eComXpo Panel Explores Opportunities for Affiliate Marketers in Social Networking

[PartnerCentricBlogger]

Social networking is changing how consumers interact with companies, and this change opens the door to many opportunities for companies and affiliate marketers. "People now want to do business with their friends. Companies are no longer seen as brands but as friends," said PartnerCentric President Linda Woods, who moderated the panel discussion. "As a merchant, I'm now a friend to my customers on FaceBook. There's a shift toward people interacting with people - not companies." This was the topic of discussion for a panel today called "Social Networking and Affiliate Marketing" at eComXpo, the 100% virtual conference for e-commerce marketers. Panelists included industry experts Stephanie Agresta, President of Stephanie Agresta Consulting, and Jonathan Miller, CEO of ForgeBusiness USA. The panel focused on a discussion on the big social networks - Facebook.com and MySpace.com. "Facebook is open to third party developers, so an entire economy is being built around this," said Agresta, who noted that only yesterday a small app builder sold his application for $3 million. Jonathan Miller discussed how social networking is changing the way consumers interact with merchants. "Through social networking, they get to see me," Miller said. "They get to see my managers. I think Facebook has done more for affiliate marketing than the last four years of conferences. It [social networking] greases the wheels of friendship and communication so much more." Agresta said some big brands are concerned about allowing customers to interact with the brand and post their opinions about products online. "We're trying to remove the fear factor for merchants," Agresta said. "Companies are people. There are implicit conversations happening about your brand." Woods added, "It's happening whether you participate or not, so it's better to participate." Miller said merchants have a lot to gain when they make commerce a two-way street in which consumers might offer feedback openly. "We use the analogy that a scarred lion always looks better," he said. "It's not the negative feedback that defines your business. It's how you respond to that feedback. This is what the consumers see - a more human approach to branding." Consumers are now running the conversation, and that's a big shift, Agresta said, citing that today 50% of Internet users are sharing their own content. Miller agrees that this shift is big with major implications for affiliate marketing. "Everyone is an expert in something," Miller said. "They want to share knowledge and influence their friends. The next step is for them to realize that this has value and can be monetized. You could see a groundswell in the number of affiliates as a result." The panel discussion "Social Networking and Affiliate Marketing" took place from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The audio of the session will be archived and available on the eComXpo presentation archives at www.ecomxpo.com.

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