A large Twitter following can a powerful audience of like-minded individuals interested in hearing about your views, specialized knowledge or even product recommendations. Many Twitter users have opted to utilize affiliate promotions within their tweets to capitalize on their growing social media following.
The affiliate marketing strategy of using Twitter to promote affiliate product referral links can be used by companies, niche topic experts, bloggers or even celebrity personalities such as Roger Ebert. Amazon Associates and other website-specific affiliate programs available through affiliate management programs, offer endless opportunities to recommend products through referral links on social media outlets. With proper disclosure and an emphasis on product relevancy, promotion of affiliate product referral links in tweets can be very effective in generating traffic and referral revenue.
Ebert Promoting Amazon Affiliate Product Links on Twitter
One example of effectively promoting affiliate products with social media is Roger Ebert’s use of Amazon Associates links on Twitter.
It was reported in a January 2011 interview with marketing website ClickZ that Roger Ebert, a well-known movie reviewer, has been using Amazon affiliate links in tweets on Twitter and posts on his Facebook page. Ebert has over 300,000 followers on Twitter interested in his views and recommendations on movies. In addition to commentary, he regularly tweets links to recommendations for relevant Amazon such as film-related products, digital movies and video on-demand.
Ebert has an established account with the Amazon Associates Program and receives direct commissions from sales generated from his affiliate referral links. His product referral sales are within standard Amazon Associates commission rates and could typically earn 7% commission based on his volume of referrals, proving to be an effective low-cost online marketing tool.
Ebert uses commissions earned from the Amazon Associates Program to offset expenses of operating his Ebert Club newsletter and targeted “WebPages” series. There has been some controversy about a celebrity personality such as Roger Ebert using social media connections to generate affiliate income. However, according to Ebert, the affiliate links are fully disclosed to his followers on Twitter and he has not received any complaints about his Amazon tweets.
Twitter Affiliate Linking Disclosure and Relevancy
According to the FTC in the U.S., full disclosure of compensation is required for affiliate marketing. However, affiliate marketing laws should not necessarily be viewed as restrictive or negative. Disclosing affiliate relationships can build trust and website brand credibility to website visitors and Twitter followers. Honesty and trust can become a selling point for your referred products. By delivering value to social media followers on a regular basis, followers or website visitors will be more receptive to occasional affiliate links and affiliates will earn higher commissions.
Although there are no hard rules for affiliate link disclosure on Twitter or other social media, one common use of a disclosure is to denote links with “(aff)” after an affiliate link. A disclosure or disclaimer can also be communicated on a website privacy policy page, within actual content or used occasionally with Tweets on Twitter. For the Amazon Associates Program, shortened URLs that are often used on Twitter will be shortened with a recognizable “amzn” in the beginning of the URL.
Tweeting relevant product recommendations is one of the most important strategies for success when promoting affiliate product links on Twitter. Select an affiliate sales program that offers products closely related to your niche topic or area of focus on Twitter. For example, IT professionals that often tweet about Windows Server technology strategies will likely have a following of other IT professionals and respond best to relevant Windows Server products. Promoting affiliate referral product links relevant to your usual Twitter content or niche area of expertise will generate the most interest and have the best potential for earning sales commissions.
Sources: ClickZ, FTC
Diane Seltzer - Diane is a branding, pr and social media marketer with experience ranging from advertising to corporate marketing and consulting.
