I was more interested in publishing Google Adsense ads. But, accidentally, I got familiar to affiliate marketing. And since that incident, I have never been skeptic about affiliate sales and the amazing monetizing powers it holds! In this blog post, I will show you how you can use Facebook to boost affiliate sales.
Before we get to the ‘meat’ of the matter, let me tell you one thing. This article isn’t a full-fledged tutorial. This post, actually, is based from my personal experiences. It’s more like a story. My friends say that I suck at telling stories. But I’ll try to keep it interesting and short, so that you don’t get bored to death.
I believe that you too may use Facebook and boost affiliate sales. If you are not sure how to start, go through this story. I’m sure that it’ll act like a stepping stone and help you make use of Facebook in a much better way (other than posting selfies all day!).
I’m about to start the story. Grab some popcorn, if you have this habit of munching while going through a story! Let’s start with how I ‘accidentally’ got introduced to affiliate marketing-
How I accidentally got introduced to affiliate marketing
As I told you before, I wasn’t interested in affiliate marketing in the beginning. I was content with publishing ads on my blogs and earning revenue from it.
On an education based blog of mine, I used to get good interaction from my visitors’ side. They used to make good use of the comment section. They used to pose questions, gave meaningful suggestions etc.
And being the ‘good guy Greg’ and ‘polite blogger’ that I was (and I guess I still Am), I used to respond to almost all of those feedback and questions. Soon, while combing through the comment section, I noticed a ‘trend’ developing. No, that wasn’t spam or anything negative (Thankfully!).
I noticed that my loyal readers were developing an interest in blogging. They were asking questions about how I started the blog, how blogging was like, how to monetize a blog, which skills are required to maintain a blog etc.
Again, I religiously would answer those questions and clear their doubts. As a result of this good karma that I had been doing, a handful of readers approached me, asking for assistance to set up blogs for them.
I readily accepted their proposal. Soon, I found myself spending entire nights setting up blogs for them. I worked hard, so that they could lay their hands on well set-up blogs.
But hey, in the process, I also made sure that I recommended them domain registrars and hosting packages. Yes, they registered domains and bought hosting packages using my affiliate link!
It was a win-win situation for both parties. They were getting blogs well set up, which were raring to go! And I was getting good commission from affiliate sales.
I thought of taking this activity to the next level. I decided to leverage the potential of Facebook and further boost my affiliate sales. Eager to learn how Facebook enhanced the sales stats? The next section will answer that question-
How I used Facebook to improve sales figures
It is a well-known fact that ‘trust’ and ‘authority’ plays an important role, when it comes to affiliate marketing. Just take a look at the ‘influential’ and ‘authoritative’ bloggers. Their blogs are frequented by many, who end up buying goodies recommended by such ‘respected’ bloggers.
Well, I wasn’t a game changer or heavily influential figure in that niche. So, I decided to leverage the ‘trust factor’ to my advantage. And I saw Facebook as a good platform to do that feat!
I placed a couple of banners advertising my free ‘blog set-up’ service on that blog of mine. Those banners contained my basic details and upon clicking that link, the visitor was taken directly to my Facebook account. Yes, I opened a door for them to connect with me seamlessly!
You see, when visitors get closer to you and get to know you better, trust automatically develops. After placing those banners, I started getting friend requests, which I accepted promptly!
My new friends would chat with me for long hours to know the aspects associated with blogging. They wanted to know more about it, before making an investment. And I would assist them, giving them honest guidance and answers.
This led to us striking a good rapport and building mutual trust. And as expected, more folks were ready to purchase domains, hosting and start new blogs! Note that the figures improved after they got an opportunity to ‘know me closer’. This whole process built trust, which helped me boost sales stats!
But, upon facing time constraints, I decided to stop this whole ‘blog set-up service’. Know what followed-
I removed the banners
Yes, I decided to pull them down. Instead of the old banners, I put up affiliate banners of HostGator, hoping that interested folks might click on it and make some purchases.
Well, all hope was destroyed! Upon analyzing the stats, I saw that zero sales were made after the removal of the old banner.
Since people weren’t getting the old assistance (via Facebook), the sales stats dropped (horribly). But that didn’t bother me. For me, day job’s salary was enough to pay my bills and let me live a comfortable life. Further, ad revenue made my network of blogs self-sustaining. All hosting and similar expenses could be easily met, thanks to ad revenue.
I decided to check if trust factor and Facebook will work again or not, in boosting affiliate sales
Just out of curiosity, I made some new banners, like the ones I made in the beginning, and placed it on that education related blog of mine. Yes, I replaced the HostGator affiliate banner to accommodate new banner.
To my surprise, I again started getting inquiries and friend requests! I must admit that the stats weren’t as impressive as they were in past. I even landed a couple of sales (yes, I had also set up the blogs for them, like I did in the past). What I want to say is that the concept still worked! And it worked like a charm!
Lessons learned
Trust plays a crucial role in deciding the level of success one will get in affiliate marketing. Facebook can be used as a platform to boost mutual trust and get more buyers. It can be utilized as a platform to assist a ‘potential buyer’ and build trust in the process!
I agree that using the ‘comment section’ on blog and writing up review posts could also have got me some affiliate sales. The comment section could have been used to communicate with interested folks and potential buyers. A review article, filled with affiliate links could have been clicked upon by an interested visitor. But so far, no other strategy ever came closer to this Facebook method. I guess it is because Facebook helps the potential buyer know more about me. Maybe Facebook makes good communication possible. I guess you too should try out this strategy. It has worked in my case.
hello, I agree that facebook can also be used to improve affiliate sale.now in time of technology users suspect fraud.so they easily connect where they can see human touch and starts trusting a company ,brand if they get to know who the person actually is.This thing itself plays important role in making good rapport with others.