How to Make Money on Instagram with Affiliate Marketing

Instagram affiliate marketing is a means of promoting affiliate links that is frequently overlooked. When done correctly, though, it can be extremely effective.

Instagram can be a stand-alone tool or a vital part of your whole affiliate marketing plan.

Are you unsure if Instagram affiliate marketing is for you? We’ll take a closer look at affiliate marketing on the popular social media site in this article.

We’ll go through Instagram metrics, alternative ways for promoting products, successful Instagram affiliates, and more… Let’s get started!

Is Instagram Right For Affiliate Marketing?

In fact, there are various ways to use Instagram for affiliate marketing.

For affiliate marketers, Instagram is a valuable tool. It is the sixth most frequented website on the internet, with over 1 billion monthly visitors!

This is a very visual social media platform with just photographs and videos as content.

In order to compete with other social media companies like Snapchat and Tik Tok, Instagram has focused heavily on vertical video content in the form of Instagram Stories and Reels in recent years.

How Does Instagram Affiliate Marketing Work?

There are several ways to profit from affiliate marketing on Instagram.

Signing up for affiliate programmes, establishing a niche following, and promoting your links to your followers is the ‘traditional method’ of Instagram affiliate marketing.

The “new approach” of Instagram affiliate marketing is a new programme dubbed “Instagram Affiliate” that the site is gradually rolling out for influencers.

Instagram’s new programme makes it easier than ever to make money on the network through affiliate marketing in specific categories.

The New Instagram Affiliate Option

Instagram unveiled a new native affiliate tool for producers in June 2021. This service was created to make it easier for Instagram influencers and creators to make money on the network. ‘Instagram Affiliate’ is a clever name.

This new initiative allows you to recommend things on Instagram and get paid for it in a seamless and simple manner.

Because Instagram affiliate is still in beta, it is not yet available to all users, but it will be shortly.

Instagram noted in a post about the tool’s launch on the @creators account:

“We’re creating a native affiliate programme on Instagram as part of our continuous commitment to helping creators turn their passion into a career… Affiliate would let creators to get adequately compensated for smoothly sharing product recommendations while also making it easy for people to locate things they enjoy.”

So, how precisely will it work?

Creators will be able to tag the particular products they highlight in their content, as well as track and receive commissions on purchases that occur as a result of their post, according to Instagram.

Instagram is now testing Affiliate with makeup brands such as MAC, Sephora, Benefit, and a few more.

At first glance, this initiative appears to be geared towards beauty influencers, and it will be interesting to see how it develops over the next months and years.

Other Instagram Marketing Options

The new Instagram Affiliate tool appears to be fantastic, but it also appears to be somewhat limited. Even if it is made available to all creators, it will be confined to a few businesses.

Even if you aren’t an Instagram influencer, don’t have a large following, or aren’t in the beauty sector, there are alternative methods to accomplish affiliate marketing on Instagram.

Growing a niche following and advertising related products and services is the ‘old way’ and best approach to do Instagram affiliate marketing for any niche or profile type.

You can join any affiliate programme in any area, link to it in your bio, and promote it in articles, Stories, and Reels.

It appears simple, but it is more complicated than that. Here are more detailed descriptions for each type of affiliate marketing on Instagram.

Direct Connection
Although you cannot include clickable links in captions on Instagram, each profile has one link location in the bio.

You don’t need an Instagram business account to include a link in your bio, but you should create one if you want access to analytics and tracking.

You can include your affiliate link or links on Instagram in a few different ways.

Use a service like LinkTr.ee to add many links to your bio.
Using the sticker link option, add the link to your Instagram Story.
Direct linking can be a solid Instagram affiliate marketing technique at first, but there are alternative strategies to grab your Instagram visitors more successfully.

Promote Your Affiliate Website

Another technique to use Instagram for affiliate marketing is to advertise your affiliate website through your profile.

Many affiliate marketers develop a speciality website where they may publish reviews and promote affiliate products.

If you have an affiliate website, correlate your Instagram profile to it and use your bio link to promote recent articles, reviews, and other content.

Growing an Affiliate Marketing Email List is The Best Marketing Strategy on Instagram
The best approach to execute affiliate marketing on Instagram is to build an email list.

You may market to those people again and again if you use your Instagram profile to acquire email addresses and create a subscriber list.

