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Top affiliate marketing trends to look out for in 2022

What is affiliate marketing and what are the trends to look out for?

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a very important tool for any business owner, whether you are an independent business owner or a large corporation, as it can help you to generate more online revenues. The popularity of affiliate marketing is steady on an increase, and with this increase comes the opportunity for business growth and revenue generation. To maximize this opportunity, you would need a well-planned campaign that would involve an affiliate strategy. As such, it is necessary to stay abreast of the latest affiliate marketing trends.

As an affiliate marketer, you are always watching out for trends that will give you an advantage over your competition. However, most Affiliate marketing trends are usually not stable. Some offers are mouthwatering, but at the end of the day, they cease to exist. Investing in trends like this in 2022 would only cause you a series of heartache. It is important to know what is applicable in 2022 and work towards achieving multiple streams of income using the appropriate affiliate marketing trends. Michelle Thomas, a Marketing analyst, and blogger for gambling addiction statistics have put together the top affiliate marketing trends to look out for in 2022. Some of these major affiliate marketing trends are listed below.

1. Influencer Marketing

In 2022, influencer marketing is going to be on a steady rise. Most companies now have a budget dedicated to influencer marketing because it generates a lot of ad traffic and ultimately, sales. What this means is that more people are going to be interested in endorsed products than ever before. When an influencer who is seen as an authority in a particular niche endorses a product, more customers are likely to buy such products since they trust the influencer. This is why nano- and micro-influencers would shine in 2022, as they are more focused in their various niches.

In 2022, several big brands will be partnering with nano- and micro-influencers to bridge the gap between company and product. The power upsurge of influencer marketing would favor nano- and micro-influencers since they have smaller social media followings with higher user engagement. These nano- and micro-influencers primarily make use of TikTok and Instagram Reels to reach a global audience beyond their local location. These influencers make use of these platforms to integrate different products and affiliate product links in an engaging manner, such that when these videos go viral, it reaches a very large amount of audience.

2. Eco-friendly products

This is one of the trendiest niches presently. A lot of people are beginning to pay more attention to eco-friendly products as well as organic products in order to ensure environmental conservation. Growing concerns for the environment have therefore made it very ideal for the promotion of eco-friendly products to take a front-row seat in affiliate marketing trends for 2022. 

Some of these eco-friendly products are candles, tote bags, mugs, t-shirts, and several others. So, if you are looking for a way to help the environment and generate revenue and sales conversion, eco-friendly product affiliate programs are just the right thing for you in 2022.

3. Co-Marketing

Another forecast for rapidly shifting affiliate marketing trends is co-marketing and link building. Co-marketing partnerships between affiliates and advertisers is a sure way to engage a diverse range of audiences in services or products. With co-marketing, there are several opportunities for everybody to make money. All parties involved in co-marketing also earn their commissions while reaching their different audience.

Another trend gaining popularity is link building. What link building does is that it enables each affiliate marketer to achieve the best results when it comes to high-ranking websites. With co-marketing, it is possible for you to place the link to your website (or landing page) on another affiliate webpage. By doing this, there are multiple links to your website on different pages, thereby making it possible for Google to place your website in search results. The more of your links that are on different web pages, the higher your visibility in Google search results. Although this is not particularly new to affiliate marketing, this trend will become even more popular in 2022 as partnerships between different advertisers would serve as a means to boost ad traffic and sales conversion.

4. NFTs and other Cryptocurrencies

Another big trend that would take over the affiliate marketing world is crypto exchanges. Cryptocurrencies and crypto-related offers have played significant roles in different industries such as the finance industry. The visible trend in cryptocurrencies is how it has become vertical and moved independently of the finance industry, as several businesses have begun to use them as alternative methods of payment. In 2022, more people would invest in crypto, consequently increasing the popularity of this currency.

Even though Bitcoin still remains top of the list in any crypto-related exchanges, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are beginning to take up the scene as well. NFTs are very often linked to the crypto markets as they are also based on blockchain technology. This means that more crypto affiliate programs would spring up in 2022, making it possible for a person and crypto advertisers to partner and maximize income. You can easily market and monetize your products to crypto-specific audiences through these crypto affiliate marketing programs with minimal effort.

5. Automation and AI

Another beneficial trend is utilizing technology to improve business and maximize profit. Technological progress and advancements have increased business productivity over the years and affiliate marketing is not an exception to this. In 2022, there would be more AI-powered automation tools to help with affiliate marketing in several areas. With intent targeting, campaign automation, audience matching, campaign capping, automatic filtering, and rule-based optimization, there are just more than enough endless ways to make the most out of affiliate marketing by harnessing technology to save time and money!

6. Cookieless Marketing

The presence of browser cookie preference windows on websites would gradually phase out in 2022. Cookieless advertising is a great way to improve user experience by removing the barrier between website owners and possible sales conversion. More brands will want to find alternatives to these window pop-ups and that is where you come in. Affiliate marketers can help to solve this increasing need for customer privacy by removing third-party cookies from the internet, thereby capitalizing on this new advertising model.

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7. Online video games

Until recently, affiliate marketers have not tapped into the opportunities available to them with the increase in online game addiction. There is more to playing video games online, you can make money in a fun or relaxed way. In the United States alone, the revenue from online gaming is expected to reach a record high of 5.3 billion dollars in 2022. Advertising games or recommending games to your peers will be a good way affiliates can earn from the boom in the game world. All it takes is choosing a reputable website to get games from and advertising them. You can preview games before selecting the right one.

Conclusion

As affiliates, it is good to keep an eye on trends within the industry so as to know which niches are trending and which ones to steer clear of in 2022. Pay attention to influencer marketing, co-marketing, cookieless marketing, crypto boom, and automation in order to stay ahead of tour competition. 

  • Influencer marketing would serve as a cost-effective way for businesses and affiliates to create a wide-reaching impact and increase brand awareness.
  • Eco-friendly products take up affiliate markets with growing concerns for the environment.
  • Co-marketing makes it possible for affiliates and advertisers to work together efficiently and earn result-based commissions maximally.
  • NFTs and other cryptocurrencies present a new way to reach a larger audience in the crypto marketplace as more businesses would use it as an alternative payment method.
  • Automation and AI help you to save time and money when you automate and update your affiliate marketing strategy.
  • Cookieless marketing would positively affect affiliate marketing with policies that would benefit your work.

Now that you have gone through this post, you have hopefully found trends to incorporate into your affiliate marketing campaigns that would benefit your business. Go on and make the most of it!

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