful article. Social Media platforms have proven that its importance in affiliate marketing. Using social hand in hand during affiliate marketing makes it very great. I love how you showed the use and the best social media platforms out there. Off to share this now.
Glad that you liked this post. How long have you been using Social Media to promote hour website? What kind of results have you got?
Thanks for commenting.
Edwin
Hello, this is a very awesome piece and a very detailed one. I’m really happy I came across this as the information I’m getting from here is standard. I’m already involved with these platforms and the most important one that has been really helpful for me is Facebook and TikTok. It makes promoting really easy and I’m glad they made your list too
Thanks for your comments. Glad that I covered the platforms you use, namely Facebook and Tik Tok. MAy I ask how many sales can you trace back to Facebook and Tik Tok? Which one gives you the most?
All the best to you/
Edwin