Virality Boost is the original influencer content syndication network, helping brands to increase visibility, spark interest, inspire action, and drive purchases at scale. They focus on crafting syndication strategies that cover the entire customer journey and aim to break barriers in influencer marketing that traditionally haven’t worked for advertisers. Their approach is researched for maximum viral impact and cross-platform actions, leveraging the natural customer journey to deliver incremental performance.

Q: Can you give us a high-level overview of Virality Boost?  

A: Virality Boost is a transparent influencer content syndication network, specializing in large-scale influencer campaigns. We deliver campaigns that impact the bottom line and help brands achieve larger business objectives with quality, category-relevant influencers and advanced social strategies that leverage social media algorithms to increase visibility and impact.

Q: What are the top ways you promote brands?  

A: We run 25, 50, to 100 or more influencers in a single campaign within a specific time window to drive virality — demand and awareness for the brand across two platforms, depending on brand — Facebook, X, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok.

Q: What is the total reach of your audience?  

A: Over 30 million.

Q: Can you share some insights about your audience and demographics?  

A: They span 23 categories: both male and female influencers in lifestyle, web3, auto luxury, fashion, sports, travel, auto lifestyle, family, personal finances, kids under 10, kids over 10, and more!

Q: Which verticals perform the best with Virality Boost?  

A: It depends on the brand, but generally wellness, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, unique offerings and products, sports, watch TV, and more.

Q: Can you tell us about a successful campaign you ran in the last six months?  

A: SenseofSelf.Life – we’ll have a case study ready in a couple of weeks. See a sneak peek below.

Q: What’s something unique about Virality Boost?  

A: Each campaign is spearheaded by our influencer captains. These captains are experienced influencers themselves, representing various niches within the influencer community. We diligently test our strategies, placing a strong emphasis on achieving measurable results. 

Q: Any industry trends or insights to share with brands?  

A: In today’s rapidly shifting digital landscape, where third-party cookies are being phased out, brands must prioritize and refine their attribution strategies to make well-informed budgeting decisions. Google is enhancing its AI-driven ads and testing Google’s Circle on Android, all to master social media imagery. Amazon is not lagging behind, with its decisive move towards influencer collaborations and image search features. Meanwhile, Meta’s robust pixel technology continues to set a high benchmark.

For businesses focused on driving growth and seizing market share, understanding the customer’s journey across diverse channels and platforms, particularly social media, is critical. Brands must focus tirelessly on stimulating demand, elevating awareness, and nurturing purchase intent. Clear attribution allows companies to allocate their resources effectively, ensuring each touchpoint resonates with their audience and contributes to a coherent brand narrative that fosters business growth.

In short, investing in full funnel campaigns and solid attribution models is not just about adapting to the new cookie-less era — it’s a fundamental approach to sustainably capturing consumer interest and propelling your brand forward in a competitive marketplace.

TUNE customers who would like to work with Virality Boost can request an introduction directly via TUNE Network.

Questions? Click here to chat with one of our experts.

When social media influencers first stepped onto the scene, there were limited options for marketers to work with them. Sponsored posts, free products or services, and flat fees were the norm. Now influencers and creators are embracing performance-based advertising, opening a world of opportunities for themselves and the brands that partner with them. This doesn’t mean, however, that influencers and creators are the same as traditional affiliates. While both groups aim to drive conversions and boost brand visibility, they operate in fundamentally different ways and use distinct strategies to achieve their goals.

We’re covering the basics of influencer affiliate marketing in our new series, the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint. For an introduction to the series and the e-book it’s based on, head over to Part 1. In this post, we’re diving into the differences between the two groups and why influencer-affiliate programs are gaining momentum in today’s marketing landscape.

Download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities

Affiliates and Publishers vs Influencers and Creators

Traditional affiliates and publishers, rooted in the digital advertising ecosystem, have long relied on metrics like impressions, engagement rates, and clicks to measure success. In some cases, this focus on metrics can come at the expense of user experience. Navigating cluttered websites, wading through obviously AI-generated text, scrolling past pages of intrusive ads — it all harms the quality of users’ interactions with the content they’re looking for. When these less-than-ideal experiences add up, consumers can easily become frustrated, disinterested, and distrustful of the brands associated with them.

On the other hand, today’s influencer programs lean more toward authenticity and trustworthiness by leveraging the personal connection between social media creators and their dedicated followers. Brands that recognize the value of genuine engagement over sheer reach can foster deeper connections with audiences through relatable content and endorsements from trusted influencers. From this perspective, the affiliate industry’s leap to influencers makes sense, as it allows brands to create real connections and communities through their own ambassadors — without the corporate side of marketing getting in the way.

Influencer-Affiliate Programs

Influencer-affiliate programs share the same pillars as traditional affiliate programs, but they require a different framework and fulfillment strategy. This is most evident in four areas of the program.

Program Strategy

Influencer programs come in all shapes and sizes. They can take a diverse range of approaches, categorized based on scope and the influencer’s degree of influence. From micro-influencers with niche audiences to macro-influencers commanding broader reach, brands have the flexibility to tailor their strategies to align with specific campaign objectives and target demographics. We’ve put together a graphic to illustrate this concept below:

Offers and Payments

Influencer programs also differ from traditional programs in their offers and payments. Unlike CPA (cost-per-action) offers, the bread and butter of affiliate programs, offers in influencer programs usually prioritize a tiered and blended approach. This means encompassing metrics beyond sales, such as views, likes, and shares. This multifaceted payment structure acknowledges the diverse contributions of influencers, incentivizing them to create compelling content that resonates with their audience while driving conversions.

The way you pay influencers and creators can also vary from the way traditional affiliates are paid. We go into this more in our e-book and on-demand webinar — you can watch a quick clip below.

Creative Production and Control

Creative is, hands down, the main differentiator between traditional affiliates and influencer affiliates.

Influencer-affiliate programs redefine creative production by moving beyond conventional banner ads and sponsored articles. Successful brands collaborate with influencers to craft authentic narratives and tell stories their audiences are interested to hear. This empowers creators as brand advocates rather than just another paid advertiser. This personalized approach nurtures brand loyalty and fosters deeper connections with consumers and communities.

