GPWA Times Magazine - Issue30 - October 2014

There are limitations to what you can dis- play/promote across social media, and therefore channels should be used differ- ently in order to enhance promotion ef- fectively. For example, at bet365 we often tell our affiliates that Facebook can be uti- lized successfully as a brand development tool while also providing a direct route to drive visitors to their sites. Twitter on the other hand has the limitation of only 140 characters per post and therefore it is imperative that the message that you are trying to get out is delivered accurately. Social media is all about the ease and con- venience of the users’ journey; they will not want to read multiple posts to find what they are looking for. While a bigger following means a bigger potential customer base, it is important to ensure the base is grown in a viable and organic way. Anybody can buy followers on Twitter or “likes” on Facebook, but do- ing so defeats the purpose of social media for affiliate marketing purposes. The main benefit of having people “like” or “fol- low” you is that the people who chose to do so have self-identified themselves and are effectively providing you with market segmentation. As a result, buying follow- ers dilutes the quality of your audience and reduces the potential value, because nearly all of the followers you've pur- chased won't have any interest in what you are posting. A few tips on how to build a successful following: . Include an accurate description so your audience knows exactly what it is engaging with; honesty and integrity go a long way. . Ensure you are active and be involved with relevant trending topics by retweeting and posting links to quality content. . Understand the use of hashtags (#). When used correctly, not only are you identifying the main topic of your tweet but you’re also ensur- ing that you’re included in search results for that hashtag. . Share your accounts with your other networks. In our experience in working with part- ners, customers are more likely to pur- chase a product after a recommendation or comparison from an unbiased third party, rather than directly from a brand, especially if a two-way dialog between the customer and the partner exists. Social media is perfect for this. When you put this into context for affili- ates, it delivers a very exciting prospect. The majority of people will make a pur- chase decision, or in this case sign up for an account or place a bet, when told to by a reliable source of information that has proven itself at placing the best interests of a customer or potential customer first. Affiliates who build an organic following with regular, enthusiastic engagement and reliable, honest, factual information gain the trust of players. As a result, the relationship between a social media out- let and a customer or potential customer becomes symbiotic. In other words, the views of the customer, voiced on the so- cial media outlet, affect the approach of the affiliate, and vice versa. Through this relationship affiliates will have more knowledge about the preferences of their social media following and will be able to drive targeted traffic to the most relevant inventory on their own sites and provide an appropriate call to action to deliver first-time depositors. When the correct strategy is put into place, whether it is long-term, instinc- tive or a combination of the two, social media provides affiliates with invaluable information on what their customers and potential customers prefer. As a result, affiliates are able to offer their customers the best possible path to their preferred means of gambling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oliver Pemberton is a performance marketing manager at bet365. 1 4 3 2 Anybody can buy followers on Twitter or "likes" on Facebook, but doing so defeats the purpose of social media for affiliate marketing purposes. 12 Leveraging social media to drive traffic to affiliate sites