What affiliate platform should I use?
Vol. 174: Plus, loads of updates from Impact!
HelloZ
“Happy Thirsty Thursday,” said the fresh-out-of-college kid who’s meeting friends at McFadden’s tonight. And how are YOU doing?
We booked a trip to visit my in-laws in SoFla in December during Hanukkah/Christmas week. We’re trying to do a day in Disney too. Are we nuts? Maybe! I haven’t been to SoFla a ton since we’ve moved back up to New Jersey, so if you have any recommendations of things to do, places to go, foods to eat, please let me know!
On an affiliate/PR front: I’ve been getting a lot of questions about affiliate platforms and what the recommendation is nowadays between ShareASale, AWIN, Impact, or any others. I’m going to recap my thoughts on that below the jump, where you’ll also get a lesson on all the new features Impact just released!
I was going to make this a paid one, but you know what? Maybe it’s the holiday decorations on every house … I’m just feeling generous. ENJOY and I hope it brings you VALUE!
For now, let’s get into the NewZ and ShowZ.
NewZ and ShowZ
Never have I ever thought, “Hmm, I just don’t know enough about Luterh Vandross,” and here we are: “Luther: Never Too Much,” telling the story of singer Luther Vandross, premieres Wednesday, January 1 at 8pm on CNN.
We’ve been living in the upside world for well over five seasons for sure. Netflix announced that the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” will premiere in 2025 and released a video with the names of the final eight episodes of the series: “The Crawl,” “The Vanishing of…,” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” “Shock Jock,” “Escape from Camazotz,” “The Bridge,” and “The Rightside Up.”
Season three of “Yellowjackets” debuts with its first two episodes on Friday, February 14 on Paramount+, two days ahead of its premiere on Showtime. Hilary Swank and Joel McHale guest star this time around. Cheers to season three being better than season two.
“Monday Night RAW” starts its Netflix run on January 6 at 5pm, live from the Intuit Dome in LA.
Apple TV+ has ordered “Cape Fear,” a 10-episode thriller executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, as well as Javier Bardem, who will star.
Craig Melvin will join Savannah Guthrie as co-host of NBC’s “Today” after the January 10 exit of Hoda Kotb. Melvin was named news anchor of today in 2018, and co-host of “Third Hour of Today” in 2019.
Pamela Hayden, who has voiced many characters on “The Simpsons,” has opted to retire from her character voice work.
“Paradise” launches Tuesday, January 28 on Hulu. The Dan Fogelman (“This Is Us”) drama series follows the investigation of a shocking murder. Shocking?? Murder?? Count me in!
Netflix hit “The Night Agent” returns for season two on Thursday, January 23. The series following a low-level FBI agent was renewed for a third season last month.
“Very Scary People” returns to ID on Sunday, December 15 at 9pm. Hosted and executive produced by Donnie Wahlberg (so you already know it’s quality), the show offers eight episodes that give insight into twisted crimes.
Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Oscars, his first time hosting the broadcast. “America demanded it, and now it’s happening: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars,” said O’Brien. The awards show airs March 2 at 7pm on ABC.
Actor Paul Mescal (“Normal People”) will host the next episode of “Saturday Night Live.” Mescal will be joined by musical guest Shaboozey on December 7. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I still don’t know who Shaboozey is.
Apple TV+ series “The Studio” premieres with its first two episodes on Wednesday, March 26. The comedy stars Seth Rogan (who also serves as writer, director and executive producer) as the newly appointed head of an embattled studio.
I have Zlata Thoughts on Affiliate Platforms
There are lot of words coming at you here. Buckle up!
Here’s the deal: I currently have clients on ShareASale, AWIN, Impact and Rakuten. I’m an agency partner to each of these platforms. I think each one of them has its pros and cons and I will recommend based on the needs, goals, and budgets of the brand.
Let’s say you’re a newbie and are only looking to be on an affiliate platform for press/PR purposes. That means you need to be on Skimlinks and also need the option of directly connecting to a media pub if that’s of interest. In this case, and as of now, ShareASale works just fine. I mean, it’s free for my clients and I live for their transaction detail report because it’s also the easiest to manage qualified (or unqualified) leads on. You don’t need much more here if this is your only goal. If you want, you can let some others into the program to test the waters, you can run dynamic commissioning, and more. At the end of the day, it’s free and it’s easy.
That said, I have full program clients on ShareASale making a quarter of a million dollars a month and they are T H R I V I N G. Commission rules are a breeze, reporting and managing transactions are hella simple, but hey … maybe I’m just so used to it? Who knows? Maybe I’ll be moving them over to Impact soon. The landscape changes at a FREAKISHLY FAST PACE and at the end of the day, I’m going to do what’s best for the client and what’s best for them also means what is effective for me. Or in your case, you. You also have to love the platform and manage the brand!
