Nick Veneris, Marketing Manager, Refersion

Modern marketing is an ever-evolving machine: dynamic and complex. It shows no sign of slowing down, which is why it’s essential to keep up with the principles of modern marketing. In an ever-changing industry, these four principles can help you adapt to the changes and use the evolution of modern marketing to your business’s advantage.

1. Nativize Your Social Media Content

You already know that social media is important: It drives business engagement and sales, and it helps you build a following that is truly interested in what your brand has to offer. However, simply understanding that social media is critical and posting regularly is not going to build you the following that you want. According to famed social media marketing expert Guy Vaynerchuk, you have to engage strategically and nativize your content. He draws his central analogy from the world of boxing. You can’t build a successful boxing match on heavy-hitting “right hooks,” such as asking your audience to subscribe or purchase a product, for instance. Instead, you need to jab more frequently than you land the big punches to be successful. A “jab” is a smaller gesture. It’s a helpful article, a kind comment, or nativized social media content.Nativized social media content is content that is optimized for a given platform. Guy Vaynerchuk, for instance, says that Facebook is an optimal platform for storytelling, whereas Twitter leans more heavily on sass and quick-quips, and Tumblr is animated, nerdy, and pop-culture aware. This gives businesses unique opportunities to distribute content with efficiency and intelligence.Each platform also appeals to a slightly different demographic, meaning that posting the same content across every platform isn’t going to work. Adapt to each platform and their trends individually to market successfully. This is a challenge and an opportunity: If you can leverage your social media platforms to optimal effect, you can build an engaged, tuned-in following that supports your business.

2. Use Affiliate Marketing Software

Affiliate marketing software is used to track the recommendation, endorsement, promotion, or referral of product or service by one person or company on behalf of another. This software gives you critical information on affiliate marketing, which accounts for 16% of all eCommerce sales. Affiliate marketing allows you to target your audience with the precision of a surgeon: You can find a Facebook page, an Instagram influencer, and a Tumblr page to market with unheard-of efficiency.For instance, if you’ve employed an influencer on Instagram or Tumblr to promote a product in the most “native” and optimized way possible, then you want to make sure you can track the effectiveness of that investment. This is where affiliate marketing software steps in, providing you with analytics specially designed to help you figure out what’s best for your business and how social media can best be leveraged. It tracks the cost associated with specific customer actions. In a world where knowledge and connectivity are power, affiliate marketing software gives you detailed analytics and control. Here are some of the costs affiliate marketing software can track:

• Cost per visitor (CPV)
  • How much it costs to attract one visitor
• Cost per impression (CPM)
  • How much it costs to get one individual to view your advertisement
• Cost per acquisition (CPA)
  • How much it costs to generate one customer action, whether a click, order, sale, or another engagement
• Cost per click (CPC)
  • How much it costs to generate one click
• Cost per order (CPO)
  • How much it costs to generate one customer order
• Cost per sale (CPS)
  • How much it costs to generate one customer sale

3. Adapt, Adapt, Adapt

Once you have your affiliate marketing software and you’re nativizing your social media content, you have an excellent toolkit that can help you continue to adapt intelligently. For instance, you may find that you have to negotiate better deals with your affiliates or readjust how you acquire affiliates across different social media platforms.The good thing is that affiliate marketing software takes the guesswork out of a lot of these big questions and helps you adapt with a sense of focus and direction. You will see where you need to cut costs, where you should spend more money, and what route can help you acquire the most brand-boosting affiliates for the best price. With affiliate marketing software, you’re not stabbing in the dark; you’re crafting an evolving strategy.

4. Stay Grounded

With the constant allure of social media and analytics and data trends, it can be easy to burn yourself out with constant social media engagement. Sometimes, staying grounded is the best thing you can do for yourself and your business. Not only will it show in the thoughtfulness of your social media engagement or the level-headed nature of your affiliate marketing decisions, but it will also pay dividends in your mental health and your family life.Stepping away from the numbers, the posts, and the likes can help your voice stay relatable and help you do some “real-life research.” Taking time away for reflection will boost your creativity and your processing powers. Stay engaged on a personal level, too. Whether it’s the Facebook post you write or the Instagram influencer you reach out to, strive to engage on social media in a grounded and kind fashion. Your professional and welcoming approach will impress potential customers who see you and your business as someone they can trust. Keep your brand in mind with everything you write and post online to reflect consistency between the owners and the product. Reply to messages and choose an affiliate marketer who will do the same. This isn’t just “be nice” rhetoric: Replying to a comment or a DM with thoughtfulness is another way to “jab.” It shows your audience you care about them, which can help them care about you and your business.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re just starting or are already own a successful eCommerce business, these four tips are grounded in research and can help you succeed in your online marketing endeavors. These principles can help you navigate the ever-changing landscape of modern marketing and be ready for the next steps to grow your eCommerce business.

About the Author: Nick is a digital strategist with over twelve years’ experience in planning and executing marketing plans for B2C/B2B brands. Currently, he’s the Marketing Manager for Refersion, the advanced affiliate marketing platform that helps brands manage, track, and grow their affiliate network.