How & where to share your affiliate marketing links
As an affiliate marketer, your most basic goal is to have your followers click on referral links embedded in your content. The intent of this being for them to purchase the product, service, or membership you promote. As a nurse affiliate marketer, your lane is further narrowed into promoting nursing-related links. A simple enough concept, yes, but in today’s highly competitive and micro-influencer-saturated climate, being a savvy affiliate marketer is a must if you are going to make the effort worth your while.
Whether you are just starting out, or have been at it for a while, this guide is intended to provide you with the most up-to-date practices for affiliate marketing link promotion—in other words, exactly how and where to share your referral links.
Affiliate Marketing 101
Affiliate marketing using referral links use designated URLs connected to products or services that you mention in your content. Whether as part of social media posts, live videos, blogs, or newsletters, each link functions as a key to unlock a potential commission if your follower clicks on that link and then makes a purchase. In general, commission rates run about 20%.
Even for clicks that don’t result in sale conversions, it’s helpful to keeps tabs on your metrics. When fielding new companies to work with, data that showcases the level of engagement your audience and followers have with you is necessary to attract affiliate partnerships. Therefore, too boost these numbers, one of the major job requirements (which also requires the most time-commitment) is interacting with your followers.
Remember, sales are a function of trust and rapport; in order for your followers to place value in your recommendations, they need to believe that you genuinely believe in the links you promote.
Affiliate Marketing Promotion with Tutorials and Reviews
Two of the most effective ways to promote affiliate links are tutorials/instructional content and reviews. You really need both, as the former specifically attracts people looking to make purchases already, while the latter is necessary to position yourself as a voice of authority.
Let’s take a look at an example of this strategy. Let’s say your brand (in its simplest description) is that of “fit nurse.” As such, you are looking to promote a protein powder to healthcare professionals. Across your tutorial-focused content, you might discuss the importance of getting enough protein into your diet, the best times to consume it, maybe even throw in a couple of recipes for protein shakes that you love. By the time you get to posting a product-focused review, you have already done the work of building authority as someone that your audience can trust for supplement recommendations.
Another tip when it comes to product reviews? Be sure to include a few aspects of what you don’t love, or what the product leaves left to be desired. Transparency and genuineness are incredibly persuasive—they reassure your followers that your opinions are authentic.
A good ratio of tutorials to reviews is 3:1. If all of your content starts to trend towards #ad, your audience will begin to lose interest. Focus on creating value for your followers and the affiliate marketing link clicks will follow.
Additional affiliate link promotion options
Besides creating reviews and tutorials, there are several other options to monetize your content. Diversify when and where you can to increase the chances of converting your followers’ attention into commissions.
Create a resource page/post of your “favorite things” — a thoughtful list of your most favorite products, services, and discounts is a helpful resource page to offer your followers. As long as you don’t go overboard in a “kitchen sink” approach, pinning a post specifically describing these things is a convenient way for your followers to access your recommendations without having to go searching through your content. This is also a great place to list any product or service discount codes associated with you.
All social channels are not created equal — do your research when it comes to posting affiliate links on social platforms. While some do allow links to be directly listed as part of your caption/content, some don’t; and among the ones that do, some perform better than others. For example, Reddit does not allow affiliate links at all; Instagram allows them but does not prioritize posts that contain them; Medium allows links and posts are primarily evaluated and promoted based upon reception of the content.
Create an email/newsletter — newsletter-type emails function to keep your audience up-to-date on everything you’re doing. As with all correspondence, they serve as relationship builders between you and your followers outside of the social media platform context. In an email it’s prudent to offer your subscribers some kind of perk—exclusive content—like member discount promos. As you begin to build your newsletter sequence, start slow; use affiliate links sparingly in the first few emails sent, only increasing their presence when a follower indicates that they are actually opening their emails and interacting with the content (data provided by simple metric trackers).
On your personal website, experiment with affiliate link banners — maintaining an active website is a smart investment of time and effort. One option to embed affiliate links on a personal site is through “banners.” Located as a header, footer, or even as a sidebar, these graphics are a visually appealing method to capture your visitors’ attention. Don’t go overboard (the equivalent of screaming SALE! SALE! SALE!) with the amount of banners on your landing page—the whole idea of banners is to stand out, which they can only do when used sparingly.
Map affiliate links to your own services/products — Do you have your own workshops, webinars, or maybe even an e-book you’d like to promote? Preventing a post from becoming a self-promoting infomercial is a delicate balancing act, but don’t be afraid to toot your own horn! Some marketers assume their audience is familiar with what they personally offer, but that’s not always the case—especially for new followers!