When you direct traffic to an affiliate link or your website, you miss out on the chance to promote to that traffic again.

Here’s how an Instagram affiliate marketing email marketing funnel works.

Create a ‘lead magnet,’ which is a freebie that users may download after joining your mailing list.
Direct visitors to sign up with their email address to download your opt-in through your link by using engaging and relevant Instagram content.
Send a series of emails to subscribers to nurture, educate, and inspire them.
Subscribers are directed to affiliate landing pages or items.
Repeat
You can advertise many affiliate items by developing new email sequences for each one as your email list grows.

Additionally, you can market the same affiliate products in the future. People are more likely to purchase after being acquainted with the product. For your affiliate email list, remarketing might be a terrific technique.

How Many Instagram Followers Do You Need for Affiliate Marketing?

You may be surprised to hear that there is no such thing as a “magic amount” of Instagram followers for affiliate marketing.

In truth, the number of followers is less important than overall profile engagement. So it’s not about the number of followers you have, but about how engaged they are.

The more the number of likes, saves, and comments on your posts, the better!

You might be surprised to learn that you don’t need a hundred thousand or more followers to be called an influencer.

Even accounts with 1,000 followers might be deemed influential.

The following are some examples of influencer definitions:

1,000–10,000 followers: Nano influencer
10k–50k followers micro influencer
50k–500k followers: mid-tier influencer
500k–1 million follower’s macro influencer
1 million or more followers
To begin affiliate marketing on Instagram, you don’t even need 1,000 followers. As soon as you sign up, you may include your link in your bio.

The more followers and engagement you have, though, the more likely you are to succeed.

What Is The Difference Between Influencer and Affiliate Marketing?

Both sorts of marketers deal with brands, but there are some important distinctions.

Influencers generate money primarily by selling ad or link space, offering shoutouts, and working with brands through sponsorships.

Influencers are usually paid a specific sum each post or shoutout.

This is not the same as affiliate marketing. When an affiliate marketer joins an affiliate programme, they are only paid on things that are sold through their links.

In a nutshell, Instagram influencers are paid a specific fee every post. Affiliate marketers on Instagram earn commissions on any products sold through affiliate links on the platform.

How to Do Affiliate Marketing On Instagram
The secret to becoming a successful Instagram affiliate marketer is to stay consistent and improve your content based on your audience’s feedback. Here’s how you can begin.

Start Your Profile by Selecting a Niche
The first step is to select a speciality. What type of profile would you like to make? What kind of followers are you looking for?

When it comes to picking a speciality, the greatest place to start is with something you enjoy and/or are knowledgeable about. When you’re familiar with a niche or subject, it’s lot easier to develop relevant content.

Create a new Instagram Business profile once you’ve decided on a niche.

Instagram analytics will show you which posts perform best, when your followers are most active, the best days of the week to post, and more.

Subscribe to all Networks
Once you’ve chosen your speciality, you’ll need to join an affiliate network (or several) to begin pushing things.

There are numerous affiliate programmes and affiliate networks from which to pick. Amazon, for example, gives you access to millions of tangible things to promote.

If you want to build a fashion account, join up for jewellery affiliate programmes or clothes affiliate programmes first.

If you wish to focus on software or digital products, however, a marketplace like JVZoo would be ideal for you.

Instagram Affiliate Content Creation
What does affiliate content on Instagram look like?

Instagram users are smart, so if all you do is advertise your affiliate links in an inauthentic way, they’re unlikely to convert.

If you’re promoting physical goods, present them in a natural setting. Lifestyle images and videos are an excellent method to demonstrate the value of a product without being overtly promotional.

You’ll need to be more inventive if you’re promoting digital things like courses, software, or services.

Showcase product results in the form of case studies, reviews, and testimonials in photo and video.

Allow viewers to get a behind-the-scenes look at the course materials or how the software works. You can also make your own tutorials.

Look to your competition for suggestions on how they promote their items and base your material on what is already working.

Grow a Following

When you first create an Instagram account, you want to get as many followers as possible.

You can do this naturally or pay for advertisements or influencer marketing shout-outs to help speed things up.

As a fresh profile, here’s how to build a following.