For an example, check out ZeroTo1 (our e-book partner) and their Instacart case study here.

Tracking Technology

Influencer programs need specialized tracking technologies to effectively attribute conversions and measure campaign performance across channels. This is because the most popular social media platforms for creators are mobile-first, and the tracking works differently on mobile than on a desktop browser. For brands that are already running a traditional program, getting started with creator affiliates can be as simple as integrating an influencer toolkit. Adding dedicated influencer marketing tools to your existing tech stack will provide a holistic view of engagement metrics and ultimately allow you to run more effective, measurable campaigns.

Up Next

As consumer preferences continue to evolve, influencer-affiliate programs offer a dynamic and adaptable approach to affiliate marketing. By prioritizing authenticity, fostering genuine connections, and embracing flexibility and creativity, brands can navigate the ever-changing digital landscape and forge lasting relationships with their target audience. Whether partnering with Instagram micro-influencers or the biggest names on TikTok, the key lies in building trust and telling stories to drive engagement and drive business results.

To learn more about the differences between creators and traditional affiliates, download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities.

Check back soon for Part 3!

Every day, something crazy and new happens in the world of affiliate marketing. But who has time for that? We’re backing up a few steps to take a wider look at the industry in 2024. With two months down, what big trends and topics have emerged to lead us through the rest of the year? We asked colleagues at TUNE and around the industry to share their top predictions with us. Here’s what they said.

2024 Affiliate Marketing Trends

AI Expansion Will Continue

This is a no-brainer, which is why it’s first on our list. The AI expansion into every corner of the digital world continues following the explosive introduction of ChatGPT in January 2023. According to recent surveys, when it comes to marketing, generative AI has seen the most growth in content marketing, sales enablement, business intelligence, video marketing, and chatbot applications. We don’t see this trend slowing anytime soon.

“In 2024, integrating AI in affiliate marketing programs and strategies will grow in popularity — for content creation, content promotion, analysis, and much more.”
—Yakir Gal, Head of Sales, EMEA & APAC

“AI is going to be big, big, big this year. I see lots of discussion ahead on how partners will use it to optimize ROI for brands, and how brands use it to identify new opportunities and automate their ongoing evergreen ads. And beyond partners and brands, will groups like Publisher Discovery use AI to keep better hygiene and pull in new, unique traffic sources? We’ll have to wait and see.”
—Matt Miltenberger, Head of Sales, East Coast

Brand-to-Brand “Barter Marketing”

We see plenty of pairing up in brands’ futures for 2024. By partnering to promote each other to their respective audiences, brands that barter can save money and access new markets that are a solid fit. And once a relationship proves successful, there’s no telling how far it could take both brands.

“I predict that brand bartering will become more of a mainstream partnership type this year. With costs rising across the board, brands can explore promoting non-competitive brands with similar demographics by essentially ‘trading’ placements, for example, on each other’s email newsletter list.”
—Dan Buontempone, Business Development Specialist

Influencers and Creators Catch Fire

Influencers are still a hot trend after rising in popularity over the last several years. Content creators and social influencers, especially those with small but engaged followings, are proving just how valuable they can be for brands trying to cut through the noise. And yet, many advertisers are still confused on the best ways to attract and reward them.

Luckily, we’ve got just the thing to help: our newest e-book, Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities. Created in partnership with growth agency ZeroTo1, it’s a guide on why and how to add influencers to an affiliate program. Download it here to learn how to create your own community of brand ambassadors.

“The rise of creator-affiliate and influencer-affiliate programs as a brand’s foundational channel. Influencer-affiliate is a wellspring that can feed most other channel marketing efforts, all while spinning off new revenue streams.”
—Meredith Singer, VP, Marketing & Operations at ZeroTo1

Customer Experience Will Evolve

In addition to incorporating AI tools into their customer service platforms, brands in 2024 are changing the way they interact with customers by meeting them where they are: in their chosen communities. Social platforms like Reddit and TikTok are thriving thanks to the self-made niche communities found there, where like-minded users gather for advice, entertainment, and authentic connections. Smart brands are joining and participating in these communities to engage with their users — not to sell to them.

Accurate Data for Optimization

Without optimization, there can be no improvement. And without accurate data, there can be no optimization. We’ve heard recently from some marketers and partners who are starting to distrust the accuracy of their data on traditional platforms. Whether this is a result of changes to how web browsers collect and report data, like GA4’s transition to data-driven attribution, or because traditional platforms tend to move slower when it comes to advanced tracking methodologies, remains to be seen. Either way, having access to accurate, reliable data remains top of mind for marketers in 2024 (as it should).

“Right now, everyone is focused on optimizing resources and excluding unnecessary costs. Thus, I foresee marketers optimizing their programs in 2024: cleaning up, keeping only highly performing partners and influencers, and focusing on Tier 1 markets.”
—Iana Starostovich, Head of Customer Success, EMEA

Privacy and First-Party Data

Speaking of accurate data … first-party data and privacy-centric practices are no longer optional for marketers in the performance space. It’s the way of the future, period. We’ve already seen efforts around SEO make a big comeback in 2024 thanks to AI and the proliferation of sub-par content splashed across the web. Any business that doesn’t make an honest effort at upholding consumers’ privacy and security while they look to improve their digital presence won’t be in business for long.

What’s Next

Whatever the rest of the year has in store, we’re betting that the trends and topics above stay in regular rotation. Good luck!

If you’re looking for new ways to scale your program while maintaining a strategic edge, we have news for you: the TUNE Network is now open to all customers! Read about what makes our network different from the rest in this blog post, or check out our website for more information on partnering through TUNE.

This isn’t your parents’ influencer marketing.

Say goodbye to flat fees and sponsored posts. Today’s top influencers are low-risk, results-driven partners who work closely with brands to promote the products and services that resonate with their highly engaged audiences.

Adding influencers to your affiliate marketing program can increase revenue and prove affiliate ROI — if you know what you’re doing. The Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint is your guide to making it happen.

