Affiliate marketing is a role that is fast being redefined in the digital marketing space. Conventionally, affiliate marketers have been vital in attracting and retaining customers for businesses across several industries, including the casino sector.
However, we can see those roles swiftly changing with the constant transformation of technology. Affiliates have morphed into influencers that bridge the gap between customers and businesses. This way, there’s a preliminary establishment of trust between both parties, which benefits both the firm and the customer.
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Influencer marketing is fast becoming a crucial part of digital marketing. That’s why businesses need to understand exactly how it works. This marketing style is one of the hottest topics in the marketing industry, allowing companies to multiply revenue.
The casino industry is not new to influencer marketing, and it can be argued that influencer marketing has had a prominent impact on iGaming. Nevertheless, some entities still don’t understand exactly how influencer marketing directly impacts the industries that leverage them.
Although bonuses and promotions have effectively driven customers to a platform, they’re becoming more competitive with the arrival of more casinos. You can see all bonuses here that some top casinos offer in the industry.
Understanding Influencer marketing
Before you understand how online casino platforms can successfully utilize influencer marketing, you first need to have sufficient knowledge of the field. Influencer marketing involves leveraging branded content from individuals with high social media following, bloggers, and vloggers to craft tailored messages.
These messages are tailored to resonate with the account’s followers. If the message seems out of place and it deviates from the influencer’s typical content, it is looked at as a forced marketing tactic and might have a negative effect on the audience.
When the followers spot the message in the crafted content, they’re more likely to try out the product or service since they trust the influencer’s decisions. A lot of individuals hold the misconception that influencer marketing is a new sub-field of marketing.
However, influencer marketing has been around for decades before the advent of social media and the internet. The only difference is that the term ‘influencer marketing’ became popular after the internet adopted social media in the 2010s. Casinos have always hired celebrities to endorse the services they offer.
Today, online casinos don’t have to go the extra mile to get celebrities and popular athletes to represent them. That’s because, with the introduction of social media, influencers have prompted crowds to purchase specific products and services. Hence, online casinos are more open to using prominent social media accounts for this purpose.
It isn’t difficult to understand why influencers drive so much revenue to the companies they promote. Once people spot a familiar face endorsing a product or service, there’s instant attention surrounding what is being sold. The bulk of those discussing the product would be the influencer’s followers.
People are attracted to goods and services that drive attention because they believe consumers rush to purchase quality products. In the past, companies hired celebrities and well-known individuals to promote products to achieve a better image. Now, the goal is to drive sales and increase profit. That’s why the focus has been placed on influencers.
When influencer marketing gets utilized by casino platforms, it usually follows a particular format. For instance, the influencer could share an image of rewards being collected or some cool feature on the casino website in a post. A link leading back to a landing page for the brand would be embedded in the post.
The audience gets the pitch from the casino but from the voice of a person they trust. The whole point is that influencer marketing closely mirrors the word-of-mouth advertisements that we’re so used to. However, it is revamped in the sense that it performs better than those radio and TV ads. It also receives much more engagement than the pop-up ads we spot on websites.
Comparing influencer marketing and affiliate marketing
The differences and similarities between influencer and affiliate marketing need to be stated for further understanding. Influencer marketing presents an opportunity for businesses that target consumers to work directly with social media influencers to churn out engaging content in the form of images or videos.
Influencers serve their followers by creating communities centered around a particular interest. The influencer in charge of this community gains the followers’ trust since they are experts in their corresponding fields. Thus, they’re seen as an authority on matters in that aspect.
Affiliate marketing isn’t restricted to facilitating relationships between influencers and firms. The primary focus of affiliate marketing is to disburse commissions for the influencers that market the product or service. While influencer marketing is typically B2C, affiliate marketing serves B2B and B2C brands.
One factor peculiar to affiliate marketing is that the affiliates try to entice users to complete an action, such as purchasing the product or service offered. Affiliate marketers do this because they don’t get commissions for driving traffic to a website. Rather, they get a percentage of the revenue they bring in for the business.
That’s why affiliates focus more on driving engagement with an audience and ensuring that their leads convert to customers.
Influencer marketing vs affiliate marketing for online casino platforms
Both influencer and affiliate marketing are crucial sub-fields of the general marketing industry. When leveraged optimally, both can produce efficient results. The key similarity between both is the revenue-sharing framework. However, the fact that their compensation models closely resemble each other doesn’t mean they’re the same thing.
