Companies worldwide utilise their business social platforms to generate leads and conversions. With 30% of all time online spent on social media interaction, it is not surprising that business are cashing in on what can be a free form of marketing.
Whilst most companies have in-house social media experts or adopt the skills of an outside agency to handle their social presence, everything else is free if you do not opt for additional advertising or promotions.
So, with online businesses such as British fashion giant ASOS championing their social presence as part of the reason for their 33% increase in sales in 2017, why aren’t more businesses turning to social media to make money?
Affiliate Programmes for Corporate Companies
This form of marketing is synonymous with the blogging industry. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow users to place links in captions. When a user clicks a link and makes a purchase, the social media poster gets a cut of the final sale.
Amazon is a company which runs an incredibly successful affiliate programme which benefits themselves and the individual partner. Amazon Associates is free to join and anybody can promote Amazon products on their social media platforms and earn up to 10% on every purchase completed through their link, even if it isn’t for the specific product.
For Amazon, it’s essentially advertising at a miniscule cost. And, for the affiliates, it’s an extra stream of cash coming in every month dependent on their success. Any company that offers even a single product can bring in further clients and customers and boost revenue through affiliates.
Instagram Sponsorship Deals
With 800 million monthly users logging into the mobile photo sharing network in 2017, Instagram’s dominance in social media revenue world is palpable. Accounts with 1,000 or more followers are considered eligible for sponsorship deals, with lesser-known brands and companies tending to liaise with smaller accounts and vice versa.
Depending on a company’s marketing spend, sponsorship can range from free products, brand vouchers, or cash. Any companies new to the Instagram sponsorship game should bear in mind that some influencers can charge upwards of £10,000 to feature a product or service in a single Instagram post.
Whilst most companies which utilise Instagram sponsorship deals and social media influencers tend to fall into the fashion, food and beauty niches, other companies have started getting involved too. Airbnb, RED Driving School and Spotify have all harnessed the power of Instagram sponsorships to promote services via dominant influencers and boost sales.
General Advertising on Social Platforms
Sometimes on YouTube you will see videos that contain ‘included paid product placement’ on screen, or Instagram posts with #ad at the end of the caption. These are often one-off collaborations between companies and entrepreneurs, usually to advertise a new product or service.
Again, like sponsorship deals, companies simply pay a social media influencer to promote their product to encourage more sales. Often, companies will provide guidelines for what the influencer must promote about the product.
For example, UK based fitness apparel giant Gymshark originally started in a bedroom in Worcestershire and, using the power of social media and brand ambassadors, is now backed by 3.2 million Instagram followers and saw financial growth of £1.5 million in just two years. Using a range of social platforms (primarily YouTube and Instagram) and employing social media influencers who already had large social media followings was the perfect recipe for social success which resulted in sales.
Can Your Company Make Money on Social Media?
- Twitter has over 135 million users
- Instagram has over 800 million users
- YouTube receives over 1 billion users each month
- Facebook has over 2.2 billion monthly users
- LinkedIn has 546 million users in 200 countries
With figures like the above it is questionable as to why some companies are not harnessing social media. Whilst some platforms are suitable for different types of companies, getting in front of user’s eyes is the only way to bring a fresh audience to your business.
Whether your company runs an affiliate scheme or utilises the follower counts of social media influencers it is guaranteed that traffic will be driven to your business. With GoPro using YouTubers to market their cameras and, in turn, selling to other film making fanatics, social media platforms can be powerful profit making machines if put to work correctly.