Download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint

Knowing influencers and creators are a partner group unlike any other, TUNE teamed up with powerhouse growth agency Zeroto1 to develop an instructional e-book that doesn’t pull any punches. In it, you’ll read up on how influencer marketing really works, why and how it’s different from traditional affiliate marketing, and the steps you can follow to recruit and empower influencers in your program.

You’ll also learn from real-life use cases, including Zeroto1’s insanely successful launch and subsequent growth of the Instacart Tastemakers affiliate program. (Yes, they’re behind that Tastemakers, with TUNE technology driving the program.)

We don’t sugarcoat the tough stuff — like the fact that you’ll need to give up some control to get quality creative content. Or that no matter how hot your product is or how high your commissions are, some influencers just won’t want to work with your brand. What we do is provide you with insightful, actionable information to put you on the path to successful influencer-affiliate partnerships.

What Is Influencer-Affiliate Marketing?

There was a time when the term “influencer marketing” meant shelling out big bucks for celebrity sponsored posts; focusing on brand awareness and virality versus measurable conversions and KPIs; buying followers instead of engaging with them.

Not anymore.

Instead, today’s creators and influencers run the gamut from social media stars to niche role models. They have built up highly-engaged communities and loyal followings, with a deep understanding of what resonates and what feels inauthentic. They count on their audience for a living, so when they promote a product or a service, they’re confident it’s a fit.

This is why creators and influencers are embracing the performance-based model that is the foundation of affiliate marketing, resulting in a hybrid model: influencer-affiliate.

Why Are Brands Embracing Influencer-Affiliate?

As more influencers are making the change to a performance basis, more brands are embracing influencers.

Here’s why.

Most traditional publishers — in other words, your favorite websites and platforms — thrive on advertisers and networks. Their bottom line is tied to impressions, engagement, and clicks. This has led to many of them prioritizing these metrics over user experience.

As a result, across the digital ecosystem, the perception of engagement has become more important than actual engagement and quality user experiences. You can see it for yourself by searching on your laptop or smartphone for a topic you’re interested in. Increasingly, all that gets you is a confusing jumble of results, ads, and AI-generated answers to questions you haven’t asked, or links that lead to broken interfaces and frustrating interactions.

Brands, consequently, are moving away from platforms with shallow engagement and vanity metrics, following their target audience. People want authenticity and trustworthiness, communities where they feel engaged and accepted.

Influencer-affiliates are a bridge to these communities. They help brands build connections to them without the corporate side — the advertising ick — of marketing getting in the way.

Get Started with the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint

Over the next few months, we’ll be exploring key chapters from the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint here on the TUNE Blog. Check back often so you don’t miss out.

While we’ve barely scratched the surface of influencer-affiliate programs, you don’t have to wait for the rest of the blog series to come out. Download the full e-book now to discover:

• the four steps to success in influencer-affiliate marketing
• what makes influencers and creators different from traditional affiliates
• how to find and engage the right influencers for your brand
• the technology and teams you’ll need to get started
• real examples and use cases from everyday brands

The most successful influencers connect with their audiences through authenticity, honesty, and winning personalities. We hope to do the same.

Enjoy!

Download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint

In the world of affiliate marketing, there are two main ways to work with your partners: through an affiliate network, and in a one-to-one relationship in your affiliate program. Affiliate networks and direct partners both play important roles and bring value to a program. However, they differ greatly in terms of how you collaborate with them and the dynamics of your relationship.

Over the years at TUNE, we’ve noticed that individuals who are new to affiliate marketing have the most difficulty understanding the direct partner side of the equation, whereas most people — marketers or otherwise — are familiar with the concept of an affiliate network. We believe both types of partners are beneficial, and working with a combination of the two is something we see across the most successful partner programs. To help more marketers leverage the best of both worlds, we’re explaining what it means to work directly with a partner in your affiliate program versus working with a partner in an affiliate network.

Affiliate Networks vs. Direct Partners

In some ways, direct partners are the opposite of affiliate networks. Understanding how you work with partners in a network makes it easier to understand how working with direct partners is different. So let’s set the groundwork by looking at the top characteristics of working with affiliate network partners.

Affiliate Network Partners

1. Intermediary Platform

Affiliate networks are intermediaries that connect you (the advertiser or brand) with their network of partners. These networks serve as a platform where businesses can find and recruit affiliates, and affiliates can find multiple products or services to promote.

2. Broader Reach and Scale

Affiliate networks provide you with a pre-existing pool of affiliates from various niches and industries, including a range of publishers, content creators, and marketers. This is beneficial if you want to reach a wider audience quickly. However, it may mean you have less control over who eventually promotes your products.

3. Standardized Agreements and Features

Affiliate networks often have standardized terms and conditions, commission structures, and reporting systems. While this can make it easier for you to get started, it doesn’t provide much flexibility and limits your ability to negotiate custom agreements.

4. Less Personalization

In affiliate networks, the relationships with affiliates tend to be less personal. You may have less control over how affiliates promote your business and might need to rely on the network’s policies to enforce brand guidelines. And because communication with affiliates in a network often occurs through the network’s messaging system, it often lacks a personal touch and a guarantee of privacy.

5. Network Fees

Along with tracking conversions and distributing commissions on your behalf, affiliate networks handle payment processing as well. Networks charge an additional service fee for payment processing, usually as a percentage of your revenue or your partners’ commissions. These fees vary and are set at the network’s discretion. While affiliate networks may be convenient, the fees associated with them can impact the profitability of your entire program and should be carefully considered.

Now that we have a baseline, let’s examine how working with direct partners in a strategic affiliate program differs.

Direct Partners

1. One-to-One Relationships

When you work with a direct affiliate partner, you establish a one-to-one relationship with an individual or entity (such as a blogger, content creator, influencer, or website owner) who promotes your products or services. You establish a business relationship with them independently, without the involvement of an intermediary or affiliate network.

