LinkedIn is an internet service platform that focuses on business and employment. The platform is mainly used for professional networking and career advancement, allowing companies and job seekers to post positions.
LinkedIn isn’t the hottest social network, but it’s definitely the most suitable for professionals. You’ll find more professional offers on LinkedIn than on any other social network. This article will guide you through affiliate marketing on LinkedIn.
In general, Twitter has been growing over the past few years.
At the same time, TikTok sprang out of nowhere.
LinkedIn, on the other hand, has essentially become stagnant.
You may be wondering, why would you go for LinkedIn when there are more exposed platforms?
Why Affiliate Marketing on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn describes itself as “the largest professional network in the world.”
Although it’s tough to put a number on that assertion, it’s undeniably large, with around 740 million members across more than 200 countries.
It is considerably larger than Snapchat and Twitter in terms of users and not far behind Instagram or TikTok.
However, it’s not just about the number of users; it’s also about who they are and what they represent. LinkedIn is the one platform where business professionals hang out.
63 million decision-makers reportedly use the platform.
This is confirmed by the fact that LinkedIn generates 80% of all B2B marketing leads created through social media.
On the other hand, just 27% of households earning under $30,000 a year use LinkedIn. However, that percentage rises to 60% for households with yearly incomes over $100,000.
Therefore, LinkedIn might be the place for you if you aim to reach wealthy people with significant purchasing power.
What is LinkedIn Affiliate Marketing?
So if you want to succeed with affiliate marketing on LinkedIn, you first need to establish connections and then leverage those connections to promote your goods and services.
Then, dependent on the conditions of your selected affiliate program, you could make a flat or a percentage-based commission on those referrals.
So how do you get started?
To start your affiliate marketing on LinkedIn, you need to be on LinkedIn. You need to have a registered LinkedIn account.
And not just to be on LinkedIn; you have to be positioned as an expert. You have to prove to people that they can trust you to deliver the best of what you offer.
Then it would be best if you defined your profit. For instance, if you want to earn thousands, you have to look for customers who can get you that amount.
Affiliate marketers have many options for integrating links on LinkedIn:
- You could, for instance, use the platform to publish a blog post
- Use a personal profile to share organic posts to your network
- You may also create a company page and use it to post branded content
- Alternately, use members-only forums to communicate with your target audience
- Additionally, if you’re willing to spend money on a Sales Navigator license, you may use direct messaging to communicate with connections and even non-connections.
With this multitude of strategies, affiliate marketing on LinkedIn could be your good mine.
But remember, to make it work, You must first build an audience.
How to Build an Audience on LinkedIn
As mentioned above, LinkedIn offers two different types of profiles:
- Personal pages
- Company pages
Those two profile formats don’t compete equally in terms of gaining followers.
Personal accounts are considerably more likely to receive interactions than company sites.
According to a Forrester study conducted back when Google+ was still active, engagement on LinkedIn company pages is only 0.054% on average.
A post will typically result in 10.8 interactions if your company page has 20,000 followers.
In comparison, a personal account on Linkedin should have an engagement rate of no less than 2%.
Additionally, company pages only offer a limited set of features:
To effectively use LinkedIn for affiliate marketing, you should consider using a personal profile.
Successful Posting Techniques
Regular posting is necessary to gain a following because it gives users a reason to interact with you.
However, as an affiliate marketer, how frequently should you post? And when exactly should you do it?
Once you post more than five times per week or every working day, your clickthrough rate dramatically decreases.
To be more precise, pages with at least 100 followers see an average of 2 clicks on each of their first two posts each week.
That falls to approximately 0.5 clicks by the 10th post of the week.
That’s probably because LinkedIn doesn’t want you to continually bombard your network with activity; it prefers quality over quantity, and so should you.
Regarding timing, the best days to post are Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Any weekday can work well if you’re posting more than two times per week, but avoid weekends at all costs.
Put Value in Your Posts
There’s an entire Twitter account devoted to terrible LinkedIn posts. It has 204,000 followers at the time of writing this.
Ensure you’re genuinely giving value through insightful, helpful content if you want to avoid making the same mistakes as those careless posters.
Do not immediately start a sales pitch. The average LinkedIn user is far too intelligent for that.
Instead, concentrate on what matters to the audience you’re attempting to influence – content that supports them in overcoming their problems or achieving their objectives.
Use Attractive Formats
While a short blog post or text-only update can be effective, don’t be hesitant to experiment with more eye-catching content types.
Rich media elements, such as images and videos, can make your affiliate marketing content stand out in a crowded LinkedIn stream.
