[Independent]

Twitter looks like a great tool to keep in touch with current affiliates. I wonder how effective Affiliate Program Twitter Account is in terms of getting new affiliates.

Dear Fellow Merchants, do you have any thoughts to share on the topic?
Dear Affiliates, have you ever used Twitter to look for new Merchants?

Thank you all in advance!

[Chuck Hamrick]

I recruit on Twitter every day and network there too.

[teezone]

As an affiliate, I might use Twitter to stay on top of merchant activity, but I pretty much only respond to direct requests.

Also, my Twitter experience has been mixed - 90% of my followers are my competitors (ie. other publishers), so I don't tweet everything.. if they want to see what I'm up to, they can visit the site

[Convergence]

Originally Posted by Chuck Hamrick

I recruit on Twitter every day and network there too.

How's that work out for you, Chuck?

As a merchant we've done some tweating, however with minimal results. As an affiliate, don't tend to read too many tweats - just too many to read.

[Chuck Hamrick]

My forum is used to promote my merchants and feeds via RSS to Twitter which then posts to Facebook. When I see someone follow me I follow them and also follow related sites. If they don't post for several months unfollow them as there are limits on how may you can follow.

I plan to split my personal Facebook account with a business account then only have the reposts go to the business site.

[Convergence]

But do you feel that Twitter actually gets you new affiliates?

[Chuck Hamrick]

My join rates are good and so is my name/reputation. I feel that its worth the effort but like so many things we do its impossible to quantify. Speaking of quantifying, that came up with a merchant during strategic planning. If we have to quantify everything then its called "paralysis of analysis". In my experience you do dozen small things rather than 1 or 2 big things. If the bottom line keeps increasing then you are on the right path.

One of my biggest points of frustration is the detached president asking how many affiliates have joined the program. That is meaningless if you are not growing the sales. Activating the one affiliate will do more than getting 10 to join but they don't see it that way.

[writerguy]

As an affiliate, I personally HATE merchants who require me to be on Twitter for either 1) product/merchant updates, or, 2) support from/contact with the merchant.

And I know from other affiliates that I'm not the only one.

Fortunately, few merchants go full-blast into Twitter as a means of posting updates and/or important information for their affiliates.

Gary

[Chuck Hamrick]

As an affiliate, I personally HATE merchants who require me to be on Twitter for either 1) product/merchant updates, or, 2) support from/contact with the merchant.

I hear ya and to me Twitter is just another opportunity for affiliates to get my program(s) information if that convenient for them. Here are all of the ways I send information to affiliates:

Email newsletter through network
Post newsletter to forum
RSS from forum
Email subscription from forum
RSS to Twitter
Twitter to Facebook

There are usually three of us that touch the content but once the newsletter is constructed it takes little time to move to the next step.

[Billy Kay]

Targeting is critical on Twitter

If you have many personas, you need several Twitter accounts

I use mailordershoppe solely for my customers - it just states current sales, promotions, etc. I never tweet anything like "Found a great topless bar" on this account

BillyKayMusic is strictly for my music career, although occasionally, people who know me (in the affiliate world) post there. Just today, there are tweets about who to meet at ASW, and they're mentioning BillyKayMusic. So I DM them and tell them that...

BillyKay is my normal aff Twitter account about affiliate marketing

I've learned that if I I mix up the accounts, I loose followers.

For example if BillyKay retweets all the mailordershoppe's promotional tweets, I loose affiliate followers

If BillyKayMusic tweets something affiliate related, it confuses the hec out of the fans

And there are people who know me and follow all my accounts, if I retweet something on ALL my accounts and they have to see it several times... they IMMEDIATELY let me know

So I've learned that you need several targeted Twitter accounts that each serve a special purpose

Best/Billy

[Independent]

All great points, thank you!

[GreenAffMan]

Originally Posted by Independent

Twitter looks like a great tool to keep in touch with current affiliates. I wonder how effective Affiliate Program Twitter Account is in terms of getting new affiliates.

I just wanted to add that Twitter has been excellent for me in finding prospective affiliates. Just the fact of Tweeting will enable other Twitter accounts to find you and start following you if there is a mutual interest. I may not have the time right on the spot to reach out to every potential affiliate that starts following me, so I will bookmark their website and get in touch with them via email or Twitter at a later time. You can also set up your Twitter account with third party software to Tweet Google news results based on keywords, and in effect, this becomes a passive affiliate lead generator.