What is Affiliate Marketing?

I’m sure we aren’t alone here at Social Fox in seeing influencers all over our Instagram feeds, on a daily basis, that are touting the benefits of a product that they use and love. 

In a time where digital entrepreneurship and digital marketing are hot industries, it’s no wonder that people are taking advantage of affiliate marketing to add an extra stream of income.

So how does affiliate marketing work? Affiliate marketing is done through promoting other businesses' products or services and receiving commissions from the sales that you bring in. Many times, you see people online promoting beauty products, wellness products, or clothing brands but there are also affiliate marketing niches out there for professionals and business owners, we’ll touch more on that later. 

Simply put, affiliate marketing provides a way for people to add an additional income stream to their business. It does take a little work on the front end to start earning commissions but these commissions can really add up over time. 

At the root of it, these influencers are essentially providing free promotion of another businesses product with the hopes that commissions will be the net result of that effort. In a lot of ways, affiliate marketing bears similarities to the network marketing model in that it functions on referrals, testimonies, and through building relationships.

Affiliates are paid through the amount of sales that they refer to their parent company. Typically these are broken down into two types of sale conversions:

1. Pay-per-click: the affiliate gets paid when someone clicks through their link and makes a purchase

2. Pay-per-sale: the affiliate gets paid a percentage of the purchase price when someone uses their referral link 

The pay-per-sale model is usually more lucrative, depending on the particular payout percentage for that company, but there is a less talked about model that has longer term benefits: recurring affiliate programs. More on these a little bit later!

It might seem like affiliate marketing is only for mompreneurs on Instagram, but businesses are using affiliate marketing as well to expand their reach and add extra income into their business.

How Affiliate Marketing Works for Businesses

Depending on your business niche, you might be thinking, “It’s going to be difficult to find an affiliate program that feels right for my business.” Luckily there are affiliate programs for almost any niche and, particularly for online business owners, a good option is a software affiliate program. 

It’s easiest to explore software affiliate programs for companies that you already use or are looking to start using. Say you’re looking for a new customer relationship management system (CRM) and there are two similar systems you’re comparing. You find that one has a software affiliate program and the other doesn’t, that makes your choice a lot easier. Picking the system that gives you the option to add an additional revenue stream is the wise choice. 

Seeking out these programs allows you to have multiple different streams of software affiliate program income to add to your business. This is particularly beneficial when you can use your software affiliate program knowledge to educate and communicate directly with other business owners.

Business owners are always looking for ways to simplify their daily tasks and streamline their business and, as a business owner who is using the software yourself, you can speak directly to those pain points. 

Aside from this, you always want to feel good about the programs that you suggest to other people, so having some experience with the software you’re advocating for is very helpful to offer a sincere point of view.

Recurring Affiliate Program for Digital Entrepreneurs 

Recurring affiliate programs are where affiliate marketing starts to feel like true passive income.

These programs pay you ongoing commissions for as long as your referral continues to use and pay for the product—most often seen with software that charges a monthly or annual subscription. This structure allows you to earn consistently from just one successful referral, making it a great option for building long-term revenue without having to constantly make new sales.

Let’s use a common scenario: Imagine you use a project management tool in your own business that helps you stay organized and efficient. You talk about it in your content or recommend it to fellow business owners or clients. When someone signs up using your affiliate link, you earn a percentage of their subscription each month for as long as they keep using it. Simple, right?

It does take some upfront effort—like educating your audience on how you use the tool and why you recommend it—but once that trust is built and someone converts, the commissions continue to come in passively. This is where affiliate marketing shifts from a one-time payout to a more sustainable, recurring income stream.

Recurring affiliate programs are a great fit for business owners looking to diversify their income and share genuinely helpful tools they’re already using. They reward relationship-building and authenticity—and when you focus on serving your audience well, those referrals can continue to pay off long after the initial effort.

5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Starting an Online Affiliate Program Of Your Own with Social Fox

We’ve discussed why adding a recurring affiliate program to your own business is important, but what about setting up an affiliate program for your current business? Better yet, how about doing it with Social Fox which offers an all-in-one marketing tool to house all your business processes in one place? 

There’s a reason so many businesses are turning to affiliate marketing options to increase their product sales, and depending on your product you can decide whether a recurring or traditional affiliate program option is best for you. 

Here are the top five reasons we think getting started with an affiliate program with Social Fox could benefit your current business:

1. Get started with ease!

It’s easy to get an affiliate program up and running with Social Fox. You simply get your products or services created in our system, determine which you’d like to offer commissions on [and how much commission], create your affiliate links, and you’re off to the races!

2. House your contacts, funnels, business automations, and affiliate payouts all in one place.  

Social Fox is one of the most robust all-in-one marketing powerhouses on the market. If you’ve spent countless hours of your precious time troubleshooting Zapier integrations [trust us, we’ve been there] then you already know how difficult it can be to get multiple systems to cooperate with each other. These integrations are a non-issue with Social Fox. You’ll have all your business processes under one login. This saves a huge amount of headache and feeling like you need to be a tech wizard to run your business.

3. You gain access to new audiences for your offers. 

The more eyeballs you have on your products or services the better, right? As business owners, increased exposure to our businesses is never a bad thing. By using affiliate programs, your offers are automatically getting seen by people that otherwise may not have known your business existed. 

4. Boost your sales with increased exposure. 

While it is true that a small portion of your profit goes towards your affiliate payouts, you still come out on top! Even with paying out a portion of your sale to your affiliate, you’ve still made a sale that otherwise might not have come in without their influence. 

5. Social proof is king and affiliates can provide that. 

Everyone loves reading a good review and hearing a testimonial from someone who loves a product is even more powerful! By providing an affiliate program for your fans, you’re giving them some skin in the game and incentivizing them to share your product. In addition to this, as your affiliate pool grows, your brand awareness grows with it.

Use the Right Software Affiliate Program to Grow Your Business

Affiliate marketing has seen tremendous growth over the past several years and is poised to continue on that trend. In fact, it’s estimated that more than 80% of marketers are using affiliate marketing to improve brand recognition. These are powerful numbers and they really speak to the importance of affiliate programs in the digital marketing age. 

Committing to launching an affiliate marketing program could be a way to not only increase your sales and brand awareness, but also to build a community around your brand full of people who love your products.

If you’re looking to add a recurring affiliate program income to your business and need to streamline your business processes, it’s time to look at Social Fox. The importance of gaining back valuable time in your day by having your business system in one place can’t be overstated. 

Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, schedule a walk through with us today and find out what pieces of your business are missing!