What if I told you everyone could earn commissions for the sales they influence through their social posts? By Melissa D. Salas

EVERYONE HAS INFLUENCER
We all love products and services that we use on a daily basis. Or ones that have knocked us out on the first try. We may have bragged recently about such an experience by posting on social media for everyone to see. What if I told you everyone could earn commissions for the sales they influence through their social posts? You may say, 'But I'm not an influencer?' Yes, you are. That's brand advocate marketing.

ROAD TO AUTHENTICITY
A brand's best influencer is an existing customer who organically and authentically loves your brand. It's getting back to grassroots, word-of-mouth advertising that still remains the richest path to authenticity, new customers, and a positive ROI for brands. Current customers have true influence in getting you new customers.

Everyone wants to be popular online. But, sadly, brands struggle with influencer partners having fake followers (the black-hat follower factory). However, with brand advocate marketing, you are targeting an authentic look-a-like audience that is every marketer's dream. Smaller audiences, yes, but highly engaged and that can be influenced based on a peer recommendation. You can protect your brand from false claims when it's your actual customer giving their testimony and product review.

POWER OF THE PEER
More and more people are sharing every aspect of their lives on social media: Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Significantly, some 70% of millennials prefer peer recommendations over celebrity endorsements, because they are authentic, according to Forrester. The conversions are there not only because it's 100% authentic, but because the conversations last beyond that single post. They're also showcasing the excitement of their experience with your brand at the gym, work, girls' night, or weekend barbeques.

OWN YOUR CUSTOMER, OWN THE CONTENT
Amazon, the largest internet retailer in the world and the most data-centric, had two launches last year: their influencer program and an 'UPLOAD YOUR VIDEO' button on every product page. Why is this a problem for merchants? Because they are not only owning the customer, they are owning the content and paying people to drive traffic about your product to their website. But there is a way to own your customer and own the content with Indi.com.

CUSTOMERS VALIDATE A BRAND ON SOCIAL
Are you a new-to-market brand or a health and wellness brand? Even more so, you need your customers to become your virtual sales force and drive new customers by validating your brand on social media. When it comes to deciding if a product or service is worth trying, a friend, family member or colleague is going to believe someone they trust over an influencer/celebrity endorsement. You can scale to the masses and grow your program with the user-generated content created, because you can recruit thousands of your customers as brand advocates on social media on a performance basis.

A solution does exist for turning your customers into loyal, content creating, social influencing affiliates. It's called Indi.com. [FF]
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Melissa D. Salas is the Global Brand Development & Marketing Director'for Indi.com, a pioneer in the Influencer,'Video & Affiliate'Marketing industry. Indi's video technology platform empowers Artists, Celebrities, Influencers, Brands, Retailers and Charities to drive deep social marketing engagement & content commerce with consumers, creating micro-influencers. With over 16 years marketing experience, Melissa specializes in Digital Strategies, Public Relations, Affiliate Marketing, Mobile and Social Media Marketing.' Melissa has been nominated for numerous awards including 'Publishers Choice' in 2015 and 2016 as well 'Lifetime Achievement' in 2015. She is also a professional public speaker and Master of Ceremonies. Melissa was previously the Senior Director of Marketing for Swiss Watch International brands such as WorldofWatches.com and Smartbargains.com, the on-air personality and co-host for the Buy.com G4TV show BuyTV as well as Buy.com's Director of Marketing & Public Relations.''FeedFront | August 2019 | No. 47
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