As an affiliate marketer, social media is one of your most valuable tools. As well as sharing regularly scheduled content, it allows you to communicate, interact, and connect with prospective customers in real-time. With the affiliate market set to continue gaining traction in the next decade, continue reading to familiarise yourself with 5 new social media features affiliates should know about.
YouTube’s Super Thanks
YouTube is expanding its increasingly popular monetisation tool by introducing a brand-new feature called Super Thanks. An extension of the existing Super Chat feature, it provides creators with an extra opportunity to generate income from their video-based content. Super Chat was launched in 2017 and is, in the simplest of terms, a comment that is highlighted and pinned to your livestream chat. Before you send your favourite creator a Super Thanks, you will be asked which monetary value you would like to attach to it. This differs depending on the market with US viewers given the option to choose between various price points between $2 (£1.46) and $50 (£36.69). Once the payment process has cleared, your comment will be flashed across your screen alongside an animated GIF of balloons. As an affiliate, you can expand your existing customer base and benefit from an additional revenue stream.
Instagram’s story drafts
With the option to save post drafts, it was only a matter of time before Instagram introduced story drafts. Until now, users could only save story drafts by saving them to their smartphone or device or by downloading a third-party app. With this handy new tool, Instagram users are given the opportunity to save their story as a draft if they exit during the editing process. An alert will then remind you that story drafts are deleted if no action has been taken within seven days. As an affiliate, this can allow you to curate the perfect story and make any adjustments as necessary before posting. You can also create a template for an upcoming story with limited information and add additional information as it becomes available. This is also a great way to queue content to be posted at a regularly scheduled date or time.
Twitter’s TweetDeck
The latest update to one of Twitter’s most popular features has already been heralded as a game-changer for social media managers and affiliates. Introduced in 2008, TweetDeck is a dashboard application that gives Twitter users the opportunity to manage a number of Twitter accounts from one handy location. Upon launch, users were quick to notice a number of add-ons including a full Tweet composer, new and improved search tools, new column types as well as a new way to categorise columns into Decks to capitalise your usage. By marketing goods and services on Twitter using TweetDeck, you can increase your chances of converting leads into paying customers, build long-lasting relationships with your audience, and generate greater interest in the products you promote.
TikTok’s Jumps
TikTok has announced the launch of a brand-new feature titled Jumps. With users quick to draw comparisons to Snapchat’s Spotlight feature, the service enables users to link to third-party owned programs preapproved by TikTok during the upload process. This may include recipes, quizzes, breathing exercises and surveys. With the option to curate content around a specific product and link to a webpage to purchase that product, Jumps has the potential to revolutionise the affiliate market for a growing number of affiliate partners around the globe. If a user clicks on a link, affiliates can earn a commission and brands can generate a sale. With TikTok one of the fasting growing social media platforms, incorporating Jumps into your affiliate marketing program can allow you to tap into an emerging market and stand out from the crowd.
Snapchat’s 3D Bitmoji
Capitalising on the popularity of the Bitmoji feature first launched in 2014, Snapchat has introduced a new and improved 3D version. The update will include a variety of new add-ons such as clothing texture, embellishments, and even well-known fashion logos. Users can choose from up to 1,200 never-before-seen body poses, facial expressions, gestures, and backgrounds and make adjustments as necessary. They can also view and interact with their friend’s 3D Bitmojis in real-time. With young adults one of Snapchat’s key demographics, this new feature can be a great way to promote goods and services to an age bracket responsible for a large majority of online purchases.
With social media continuing to develop on a daily basis, affiliates must keep up to date with any additional features that may impact their ability to promote goods and services to the masses. For example, with the introduction of Youtube’s Super Thanks, Instagram’s story drafts, Twitter’s new and improved TweetDeck, TikTok’s Jumps, and Snapchat’s 3D Bitmojis, affiliates can find new ways to earn commission through referrals and tap into unknown territory with the potential to expand their existing audience base.
Are you looking to expand your social media presence as an affiliate marketer? Get in touch with our team today to find out more!
