In April, we published the article “How to Start Working in an Affiliate Marketing Team”. There, we shared a list of positions available to those with experience and those who just googled the definition of “affiliate marketing” the day before yesterday. 

However, we unjustly omitted the roles of copywriter/content manager and chat moderator, who also make a significant contribution and help ordinary affiliate teams transform into full-fledged communities. 

Today, we have an interview for you with the content creator and chat moderator of the Traffic Devils team — Alina Chernetska.

In three years in this field, Alina has written over 200+ articles, generated content for social networks, managed affiliate blogs, and developed content strategies. She knows how to respond to the weirdest questions in chats, what to write about on Telegram, and which memes will definitely resonate with the audience. 

Is it necessary to know how to drive traffic to write about affiliate marketing? What’s a typical day for a content creator and moderator? What qualities are needed to work in an affiliate team? Find out in our interview. Let’s go!

Hello! Tell us about your background and how you found yourself in the world of affiliate marketing?

Hello! In 2020, I started working as a copywriter in online media. I found my first job on work.ua, where the chief editor’s contact was listed. At the interview, she asked if I liked the specifics of the media, to which I replied, “Oh, yes, of course”. In reality, I didn’t know what that field was, I glanced at a couple of articles and decided — well okay. The first task was the article “How to Create a Chatbot in WhatsApp”. My thoughts were something like, “What is this? Where am I and where are bots? Who even uses WhatsApp?”. But what can you do, I went to find ways to cope 😂 That was the beginning.

Later, I became the editor’s assistant. Learning the specifics of the field was not easy, as at that time there were not many media outlets and they expected really useful info from me (spoiler: without experience, it’s unreal to find it, at most — from the terms of reference). In the beginning, I sometimes spent 2-3 days on one article just to at least understand the topic and submit the text for the first edits. As it turned out, this time was not wasted. 

Many people don’t know that your articles on affiliate marketing have become an important source of information for them. Tell us about yourself as a person who works professionally with text. How long have you been working in this field and how many articles have you written?

I have been writing all my life. In childhood, these were some songs, in adolescence — poems, during student years — assignments for classmates, and in more adult life — content and articles. 

I started working exactly three years ago. At my first job, I wrote 150 articles, including promotional materials (reviews and instructions for services and affiliate programs) and analytics, plus there were digests, news, posts, and blogs of the magazine’s partners (these are not included in the number). Later, I worked part-time at another online media for a bit. There, I didn’t write many materials, as after four months, I was invited to work full-time in an affiliate program. For this company, I wrote for almost a year, and some interviews and articles for blogs were also created by me. In our industry, the author’s name is very rarely mentioned and, on one hand, it’s good because often people try to hide who is behind the project, and on the other hand — bad, because many authors remain unnoticed if they don’t attend meetups or conferences.

You are currently working in the Traffic Devils team. Tell us how you ended up there, what you do, and what your duties are in the team?

Yes, I’ve been with TD for more than half a year now. I was invited to the team by Viktoria Bakalova, with whom we worked together in the affiliate program. Even back then, it was clear that there was a creative match between us. Together we come up with and implement various ideas well. Viktoria thought chat communication was ideally suited for me, which is why she wanted to see me in the team.    

Currently, my main tasks are creating content for the TG-channel Traffic Devils and monitoring the conversation in our chat: enforcing rules, assisting subscribers with their questions, and maintaining lively communication.

We would like to know about your daily schedule. How do you manage your time? What time do you usually wake up, what do you do in the morning, and what are your usual activities during the workday?

The first thing I do when I wake up, whether at night or in the morning, is to check what’s happening in the chat, and then later I have my own business and communication with colleagues. Usually, I also have messages from people who want to become TD partners or from troublemakers who want to get unbanned. In this routine, my morning begins.

At the same time, I switch to communicating with the team that helps answer questions and with our PR department, which deals with content creation. My workday typically goes on in the alternation of all these actions (sometimes everything happens simultaneously). Sometimes it’s hard because of the large amount of communication, but the management creates all the conditions to make me comfortable and also provides nice bonuses if there are overtimes.  

If I have the energy, I go for a run in the evening because the PR department at TD came up with a cool motivation for employees, and I also want to join. And if I feel like a strong woman, I try to read something, but that has to be an ideal day. 

What can you tell us about working in the Traffic Devils team? What are the peculiarities of this job?

The first thing I can say: this job is not for everyone, and definitely not for those without experience in the industry and who are looking for something stable and calm.

Working at TD, you always need to be mobile, empathetic to others who also work a lot and may be tired at times, interested in your own and your team’s results, and quick to react to events. This is particularly important when your work is visible to a large number of people. For example, as a copywriter, if you make a mistake in an article, it will be caught and corrected at the editing stage. But in the case of the chat, people will immediately notice a slip-up, which can cost you reputation or subscribers’ trust, so you need to be careful.

Do you have extensive theoretical experience in affiliate marketing? Have you tried traffic arbitrage yourself?

Yes, to better understand the target audience, I once spent $100 on push notifications, didn’t get a single lead, and still remember the feeling of excitement when constantly refreshing the stats and expecting something.

Maybe I’d like to try again, but I don’t seriously think about it because I have other things to do.

You usually respond to questions and assist in the chat very promptly. What are the three most common questions you encounter? Could you answer them right away?

In my own TOP are such questions:

  • How to get into affiliate marketing
  • What is needed to work at TD
  • How much is needed to start

We provide answers to all these questions both in the chat and in our Telegram channel.

If there are questions in the chat that you can’t answer, do you turn to the team? How does the communication take place?

