5 Affiliate Marketing Trends to Watch in 2024

Intro

Affiliate marketing is always on the cutting edge of content marketing and 2024 is no different. With a rise in marketing tech, software and AI, it’s easier than ever to get started with and to scale an affiliate business. It’s important for businesses to recognize the trends that are taking place, so they can adapt and grow their affiliate sales channels. In this article, we’ll cover everything from AI to the rise of micro-influencers. This will help you understand how affiliate marketing trends are shaping and which methods you can use to improve your affiliate promotions.

1. Rise in AI content to promote products and services:

The largest trend in business is the rapid development of AI and it has definitely impacted affiliate marketing. Since 2023, almost all affiliate marketers use AI to some extent. Whether that’s using ChatGPT for content ideas, other AI writing software, creating AI videos on Youtube, almost every part of the affiliate marketing niche has been impacted by AI. Some examples of how far this has progressed include:

• Faceless AI YouTube/TikTok pages: Savvy affiliate marketers have already started to use AI to create entire pages of content. These pages usually focus on a particular niche and they build a personal brand without any human intervention. Jenn Leach, an affiliate marketer, was able to start a faceless TikTok page and go from 0 to $60k/year in just 6 months. There are many other examples of this and many brands have grown to over 100k followers on these platforms.
• AI-generated product reviews: If you search up any product review on Google, YouTube, etc., you’re bound to find AI-generated product reviews. These reviews are generally a few minutes in length and they have an AI-sounding voice. Although these product reviews are not up to par yet, they are advancing extremely quickly. It’s only a matter of time before they become reputable and a human won’t be able to compete with them.
• Automating small SEO tasks: If you publish content to get affiliate sales, you’ll probably spend a lot of time doing meta descriptions, titles, etc. With AI tools like ChatGPT you can create them on demand and spend less time on technical SEO and more time creating content for your end user.

2. YouTube affiliate marketing

Blogs used to dominate affiliate marketing in the early 2010s, but things have changed dramatically in the past few years. YouTube, the second largest search engine, has become the go-to source for in-depth product reviews and personal experiences with products. YouTube has done a lot of work to help affiliate marketers maximize their earnings by adding product recommendation features in the videos along with affiliate links in the description.

Additionally, YouTube's algorithm favors high-quality, relevant content, making it easier for affiliate marketers to attract viewers and grow their audience organically. As consumer behavior continues to shift towards video-centric content consumption, YouTube's influence in the affiliate marketing landscape will only grow. YouTube makes it so much easier for affiliate marketers to earn more because they promote their affiliate links and they’re paid per thousand views. This double-monetization allows affiliate marketers to earn way more in comparison to just using blogs.

One great example of leveraging YouTube affiliate marketing is Adam Enfroy’s YouTube channel. To date, he’s made over 7 figures annually just off affiliate marketing. He started his affiliate marketing channel promoting SaaS tools like form builders, web hosting providers, VPNs, podcast equipment, etc.. In addition to being paid for display ads by Google, he was able to further monetize by selling courses and using affiliate links. This is a great example of how you can use YouTube’s powerful affiliate marketing platform along with a solid content strategy on other platforms.

3. Large companies launching affiliate blogs:

Affiliate marketing on Google specifically is dominated by large companies. In SEO, one of the most powerful ranking factors is your domain rating. This is basically an indicator of how powerful your domain is and it’s heavily influenced by the quantity and quality of links you have. Large sites have been doing PR for years and they have large domain ratings, making it much easier for them to rank in comparison to new sites. This has led to the rise of companies targeting lucrative affiliate keywords and ranking for them.

A prime example is the dictionary site Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster is one of the most trusted dictionaries in the world. It’s started in 1847 and has a strong brand image and websites of all kinds often link to it for the definitions of words. This is why it has a domain rating of 91. It recently launched an affiliate site for product reviews and to no one’s surprise it ranked extremely competitively. The site generated tens of thousands of clicks almost instantly. After a few months of experimenting, it was shut down but the effectiveness of large spun-out affiliate sites is not in question.

4. Tiktok affiliate marketing

TikTokis by far the most interesting platform for affiliate marketing in 2024. With major platforms like Google and YouTube, it takes a lot of time and effort to get affiliate marketing off the ground. With TikTok, anyone can go viral if your content is good and your videos are optimized for their algorithm. The platform's algorithm prioritizes engaging and shareable content, giving even novice creators the chance to go viral and reach millions of users in a short amount of time. This accessibility and potential for instant success make TikTok an attractive platform for affiliate marketers looking to promote products and earn commissions.

What’s great about TikTok is that you can add your product recommendations directly to the video. Most social platforms require you to have a tool link Linktree where the consumer would have to click out of the post and go through several clicks to finally make a purchase. With the new ease of access for affiliate purchases, marketers are making more than ever. Additionally, TikTok also pays viewers per thousand views. This is an added source of revenue in addition to the affiliate sales you make.

A great example of TikTok affiliate marketing is Ekkovision. Ekkovision has started to dominate the TikTok affiliate marketing niche by partnering with numerous creators in the fitness industry. Virtually every fitness TikTok creator has an Ekkovision affiliate code and they’ve saturated the fitness market. Ekkovision sells everything from gym clothing to supplements like creatine. Instead of posting content on their page and waiting months if not years to grow, they went straight to affiliate partnerships.

In addition to highlighting their products, they also highlight the earnings of their affiliates. This creates a positive flywheel where more and more want to become their affiliates and promote their products. The small business has turned into a multi-million dollar operation with over 10 employees and it’s largely due to an effective TikTok affiliate marketing strategy

5. Rise in micro-influencer affiliates:

The average consumer is much more educated today than in the 2010s. Instead of clicking on any random blog post or YouTube video, they are starting to follow micro-influencers who have similar interests and problems to them. For example, a TikTok user might be much more willing to try a product from a micro-influencer sharing their journey than a paid ad that they routinely scroll through. If a user is looking to try a product that helps relieve their stretch marks, they are far more likely to buy from someone who’s lost weight, used the product and lost their stretch marks.

Influencersspecifically thrive on platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, where they can share their personality and story. There’s a massive rise in users who share their journey with a specific issue like weight loss, finding a job, or any other mainstream issue. Companies that just stick to the old script of affiliate marketing can hardly compete with thousands of micro-influencers who have started to take up the market share for affiliate marketing.

Wigs.com is a great example of a company that leverages influencer marketing well. Products for self care, fitness, health etc., do extremely well on platforms like TikTok. Wigs.com started their own influencer marketing channel and social media users can easily promote their products and get paid a commission when it’s sold. It’s best to either partner with these micro-influencers or start incentivizing micro-influencers to promote your product in exchange for cash, products or something of value.

Rather than rely solely on content created in-house, brands can collaborate directly with micro-influencers to have them showcase products authentically within posts. This leverages the trust and engagement the influencer has already built with their audience. Some brands do offer their best affiliate with paid sponsorships also, this creates an even bigger win-win for the partnership.

These trends are a few of the prominent ones to watch out for in 2024. Although affiliate marketing isn’t going anywhere, the methods that are most cost effective today are evolving and it’s best to adopt one of these trends to supplement your affiliate marketing strategy. The better you can pivot, the easier it will be to scale your affiliate marketing without any additional work on your end. If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out this blog post on the pros and cons of using it for your business.