CREATE Relevant High Quality Content
The most effective strategy to attract and engage new followers is to produce high-quality, relevant information on a regular basis.

You’re not even required to be in the images or videos! There are various methods to create entertaining material without having to be in the videos.

You may make a meme account, republish viral content (with credit), and do a lot more.

If you’re not sure what kind of material to make, look at other popular Instagram accounts in your niche. Examine the types of content they publish and which ones receive the most likes and comments.

You should never explicitly copy another person’s work, but you also don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Model what has worked in the past for other accounts, and you will see results in no time.

Use the Right Hashtags
Hashtags aid in the discovery of your content on Instagram, but you can’t just use any hashtags and expect them to function.

Instead, you should employ the proper hashtag strategy to ensure that your content is noticed by people across Instagram.

On Instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags each post, but you should try out different quantities to determine what works best for you.

When coming up with hashtag ideas, the first place to look is at what your competitors are doing.

Next, look for other search phrases relating to your niche on Instagram. Make a list of niche-related hashtags with 10k to 200k posts and preserve them. The majority of your tags should be made up of these hashtags.

Hashtags with a lot of postings are more likely to drown out your content. If the number of people searching for that tag is less than 10,000, it will be less effective.

Network and Expand
Finally, networking with other users and accounts is one of the most effective strategies to grow on Instagram.

Your Instagram “competition” might also help you grow!

To gain followers, you can interact with other people in their comments. You can even network with your direct competitors.

You may even buy shout-outs from niche-relevant influencers to boost your profile’s popularity.

Think About Sponsored Post
Instagram Ads are sponsored postings. Because Instagram is controlled by Facebook, sponsored posts can be created directly through the Facebook ad management.

Use sponsored posts to gain new followers, increase interaction, and raise exposure for your account.

Instagram Affiliate Marketing Tips for Success

Growing an Instagram presence from scratch can be daunting, especially for a newbie.

Instagram affiliate marketing is a long-term commitment, and with practise, you will learn and improve. Here are some pointers to help you succeed right away.

Learn How to Make Good Content
You must first learn how to develop high-quality content.

Look at what other popular profiles are doing and emulate their style and voice, but make your own.

Experiment with various types of content, such as photo posts, carousel posts, Stories, Reels, and short videos.

Take note of the types of material that do well on your account and strive to repeat them as often as possible.

If a post or video goes viral once, it’ll almost certainly go viral again. For similar outcomes, try reposting older viral content.

Be Active Every Day
Every day, you should be publishing to your account and communicating with new accounts.

You should at the very least post once a day. The Instagram algorithm values consistency, and if you’re less active on the platform, it will begin to limit your reach.

To increase your engagement rate, you should also like and respond to every comment on your images.

Ask a question in your captions and in response to comments on your posts to promote repeat comments.

Monitor Your Analytics
When it comes to establishing an Instagram profile, analytics are a must-have tool. You’ll be able to observe the following when you track your analytics:

When is the best time to post and engage?
Which photos/videos generated the most engagement at which times of day?
How many people find your content via hashtags, Explore page, or feed? Tracking analytics allows Instagram affiliate marketers to generate better and more interesting content.

Shout Outs for Sale
Consider purchasing a shoutout from an influencer in your niche if you want to develop quickly.

A shout-out is a post or story on an influencer’s profile that encourages their followers to check out your profile or follow you.

The cost depends on the influencer’s size, engagement rate, and type of post.

Do Not Rely Soley On Instagram
Instagram can be an effective affiliate marketing tool. A well-rounded affiliate marketing business, however, should not rely solely on Instagram.

Consider building a niche website or, at the very least, a landing page where you can collect email addresses and remarket different products and services to them.

Increase your brand’s reach and growth by repurposing your Instagram posts elsewhere. Instagram Reels can be used on Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms.

Conclusion

Instagram affiliate marketing can be utilised as a stand-alone tactic or as part of a larger affiliate marketing campaign.

No matter how you advertise your affiliate links, social media is an excellent tool for growing your following and influence.

You can use Instagram to sell affiliate items by directly connecting to them, driving traffic to your website, or advertising a lead magnet to get people to sign up for an email list.

To improve your talents, enrol in an Instagram marketing school, research similar accounts in your niche, and be consistent! You’ll see results on Instagram in no time if you put in consistent effort.