How to Use Influencers in Your Affiliate Program

You’ve heard of influencer marketing and might even want to be one yourself. However, there is no need to work hard when you can work smart—word with a current influencer. Teaming with someone with market reach will make your mission of reaching a relevant audience that much more successful.

Some simple ways to use influencers in your affiliate program include:

– Paying the influencer

– Don’t try to rebrand the influencer

– Give products (or services) away

– Optimize the relationship

– Leverage social presence

Pay the Influencer

Influencers can be anyone from sports stars to celebrities and even teenage climate activists. They’ve worked hard for every follower and likes. You need to present your product to them in a way that appeals to both them and their potential audience. If they are an influencer in organic cosmetics, but you are selling products with large amounts of fragrance, there is an inherent mismatch in philosophy and they are not likely to promote you even if you offer to pay them handsomely.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Influencers built their brand because people trust them and the products they promote. Trust is also built from meeting or exceeding customer expectations. If the influencers’ customer base expects photos that are black and white, but your photos are colorful, your missions are not aligned and it is likely not a good match. Choose an influencer that aligns with your branding and vision in order to be a relatable match.

Giveaways

People like to receive things for free. When an influencer posts your product or promotes your service, offer something for free. It can be a sample product or a muted down version of your offering—it does not need to be full-size or expensive. If tagging a friend puts them in the running for a chance to win something, you’re now engaging two people when before you might have only been able to reach one.

The Optimal Relationship

When an influencer posts your product or video on Instagram or uses it in a YouTube video they are essentially telling their audience that your product is one they rely on. It is a call-to-action, demonstration, and testimonial all in one.

Plus, if it links to your site or a giveaway it’s even more effective in bringing them from a potential-buyer to a likely-buyer. Choose an influencer that you believe will embody your brand. For example, if they are a young male but you are trying to target middle-aged women, the relationship is not relevant and so it is not optimal.

Social Presence

Social media is more than likes and tweets. Social influencers live on the internet in real-time in order to remain relevant to their loyal following. They thrive when thousands of people follow and engage them—that is why they are paid for their promotions.

Influencers know who to follow and how to get followed, they create and use the right hashtags at the right moments, they create images, GIFs, and videos that share their story in an engaging way, and more.

When your business is growing or just starting, it’s great if you can lean on someone that is more established in order to get your service or product placed properly.