2. Direct Communication

Communication with direct partners typically happens, well, directly — through email, phone calls, messaging apps, or other personal means. By keeping your communication private and confidential, you can better protect the strategic partnerships you discover and nurture, instead of sharing them with an affiliate network (and anyone who joins it).

3. Customized Agreements

With direct partnerships, you negotiate and agree on the terms and conditions of your partnership directly with the individual you’re working with. This allows for more flexibility in crafting affiliate agreements, commission structures, promotional methods, and more. Going direct lets you tailor every aspect of the partnership to suit the unique needs and capabilities of your partner and the specific goals of your business.

4. More Management and Support

Directly managing and supporting your affiliates may require more resources than you would need to manage and support them through an affiliate network. For example, you’ll need to supply the program infrastructure, tracking tools, and support documentation to ensure they can effectively promote your products or services.

5. Greater Control and Oversight

Working one-on-one with your partners gives you greater control and oversight over your entire affiliate program. This can help ensure that a partner’s promotional activities (like the kind of ads they run or the websites they run them on) align with your brand’s values and quality standards.

6. Higher Commissions

In some cases, direct affiliates can expect higher commission rates compared to those in affiliate networks. One reason for this is that partners outside of a network bear the responsibility of generating their own traffic and sales. Another reason is that brands can see a significant cost savings when high network fees and processing charges are taken out of the equation. By translating these savings into higher commissions, you can spend less overall than you would with a network and attract more affiliates to your program by standing out from the lower paying competition.

7. Payment Processing

When you run a direct affiliate program, you are responsible for managing and processing partner payments. This means you need to track the affiliate’s performance, calculate commissions, and pay them directly, usually on a predetermined schedule.

The Best of Both Worlds

In summary, direct affiliate partnerships offer more personalized, customized, and closely managed relationships with individual affiliates. In contrast, affiliate networks provide a broader reach and more convenience, but usually involve less personalization and control.

The choice between the two depends on your marketing goals, resources, budget, and the level of control you want over your affiliate program. Many businesses use a combination of direct partners and networks to achieve a balance between customization and scale in their affiliate marketing efforts.

At TUNE, we’ve seen the most successful programs run a mix of both direct partnerships and affiliate network relationships. That’s why our platform enables you to run a strategic partner program with direct partners and have access to top affiliate partners through the TUNE Network. You choose to use one or the other, or combine them in the way that makes the most sense for your business. In other words: It’s the best of both worlds.

If you’d like to find out more about running a program of direct partners and top network affiliates on TUNE, download our Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing or start a chat with us.

In an evolving digital landscape, affiliate marketers need to stay ahead of the game to maximize reach and drive conversions in a crowded field. One tool that can help is artificial intelligence (AI). AI offers immense potential to optimize and automate aspects of affiliate marketing, from streamlining workflows to creating content.  

Among the many AI-powered solutions available to the public today is ChatGPT, an advanced language model developed by OpenAI. In January 2023, it set a record as the fastest growing consumer application in history, gaining more than 100 million users in just two months. If you’re wondering how you can join the movement, keep reading — we’re exploring a few of the ways marketers can leverage the power of ChatGPT in their affiliate marketing strategies.  

Content Creation and Optimization 

Nobody reads a blog post or watches a video on TikTok because they want to be served an ad or have a product pushed on them. They’re looking to be informed, entertained, inspired. Which is why compelling content lies at the heart of successful affiliate marketing campaigns.  

ChatGPT can be a powerful ally in creating high-quality, engaging content. Its ability to generate human-like text makes it an invaluable tool for producing both long- and short-form copy — product walkthroughs, comparison articles, informative blog posts, creative ad copy, you name it. With some detailed prompting and a bit of human editing, affiliate marketers can use ChatGPT to save time and effort creating written and visual content.

A quick note on the visual content process: ChatGPT’s visual AI is DALL·E 3, which is technically separate from ChatGPT even though they can be used in conjunction. There are numerous other visual AIs available for free or as a paid subscription, based on your needs and the amount of images you’ll be generating. We’ve been most impressed with Midjourney and Stable Diffusion.

ChatGPT can also be a valuable addition to your current content optimization process. Provide the language model with a set of keywords, and it can generate optimized titles, meta descriptions, and relevant subheadings. You can also reverse-engineer old, unoptimized blog posts by feeding them into ChatGPT and asking for the top keywords and suggested updates. These practices can all help improve SEO and boost organic traffic to brand and affiliate websites. 

Personalized Recommendations 

Understanding and engaging with customers on a personal level is crucial for affiliates — it’s why they’re so good at what they do, after all. ChatGPT can help in offering personalized recommendations based on user preferences, browsing behavior, and previous interactions. Prompt the AI model to analyze purchase and engagement data and look for patterns — it may be able to suggest tailored product options that resonate with individual customers. This level of personalization can significantly enhance your users’ experience, upping the chance they eventually engage and convert. 

Customer Support 

Thanks to its conversational, human-like language model, ChatGPT can be integrated into chatbots or virtual assistants to offer support services. These could include answering common questions, providing product information, or completing purchases. This automation frees up human resources for more complex interactions and tasks that can’t be replaced by artificial intelligence. 

Analysis and Reporting 

Accurate data analysis is vital for optimizing affiliate marketing campaigns. ChatGPT can analyze vast amounts of data and provide valuable insights for marketers in a fraction of the time it would take a human.  

For example, some agencies have started using ChatGPT and other AI models to transcribe, digest, and summarize the key points and next steps on calls with clients. Other affiliate marketers leverage ChatGPT to perform sentiment analysis on social media platforms and forums, gauge public opinion, and identify potential influencers for collaboration. 

One important note: ChatGPT’s knowledge base used to be limited to information shared on the internet before September 2021. This limitation was one of the biggest headaches for its users. However, it can now search for and provide real-time information thanks to an update in fall 2023.  

Management and Workflow Automation 

Managing affiliate partnerships and networks can be time-consuming and challenging, to say the least. ChatGPT can automate several aspects of network and program management for the individuals who are working within them every day. For example, it can help to identify potential new affiliates, evaluate applications, write introduction emails, or proofread terms and conditions. This can all streamline the affiliate recruitment process. (We should note, however, that this aspect of affiliate marketing will always require constant attention and a human touch.)

