It is one thing to build yourself a long list of affiliates and contacts, but it is quite another to ensure that you are maintaining that list. Without the proper engagement, you cannot expect your affiliates to want to stay with your program. Let’s take a look at 5 tips to help you maintain affiliates more effectively.
Be present and available
As the affiliate program manager, you need to make sure that you are as active and as present as possible. You will no doubt have access to a forum or social media board where your affiliates will be able to discuss aspects of the program.
You need to make sure that you are active as you can be, and make sure that you are visible on these platforms. Make posts, interact with the affiliates, and ensure that they are able to get in touch with you if they need some guidance. If you can prove to them that you are an active and hands-on manager, they will know that you will also be ready to help them out if you need a little extra help.
Schedule check-ins
In addition to being present on social media platforms and more public spaces, you should try to schedule check-ins and one-on-one time with each of your affiliates. This will prove to be crucial as it will give them time to work with you on their campaigns.
They might want you to go into detail that you can’t really when just answering an email. Though scheduling calls and check-ins can be time-consuming, they really give you a chance to get to know how those in your program work and approach certain issues. One of the best ways to maintain affiliates effectively will always be to check in with them to see how they are connecting with your program.
Demonstrate your expertise
Everyone enters the affiliate marketing industry with different levels of knowledge and backgrounds. You will no doubt have plenty of expertise to pass onto your affiliates, and you should think about how to best do this.
Most affiliates will want to receive some sort of further training, and this is the perfect chance for you to demonstrate the expertise that you have. Whether you are just passing on tips in your one-on-one sessions or you are putting together a full webinar for your affiliates, there will always be something that you can do. If you want to maintain affiliates effectively in your program, you need to show that your program is worth staying with.
Offer valuable content
Within demonstrating your expertise, you need to make sure that you go about this in just the right way. You could just post out content for the sake of it – throwing out blogs and social media posts just to try to garner some sort of engagement. However, this content might not be very good.
Instead, you need to make sure that all content you offer to your affiliates carries weight and value in some way. Programs that manage to maintain affiliates effectively are ones that offer content that their affiliates can make use of and can grow from.
Experiment a little with the content that you are producing. Why not try making videos if you feel like your blogs are not effective? No matter the medium, make sure that the content being put into it is of value to your affiliates. You might even consider collecting suggestions from them so that you are able to deliver content tailored to them.
Set realistic goals and targets
Part of your role as an affiliate manager will be to set targets for your affiliates to meet. You need to make sure that these are as realistic as possible so that your affiliates are able to meet them and grow and push forward towards new ones.
You may find yourself needing to step in and work with an underperforming affiliate to see an improvement. Check out our latest episode of Affiliate Drive Time for Lee-Ann’s tips on how to fix a broken affiliate deal and get the affiliate back on track. The risk here might be that the affiliate feels that they can’t meet your goals and therefore want to leave the program. If you want to maintain affiliates effectively, you should be prepared to help those who are struggling as much as those who are the top earners and performers.
As an affiliate manager, you need to make sure that you are prepared to support your affiliates every step of the way with their campaigns. Some might need more help than others, some might want guidance from you in certain areas. If you want to maintain your affiliates effectively, you need to ensure that you are offering them just as much as they are giving to the program.