Obviously, it’s impossible to know everything that is asked. In our chat, there are people who work with Facebook, Google, TikTok, Telegram, etc. Additionally, there’s technical stuff, TD products, partnership questions, and just something like “Tell me, what iPhone does Slobozhenko have?”. So, I collaborate with a lot of specialists who help answer. Sometimes they go into the services at my request and make the necessary screenshots so that I can give more comprehensive answers.

Regarding communication, I don’t want to disclose the organizational issues of TD, but I will say this: if I know — I answer myself, if I don’t know — I look for an answer or ask those team members who have expertise in this area. Despite their busy schedules, they find the time and help get the answer. This is cool, I am very grateful to these people :).

There are a lot of newcomers in the chat with whom you communicate. What can you advise newcomers in affiliate marketing?

Don’t fall for images on Instagram and don’t expect quick results. In my opinion, a person interested in affiliate marketing and wanting to understand what to Google, should look for articles explaining basic information: what is the affiliate industry, what directions are there in it, who are advertisers and affiliate programs, etc., and later move on to more complex things like searching for cases, setting up ad campaigns, disguising links, and so on. Information about them can also be found for free on Google or YouTube.

In the chat, apart from work conversations, other topics are also popular, for example, “TD Girls”, “Victoria Bakalova and her stories”, “how to get into TD: legal and not so legal methods”, “Toha and his path to becoming a star”. Tell us about your favorite non-work topic from the chat. Do you share any funny moments with the team?

Of course, we respond to everything our audience writes: positive feedback, what they liked, what they didn’t, or what topics interest them, etc. Together with the team, we decide what content is worth publishing, based on the requests of our subscribers. 

I really love non-work-related topics, as it’s in these moments that people truly open up, and it becomes possible to understand what kind of material to offer them, besides information about traffic. 

One such situation is the story with Toha. Honestly, I don’t remember the exact moment when this guy became a star of the chat. He just came to us, asked something about ad runs, and later shared what worked and what didn’t, and where exactly he faced difficulties. Because of Toha’s authenticity, we remembered him and know that a sixteen-year-old boy without experience started working and even managed to get a job as a farmer. For us, every story is interesting and important. For example, I already know about the projects of several of our subscribers, I guess from whom and what reaction to expect, which jokes will be funny. Such informal communication greatly helps to understand who our people are and how exactly we can be useful to them. 

How do you feel about the fact that the girls from TD, especially Victoria Bakalova, and you are discussed in the chat? Are there moments that are unpleasant for you to read? Do you and Vika discuss such topics from the chat?

Comments about Vika don’t surprise me, on the contrary, they even please me. Firstly, because of the industry’s specificity, where men predominantly work (there’s nothing to hide, Vika is a very beautiful and stunning girl), and secondly, because I know how much she works and how much soul she puts into our projects. So, the compliments are entirely justified, and it’s always nice when a person is appreciated :). Negative comments are rare, and we know how to handle them, so we don’t get upset.

Speaking of myself, comments like: “Hello, guys, can you tell me…” make me laugh. Often such comments are written by those who have already spoken with me personally. I can send this to our girls’ chat and write something like: “What’s up, guys, everything okay?”

What do you prefer more – the office or remote work? How do you like to work? Where’s the better vibe, at home or in the office?

Traffic Devils is the first place where I have the opportunity to work in an office. In TD, all conditions are there to feel super comfortable. I like both ways, so when choosing a workplace, I go by my mood. 

What inspires you at this stage of life? People, companies, goals?

I inspire myself, as I see a successful environment and know that I have room to grow. 

To be invited to conferences, at a minimum, you need to learn languages. To continue being useful to the team — to strengthen one’s own competence and constantly develop, to understand colleagues — to find time for the development of soft skills, etc. In short, to get someone to offer you an interview, you actually have to do a lot. But there’s more to come. 

How do you like to spend your free time? Where do you recharge your energy?

I sleep, read, and visit interesting places. Actually, if you’re moderating a chat, having 100% free time is a fantasy. There is no such thing as a total day off for me, because sometimes people urgently need help or do something with spam attacks. You always have to be ready for the fact that you need to engage and react to the situation on time. 

What personal qualities helped you achieve success?

Responsibility, honesty, curiosity, unwillingness to settle for little, and love for my work. All these qualities combined help to develop and get everything that I have been getting over the past year :). 

Are you currently in Poland? Do you plan to return to Ukraine after the war to work there? Will you be working there or will you be working for both countries?

That’s a very tough question. For now, I don’t know what will happen next and I’m not making any plans regarding where to live. I’m here for now, but I will definitely visit Ukraine. 

What picture or meme has recently lifted your spirits?

I absolutely adore the memes we create for the TG-channel Traffic Devils. For several months now, my favorite has been this meme because it aptly describes the lives of our subscribers 🙂 

Lastly, what three words would you use to describe Geek?

A very difficult name 😂

With the letter ґ in the name, it’s hard to find you quickly. But joking aside, — humor, intellect, community. 

I know that you were the first in Ukraine to decide to focus on the development of the Ukrainian affiliate community. That’s really cool, you guys are doing great, thank you for such an interesting interview. I wish you further development and our soonest victory!

We thank Alina for agreeing to give an interview to Geek. We hope you found it interesting to delve into the life of a person who broadcasts important thoughts about affiliate marketing through content.

Alina’s story proves that it’s not just media buyers. So, add one more affiliate marketing position to your treasure chest. If you already have copywriting skills in your pocket and are ready to try something new despite all the difficulties, then you have every chance to join an affiliate team. It all depends only on you.

We are grateful for your attention and take this opportunity to invite you to join our Ukrainian affiliate community in Telegram.

Your Geek!

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