Getting Started with ChatGPT 

Artificial intelligence, even in its early stages, has the industry abuzz with its potential to change the game. However, AI models like ChatGPT are only as good as the prompts that drive them. You’ll need the right marketing-focused prompts to effectively use any of the strategies above. More than likely, you’ll need to experiment and iterate to figure out what those are.

If you’re not sure how to get started, google the AI model you’re using plus “prompt for [the task you want to accomplish]” — you should find plenty of examples to choose from. You can also check out AI prompt-based communities on Reddit, Twitter, and most other social media platforms.

And, in case you’re looking for guidance on your overall strategy, head over to our Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing to learn more.

I want to hear from you: How do you use AI in your affiliate marketing strategy? What are the best prompts you’ve discovered so far? Let me know in the comments below! 

Every year, it seems like a new kind of influencer is having a moment. Celebrities, bloggers, micro-influencers, Twitch streamers, TikTok stars; they’ve all had their time in the spotlight. Is this year any different? With the fallout from COVID-19 forcing the global economy into greater uncertainty, digital communities have an important role to play as individuals look for answers, inspiration, and support.  

Trying to navigate the economic impact of the last two years will be a challenge for many businesses in the months ahead. Brands that are looking for the right mix of insight and empathy to reach consumers in these uncertain times may want to explore partnering with influencer communities. Here’s how to get started, from the basics of who influencers are to the best ways to meet and work with them.      

What is an influencer community? 

Influencers are members of self-selected social groups who have the trust and respect of their peers — their communities. They come from all walks of life, and build their followings through shared passions and authentic connections. They are not celebrities — at least, not in the traditional sense. Often, they’re not even professional marketers.  

Instead, these influencers are brand fans, knowledgeable product users, and role models within niche communities across social media. Most importantly, influencers with dedicated communities are powerful advocates for the brands and products they love.  

Scott Ginsberg, vice president of client development at BrandCycle, an influencer affiliate network, explains:  

For influencer communities, authenticity is paramount. It is the social capital that builds and maintains the bond these influencers have with their followers, and it can’t be faked. This is especially important in the era of COVID-19 and social distancing. Since 2020, more people than ever before have turned to the digital ecosystem for their everyday needs, searching for authentic connections to replace the human contact they miss. 

Brands may find these influencers to be a windfall in the current economy, but there’s a caveat — companies have to be willing to put in the work to drive organic growth, too. Above all, brands must allow these influencers to stay true to themselves and their followers.  

Where influencer communities shine 

What verticals and product categories are influencer communities good for? 

It sounds like a cop out, but almost all of them. Any direct-to-consumer brand that has an online presence and an engaged customer base should be able to find influencers with communities that fit their marketing needs.  

Take financial services company Topstep, for example. Topstep provides an online platform for training and trading in the forex and futures markets. They target a very specific audience in a very narrow field. So, Topstep turned to the futures and forex trading education community. There, the company enlisted the help of educators to introduce new traders to the Topstep platform.  

The world is full of diverse, passionate people who advocate on behalf of brands for free every day. For marketers, it’s solely a question of finding them.  

What are the platforms that these influencers use? 

Again, almost all of them. Instagram and Facebook remain the top platforms of choice for influencers, but TikTok is quickly catching up. Yet different communities use different channels. It really depends on where your customers are.  

• Instagram 
• Facebook 
• TikTok 
• Twitch 
• YouTube 
• Snapchat 
• Twitter 
• Reddit 
• Pinterest 

What marketing goals can influencer communities help to achieve? 

Today’s consumers don’t want to be sold to; they want to be engaged with.  

Influencers excel at engagement. They build organic relationships with their followers by replying to comments, participating in discussions, and sharing user-generated-content — interactions outside of the sales funnel. When the conversation turns to a brand or a product, consumers feel less like they’re being sold to, and more like they’re getting a recommendation from a friend. 

• Sales 
• Lead generation 
• Cross-sells 

Working with Influencer Communities

It can be easy to forget that behind all the images and posts, influencers are just regular people. Influencer marketing is often a part-time job or a side gig for them; they may be juggling multiple jobs and projects at any given time. Understanding their struggles and motivations, especially in these unprecedented times, will help you work more effectively with them.  

Some of the most common hurdles for influencers:  

1. Getting started and building scale 
2. Finding enough time to create quality content and manage administrative tasks 
3. Maintaining work/life balance and splitting focus between engaging with their communities and being with their families 
4. Communicating their unique value proposition to brands, and avoiding being lumped into a generic “promotional category”  

Tips for marketers working with influencers: 

1. Allow freedom of expression in influencer promotions and user-generated content (UGC) 
2. Be open to creative payment models (such as free product in lieu of commission) 
3. Consider shorter pay windows or higher commission rates to help minimize the upfront risks for new partners 
4. Communicate often — too much communication is always preferable to too little 
5. Use an unbiased tracking platform to track conversions when possible, and use promo codes (clickless tracking) for everything else 
6. Scale your program by using a network, such as BrandCycle or CLOUTA 

Influencers and Partner Marketing 

Will more brands embrace influencers this year? How will the economy change how businesses and influencers engage with their audiences? Only time will tell.

When you’re ready to get started, download our Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities. Created in partnership with growth agency ZeroTo1, this e-book covers everything brands need to know to successfully add influencers to their affiliate program, increase revenue, and prove affiliate ROI.

This article was originally published on PerformanceIn.com in April 2020 and has been updated with new information and insights.  

Earnings per click is the be-all end-all performance metric to affiliates.

This key performance metric is your average revenue for each individual click you are driving to an advertiser. And if you don’t think this is the one affiliate marketing metric to keep your eyes on, allow me to explain.

But first, ask yourself a few key questions. Are you studying the metric? Do you know how it is calculated? Are you using it to strategically influence business decisions?

If you answered no to any of the above questions, you are leaving money on the table. And if that isn’t enough to persuade you, let’s cover a few other reasons why this metric matters.

