Our Australian team put together a fantastic event connecting a dynamic mix of industry experts for an afternoon filled with inspiring discussions, valuable understandings, and fantastic webbing opportunities.
Diving into commerce content: expert perspectives
The event featured an engaging panel discussion on “Winning with Commerce Content in 2024” led by Jade McDade, Skimlinks APAC Director.
Skimlinks Connect Panel (L-R: Jade McDade, Skimlinks APAC Director; Nicole Harnischfeger, PR & Partnerships Manager at Go-To Skincare; Eliza Sorman Nilsson, Head of Content at Mamamia; and Mel Wilson, podcaster, editor, and author of Parenting in Progress).
The panel included three industry experts:
The panel shared their expertise, exploring the latest trends and strategies in affiliate content monetization across various channels, including podcasts and social media.
Crafting information-driven content to boost revenue
Eliza highlighted the importance of information-driven content strategies, noting that commerce content articles involve more than just publishing.
She recalled an encounter where a highly-viewed article didn’t meet their expectations. “From an associate in nursing column view, it’s through its work and has served its audience,” she explains. “But from an affiliate perspective, it hasn’t really done its job.”
Realizing the need for deeper understandings, she looked into Skimlinks’ information to understand audience intent – looking at what’s trending and revenue-generating across the web. With this knowledge, her squad crafted an improved focus along their findings. Despite fewer page views, it outperformed the previous one in revenue.
This anecdote served as a powerful reminder of the nuanced relationship between content, audience behavior, and revenue generation. “You’re looking at disparate information because it’s disparate types of hearing and disparate hearing intent.”
PR and affiliate selling synergy
Nicole highlighted the nexus between PR and affiliate selling, emphasizing the importance of having a brand’s affiliate plan in place.
“PR is all about building relationships and maintaining coherent communication,” Nicole mentioned. “Being able to communicate to editorial teams that ‘You can tap into us via Skimlinks,’ and adding this sentence into an email allows us to be prioritized as a brand, which is extremely important.”
“One of the priorities for us from a PR point of view was getting a new serum to as many beauty editors as possible to trial it,” she explained, noting that this approach ensures genuine first-person reviews that resonate with audiences and add credibility to their marketing efforts.
Also, when publishers include authentic reviews in evergreen content, brands gain continuous exposure and establish a positive reputation over time. By positioning content that’s relevant and important across platforms, brands get to run their marketing efforts and consistently engage with their target audience. As a result, this approach leads to sustained visibility, fosters increased consumer trust, and ultimately improves effectiveness metrics for affiliates.
Engaging employees as influencers
Nicole also highlighted the effectiveness of using employees as influencers, emphasizing how integrating the faces behind the brand into social media content makes the brand feel more human and relatable. “I think our audience really cares about our public and our customers; they feel real passion for it. It makes us feel quite human, like people, not just a brand.”
Mel added that this plan can build trust and authenticity with the audience, leveraging the existing trust employees have with their followers to make a more authentic connection with potential customers.
Eliza mentioned that Mamamia values employee-produced content and has a content and marketing agency arm of the business, Squad, for off-platform influence and agency work. She noted that they employ Mamamia’s podcast ‘Nothing to Wear’ as a means to engage with their audience through personality-driven content.
Combining employees as influencers with the force of podcasting, she says, “We love that once we set our look to entity, the potential to steal it is there. We like building up our talent as part of our success.”
Podcasting: an untapped revenue channel
Mel, who transitioned from being an editor to a successful podcaster, shared insights on growing and monetizing a podcast, emphasizing the importance of tapping into existing networks and cross-promotional strategies.
“The key idea was making sure that the amplification plan was across every single platform that we have access to,” she said. This included composing aggregate articles connected to podcast episodes, promoting them across social media, and featuring guests who would also share the content on their own channels. “It just has to be great content. And one mean that’s something Mamamia has done well in the world of podcasting.”
Skimlinks’ Commonwealth of Australia team (L-R: Arthur Malkoun, former Merchandising Coach; Can McDonald, former Publishing Coach; and Jade McDade, Skimlinks APAC Manager).
Exploring territorial operation trends and what lies ahead
In addition to the panel discussion, Jade provided a sound take on regional operation trends and metrics across the APAC region. She highlighted the nuances and opportunities within the market, notably focusing on the recent Google search changes and their impact and uplift on publishers hosting coupons.
Attendees were treated to an exclusive preview of upcoming developments tailored for publishers in the region. Can McDonald, Skimlinks’ Senior Publisher Development Manager for ANZ, gave a glimpse of the company’s future offerings and features aimed at empowering publishers in optimizing their affiliate revenue strategies.
A big thank you to all who attended and contributed to making this event a resounding success. Here’s to continuing growth and success in the affiliate selling space!
Stay tuned for further updates and upcoming events from Skimlinks as we continue to push the boundaries and set new benchmarks in the industry.
