How is the role of social media evolving in your affiliate marketing strategy?

[MichaelCorfman]

For most of the history of affiliate marketing in our industry, success has depended heavily on traditional SEO - building high-quality content, reviews, and editorial pages that rank well in search engines. Many affiliates have also produced videos and other multimedia content to enhance those efforts, but the central focus has long been on organic search visibility.

Over time, however, social media has quietly evolved from being a side channel for engagement or announcements into something far more influential. Today, affiliates are using social media to not only drive traffic, but also to build trust, personality, and brand recognition. These same factors increasingly shape how both people and generative AI systems recognize authority and make decisions.

As visibility itself becomes multi-channel - part SEO, part social, and part AI discoverability - affiliates may find their overall strategy evolving faster than ever before.

This week’s poll explores how members see the role of social media changing in their affiliate businesses in the months and years ahead.

In addition to voting in the poll, please share how you personally see social media fitting into your affiliate marketing efforts. Here are a few ideas to spark discussion:

• Shifting focus: How much attention are you giving social media today compared to a few years ago, and how do you expect that focus to evolve in the future?
• Platform priorities: Which social platforms (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter, or others) do you use today or plan to use in the future? What types of content are you producing, or planning to produce, on these platforms, and what seems to work best?
• Brand and personality: Do you view social media primarily as a traffic channel, or as a way to build trust, personality, and authority for your brand or yourself?
• Influencers and partnerships: Have collaborations or influencer relationships played a role in your affiliate growth? If so, what’s been your experience?
• AI visibility: Do you believe that being more visible and credible on social platforms helps you appear more prominently in AI-generated search results or summaries?
• Measurement and ROI: How do you measure the value of social presence - is it direct traffic and conversions, or longer-term visibility and influence?
• Compliance and risk: Have you encountered any regulatory or platform-policy challenges when promoting gambling-related content on social media?
• Looking ahead: How do you expect the balance between SEO, social visibility, and AI discoverability to shift in the next few years?

Michael

[eenzoo]

I put zero effort into social media. I have no gambling business related accounts/property at any platform nor i planning for that.

[NoDepositCasinos]

For now, social media isn’t a priority for me, and I don’t expect that to change in the short or medium term. I’m sure it can help with traffic and visibility, but I don’t think it offers an attractive return on the investment required to stay relevant in that space.

[Pokerface]

Considering LinkedIn as social media it is very important. This is providing great opportunity to network and get our messages out.

[Suomicasi]

In regards the brands, social media is not in huge use at the moment. What comes to personal development LinkedIn is an excellent place to see what is going on, connect with other professionals and get updates.

[lapa221Q]

One of the best way is YouTube, you may start you youtube channel without paying a single rupee then you can start Promoting them on other social media platforms. In facebook you can't get reach in you affiliate link untill you pay for it, even sometimes facebook stops promoting affiliate link. You can also start from Instagram but you can't provide your link in the post as you know link can not be used in Instagram, you can leave you link in your Instagram bio only.

[idanbraun]

In the distant past, I used Facebook a lot, until they started blocking users who advertised gambling. After that, I moved to X (formerly Twitter) and managed to generate a lot of traffic and a lot of income. It lasted a very long time, but eventually they blocked me and others who posted on online gambling.

I tried advertising on TikTok and Instagram without success. I haven't tried YouTube yet. I don't know how to make content videos. Places like LinkedIn, Reddit and Quora don't allow posting on online gambling. If you try, you'll get blocked right away. In the very distant past, it was possible to post on online gambling on these platforms without restrictions.

Bottom line - it's getting harder and harder to generate traffic from social networks. What will happen in the future? Que sera sera. Whatever will be will be.

[Emiliana Rostowicz]

It’s definitely shifting towards personal branding and community building. Direct linking doesn't work as well anymore; people want value first. Short-form video content is currently my top performer.

[Theratman]

I've used Youtube to some success but they are very strict on what is advertised and have been clamping down on it since March, but this is for casino content, I believe sports betting is fine and has lots of potential. The results are good, but nothing like the volume a good seo campaign brings.