Earnings Per Click Is Your Most Valuable Metric

Earnings per click is an agnostic statistic.

[bctt tweet=”At the end of the day, affiliates want to maximize their profit.” username=”tune”]

The metric doesn’t care how high your conversion rate is. It doesn’t care that exclusive partner payout you may have or the sheer number of clicks you generated. Earnings per click cuts through the clutter and gives you the exact amount of money you can expect to receive for every click you purchase based on historic performance. With that knowledge, it is just up to the affiliate to get their cost per click under their earnings per click to be profitable.

The true potential of the earnings per click metric is fully unlocked when utilized in a paid supply side cost per click or cost per thousand impressions environment. If you can extrapolate a cost per click for every click you drive to your paid advertisements, then you can directly compare this against the earnings per click that is calculated in your tracking software. If you subtract your cost per click from your earnings per click, you get your net profit per click.

(Calculating it looks like this: Net profit per click = earnings per click – cost per click.)

This is key. This is what affiliates thrive on when it comes down to it. Forget conversion rates. Forget click-through rates. Forget payouts. If your earnings per click is higher than your cost per click, you are making money. It’s as simple as that.

Most supply-side advertising platforms will provide you your cost per click, or a way to calculate your cost per click per ad by default. For instance, during my college years, I was operating as a high volume social media affiliate. The self-serve media buying platform I was pushing clicks through offered line-by-line reporting for each of my advertisements and their respective cost per clicks. To harmonize with this, my tracking platform offered earnings per click breakouts by sub ID. This meant that as long as I passed in the creative ID into a sub ID in the tracking links behind my ads, I could directly determine profit for each over any period. Split-testing on easy mode.

How to Calculate Earnings Per Click

Earnings per click is calculated by taking the total earnings you have generated over a period, and then dividing that by the number of clicks you have generated for that same period. This gives you an estimation of what you can expect each individual click you are generating to produce in earnings. This is a figure that is invaluable in a cost per click environment.

(Earnings of an individual click is calculated as total earnings over period “x” over the number of clicks over period “x”.)

3 Tips for Earnings Per Click Campaigns

1. Shop smarter. Let’s say a network approaches you with the same offer you are currently running, but with a higher payout. An attractive offer, right? In reality, this actually means nothing. Sure, the payout is higher — but what if the conversion rate is much lower? You could actually be losing money by running with this new network. This is where earnings per click becomes vitally important. If your EPC is higher on this new network than the old, you are now making more money. The conversion rate doesn’t matter. The payout doesn’t matter.

2. Test quicker. Having one metric to use as a baseline to measure performance makes split-testing a breeze. You now have the ability to juggle multiple networks, or constantly swap out links, while only having to focus on the earnings per click of those campaigns. In such a fluid, fast flowing industry, time is your most valuable asset. Calculating earnings per click gives you back time you were spending performing tedious calculations.

3. Feel safer. Fraud is, and will always be, a nagging, frustrating problem in the performance marketing world.

[bctt tweet=”Monitoring earnings per click as your anchor point facilitates a simple sense of security and control.” username=”tune”]

It is a trivial task to record and chart trends by hour, day, month, when you are only relying on a single key metric that pulls from both your gross spend and earnings. Effortless trend monitoring breeds obvious trend outliers. This empowers you, as a marketer, to focus your time on what’s critically important — performance.

A Final Thought

Running as an affiliate business means spending a lot of time looking for and testing offers. If your main goal is to make as much profit as possible, you need to optimize where you spend your time. Getting lost in numbers and metrics is easy, and if you’re not analyzing the right things, you’re wasting time and losing money.

Focusing on earnings per click may seem like too simple a solution, but it’s a quick way to ensure that you’re making money efficiently.

For more tips, check out TUNE’s Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing.

This article was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated with new information and insights.

For digital marketers, understanding the intricacies of mobile web tracking is no longer a choice. Today, it’s a necessity to stay ahead of the curve in this fast-paced industry. That’s why we’re diving into mobile web tracking in Part 4 of our blog series, based on TUNE’s Ultimate Guide to Mobile Partner Marketing.  

In Part 1, we introduced the guide and how mobile user acquisition and affiliate marketing programs overlap. Part 2 compared mobile measurement partners to partner marketing platforms. In Part 3, we explored why mobile apps are critical to a program’s success.  

In this latest installment, we’re tackling the process behind tracking conversions on mobile web. After all, if you want to manage a successful partner marketing program, you have to be able to measure it first. So let’s get started! 

How to Track Conversions in a Mobile Web Environment 

For years, third-party cookies served as the go-to method for tracking conversions on the web. However, recent browser developments have rendered third-party cookies ineffective, pushing marketers to adopt cookieless tracking methods. This shift brings desktop and mobile web measurement closer to campaigns in the mobile app ecosystem, where cookieless tracking is a requirement. 

For mobile web, there are two primary methodologies for cookieless tracking: server-side postbacks and JavaScript SDK. We’ll go into the basics of how these both work below. 

Server-Side Postback Tracking 

The server postback tracking method is the most reliable for tracking campaigns on mobile web. It has been TUNE’s recommended approach for years and is a native feature of the platform.  

Let’s assume the implementation process has been completed, so all the required code and settings are ready. Here is how postback tracking works: 

1. When a user clicks on a tracking link, TUNE generates a unique alphanumeric ID (Transaction ID).
2. TUNE passes the Transaction ID to the brand’s landing page, where it is stored and associated with the user.  
   • Brands can choose from several methods for storing the Transaction ID, including storing it in a database, using first-party cookies, or passing it via page URLs. Most developers should be familiar with this process and able to implement a solution. 
3. Upon the user’s conversion (e.g., purchase, lead capture), the brand fires the Transaction ID back to TUNE in a postback URL.
4. TUNE leverages the stored information about the click to attribute the conversion accurately to the partner responsible for driving the conversion.  

The first question about this process that many marketers ask is how to store the Transaction ID, which is answered in #2. The second question is how to pass the ID back to TUNE for Step #3. To do this, the brand makes an HTTP request to the postback URL via cURL (on the server side), which logs the conversion in TUNE. 

