With the influencer market set to grow to $15 billion by the end of 2022, the last few years have seen great investment from affiliate marketing agencies in their influencer arms, as they have noticed how influencer partnership marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most effective means of achieving brand goals and driving revenue.
Both traditional affiliate programmes and influencer marketing campaigns strive to build brand authority and drive conversions based on your goals, whether that be clicks, downloads, sales, or something else that can be achieved by engaging consumers. The two industries, affiliate and influencer marketing – which arguably both sit under the industry umbrella of partnership marketing – are converging now more than ever. This is because as the influencer space matures, affiliate marketers are realising how it can be viewed and utilised through a performance-based lens.
When worlds collide
Global affiliate marketing agency, Acceleration Partners, has been putting a heavy focus on developing an influencer programme management service. AP believes that investment in the maturing channel is essential for top-of-funnel brand exposure across paid and owned channels, which is discussed in detail in its latest report.
impact.com, is also among the big industry names that are dedicating teams and resources to elevate their influencer marketing offerings. For the second year in a row, impact.com is a partner of the Influencer Marketing Show London, as well as PI LIVE London. The team will be raising conversations about how their multifaceted approach to elevated partnership programmes benefits from the implementation of influencers. San Sareen, impact.com’s Director of Influencers and Creators, will be taking to the IMS stage specifically to hone into how to correctly compensate your influencers to beat the competition.
What about trackable metrics?
SaaS and tech are also becoming increasingly more prominent in the influencer marketing space, with similar tools becoming available to those that have been harnessed and solidified in the affiliate space for many years. Platforms such as LTK and Metapic allow brands and influencer affiliates to earn an income from sharing fashion recommendations, and the likes of Captiv8 and Influencity allow brands and affiliates to identify content partners and seamlessly run end to end campaigns.
The growth of SaaS and tech platforms in the influencer space that provide services similar to their traditional affiliate counterparts such as Afise and Partnerize shows that influencer marketing isn’t just posing with a product on Instagram, but is a channel that can be tracked and measured efficiently.
Ultimately, putting a focus on influencer marketing as a part of your affiliate programme is a great way to expand the type of audiences you can reach, therefore escalating your potential for excellent outcomes. Affiliate marketers, it’s time to invest time and energy into understanding the true value of a creator’s influence.
