INSIGHT
keeping them on board, and rewarding them for their efforts.
In the gambling sector, the last click model is essential, especially on rev-share programmes. This means that a lot of their influence can go completely unrecognised and unrewarded. For example, if you have a sports journalist who believes a certain outcome is a good tip – a horse for example, the recommendation may come from their Twitter account to back this horse with the best odds from a certain bookie, the audience may then know they can get a voucher code or cashback or go to an odds portal to check against competitors – any one of these routes does not give credit to the influencer who initiated this wager.
One way we can work with influencers on the affiliate channel is by offering appealing or exclusive content, competitions, offers, etc. This may create an environment where influencers can be rewarded fairly within the affiliate channel, as their audience has more reason to complete their journey rather than complete it via another channel or different affiliate. It’ s also necessary for more flexible commission structures, with payments for influence becoming an integrated part of a programme’ s framework. The value of influence cannot be underestimated, as this side of the channel is rapidly growing and forming a channel of its own. Data insights will be key when it comes to understanding the value of influencers on your programme, with the quality of traffic and consumers being an important metric.
The pirate model( Aarrr) is a brilliant way to review the effectiveness of an influencer campaign and here are some points to consider.
Acquisition: the initial content visible to audiences, be it through social media, a blog, landing page, external widget, etc. Here is where we need to focus on views, likes, clicks, shares and any form of engagement.
Activation: the second stage of reviewing your influencer campaign is tracking signups and depositing customers from the influencer’ s audience.
Retention: while this mostly remains out of the hands of influencers, it is still possible to integrate retention methods into your campaign, through time or event specific offers / communication sent strategically from both sides.
Referral: this is particularly interesting for services that already offer a refer-afriend scheme to reward players. If you are working on a campaign with an influencer whose audience is very engaged and passionate, they are likely to be: a) good converters; and b) more likely to refer your product to others.
Revenue: ROI is always top of any affiliate marketing strategy, and while compromise and flexibility may be required with influencers, ultimately they still need to generate revenue to maintain value, particularly if they are able to provide loyal consumers. A rev-share model is an ideal way to work with some influencers as they have more to gain on a performance basis.
The new rules While looking at different ways to reward influencers, it’ s also important to understand the guidelines in place for brands and agencies working with influencers.
Recently the Committee of Advertising Practice( CAP) issued revised guidelines for brands and agencies working with influencers— at the core of these revised guidelines is the transparency of affiliate marketing to consumers. The need for transparency on social media, vlogs, blogs, news sites and voucher sites was particularly highlighted, after a recent survey highlighted concerns that over three-quarters of consumers are unaware of what # sp means and just under half did not know the meaning of # ad. With image-based Instagram becoming one of the main drivers in influencer marketing, CAP has advised that‘# ad’ should be included on the image itself or written before any other text so consumers know the post is for advertising.
One of the most important things to influencers, their audience and brands is the authenticity behind the advertising – influencers are generally passionate about the things they promote and enjoy sharing things with their engaged audience. However, following these guidelines means that some of that authenticity may be lost as consumers are more likely to lose trust in a product if they see it as advertising and not a genuine recommendation.
The true impact of these new guidelines will become clearer once more brands have implemented this strategy when working with influencers on campaigns and reviewed results. One thing is for certain, influencer marketing is growing at an exceptional rate, with increased budgets and more attention from agencies and brands.
The recent news about PerformanceIN launching an influencer marketing show connected to PI Live this October shows how much the industry has recognised the importance of these relationships. Even Google jumped on board by purchasing an influencer platform late last year. If not already in place, now is the time to devise a strategy to work with and reward existing influencers on your programme and recruit new influencers to work with.
MARIE CLEMENTS began her career in affiliate marketing at Awin, working across a range of clients, before a move into the betting industry at Marathonbet, where she headed up PR and advertising. She joined Digital Fuel at the start of 2017 as an affiliate account manager.
50 iGB Affiliate Issue 62 APR / MAY 2017