• Best CPA Networks
  • Best Cost-Per-Sale Affiliate Networks
  • Best Pay-Per-Call Networks
  • mThink Digital
  • Thought Leadership
    • White Papers
  • About
    • Content Marketing
    • Content Strategy
      • Web Content
      • Social Media Strategy
      • Webinars & Video
      • Thought Leadership
    • Performance Marketing
    • Portfolio
      • Revenue Performance
      • Accenture
      • Microsoft
      • Java Detour
      • Our Process
    • Contact Us

mThink

Blue Book Logo

BlueBook Logo

The Trusted Name in Performance Marketing

Revenue & eCommerce Blog

  • Home
  • Blue Book
    • About Blue Book
    • Blue Ribbon Panel
    • Interviews
    • Research Methodology
    • Back Issues
    • Advertising
      • Website Creative Specifications
      • Newsletter Creative Specifications
  • Best CPA Networks
  • Best Cost-Per-Sale Affiliate Networks
  • Best Pay-Per-Call Networks
  • Best European CPA Networks
  • Best CPA Networks for Affiliates
  • Best CPA Networks for Advertisers

Incorporating influencers into a performance marketing strategy  

September 26, 2017 by Samantha Sherer, Awin

As shown by a recent content analysis of top brands like JetBlue, Wendy’s and Urban Decay, an influencer post generates more than 100 times the engagement than a brand’s post. Assuming increased engagement leads to higher conversion, it’s indisputable that influencers can drive big business for brands. This is good news for affiliate marketers who are familiar with the concept of partnering with a third party to promote and build buzz around products and services.

Time-honored networks like Awin provide brands with tracking, technology and resources to recruit and manage influencer relationships at scale. Drawing from our expertise, here are key considerations for how to maximize influencer marketing and why it’s worth the investment.

Customers first  

Because influencers put their personal brand and reputation on the line, they are more inclined to promote an organization if they are actual customers, or have first-hand experience with products and services. Recognizing this, brands should be proactive about getting products in front of influencer partners. This means hand-selecting merchandise in line with their style preferences, content and social aesthetic. After all, for it to make the Instagram cut, it must look good in a photo and support an influencer’s visual brand, too.

Support ‘introducers’  

It’s important to understand the nature of influencer marketing and how it relates to the traditional affiliate marketing model. Traditional affiliate marketing rewards on a last-click basis, even if there are multiple touchpoints along a customer’s journey. This is what most brands understand and expect when it comes to affiliate activity. Our own network data, however, shows influencers are most effective at driving new customers whose initial click starts the tracking session.

While this last-click CPA model is not fundamentally broken, it fails to recognize the value of promoters who act as ‘introducers’ – meaning they are responsible for sending the first click during the customer’s journey. It is this unique ability to introduce new customers to an organization and ‘sell them’ on a product that is the true strength of an influencer. Subsequently programs must be designed to recognize and reward this activity so an influencer partner stays motivated to promote in the future.

Awin’s ‘Payment on Influence’ technology allows advertisers to incorporate influencer marketing into their overall strategy by identifying and offering a flat-fee reward to affiliates who influence a journey but are not the last touchpoint. Additionally, flexible commission rates, increased rewards on influence, and negotiating unique offers exclusive to an individual promoter are effective techniques to build new and lasting influencer relationships.

Define success metrics  

The potential value of an influencer marketing partnership depends on the ‘fit’ and strategy behind it, which is an inexact formula. However, when brands work through a network that supports influencer relationships, the impact can be clearly measured through transparent tracking and robust reporting. This helps both parties understand what messaging and promotion resonated with the influencer’s audience and what did not.

Whether organizations choose to value influencers using concrete measures like new customer cost-per-acquisition, or use a broader metric like brand awareness, is at their discretion. But if metrics to success are unclear or undefined from the beginning, and there is no method of capturing data around an influencer’s campaign, long-term success will always feel out of reach.

Consider brand security  

Today’s consumer is savvy and can sense when a recommendation is disingenuous, which puts companies at risk for seeming out-of-touch. For an influencer relationship to really ‘work’ it needs to be authentic. Often this means organizations letting individual partners craft a narrative around their product or business to exert a genuine opinion. This alone may prohibit some brands from maximizing this opportunity as corporate ‘tone of voice’ or ‘guidelines’ may not be welcomed by influencers.

