August 10, 2018

It's rare that we bring own content, but you will have it in today's newsletter. We give our 2 cents on typical screw-ups when it comes to networking. In the news, Facebook shuts down one feed, opens another one instead. And they ban more content, even if it's not promoted. Last but not least, Tinder is making money... lots of it!

August 10, 2018

August 10, 2018 2160 1440 The digital marketer's #1 daily briefing!


Some important changes to Facebook’s feeds

There are two big changes happening for FB users when it comes to the way they can consume content on the platform.

First on the list of changes is that the Friend List feed will be shut down starting today. While you can still make lists of friends, you won’t be able to go to separate feeds to see updates from them.

It wouldn’t surprise us if you didn’t know this feature even existed because most people never used it. That’s why FB is shutting it down.

Secondly, there’s a Groups feed tab that appeared in the Android app. We tried to find any sort of official announcement, but as often with FB and such features, there’s nothing about it, just the actual change.

Basically, alongside the newsfeed tab, you can now see updates from groups only. This will make groups much stronger we think. Below is a screenshot of how it looks like from one of our phones.

Cracking down on scams, even if they are not an ad!

So it’s pretty clear that questionable financial offers were always against the rules when it comes to Facebook Ads.

The big update is that Facebook will now remove content, even if it’s not promoted, that can “financially endanger” the user.

That means, even if it’s not an ad, it will get taken down just like hate speech.

So what we’re thinking of now is… When will they start cleaning up all these “gooroos” that make ridiculous claims?


The 7 screw-ups you make when “networking”

We are not really huge on the word “networking”. People tend to use it very loosely for too many shallow interactions with others.

Exchanging business cards is far from networking. Or adding someone on Facebook is not exactly networking either.

So. Without further ado, here are the screw-ups we’ve seen or done the most, that are actually pretty easy to fix.

1. Your introduction, especially online

In our industry, it’s quite natural to have the first contact online. And that’s fine. But how you do it still matters.

How not to: Add on FB. Send a message that shows you did 0 research on who the person is.

This is something affiliate managers are most guilty of.

Look, it’s normal to connect on Facebook first. Most often people want to connect just to follow each other, not to start a conversation. 

However, if you are the one starting the conversation, saying more than “Hi, we have offers, wanna run them?” or “Hi, we have agency accounts for FB and Google, wanna buy?” is a must.

Keep it simple. Introduce yourself, and explain why you are messaging. If you’re in the category that does mass approaches, be upfront and joke about it. Show that you understand it can be ridiculous for the other person but you are not one to waste their time.

2. Not asking for an intro when possible

Seriously, even if the common friend is not someone who knows them well, if they at least spoke in person to each other one time, you are almost certain to get a response in an intro.

Make sure you still avoid screw-up one. If it’s not obvious why, we’ll explain later.

3. Asking to “pick your brain”

It’s absolutely better to have a clear purpose, that is mutually beneficial, when you approach someone. If you do, explain that.

If you don’t, don’t say you want to pick brains, seriously. It’s overused, it looks like you are unprofessional, unreliable, it’s lazy.

Instead of “pick your brain” say something along the lines of “you’re someone I look up to, and it would mean the world to me if I can get your advice on this topic”.

Stroking someone’s ego works. We haven’t found anyone completely immune to that.

4. Being informal doesn’t necessarily mean they’re your friend

We’re an informal industry. That’s pretty cool.

Don’t mistake informal with friendly though. It’s still a professional relationship you are building at the beginning. 

A future friendship might build on this professional experience but you should keep some boundaries in terms of what sort of topics you discuss and what questions you ask. Don’t get too personal.

And if you’re in person, though it’s rare, don’t get too touchy. It’s an industry dominated by introverts who like to have their space after all.

5. You must compromise, they don’t have to

Listen, if you are the one asking for a favour, you compromise on time and place to meet.

Don’t be that guy or girl who says “You’re welcome!” when they pay back a 6 months overdue loan to their friend.

