Affiliate Marketing vs Social Media Marketing: Which Is The Right Business For Me?
Affiliate marketing and social media marketing are two of the most popular ways to make money online. However, both require you to be a content creator. In addition, you need to tap into current trends and drive engagement. You also need to build trust and a sense of community around your product or offer.
In this article, we delve into the pros, cons, and distinct characteristics of each. We also cover why an alternate option, like a lead generation business , might be a better choice if you enjoy creating content and connecting with small business owners.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is promoting a brand’s products or services for a commission. You don’t need to own inventory or deal with customer service issues. But affiliate marketing is performance-based, so your job is to drive traffic to the offer(s) you’re trying to promote. And you need to persuade a consumer to click your affiliate link. (So you can make money).
Affiliate Marketing: People Want Information On These 3 Topics:
Can You Start Affiliate Marketing For Free?
Yes, you can start affiliate marketing for free. Affiliate marketers promote products or services for businesses. So you don’t own inventory and don’t deal with customer service. However, you need to be a content creator extraordinaire. Your only goal is to drive internet traffic to your affiliate links. (You can do this with a website, landing page, video, or podcast).
But you need to be publishing valuable and informative content. And you need a compelling hook. One that will convince your target audience to click and purchase whatever you’re advertising. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular methods of digital marketing. But because the barriers to entry are low, there’s a ton of competition.
So you need an angle and a way to stand out from the competition. Have a clear content marketing strategy and use tools like SEMRush or Google Trends to get data on search volume and keyword difficulty. Check out sites like Amazon’s best sellers list or ‘TikTok Made Me Buy It’ to determine:
- What’s trending? What affiliate product is selling right now?
- How can you monetize trends?
- What’s your angle?
- Will you focus on evergreen products or hot-sellers?
There’s no brand loyalty as an affiliate marketer. The customers belong to the brand you’re promoting. So you need to constantly be on the hunt for a new audience. And build trust with your ideal consumer base to drive traffic and sales. In addition, you need to drive an abundance of traffic to make decent money because not everyone who views your offer will click on your affiliate link.
“79% of marketers use affiliate marketing to engage their existing customers.” Forrester
You also need to find high-paying affiliate offers that gel with your audience and that you’re willing to support. Check out affiliate marketing program offers on sites like ClickBank to find high-paying offers. And pick a niche that isn’t too broad but has numerous products/services you can promote (like the fitness or baby niche).
Find affiliate offers on reliable network sites like:
**Pro Tip:**Look for affiliate program selections that align with your target audience and have a complementing backend offer to get the best profit margins.
What Skills Do You Need For Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketers need to master core skills and build systems to scale and create a passive income. In addition, you need to be an expert at content creation and traffic generation. You need an affiliate marketing strategy and must be highly skilled at copywriting.
If you know how to create content the right way, you can create compelling copy to generate traffic and views passively. Plus, if your content is optimized for sales, you’ll get views, followers, affiliate sales, and customers. But you need to pick your digital platforms. For example, will you opt for video (YouTube) or written copy (blog)? And your content needs to either:
- Inform
- Educate
- Entertain
Aim to put at least two of these goals in your content. Your goal is to solve a problem. Once you solve a problem, you gain a person’s trust and respect (and they’ll follow your recommendations).
Use third-party tools like VidIQ or Keywords Everywhere to help determine which search terms to target. Find words or phrases people are already looking for. And then help them find a solution to their queries with the content you publish.
Affiliate marketers also need to become masters of lead generation. You need to earn the right to communicate with your audience more than once. (Most people don’t take action the first time they read your blog or watch your video). So you need to build an email list by extending a free offer or recommendation that shares free value.
You also need to understand the science/psychology behind copywriting formulas like:
- Does it make people follow the next step?
- Does it lead a person to a specific action?
Learn and apply these steps to your content, lead generation, or sales point to keep people engaged, and you can become a skilled affiliate marketer.
How Fast Can You Make Money Affiliate Marketing?
You can make money with affiliate marketing in 3-12 months using organic methods like a blog, YouTube channel, or podcast. But you need to build trust with your audience and create reasons why they should view you as an authority.
There are over 600 million blogs on Google. And the top spots belong to established brands that have spent considerable time honing their craft and developing a trusted and devoted following. So you need to be patient and committed to publishing content over an extensive period of time.
Building an organic and profitable affiliate marketing business takes months (sometimes years) of consistent and high-quality content. So choose a niche you’re passionate about. Or a topic of interest with an active online community and reliable affiliate program options. (So you won’t quit before you start making money).
“More than 6 million posts go live every day, on average”. Zippia
However, if you want to achieve results faster, you can invest in paid advertising with things like Facebook ads or Google ads . You can start making money with affiliate marketing by leveraging paid traffic in as little as a few weeks. (You’re targeting niche audiences likelier to want to buy what you’re promoting).
Paid ads also allow you to test, validate and scale faster. But you have to be willing to pay, and ads are expensive. So you need a compelling hook and enticing creatives. Videos or images that will grab the attention of your potential customer. You also need to have a clear call to action and know how to run profitable affiliate campaigns. But you have to pivot fast when things aren’t working.
Choose the best paying offers to generate profits and cover your ad costs-ones that are converting right now. (Check out ClickBank’s top performers). But trending products are quick wins with a short shelf-life. So you’re always looking for the newest hot-seller and need to stay one step ahead of the curve if you want to make solid cash.

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Social Media Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing Pros & Cons