One of the most effective ways through which an Instagram influencer can monetize their social media activity is through Affiliate Marketing Programs.
Even though in this article we are going to focus on the Instagram platform, affiliate marketing is clearly not limited to just IG.
Affiliate marketing is an interesting form of earning income online because it is beneficial for both the brands who are looking to promote their products on Instagram and the influencers, bloggers and website owners doing the promotion. As this trend continues, more and more affiliate marketing programs are becoming available.
For additional training on how you become a successful affiliate marketer take a look at this Wealthy Affiliate Course. It’s a free training designed for anyone looking to make a profit online by selling other people’s products.
How Does Instagram Affiliate Marketing Work?
Any Affiliate Marketing is done by establishing partnerships between an affiliate marketer (the one who places a sort of advertisement on his or her website, social media, or blog) and the product’s brand or company.
The affiliate marketer earns a commission on each sale that can be attributed to their post. Such attribution is usually made through a URL link customized with a unique affiliate code. That code is what the influencer uses in their posts, so when the visitor clicks on the affiliate link. They are then sent to the sales page for the product associated with that influencer.
How To Post Links To Your Instagram Posts?
Some think that affiliate marketing is impossible because affiliate programs usually require a URL link, and Instagram doesn’t allow you to place a link every time you post a photo.
Actually, there is more than one method to post links with your affiliate code into your Instagram posts or page.
Permanent Affiliate Links In Your Bio
If you always promote the same brand or product, this can work well. You can promote the product on your posts and Instagram Stories, and tell people to click on the link in bio. Creating a sales funnel that allows you to build a follow up email list is also a smart way to use this link to promote future Instagram affiliate marketing related opportunities you may offer.
Semi-Permanent Links In Your Bio
If you want to promote a different product with each post, you can still use the links in your bio, but you’ll need to update them to the latest affiliate URL each time you publish a new post. You can still tell visitors to click the link in your bio, but when a user sees an older post and then clicks the link in your bio, he or she will land on the wrong sales page. This is why this is not considered the best way to do Instagram affiliate marketing.
Linkable Instagram Gallery App
There are some cool tools, like Link2Buy or Linkin.Bio, that allow you to set up a gallery of clickable Instagram photos in your profile. What happens when you use these tools is: 1) You insert a link in your bio that leads to your personalized Instagram gallery. 2) Once a user clicks the link, they are brought to a screen of clickable Instagram posts that lead to the related selling page.
Instagram Stories Swipe-Up
The easiest way for your followers to visit the website on the other side of your affiliate link is to add a swipe-up link to your Instagram Stories. To unlock this feature on Instagram, you first need 10,000 followers and have a business account. This is one of the main reasons why to upgrade to an Instagram Business Page. This is a very effective, fun and user-friendly way of getting clicks on your affiliate links.
By the way, if you need assistance getting 10,000 followers, consider joining our free online community for some wonderful tips on this subject.
Include The Affiliate Link In Your Photo, Description and/or Instagram Story
Finally, if your affiliate link is very short, easy to remember, and you’re always promoting the same brand or product. You can always include you affiliate link in your photo description or directly in your photos and stories.
Again these are just a few ways you can get into the new world of Instagram Affiliate Marketing. This may seem very new to you, but Instagram hasn’t been around and popular for that long, so it’s sort of new for a lot of people. Because both are so new, there is a great financial opportunity for those who do it correctly.
Be sure to read our additional articles on becoming an Instagram Influencer, and be sure to join our free online community for more great tips on how to succeed in Instagram Affiliate Marketing.
