20 Differences Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing

20 Differences Between Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing

Many people, as revealed in discussions over at runrex.com, tend to think that influencer marketing and affiliate marketing are the same. This is something this article will look to help with by listing 20 differences as far as the two are concerned.

Differences in definition

The first point of the departure as far as the two are concerned is on how they are defined, which is covered with the following 2 tips:

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing refers to the process of identifying key individuals who have a strong online presence and leveraging them to “influence” their followers or subscribers to make a purchase as far as a product or service is concerned as explained over at guttulus.com.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing, on the other hand, is a promotional strategy that is geared towards driving traffic, leads, and acquisitions for businesses. According to runrex.com, affiliate programs supply digital users (known as “affiliates”) with unique URL IDs (known as “affiliate links”) or promotional codes that reward affiliates when they bring in new customers or sales.

From the two definitions, it is difficult to capture how the two differ from each other, which is why the following tips should help clarify this further:

When payment is made

One of the main differences between the two, according to the experts over at guttulus.com is as regards when payment is made. This is because, while influencers are typically paid upfront, affiliate marketers are only paid when someone in their audience takes an action that you have committed to pay for, which means that if you have committed to pay a commission for sales, affiliate marketers will only get paid after they drive sales.

Payment and outcomes

Another difference between the two is that while the payment is not directly tied to the outcome of the campaign as far as influencer marketing is concerned, the costs of affiliate marketing are directly tied to actual outcomes.

Applications

Given that the two operate differently, brands use them for different purposes, which is another difference as far as they are concerned. While brands typically use influencer marketing to increase brand awareness, affiliate marketing campaigns tend to be more effective for driving website traffic, increasing sales, and bringing in new leads.

Cost-effectiveness

Given the payment structure involved in affiliate marketing, as is covered in detail over at runrex.com and mentioned earlier, it means that affiliate marketing is one of the most cost-effective acquisition channels as compared to other techniques, including influencer marketing, which is another difference between the two.

Free products

Since affiliate marketers are only paid when someone in their audience takes an action that the brand has committed to paying for, they very rarely receive free products from brands. On the other hand, as outlined over at guttulus.com, influencers usually get free products in return for their endorsement.

Tracking

According to the subject matter experts over at runrex.com, another main difference between the two is on measurement and tracking of results. Here, while influencer marketing uses the publisher’s site and social analytics to track and measure results, affiliate marketing uses tracking cookies and a pixel placed on the brand’s site.

Metrics captured

Picking up from the point above, key metrics followed, as far as influencer marketing is concerned, include social sharing, social engagements such as views and likes, potential reach, or total audience such as the number of followers, among others. On the other hand, key metrics followed when it comes to affiliate marketing include registrations, sales, orders, subscriptions, conversion rates, among others.

Reliability of metrics

Given the nature of the metrics collected as well as how tracking and measurement are done, as captured in the immediate two points above, then the metrics used in affiliate marketing tend to be more tangible and can lead to a reliable ROI calculation for the brand as opposed to those used in influencer marketing where many metrics can be vanity metrics with very little substance.

Disclosure

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has started to take strong action against brands that incentivize bloggers, publishers, and other such parties who post about products and services without enforcing disclosures about the same incentives as explained over at guttulus.com. This is an area where influencer marketing and affiliate marketing differ, as while there is a much more structured management and oversight process in place to verify that affiliates are including disclosures at the top of their posts, there is no such structure when it comes to influencer marketing.

Monitoring disclosures

Additionally, while it can be challenging for brands to monitor influencers and ensure that they are properly disclosing their compensation as covered over at runrex.com, in a well-managed affiliate program, there will be affiliate program managers in place to monitor and enforce disclosures.

Awareness of rules

Given what has been revealed in the two immediate points above, then another difference is that whole most influencers aren’t aware of the basic rules for disclosure, don’t understand them, or simply don’t care, affiliates have to be aware of these rules to avoid being removed from affiliate programs they are on as outlined over at guttulus.com.

Control

Another way they two differ is on the level of control brands can exert on either. With influencer marketing, brands have more control as the can select influencers, build relationships, and even creatively shape how their brand is being promoted and portrayed to customers, something that isn’t usually possible for affiliate marketing where the end justifies the means, and brands just care about results, as long as FTC regulations are adhered to.

Number of steps

On the flip side, as far as the above point is concerned, given there is more control in terms of strategic planning and long-term relationships when it comes to influencer marketing, the process of executing a successful influencer marketing campaign requires proper strategy, planning, management of influencers, and execution, and is, therefore, is more intensive and requires more steps as compared to affiliate marketing campaigns.

Results

These two also differ when it comes to ROI, as is pointed out by the subject matter experts over at runrex.com. A successful influencer marketing campaign often drives bigger results as compared to a comparable affiliate marketing campaign.

Investment

As the gurus over at guttulus.com are quick to point out, while affiliate marketing costs can be minimal to start, executing a successful influencer marketing campaign often requires a larger investment of both time and money.

Direction and focus

Another difference between the two is that given affiliate marketing isn’t designed as a cohesive message or campaign, unlike influencer marketing campaigns, affiliate promotions often lack direction, focus, or compelling CTAs as captured in discussions over at runrex.com.

Visibility

Given the popularity of influencers among consumers, there is very little chance that a well-influencer marketing campaign won’t get to its target audience. On the other hand, affiliate links can sometimes be buried in captions, descriptions, or at the bottom of posts, and readers or viewers may not see or may ignore, which is another difference between the two.

Screening

Screening for influencers is a lot easy as it is easy to find out who is an influencer, and who isn’t. Additionally, brands can always go through agencies if they are worried that they may not find the right partners when searching on their own. As far as affiliate marketing is concerned, however, virtually anyone can apply to become an affiliate, and typically, there is not an in-depth screening process used to vet affiliate applicants.

These are some of the key differences between influencer marketing and affiliate marketing, with more on the related topics to be found over at the highly-rated runrex.com and guttulus.com.