As a matter of fact, LinkedIn users are 20 times more likely to share videos than any other kind of content.
This increases the number of people who see your material and, ideally, the number of times they click on your affiliate links.
Participate in the Conversation
Despite being frequently referred to as a platform for business networking, LinkedIn is still a social network.
And the key to gaining a following lies in one word, “social.”
Sadly, there are no shortcuts to this.
Being an active community member is the only way to “appear like” you belong there.
This entails joining the same groups as the individuals you’re attempting to reach, participating in discussions, and answering comments on the content and articles you publish.
This is not your affiliate marketing strategy if you want low-touch, high-yield campaigns.
On the other hand, affiliate marketing on LinkedIn becomes a lot easier after you’ve established a reputation as a respected community member who knows what they’re talking about.
People will be eager to check out any goods or services you suggest by that time.
Although it takes time, the results are worthwhile.
How To Use LinkedIn For Affiliate Marketing
So you’ve gained followers on LinkedIn by sharing relevant material and interacting with market-relevant individuals.
Good job!
Start making money off of that audience right away. This is how you do it.
Use In-Platform Affiliate Links Only Occasionally
You are free to include affiliate links in your blogs, comments, posts, and direct messages on LinkedIn.
But exercising caution is beneficial.
But why?
First off, the majority of affiliate programs require you to display a disclaimer alongside your links.
Additionally, links in postings are automatically shortened by LinkedIn:
Since people can’t see where you’re referring them, they might not appreciate your including affiliate links in this way.
It’s unintentional, yes, but you don’t want to appear to be intentionally misleading someone.
And lastly, avoid bombarding LinkedIn with affiliate links, as you would with any social media platform.
Your followers will start to lose interest rather quickly.
If you continue, your account can be restricted or blocked.
Use an Inbound Marketing Strategy
How, then, can you profit from your preferred affiliate program if you aren’t allowed to publish links on LinkedIn excessively?
It’s easy: approach it as an inbound marketing activity.
This means you should produce excellent content for your website, insert n affiliate links where appropriate, and then share it among your network.
Direct people to a blog article or create a landing page with an email subscription form to collect email addresses.
By doing so, you can also begin constructing a mailing list, giving you another opportunity to use your affiliate links.
Use Sponsored Content Wisely
On LinkedIn, sponsored content has two disadvantages.
It’s a two-edged sword using sponsored material on LinkedIn.
It may help you reach a more significant number of customers.
However, LinkedIn advertising is much more expensive compared to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
It is, therefore, only appropriate for affiliate schemes with high purchase thresholds.
Even then, it will significantly reduce your profit margins.
As a result, most affiliates ought to concentrate on organic engagement, which is LinkedIn’s core strength.
Why? since it is much higher than on other platforms.
The average organic engagement rate on Facebook is a pitiful 0.18%.
On LinkedIn, however, a decent rate of organic engagement is around the 2% mark, which is 11 times higher.
Related Post: High-paying B2B affiliate marketing programs
Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing on LinkedIn
By now, you already know how the platform can support your affiliate marketing plan.
But is the effort worthwhile?
Let’s weigh the pros and cons.
Pros:
- In contrast to Facebook and other B2C social networks, it is still underutilized mainly by affiliates.
- It has a wealthy audience.
- It has a lot of decision-makers, making it ideal for promoting B2B services.
- It provides many opportunities for including affiliate links
- There are opportunities to share your links because users on the network are willing to “discuss business.”
- Excellent organic reach, even outperforming Facebook.
Cons:
- Due to the higher cost of LinkedIn advertising compared to other platforms, it is only appropriate for high-ticket affiliate programs.
- Its members are intelligent professionals who do not require an immediate sales pitch.
- Being primarily a B2B platform, it might not work for some products
- Your content may not be seen because of the platform’s low daily traffic compared to others.
By now, you must be asking yourself:
Is it a Good Idea to Start Affiliate Marketing on LinkedIn?
So can affiliates use LinkedIn?
Your target audience and product will determine that.
It is possible to promote B2C products.
But if you’re promoting a course or another B2B service, you’ll probably notice higher results.
And remember that almost everyone who uses LinkedIn does it only for business purposes.
People might decide to browse through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter during their lunch break or in the evening.
They probably wouldn’t use LinkedIn in the same way.
The result is that users visit the site less frequently than they do other social media platforms:
Facebook: 18:28 minutes each day
Twitter: 12:50 minutes each day
LinkedIn: 10:51 minutes each day
If you combine all these factors, affiliate marketing on LinkedIn might not be an easy task, but the profit is definitely worth it.