That’s how it feels like when you don’t adjust your schedule for the person you so desperately want to meet.

Oh, and generally you should cover the drinks/lunch because you are getting the value here. Some will decline it but at least offer it.

6. Show up on time

This is the silliest and the one that most people are guilty of. If you’re meeting someone very important to you, respect their time. Make sure you’re on Swiss time, not Brazilian time. 

If you had one chance to meet Bill Gates, would you not do absolutely everything to make sure you arrive on time? Do the same if you are trying to meet a person that can help you even more than Bill.

The only exception we can think of here are those quickfire meetings set during conferences. 

Everyone tends to over-book themselves then and being a few minutes late, for a 10-15 min talk is not as big of a deal as being 30 minutes late for a 1-on-1 meeting with a vital contact.

7. Getting distracted by your phone

Another one that happens too often. Put your phone on “silent” and off the table. 

This is extremely annoying even if you’re just hanging out with a friend but it’s an absolute disaster if in the first meeting with someone that offers you their time you end up not giving them 100% of your attention.

We get that this point will sound ridiculous to some because we live in an always-connected world. However, you have what in poker is called a “negative freeroll” if you don’t put your phone away. That means you can only lose.

If the person doesn’t mind you checking your phone, that’s OK. If they mind, you just went down a level in their eyes.

BONUS: Getting hammered.

This is another typical one for the industry. 

We tend to avoid alcohol when there’s any chance of doing business, but sometimes the social setting means you should have a drink or two.

Getting drunk is never a good idea unless you are not hanging out with people specifically for that purpose.

We’ve said this before. Nothing wrong with getting drunk, just choose your setting accordingly.

So these are some typical screw ups. And we’ve been guilty of them too but we’ve been getting better, and results have shown. That’s why we’re sharing with you too. It will especially be useful for those who always felt they have a hard time meeting “the big guys”.

Believe it or not, everyone’s pretty open as long as you show you are respectful of them, their time and that you are someone who will actually take their advice.

Which brings us to probably the most important point. Reputation is everything.

People talk. You must maintain a good reputation, and avoiding the screw-ups here will greatly help.

If someone puts you in touch with your “hero”, there’s also their reputation at stake! Refer to point 2, in case you already forgot.

A less common screw up but one that can ruin a reputation and even friendships is not disclosing potential conflicts of interest.

The common one in our industry is recommending snake-oil courses and gurus without disclosing that you are getting paid in some way for that. It might work but the one time it doesn’t work you could lose a business partner or even a close friend.

Over the long term, your reputation should be worth more than any money amount someone can pay you, so make sure you treat it as the priceless asset it is.


Get ALL the speeches from our favourite conference!

Yes, Affiliate World puts together our favourite conference, and this is a sponsored post so it’s biased. But we’ll try to keep it real.

Whether you attended but were busy in meetings or didn’t attend and want to sample the conference, this might be for you. Might!

We think you have tick these boxes to really be worth it:

  • You do affiliate marketing, performance marketing or e-commerce (for yourself or a company)
  • You are doing it at least part time profitably – this is important!
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That’s it. Being a reader, we’re pretty sure you tick the first point. If you tick the last two as well, head over to the Affiliate World Europe replay page right here.
It’s cheaper than the conference ticket and you will get 15+ speeches from people like Mo Ali Aguel, Ryan Deiss, Kelly Sheffield (thedudeabides on STM Forum) and the Tan brothers to name a few.



“It’s a Match!” – Benjamin and Tinder have liked each other

We’re more than a little surprised by Tinder’s numbers honestly.

The app generated $800 mil in revenue this year, which is almost half of the Match Group $1.7bil revenue.

To put this in a fun context, Tinder makes almost the same revenue as Snap but it has a profit margin higher than 40%. Snap is losing a few hundred million…

And this money is almost completely from premium subscriptions, that users pay for, not from ads.

Not so surprising anymore that Facebook is stepping into the dating game. They’ve dealt some strong blows to Snapchat already, and Tinder is next in line.

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