JavaScript SDK Tracking 

The JavaScript SDK method uses a web browser’s LocalStorage to get around the inaccuracies that come with third-party cookies. This method writes conversions back to TUNE, similar to postback tracking.   

Here’s how JavaScript SDK tracking works:  

1. TUNE passes the Transaction ID into the browser’s LocalStorage upon the user’s click. This works with both redirect links and direct links. 
   • When implementing the JavaScript SDK, you add a snippet of code to the head of the website, an identify code line to the landing page, and a convert code line to the conversion page. This allows TUNE to store the Transaction ID on click in the web browser, and then send the ID back to the TUNE platform when the user ends up on a designated page.  
2. When the user reaches a conversion point (e.g., post-purchase Thank You page), TUNE accesses the Transaction ID stored in the browser and sends it back to the TUNE platform.  

While this tracking methodology is set up using postback protocols, it is still considered client-side tracking, as the browser (not the brand) stores the Transaction ID.  

The JavaScript SDK method is best for tracking in-session conversion points and removes the requirement for the brand to store the Transaction ID. It also integrates well with existing technologies, such as Google Analytics and Shopify, and can track and attribute organic traffic. 

For more detailed explanations including flow charts and diagrams, download the Ultimate Guide to Mobile Partner Marketing.

Mobile Web Tracking and Privacy 

Cookieless tracking methods like the ones above are designed to provide accurate attribution without compromising privacy. It’s a big reason TUNE has always advocated for server-side tracking solutions and first-party cookies versus third-party cookies. However, simply using these methodologies isn’t enough. It’s still crucial to maintain data security and privacy best practices in every aspect of your partner program, and to follow all applicable rules and regulations around data handling. 

As tracking technologies advance, remember to always put consumer privacy first. A few simple steps that every marketer should follow include:  

• Obtain user consent for tracking and data collection.  
• Implement transparent privacy policies that clearly communicate tracking practices.  
• Provide users with opt-out mechanisms for personalized tracking. 

TUNE In to Learn More 

Understanding how mobile web tracking works is essential for marketers seeking reliable conversion tracking methods in 2023. Using cookieless tracking enables today’s program managers to effectively track and attribute conversions in the mobile web environment.

However, it is equally important to prioritize user privacy and adhere to ethical tracking practices. At TUNE, we believe that by striking a balance between effective tracking and privacy considerations, marketers can achieve their program goals while building trust with partners and consumers. (Our customers are proof of that.)

Check back soon for Part 5, where we’ll delve into mobile app attribution and how MMPs operate. Can’t wait? Download the full e-book and get all your questions answered! You can also start a chat to ask one of our experts in person.

Happy reading!

Welcome to Part 3 of our Mobile Partner Marketing blog series! In this series, we are covering some of the insights and information found in our newest e-book, The Ultimate Guide to Mobile Partner Marketing. Whether you manage an affiliate program or run marketing for mobile apps, this e-book can help you bridge the knowledge gap between the two to unlock their full potential.  

In Part 1, we introduced the guide and outlined what readers can learn from it about mobile marketing and affiliate programs. Part 2 explains the similarities and differences between a mobile measurement partner and a partner marketing platform. 

In Part 3 of our series, we’re reviewing the why behind the what of mobile partner marketing: why apps are critical to a program’s success. Let’s get started. 

Why Mobile App + Affiliate Program = Success  

In short? Synergy. 

As the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A mobile app on its own can be valuable. An affiliate program, even when run separate from other marketing efforts or in a silo, can also be valuable.  

Real return on investment, however, happens when you put the two together.  

While there are lots of benefits brands see when they combine the power of mobile apps with the guaranteed ROI of performance marketing, we think the following are the most impactful. 

Closer Relationships with Customers 

A huge advantage to using mobile apps in your partner marketing strategy is being able to foster better relationships with your customers. Push notifications, location-based marketing, and a wealth of personalization options make this possible. 

Take push notifications. They are efficient, customizable, and always front-and-center on a smartphone user’s screen — unlike, say, an email that sits ignored in an inbox. This adds up to a channel that often outperforms email, the traditional choice of brands for communicating with customers: 

• In 2021, the average email open rate was around 22%, while the average push notification open rate was 28%. (Source: Campaign Monitor, Omnisend) 
• A push notification sent to new subscribers in the first week following app installation can increase retention rates by up to 71%. (Source: Invespcro) 
• In 2021, email campaigns had an average conversion rate of 0.1%, while 38% of people who clicked on a push message went on to make a purchase. (Source: Omnisend) 

The depth of personalization that a mobile app can provide also brings programs and partners closer to their customers by helping to give them more of what they want. Using mobile app data like engagement and location, brands can tailor messages, share proximity-based offers, and suggest relevant content for smartphone users in ways that other channels can’t.  

Better Experiences for Users 

When it comes to user experience, mobile apps have technological advantages over mobile websites. It’s ideal for a user to be deep linked directly where they want to go in an app, instead of redirected to a clunky mobile webpage or left hanging with a broken link. This is why the mobile app ecosystem leads to both higher conversion rates and higher spending in apps when compared to mobile web. (One example: as effective as push notifications can be, the click-through rate for in-app messages is 25–30X higher.)  

Today’s consumers expect smooth, intuitive, native experiences when engaging with brands on mobile. Anything less, and you risk frustrating and ultimately losing your customers.  

Historically, though, affiliate marketers have shied away from using mobile apps to their full potential. This is because tracking links can introduce challenges when used across operating systems (such as iOS and Android) and experiences (such as mobile web to mobile app). Today, there are solutions and partners available that can handle these and other app-specific challenges for affiliate programs. TUNE has integrations with all of them.  

ROI that Proves Program Performance 

The amount of time U.S. consumers spend on the internet continues to rise every year. As it does, the gap between mobile device and desktop usage is widening, with a growing majority of time spent on mobile, and time on desktop steadily falling. 

