Affiliate marketing through Social Media is a lot more accessible than you might think. We all spend quite a lot of time there, without having a real benefit. We are generally just killing time there. However, Social Media might become an extra income sourse for lots of people.

We have previously discussed in some large articles about how to do affiliate marketing through Facebook. We talked there about the 3 main ways to do affiliate marketing on the most popular social network: personal page, fan page and group. Don’t forget that Facebooks is not th eonly network you can use to earn some extra money. Instagram is very hot as well, while Pinterest is on the rise too.

Only because you have your own Facebook account where you share a few links to some products now and then is not called affiliate marketing.

We have pretty skilled affiliates in this area in 2Performant Network. Some have other projects that support the whole activity, but most of them grow thanks to Social Media. We wanted to hear directly from them some good practice tips to help anyone develop a small business, only if that person is ready to invest time and maybe some money too.

This is what our affiliates Ştefania Trandafir, Ivona Oprișor și Cătălin Neagoe told us about the networks they use, types of content or growth strategies.

• Networks – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest

ȘTEFANIA – Google+, Youtube, Linkedin,  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest

CĂTĂLIN – Facebook

IVONA – -Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, still playing with Instagram 🙂

• What types of content work on Social Media ?

ȘTEFANIA – I have tested and I am currently using social media for Fashion, IT&C, Financial Services, Home&Deco. I think it can work well for any niche, as long as you employ high quality images along with the link to your article or just the affiliate link.

IVONA – Viral videos, how to do’s, selected shopping suggestions, latest news articles, what are the trends, latest collections, interesting images, high quality pictures, famous quotes, lots of fun stuff.

• What types of content work on certain networks ?

CĂTĂLIN – Fashion works very well on Facebook

IVONA – Pinterest is great with very relevant images, mostly for Fashion&Beauty. Instagram is for WOW images + video, tourism & food. Facebook works well with mostly all of the above. I have several niches: Kids, Fashion, Home&Deco, Beauty, Weight Loss, etc, but they can all be improved.

• Channels used on Facebook – personal page, fan page or group

ȘTEFANIA – I mostly use fan pages, very little personal account or groups.

IVONA – I have a fan page for every project and I use groups for articles and new contests. I seldom use my personal page.

• Post frequency. Sales posts only or mixed with content? 

ȘTEFANIA – A maximum of 5 posts per day. I post about articles I wrote combined with products straight from the advertiser’s website. I also post on Twitter twice a day, also on Instagram, Google + and LinkedIn. On Youtube I post when I make videos dedicated to my articles.

CĂTĂLIN – We post about once per hour. On times people are not on Facebook as much, we also post images with ni links.

IVONA – I have between 1 to 10 posts per day per page, depending on the time it takes me to cover all the projects I work on. Preferably, there should be mixed posts, but it also depends on the projects and on the materials I have. Ideally, it should be one sale post for 3 content posts. But I admit sometimes I don’t respect these rules. Posting hours are also very important (lunch, morning coffee, evenings after 9, etc), as well as image quality.

• Post types (images/image, link)

ȘTEFANIA – I usually have detailed descriptions for my posts (where I have space), I use hashtags with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. I usually send the traffic to my articles. It is more interesting to send a fan to a well written article with useful information than directly to an advertiser’s product, using an affiliate link and a picture. I noticed that a lot of affiliates have Facebook posts every 30 minutes, with picture and link to the advertiser. I personally think that is too much. If I were a fan, I would get bored to see so much from one single Facebook page. It’s better to have less posts, but of higher quality.

CĂTĂLIN – image with text and link post types

IVONA – I use shares, links to my blog posts, press links, high quality images. I noticed that reach can increase 10-20 times for a post with a high-res picture compared to the same posts with a low quality image. I also post vacation pictures with exotic sceneries. And the list can go on. Depending on the day’s inspiration, I can also post an article with a link to a 2Performant online store, if there was somehing I really liked.

• How do you grow a fan page for affiliate marketing?

ȘTEFANIA – Until now I have developed more than 30 fan pages on different niches. It’s very important how you start – from selecting the page name to the cover photo. Then the content you place there – high quality images, links to articles I prepared or direct affiliate links. Then it’s also Facebook ads promotion. For editing and creating quality pictures I use canva.com.

CĂTĂLIN – we used Facebook ads for growing fan pages

IVONA – I prefer organic growth, with interesting and useful posts for fans, contests, paid advertising, posts on niche groups (I don’t think you can stilll get away with spam anymore, you should use quality information), interlinking between sites.

• How do you pick products or services you post about?

ȘTEFANIA – I usually select the products I like best and that I believe are worth recommending. Most of them are described in my blog articles. I always try to do something different from other similar fan pages, even if a  lot of times I am “discovered” and duplicated. I don’t like repetitive work, so I have to look for new solutions to keep up with the posting rythm.

CĂTĂLIN – We post about the products we select from the advertiser’s website and also from what the advertiser posts on its Facebook page.

IVONA – When I have time I check out the mall and laser scan everything. Sometimes I meet my friends for coffee somewhere and talk about what else they want to buy and from where :). When I don’t have time, I check out the 2Performant online stores, follow their Facebook/Instagram pages. I also look on Google Trends to make an idea about the season’s popular categories. I choose what I like from the online stores and only write about what really inspires me.

• Tools used for Social Media 

ȘTEFANIA – waaffle.com, quuu.co, tinysuggest.com (keyword finder)

IVONA – I am their bigest fan, as I buy presious time with them :). I use free tools like iftt.com, as well as paid ones like WPAllimport Pro. I like to try new stuff when I have time.

• Paid social – yes or no?

CĂTĂLIN – Sometimes we boost a post that works well.

IVONA – Absolutely yes.

These 3 affiliates have different approaches in some cases, but they all have something in common: time invested, research, innovation and testing.

Congratualtions to the 3 affiliates for their awesome work and their great results and we hope this article will inspire you to start affiliate marketing through Social Media.

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