Social Media Education Series [3 of 4]: Strategic Partners, Affiliates, Street Teams & Super Fans

This is part 3 of 4 in our FREE Social Media education series (based on our Peaceful University course “The Social Classroom.”) Click here to visit part 1 – Magnetized Shareable Content

Putting the Social In Social Media

In fact, some of our clients report that 40-60% of their revenue is  associated to just one of our subjects in this post — affiliates.

Every experienced business owner knows that her personal relationships & network are major levers for success.

Online businesses are no exception to this rule. The depth & breadth of the network of people who vouch for you, refer people to you, and rave about you are HUGE revenue boosters.

In fact, some of our clients report that 40-60% of their revenue is directly associated to just one of our subjects today — affiliates.

So while it’s important to study up on digital marketing tactics like Hashtags, Keywords, & Search Engine Optimization (part 2 of our series), let’s not forget the power of good old fashioned relationship-building tactics like handshakes, kindness, and optimizing service to one another.

Video Transcript

Hello everyone – Did you know there are only 4 ways to expand your REACH online?

Well, now you do! And if you are following this series, next up is Strategic Partners, Affiliates, Street Teams, and Super Fans.

You can review what we discussed in the first post which was all about creating Magnetized Shareable Content and the 2nd post which was a deep dive into Hashtags, Keywords and SEO.

Here’s a little reminder of the the four ways to expand Reach online.

So, let’s dive into Strategic Partners, Affiliates, Street Teams, and Super Fans.

“People Power!” (read that out loud with your superpower voice!)

I’ve found that many solo-entrepreneurs try to do everything themselves. Guess what? Working alone doesn’t work anymore, even if you are just starting out.

You need to expand your reach using the most powerful way possible – by locating partners, developing loyal affiliates, and inspiring your fans (both on and offline).

Strategic Partners

Strategic Partners are partners in the truest sense of the word – they help you and you help them in equal value.

Sometimes this is called a joint venture or JV project. Also any Influencer program fall into this category.

There is usually a coordinated calendar – so everyone is posting at the same time and not overlapping over promotions. And there are also requirements that must be met to continue with a strategic partner on future promotions.

Affiliates

Affiliates are more like this: You help me and I’ll pay you. You can also include Brand Ambassadors in this category, even though you might be paying them a straight-up fee, a commision for sales, or both..

You need to make sure your product price point is high enough to support commissions. I like to think of commissions as “marketing costs,” as it’s a super way to expand your reach online.

In The Social Classroom we go into great detail about affiliate programs and figuring out if you are ready to start one. But, you might need to build up your street team or super fan program first.

Street Teams

You need to return the love they give you in the form of Public and Private acknowledgment and appreciation.

The phrase “street team” comes from the time where people would go out and physically put up posters for events. They still exist — it’s not that they’ve disappeared – it’s just that more promotion is done online these days. When you see a poster tacked up to a pole or on a bulletin board — this might have been done by a street team member volunteer, or someone was paid to put them up.

Super Fans

Think about the people who always Like your Facebook posts. Think about the people who always RT your tweets. Start making a list of these wonderful people. You need to return the love they give you in the form of Public and Private acknowledgment and appreciation.

• Thank you for always helping me
• Always retweets
• Always shares
• Just loves everything you produce

Decide if you need to develop an Offline Street Team, or an Online one – a team made of your Super Fans. Maybe you need both?

To Round It All Up

Remember to honor the people who increase the reach of your business with either love or money – or both. The People Power part of expanding reach online is an underutilized feature. Learn more and start incorporating more fans into your process.

As a review – we’ve covered the first three ways to expand your reach online — magnetized shareable content, hashtags, keywords and SEO, and now strategic partners, affiliates, street teams and super fans.

We cover each of these pillars of social media — and more! — in our online social media course called The Social Classroom:

Next up in this series is the 4th way to expand REACH online – Social Advertising.

Some Super Stats and Resources

• Influencer marketing content delivers 11X higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing. (TapInfluence study with Nielsen Catalina Solutions, 2016)