Now let’s say you wanted the PR component but also wanted the opportunity to work with creators. Impact is probably your better bet. The Agency Startr package gives you all the same pricing ShareASale does and the recruitment of creators is a lot more seamless. If you are a brand trying to get on the Startr package, beware because the recruitment tool is not an option that’s open to you…and so then what’s the point? I hope they’ll change that soon so brands can use Impact when they have in-house teams, but last I asked, the Startr option with recruitment also was only for agencies.
Moving on…with an upcoming “merge” of ShareASale + AWIN, Impact is gunning hard for brands to head over their way. In an effort to be fully transparent here, know that Impact is giving agencies $$ incentives to bring their clients over to them. Kind of like when Verizon wants you to switch to them from T-Mobile and vice versa.
I’ve experienced buggy issues with both ShareASale and Impact. I’ve experienced stellar customer service with both ShareASale/AWIN and Impact. I truly do like them both and think in due time, it will soon be a decision of AWIN vs Impact and the choice will be based on personal preference of the backend. Impact is more visually appealing. I love their reporting a lot. I love their recruitment a lot (though this is where my bug issues tend to happen. I love their customer service. And lots of pros for AWIN as well.
My advice is to schedule a demo with BOTH platforms and get a feel yourself! Need an intro? Happy to make one and get you in some good hands!
Impact’s Latest and Greatest Features
Impact just released their latest product notes and the features list is looking sharp, my friendZ! From all-new features to simplified reporting to extreeeeeeemely useful templates, Impact is giving us all some things to be thankful for. Here’s everything you need to know!
Automated Workflows
Impact’s new email workflows automate partner communications. Because you have more important things to do. Here’s what’s new/better as part of the newly upgraded Workflows feature:
Templates: OMG yes, please. Pre-built for different segments with email copy and everything. (!!!) The new templates include prospect invitations, welcome messages for new partners, recognition emails for affiliates who are crushing it, and even re-engagement messages to help nudge underperformers back to their A-game.
Chained Workflows: Templates also feature “chained workflows” to stack your emails into a sequence if needed to build a seamless comms journey.
Customizable Workflows: The templates are an excellent starting point for any communications, and they recommend using one to begin with and personalize it for what you need. But if you’re really feeling yourself, you can also build your own custom workflow.
Re-Designed Applications Page Slideout
Specifically, there’s a new slideout that features a whole lot of at-a-glance insights. Like…
New Partner Profiles with identity and performance metrics, examples of what they’re publishing (content stalker mode: engaged), plus engagement stats and connected properties.
Custom Field Surveys: Surveys help you capture valuable partner info, and now they feed directly into the profile slideout with custom fields so you can ask for details that matter most to your brand and partnership.
Streamlined Messages: Messages are now also housed in the partner slideout (top left of the panel), giving you quick and easy access to your communications.
Upgraded Finance Document Settings
Because money talks. Tailor your financial setting with added configurability. Instead of housing all Finance options on one screen as it was previously, Impact has broadened the design and added more customization features so brands can make their own custom settings for fees documents, funding, and more.
Improved Financial Reports
You gotta love when someone in the room finally raises their hand to say, “We over-engineered the hell out of this.” Impact revisited several reports (and their respective drill-down reports) and replaced them with simpler versions, including:
Partner Fund Transfer Listing
Monthly Close Report by Locking Date
Monthly Close by Event Date
Cash Flow History
Pending Partner Payments
Ah. Do you smell that? Efficiency’s in the air. They also removed a bunch of redundant reports from the system. If you use any of these on a regular basis, I recommend getting acquainted with their new digs! See Impact’s list below for what went where.
Finance Overview > Overview screen
Account Balance History > Cash Flow History
Pending Impact Fees > Impact Invoices by Status
Pending Action Payouts (based on scheduled clearing date > Pending Partner Payments
Media Partner Invoice Dashboard - Action Details by Action Date > Partner Cost Details by Event Date
Cash Flow History - Transaction Listing > Cash Flow History Listing
Deposit History > Cash Flow History Listing
Upcoming Partner Payments (no filter) > Pending Partner Payments
New Report: Partner Group Membership
This Partner Group Membership report identifies all your partner groups and members and the status of each, giving you a snapshot of your group management.
SKU Comparison
Compare SKUs within your brand to understand the performance over time and across different time periods.
Create up to 200 payout groups for CPC payouts
Good news for those of you with sizable payout groups: Impact has increased the limit of payout groups for CPC events from 50 to 200.
That’s everything from this round of updates. I love these kinds of product updates because you can tell the team at Impact is genuinely putting effort into making the platform super functional for everyone. It’s one of the reasons I maintain my Agency Partner status with platform! Have you used any of these yet?
Questions? Comments? Wisdom? Jokes? As always, leave me anything your heart desires in the comments. And if you’re so inclined, share me with your friendZ!-Z