The key to referral marketing is making the right kind of meaningful introduction to a product or service from the right person. With social media, timing is very important as well as how you present it online. Influencers and friends have a higher level of trust for making recommendations. Just summarizing features of a product that you think a friend will like, may sometimes work, but talking up benefits or even real-life story experiences will do much better. You need to generate an emotional response to your post to really connect with people and encourage them to click through to the product via your Instagram biography or Facebook link.
1. Post to Facebook Asking to Tag Friends
A great way to generate more of a viral impact for your referral marketing is a post of a great product or service on Facebook. Tell a story about your experience with a product or service and even one funny anecdote that happened while using it. Don’t try to “sell” anyway, since your friends may be instantly turned off… just be honest and brief about how this product/service helped you.
And be sure to use at least one or more images to show off a unique or key benefit of a product. Videos done well have much higher engagement than still images. Note though that Facebook even now lets you turn your images into a video (I recommend 2 or 3 second delay, and then a fade effect between them) – I’ve seen these be very effective, and having a much faster setup than time-consuming video editing.
But don’t stop there, you should also ask your friends to “Like” your post and tag a friend in the comments. This is simply done by typing your friend’s name int he comments. Once you find a post that seems to be getting more than average clicks and likes, try “Boosting” it as a paid Facebook ad, say for $5 per day for a week, and see what effect that has on referrals.
PRO TIP! The best time to post on Facebook is between noon and 3 pm during the week (though Tuesday is the least effective day for some reason). And on the weekends from noon to 1 pm. Big purchases are often left for the weekend to discuss with partners or family first.
2. Make Good Use of Hashtags
This simple trick can pay huge dividends. Choose a number of relevant and high volume hashtags which are relevant to the item you are promoting. Research some hashtags first, however, by visiting them at https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/X where X is the hashtag you are after. Also be aware that there is a 80 character limit on Facebook hashtags, and so it’s a good idea also to use capital letters if you are going for #ReallyGoodHashtags.
3. Put A Link In Your Instagram Bio
While Facebook advertising spend has flattened out, Instagram growth is experiencing huge growth and is now the new place to be as an advertiser, influencer or referral marketer. It’s visual and easy to snap a photo and share anything and appeals to a younger audience than Facebook. Unlike Facebook posts, however, your Instagram bio is the only place you can add a link, unless you’ve got an Instagram for business account. Hashtags are also key on Instagram, but they allow you to preview their search volume as you type, vs Facebook which does not do this.
4. Promote Using Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories is a feature that lets users post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours. The feature feels much like Snapchat Stories. It’s great for timely promotions, and also to grab attention with unique short videos. Also, with IG Stories, those who don’t follow you can see your posts too! Your stories last for 24hrs, however it’s not only those who follow you who will see them, since they can be discovered in the same way you might see accounts you’re not used to in your stories feed. Note that IG Stories also allow hashtags, so be sure to add those when you post there too.
And for really keen referral marketing, another Instagram option is also paid Story Ads let you simply swipe up to see an ad. They can let you feature a single vertical photo or a vertical video that’s up to 15 seconds long as their ad, and they can target the ads using Facebook’s standard ad-targeting options, like people’s age, gender, location, interests and purchase history.
5. Tag People in Instagram Stories
Tagging other users in your Instagram Stories makes them feel valued, strengthens your relationships, and may even starts new ones! Also know that once you’ve created, tagged and posted you Instagram Stories, you can download individual posts, or even the whole stories if you want to use them again for another piece of content (for example, another social media platform like Facebook).
If you haven’t already, do sign up now for a Gravy account to get your referral affiliate program off the ground. Happy selling!