The idea is not to defer an affiliate from promoting certain offers, but should be viewed as a wonderful opportunity to begin building a solid relationship with the network, and more specifically, the affiliate managers.

When an affiliate takes that extra step of contacting their account representative, the line of communication is instantly open, which is the first step in building a long lasting, mutually beneficial, relationship between the affiliate and their AM. When an affiliate manager opens a hidden campaign for one of their affiliates, it means they trust them in terms of the quality of traffic they can provide. By letting only the best publishers market an offer, AM’s are ensuring that their traffic is mixed in with other high quality traffic, thus adding to the longevity and profitability of the campaign.

Trust is a huge factor for any Network- Affiliate relationship. If an affiliate does not trust their affiliate manager, what’s the point of working with them? Trust has to be present in order for both parties to succeed. That being said, with trust comes ease and flow of information. Keep in mind, if a pub isn’t working closely with their affiliate manager, then it is very possible that there are killer campaigns the affiliate has never even seen or heard of. On the flip side, it also means there are traffic channels the manager is unaware of.

Sharing marketing methods such as mailing habits, landing pages, traffic sources etc, allows AMs to uncover the best way to assist publishers to reach their full potential. Since an affiliate manager’s success is directly related to their affiliate’s success, why wouldn’t an affiliate manager want their publisher to gross the highest revenue?

Full transparency between affiliates and affiliate managers requires both parties to share insight into the top converting campaigns, statistics, and marketing methods. The reward for a trust-based relationship will directly increase revenue. Other perks include the ability for a super exclusive landing page to be built out for individual publishers, as well as increased payouts. Remember, this relationship is a partnership and having this kind of transparency can really help skyrocket an ordinary affiliate into a Super Affiliate.

When it comes to change and new trends, it is important for all parties to embrace it and work with the new process,while striving to attain goals. While establishing trust between a network and an affiliate may take time, trust is required for the foundation of a successful partnership. Additionally, while trust is crucial for development, it is ultimately necessary for affiliates to be completely transparent with their manager in order to accomplish the highest level of success.

When purchasing media, it is important to ask partners “what are your user’s demographics?” Every media buy should contain a clear and concise definition of the target audience. Let’s face it, reaching your target audience is the most crucial factor in any internet marketing endeavor, and targeting the right users based on their specific interest or behavior is critical in media buying.

We all know that users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, offer up their demographics through their user profile. This allows media buyers to reach audiences based on their specific interests, activities, relationship status, and of course, location. The plethora of user information eliminates the trial and error process of finding that “sweet spot” which is all too common in most media buys. This influx of segmented information enables a more time and cost effective purchase of media.

Historically, Social Networks have been synonymous with branding. Recently, the bigger brand advertisers are straying from social networks in search of niche specific sites. These niche sites are believed to create a more “meaningful” view for big brands. This shift leaves the door wide open for smaller, more localized advertisers to fill the void in Leaderboard’s and Skyscrapers. Local businesses recognize the fact that they need an online presence, and social networks extend the chance for these smaller businesses to get in the game.

Facebook, for example, does a phenomenal job of allowing advertisers the dynamic feature of targeting geographically. Local businesses can explore creative steps in order to reach consumers, while playing an active role in the community of wall postings, groups, and newsfeeds. Of course, results will vary on a case by case basis and ads certainly need to be tested; but this obviously brings local advertising to the national websites.

Not only does advertising on social media give local shops the national appeal, it also maximizes ROI while allowing advertisers full control of budget. The average cost for one network cable spot ranges from $3,000 to $5,000 and the average cost for one premium network cable spot is $10,000. How much exposure could the same amount provide a local advertiser on a Social Site? Facebook’s Social Ads are priced on either a CPC or CPM basis – advertisers are able to choose a daily budget and a maximum CPC or CPM, and there is no set cost for these advertisements.

Social media consumers are often seeking specific information in a low pressure environment. Studies show that contextual advertising can increase a campaign’s ROI in this medium. Facebook’s users are accustomed to this type of informative content which can turn casual browsers into serious buyers. Although these social sites may be the future of local advertising, it is still important for local businesses to spread advertising dollars across the old marketing mix. Using the newspaper, radio, or magazines to point consumers to their site will spike interest. This multi-channel marketing will also enable a more branded appeal while pumping up traffic to stores, and will ultimately lead to increased sales.

No matter if you are looking to purchase media for a local bookstore, bike shop, dating service, or night club, social networks offer the opportunity for local advertisers to roll with the big dogs and score the big sales!