By 2018, retailers with shopping apps and mobile websites were already seeing their apps bring in double the revenue when compared to mobile web. What’s more, their apps were driving nearly as many sales as desktop and mobile web combined. By 2020, almost 90% of all mobile internet time was spent in apps. In 2021, in-app spending increased 55% year over year, and e-commerce app installs increased 48%.  

Too often, the affiliate programs associated with these numbers (and by extension, the marketers who run them) are not getting enough credit for their efforts. Fortunately, marketers can combat unattributed channel performance from mobile apps with technologies like server-side tracking. Adding another revenue stream to a program boosts its value, and proving the program’s contributions to the overall business can help secure the budget needed to make it an even bigger success.  

Just like we said: synergy. 

Stay TUNEd to See What’s Next 

We’ll be back with Part 4 in a few weeks. Until then, check out the TUNE Blog for more information on mobile partner marketing, or download the full e-book here.

Whether you manage an affiliate program or run mobile acquisition campaigns, this e-book will help you bridge the knowledge gap between mobile and affiliate to unlock their full potential.

Affiliate Summit West is heading back to Las Vegas in 2023 — and so is TUNE! 

One of the biggest affiliate marketing events in the world, Affiliate Summit West 2023 takes place January 23–25 in a new location: Caesars Forum Las Vegas. With more than 6,000 attendees expected, it’s a can’t-miss conference for the performance ecosystem. As always, our team is excited to network, share product updates and swag, and chat about what the year may have in store for the industry.  

If you’re heading to Vegas next week, here are a few of the ways you can meet up with TUNE. 

Monday | Meet Market Table #1114 

On Monday, TUNE is hosting a table at the show’s annual Meet Market from noon to 6pm. Come by Table #1114 to grab some goodies and catch up with the whole crew. If you’re unfamiliar with the Meet Market, make sure to stop by. It’s a fan favorite for a reason, and the networking is top notch.  

Tuesday | Exhibit Hall, Meetings, and Happy Hour 

Our team will be holding meetings and wandering the Exhibit Hall when they can during the day on Tuesday. If you would like to book a meeting during the conference to talk about your business goals and TUNE, let us know soon.

After the Exhibit Hall closes, it’s par-tee time at Topgolf Las Vegas! TUNE has partnered with Fluent to throw an industry happy hour Tuesday, January 24^th from 6–9pm. In addition to delicious food, a full bar, and the best networking in town, there will be complimentary clubs and range bays available for play.  

This event fills up every year, and space is already limited. If you’re interested in joining for happy hour, please email partnermarketing@tune.com to request an invite. Thanks to everyone who came out!

See You at #ASW23 

We’re counting down the days until next week and the start of Affiliate Summit West 2023.

Hope to see you there! 

Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash

Whether you’re a digital media buyer (i.e., advertiser) or seller (i.e., publisher), both depend on each other for a successful affiliate marketing program. Advertisers need real-time access and visibility into inventory. Publishers need to be able to show inventory as it becomes available, and provide insightful and accurate reporting. Without the right affiliate marketing platform to track, manage, and report on campaigns, the process becomes cumbersome at best — and can jeopardize thousands or millions of dollars at worst.

In this blog post, we recommend a few things to look for when searching for the right affiliate marketing platform for your business.

5 Things to Look for in an Affiliate Marketing Platform

1. Fully Customizable, White Label Technology

Every company has a different need, brand, industry, and process. As such, it’s important that you choose an affiliate marketing platform that you can customize to fit your company, instead of forcing your company to fit a certain affiliate marketing platform. At TUNE, our platform is white label ready and fully customizable. Whether you want to use our platform’s features and tools out of the box, or leverage our API to build your own on top of it, you can create the perfect platform for your business.

2. Best-In-Class Support

No matter which affiliate marketing platform you choose, there are some things you will need help with from time to time. That’s why it’s important to choose a platform with stellar customer support. The last thing you want to do is spend valuable time waiting on an answer while you could be optimizing your campaigns.

One of the best ways to identify an affiliate marketing platform that prioritizes customer service is whether customer satisfaction is a metric they track. TUNE has a 98% customer service satisfaction rating, and our onboarding team always gets high marks from new customers. We’re also continually looking for ways to get even better, asking our customers for feedback at every opportunity possible.

3. Real-Time Reporting and Campaign Optimization

New inventory becomes available every second of the day. For buyers, success depends on making more timely buys, and sellers need to be able to expose inventory quickly and easily. A top priority should be choosing an affiliate marketing platform that provides real-time data and optimization opportunities so you can make instantaneous decisions. The faster you’re able to optimize, the faster your revenue can scale.

Unlike our competitors, TUNE offers real real-time reporting and management capabilities, including A/B testing and landing space splits, so you can discover what performs best and make instant (or incremental) changes that add up to massive results. (Go ahead — ask any platform how they define “in real time,” and get specific numbers. You’ll see their “real-time” reporting is closer to “delayed by a few hours or a day” reporting.)

4. System Reliability

When assessing an affiliate marketing platform, ask for statistics about uptime. It’s critical as a seller to be able to provide timely and accurate data and analysis. In the fast-paced world of affiliate marketing, nothing can be more frustrating (or result in more lost revenue) than dealing with unnecessary downtime.

We’re proud to say TUNE can report 99.9% system uptime, having built our technical infrastructure to the highest standards in security and redundancy, so your platform will be ready for any situation.

5. All-In-One Functionality

It’s no secret the marketing technology landscape is only getting more complex, with more than 11,000 vendors in 2023. The last thing you want to do is sign up for a point solution and have to integrate with 10 more. That’s why we strongly advise looking for an all-in-one affiliate marketing platform that allows you to manage everything from mobile marketing campaigns to publisher relationships, conversion tracking, payouts, creative assets, lead generation, transactions, automation, and more.

Your Choice, Your Affiliate Marketing Platform

We’re proud of what we’ve created at TUNE, but don’t just take it from us. Read more about what our customers say or see their success stories.

Questions? Reach out to partnermarketing@tune.com to ask our experts, or download The Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing to jump right in.