Several recent developments in the social marketing space are going to make it even easier for non-affiliates to generate affiliate commissions. Social media makes it so easy for the masses to create user generated content and share their opinions on products. And now with more and more new tools available that can help people add affiliate links at the click of a button, anyone with little or no knowledge of affiliate marketing can generate affiliate revenue.

Merchants may think all these small, casual micro affiliates won’t generate much volume, but added together I think they have the potential to drive some long tail cumulative sales.

Here are some articles and recent announcements about easy affiliate linking tools, that will enable the masses to become micro affiliates.

Amazon Associates and Google Blogger Now Integrated “This new collaboration enables Bloggers to monetize their content by adding relevant Amazon products to their blog posts without interrupting the blog editing process.”

Affiliate marketing platform Skimlinks secures $1.5M Series A funding
To Expand In US “Skimlinks, which launched in December 2008, provides an affiliate links tool to enable online publishers to monetise their content by automating the process of creating and maintaining those links. The Skimlinks platform currently supports 7,000 merchants across 22 affiliate networks internationally.”

Everyone can be a ‘micro-affiliate’ now “This boom has been further propelled as social media has moved into the mainstream. The dramatic increase in the use of blogs and social networks means that effectively anyone can now become an affiliate.”

Amazon Associates Now Integrates Directly with Twitter “We are excited to announce the launch of a new feature called Share on Twitter. You can access Share on Twitter from the Site Stripe and post links to your Twitter account from Amazon detail pages in just two clicks.”

LinkShare Announces Tweetshop Integration with Twitter “Imagine an online Twitter mini-mall, where consumers can find the best deals, cool products and Publishers can even make money. With more than 50 million live Twitter accounts, the online community represents a consumer base eager for information from people they trust – what to buy, where to buy it, how to find the best deals, etc.”

Retailers Get Ready for Social Shopping Experience “Leading companies know they cannot afford to wait for customers to visit their sites,” added Mr. Grau. “They need to place their virtual storefronts where their customers congregate. This implies the nature of e-commerce is shifting from a transactional experience to a social one.”

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