GoAffPro

According to a LinkedIn report released on January 13, Affiliate marketing is the seventh most in-demand hard skill of 2020. In its report, LinkedIn says that “with the decline in traditional advertising and the rise of social media, affiliate marketing is rapidly rising as a must-have hard skill.”

They also mentioned that affiliate marketing uses company partnerships and influencers that are hyper-targeted to a particular audience. Blockchain topped the chart by being the number one in-demand hard skill of 2020. Hard skills such as Blockchain and Affiliate marketing evolve quite rapidly.

The use of influencers in affiliate marketing has grown quite a lot in recent times. Affiliates already used to create content such as blog posts and social media posts, but in recent times with social media gaining more prominence, merchants have started using people with a higher number of followers and audience engagement to reach out to audiences. This has also allowed small and medium scale businesses as well as startups to create successful marketing campaigns without spending a lot of money. Affiliate marketing is a great option since it allows merchants to pay affiliates only when actual sales being made using affiliate referrals. This makes it a very cost-effective and sustainable model of marketing where profit is shared with the affiliate in terms of commission.‌

In another report by Dot Com Infoway, they say that influencer marketing is set to become a $10 billion market in 2020. The report also describes the shift by larger brands from macro-influencers (who have 500k to 1 million followers) to micro and nano-influencers (with followers ranging from 1k to 50k) due to rising costs and declining engagement. This also suggests that brands are looking to target more niche audiences by using smaller influencers who have a more organic reach and higher engagement with their followers.

This allows brands to get a more organic and authentic outreach with better engagement prospects. Platforms such as Instagram and Twitter are the leading platforms that are being used by influencers for reaching out to their followers. With the rise of the short-form video content platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok, brands are looking to focus on these platforms to reach out to people using influencers. The report also says that influencer marketing content gives nearly 11 times the ROI compared to traditional advertising, this means that on average businesses are earning nearly $6 on every $1 they spend on influencer marketing. ‌

Affiliate marketing services such as GoAffPro, etc. are making it easier for merchants to get into the space of affiliate marketing. This does not only provide businesses with a cost-effective way of promotions but also makes it easier for merchants to manage an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing services have also evolved and made special provisions and features that have made it easier to accommodate influencers.