Awin is here to help establish confidence in an influencer’s promotion of a brand, allowing them to explore this strategy without fear. We are the strongest network in terms of compliance and apply a multi-tiered approach to verify credibility; in fact, 33% of applications are rejected immediately. As a network, a core value is ensuring we maintain an ecosystem of diverse, ethical, and quality publisher partners. We build upon this by cultivating strong relationships with influencers in order to recommend the best fit for every brand’s individual needs.

Ensure FTC compliance

New Federal Trade Commission Guidelines issued in September 2017 require advertiser vigilance in ensuring disclosure of any free item supplied to an influencer including a product sample, coupon, paid sponsorship, and even a link exchange. This disclosure must be unavoidable, in the same method or presentation as the rest of the content to ensure it is easily noticed, read and understood. Client service representatives at Awin are ready to assist advertisers in their duty to provide influencers with a clear statement of disclosure responsibilities covering the location of disclosure, print format as well as the visual and audio treatment.

Want more information on how to maximize influencer marketing across your affiliate marketing strategy? Please contact our U.S. new business team.

About Awin

Awin is a global affiliate network and the new name for Affiliate Window and zanox. With 15 offices worldwide, 900 employees, 100,000 contributing publishers and 6,000 advertisers, Awin connects customers with brands in over 180 countries around the globe. Operating across the retail, telecommunications, travel and finance verticals, Awin generated $6.7 billion in revenue for its advertisers and $406 million for its publishers in the last financial year.

 

 

Related posts:

  1. The Hidden Story Behind Clickbooth’s Blue Book Win The contest for Best CPA Network this year was the...
  2. How Tequila Helps Business: ClickDealer’s Event Strategy They say success comes with true passion to one’s craft....
  3. 4 Quick Tips To Enhance Your Affiliate Program One of the biggest misconceptions of affiliate marketing is that...
  4. In Defense of Networks One thing that becomes obvious as you look through the...

Filed Under: Blue Book, Featured, Revenue Tagged With: affiliate marketing, affiliate networks, CPA Network, influencer marketing, Influencers, performance marketing

Search

ROS Column 2 High – 300×250 (Global)

ROS Column 2 Mid – 300×250 (Global)

ROS Column 2 Low – 300×misc (Global)

Subscribe to our newsletter!

* indicates required

Lowest Ad in Column 2 – 300×250

Recent Posts

  • Advertiser’s Responsibilities for What Others Say in Social Media
  • How Publishers Can Leverage Push Notifications To Scale User Engagement
  • FTC Obtains Court Order Banning Alleged Work-From-Home Scammer from Selling Business Opportunities and Using Robocalls
  • Court Holds Professional TCPA Litigant Can Face Fraud-Based Counterclaim
  • Defendant Behind Alleged Bogus Health Insurance Scheme Agrees to Settle FTC Charges
  • How to Set Up a Warm Transfer Campaign Without Breaking the Bank (Step by Step)
  • Five Advertisers Speak Their Minds on the Importance of Network Partnerships, Transparency, and Fraud Prevention
  • Why All Media Buyers Need to Add Pay Per Call in 2021
  • Court Holds No TCPA Standing With Ringless Voice Mail Message
  • Promote E-gift Cards to Drive More Last-Minute Holiday Sales
  • Ecommerce Is On Top Of The World As Consumers Embrace Online Shopping Like Never Before
  • DoJ Announces Historic Civil Penalty in a Telemarketing Enforcement Action
  • How ClickDealer Grew To Be The Best CPA Network In Europe – An Interview with Taras Kiseliuk
  • Why Fewer, Better Customers Is The Way To Thrive – An Interview With Olivier Bourque, CrakRevenue
  • The Best CPA Networks In Europe

About mThink

mThink is a specialist digital marketing company based in San Francisco. We focus on media buying, Facebook marketing, direct response, social and mobile. In addition mThink produces the annual Blue Book Rankings of major performance marketing networks. Read More »

Copyright ©2021 · mThink. All rights reserved.
3053 Fillmore Street, Suite 325 | (415) 787-0250
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy