How Affiliate Marketing Works On Instagram
So we’re guessing you probably
already know what affiliate marketing is, but for those of you new to
the world of affiliate links, the idea is simple. Businesses offer commissions
to marketers who promote their products. You find a product to market and you
receive a tracking link. For every sale that happens because of your link, you
make a profit.
Instagram is just one platform you can use for this. You can place your
tracking links on your profile or posts and for every sale you help generate,
you will receive commissions.
Why
Instagram Affiliate Marketing?
Why are we writing about affiliate
marketing on Instagram and not how to run an e-commerce shop or become an
influencer?
Because affiliate marketing on Instagram is the easiest way to make money online, with minimal setup costs and zero
product creation. Simply find a product on an affiliate network you would like
to market, get your unique tracking link, and start including your tracking
links in your Instagram posts.
Why Instagram and not any other social media platforms?
Every social media platform has its merit for affiliate marketing.
The beauty of Instagram is that it has over 1 billion users and one-third of
those users are between 25 and 34 - which is a key demographic for a
LOT of businesses. With the added bonus of influencers using the platform
and promoting products for a fee, it means Instagram is
the perfect place to start affiliate marketing.
3 Tips On
How to Make Money On Instagram
1. Find
Your Niche And Build A Following
Like with any business, it’s important to find your niche in affiliate marketing, as well. Posting general
content may appeal to a wider audience but you are less likely to get followers
if you post about too many different topics. The aim is to build an association
of your brand and personality with one particular area. For example, if you
post a lot about going to the gym and fitness, people will start to trust that
you are an expert on health & fitness.
Sign Up or Log In to Digistore24 and Browse Health &
Fitness Offers
You don’t have to get stuck in a
niche, though...
Your niche can be a starting point and you can then branch out to related
topics. From the fitness example we just mentioned, you can transition into
promoting dieting or wellbeing offers. They’re not the exact same topic but
they are closely related.
This way you build authority on the subject and will gain followers who are
interested in the topics you regularly cover, and trust your views and
content.
Once you know what to post about, it’s time to get posting!
The key here is to post as consistently as possible. Set yourself a plan of how
many posts and what type of posts to do each week. You don’t have to do this
each day; instead, you can create all your posts at once and then use a
scheduling platform like Hootsuite to schedule for later.
Below are a few ideas to help you out to get more followers on Instagram.
- Create quality content - spend time creating the best images or
explaining useful ideas to your audience. The aim is always to provide
value to your followers.
- Use popular hashtags - Hashtags are a great way to get more visibility
so use them in your profile and posts. Just make sure they are specific to
your niche.
- Don’t buy followers - Buying followers is a false economy, it may look
appealing but it isn’t real, they don’t interact with you and they won’t
use your affiliate links.
- Get involved - find out what the people in your niche are
talking about and what their problems are. Interact with them in comments
and offer solutions to their issues (linking to affiliate products and
offers when applicable).
- Consider investing a little - You can become an Instagram whiz without ever
spending a dime. However, if you want to speed up the process, consider
paying for a shoutout from an influencer with a bigger following than you
or running a few sponsored posts. Just make sure to keep an eye on how
much you are spending and how many followers you actually gain.
The thing to remember is nothing
happens overnight. Building up a solid follower base and a reputation in your
niche takes time. Our advice is to keep at it, post regularly, and get involved
with your followers, and you will get there!
2.
Promote Your Affiliate Links In Key Locations
Instagram can be tricky with exactly where you can put links. This is because Instagram obviously wants to keep users on their platform as long as possible. Below is a list of how exactly to promote products using Instagram.
Here’s how to promote your affiliate links on Instagram:
- Link in bio: we’ve all seen this one and it is a useful tool.
Especially as a beginner, you can pop the link to your main (or best
earning) product here and include the line on every post.
- Upgrade your bio link: if you promote a range of products and have quite
a few affiliate links, you can use the bio link to take the user to a
gallery of all your links. You can do this simply by building a webpage
that shows all your affiliate links or you can use a platform like linkin.bio by
Later, or LinkTree.
- Links in captions: you can include calls to action in your captions.
These are basically sentences asking the user to do something. If it
includes using your link, you may want to use a link shortener like Bitly so it’s easier for
the user to type it into their browser as Instagram doesn’t allow you to
add links directly.
- Links on images: you can include your link as text on an image
post. Of course, users won’t be able to click on it so use the link
shortener mentioned above so it’s easier to type into the URL.
- Use sponsored posts: although these will cost money, you can include
links on any sponsored posts you create... so use them sparingly to
promote products once you have seen some income from your Instagram
marketing.
Advanced
tip: Once you have over ten thousand followers on a
business account, you can add your links to your stories using the “swipe-up”
feature.
3.
Quality And Variety Are The Keys To Success
So, now you have an idea of how to build a following and where to put your affiliate links, but what should you actually post? We will give you a brief overview of each type of post and how to use them. The key here is to stick to your regular posting schedule and to keep producing useful content consistently.
Images
Your images need to stand out as much
as possible. There are a few ways to do this. Travel photos are easy to make
look stunning but for any other niche, it can be tricky. So use the best
quality camera you can and spend time setting up photos. Think about the color
palette, and what colors are appropriate for your style and niche? Next, try
and showcase the products you are marketing being used. You want to make any
promotions eye-catching and also tempting to the user.
Carousels
Carousels are a great way of
explaining something in a little more detail. Use these for two purposes:
talking about your product or offering help to your followers. For talking
about your product, try and find a problem that it solves, then set up a
carousel to explain the problem and then offer your product as a solution. Or
you can simply reveal exactly why this product is great. The second method,
offering help, is to build your following and show that you can give regular
value. Explain how to do something you know well. Whether that’s a workout at
the gym, a meditation technique or a wellbeing idea, explain something you do
regularly that could help other people.
Videos
The best way to use videos as an affiliate marketer is for
reviews. Show how using the product has improved your life, or a setup
guide to the product. Even an unboxing video. All of these ways of reviewing
the product helps to offer more visibility. Then, you can include links in the
video or in the caption below. (Remember: these can’t be clicked on so use a
link shorten-er where possible).
All of the posts mentioned above can be great ways to get sales. One extra
thing you can do is try to funnel people into your mailing list. That way you
have regular and direct access to your followers and you can offer your
discounts and affiliate links to them every time you send a newsletter.
Final
Takeaway