Many online casino operators like affiliate marketing because it is highly cost-effective and relies on the performance of the marketers. For instance, an online casino platform can pay commissions based on an account deposit made using an affiliate’s link. Others can pay commissions depending on whether a customer creates an account on the platform.
The firm pays only when the affiliate marketer gets a potential customer to complete an action, thus ensuring that the brand gets a benefit before spending on marketing. This pushes affiliate marketers to be at their best and constantly stay on top of trends.
In 2022, the affiliate marketing industry was also estimated to be worth more than $8 billion in the US. Nonetheless, influencers use social media for better performance in the long run. Where affiliate marketers bring instant revenue through quick sales, social media influencers help to drive up the website’s SEO and curate social media content for brands.
Influencer marketing is highly focused on content creation based on images or videos for product or service promotion. Research recently showed that 40% of respondents purchase a product or service because their favorite social media account posted it.
Studies like these have prompted online casinos to collaborate with influencers to enhance brand image, exude trustworthiness, and maintain a constant traffic inflow. The value that influencer marketing provides for businesses is why they get commissions and discounts on services or free products. In the online casino industry, influencer marketing remains one of the best ways to drive traffic to a platform.
Influencer marketing in the online casino sector
Many stakeholders in the online casino sector wonder whether influencer marketing can be effective for the industry. The simple answer is that influencer marketing will drive conversions for an online casino if handled efficiently.
Some also fail to understand why social media influencer marketing will work for online casinos. The iGaming sector is valued at billions of dollars, and the industry offers participants a lot of excitement. Many social media users are on the platforms to have fun. That’s what casinos represent.
The growth of the casino segment has also been explosive in the last couple of years, with online gambling becoming legal across several regions. Casino gaming operators can now utilize the power of influencer marketing by partnering with suitable influencers.
This way, they can create catchy posts to run campaigns, check key performance indicators, and make modifications to boost the campaign’s efficiency.
Influencer marketing is effective in its industry because it takes a different approach, unlike conventional marketing tactics. In the past, beautiful and well-known faces on TV tried to convince people to make purchases of some product or service.
Today, influencer marketing allows for a more personal form of advertising. Influencer marketing allows for a P2P advertisement mode which makes the customer feel a deeper connection with the advertised product.
Great practices for online casinos working with influencers
Here are some good practices for online casinos working with influencers:
Plan the direction of the campaign
Online casinos have to curate a plan that clearly outlines the campaign’s direction. The plan needs to include key aspects of the influencer marketing campaign. For instance, the total budget and the monthly expense must be quantified.
The campaign draft has to outline the services and products that will be marketed, the social media platform to be leveraged, and a rough list of the influencers that would be suitable for the campaign.
Connect with the right social media influencers
When you select the social media platform you intend to leverage for social media marketing, you have to choose the influencers you intend to work with. It is crucial to define standards that will represent the brand.
You have to avoid picking any influencer that shows interest in working with your firm. It could be disastrous for your online casino platform if the influencer you’re working with breaks the law. If this happens, your brand will be damaged, and your revenue will get negatively affected.
Abide by the law
Online casino operators have to talk firmly with influencers about abiding by the law. First, the type of content that is being posted has to be scrutinized for approval. The frequency of the posts and the results to be achieved should be communicated to the influencers. At no point should the casino platform accept content that doesn’t comply with the law.
Tailor your content to specific locations
Online casino platforms have been expanding internationally in the past couple of years. This has to reflect in the influencer marketing content. Choosing the right influencer in a local market would be vital to connecting with a new culture.
Using the right social media influencer gives you an edge since the audience would relate to the produced content. This spills onto the trustworthiness of your brand.
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing where experts in a field with a large following are partnered to endorse a product or service. A lot of people confuse influencer marketing with affiliate marketing.
While affiliate marketing is highly based on performance and users’ completing actions, influencer marketing is focused on the long term. This way, an influencer’s followers can maintain a constant flow of traffic for the online casino platform. Influencers benefit from online gaming platforms because their promotions are more personal, unlike the usual TV ads or website pop-ups.
If you’re a casino working with influencers, you must imbibe great practices like planning a campaign’s direction, tailoring content to certain locations, abiding by the law, and connecting with social media influencers.
