AFFILIATE MARKETING GUIDE WITH INSTAGRAM
Instagram affiliate marketing is a strategy for promoting affiliate links that are frequently disregarded. But when done properly, it can be very powerful.
Instagram can be employed as a stand-alone tool or as a crucial component of your complete affiliate marketing plan.
Are you unsure whether or not IG affiliate marketing is for you? In this post, we examine affiliate marketing on a well-known social media network in more detail.
We're delving into Instagram statistics, various strategies for product promotion, productive Instagram affiliates, and more. Let's get started!
IS INSTAGRAM APPROPRIATE FOR AFFILIATE MARKETING?
Can Instagram be used for affiliate marketing, yes.
In actuality, there are a number of ways to use Instagram for affiliate marketing.
A useful resource for affiliate marketers is Instagram. Over 1 billion people visit it each month, making it the sixth most popular website on the internet.
The only content types on this heavily visual social media platform are images and videos.
In order to compete with other social media juggernauts like Snapchat and Tik Tok, Instagram has recently placed a strong emphasis on vertical video content in the form of Instagram Stories and Reels.
HOW DOES INSTAGRAM AFFILIATE MARKETING WORK?
There are other ways to profit from affiliate marketing on Instagram (for more original ideas, be sure to also read our tutorial on how to profit from Instagram).
The 'traditional way' of Instagram affiliate marketing entails joining affiliate networks, developing a following in your specialized area, and sharing your links with your audience.
Instagram Affiliate, a new program that the company is gradually introducing for influencers, is the "new way" of Instagram affiliate marketing.
Instagram's new program makes it simpler than ever to use affiliate marketing in particular areas to monetize the network.
LATEST: NEW 'INSTAGRAM AFFILIATE' OPTION FOR INFLUENCERS
Instagram unveiled a new native affiliate tool for producers in June 2021. This application was created to make it simpler for Instagram artists and influencers to monetize their work. 'Instagram Affiliate' is a fitting term for it.
With the help of this new scheme, you may recommend things on Instagram and get paid for them quickly and easily.
So, precisely how will it operate?
Instagram says that creators will be able to tag the precise products they use in their content, track sales that result from their posts, and get paid for those sales.
It will be interesting to see how this program develops over the next several months and years, although it first seems like it will be best for beauty influencers.
ADDITIONAL WAYS TO USE INSTAGRAM FOR AFFILIATE MARKETING
Although it seems great, the new Instagram Affiliate tool also appears to be very constrained. It will only be available to specific companies even when it is made available to all creators.
Fortunately, even if you are not an Instagram influencer, don't have a sizable following, or aren't in the beauty niche, there are still ways to engage in affiliate marketing on Instagram.
Any niche or profile type can benefit from growing a niche following and promoting pertinent goods and services, but this is the "old way" and the most effective way to use Instagram affiliate marketing.
You can join any affiliate program in any industry, add links to it in your bio, and use posts, stories, and reels to advertise the goods and services.
Although it seems simple, it's more complicated than that. Here are some more thorough descriptions of each type of Instagram affiliate marketing strategy.
THE BEST WAYS TO USE INSTAGRAM FOR AFFILIATE MARKETING
- Direct Linking to your Instagram Story and Bio.
- Growing Your Affiliate Funnel Email List.
- Promoting Your Affiliate Website.
1. DIRECT LINKING TO BIO/STORY
Although you cannot add clickable links to captions on Instagram, each profile has a link space in the bio.
Although you don't need an Instagram business account to add a link to your bio, you should still create one if you want access to analytics and tracking.
You may add your affiliate link or links on Instagram in a few different ways.
Put the link in your bio, or add several links using a tool like LinkTr.ee.
Utilize the sticker link feature to add the link to your Instagram Story.
In the beginning, direct linking can be a successful Instagram affiliate marketing tactic, but there are other ways to capture your Instagram audience more.
2. AFFILIATE WEBSITE PROMOTION
Utilizing your profile to advertise your affiliate website is another approach to leveraging Instagram for affiliate marketing.
To review and promote numerous affiliate items, many affiliate marketers build specialist websites.
If you have an affiliate website, brand your Instagram account to match it and utilize your bio link to advertise recent blog posts, product reviews, and other content.
3. GROW AN AFFILIATE FUNNEL EMAIL LIST AS THE PERFECT AFFILIATE MARKETING STRATEGY FOR INSTAGRAM.
The most effective strategy to use affiliate marketing on Instagram is definitely to build an email list.
You may market to individuals repeatedly once you use your Instagram profile to gather email addresses and build a subscriber list.
You lose out on the chance to remarket to that traffic when you direct it solely to an affiliate link or your website.
By developing distinct email sequences for each affiliate product, you can market a variety of products after your email list has grown.
Later on, you can continue to advertise the same affiliate products. Sometimes after becoming familiar with a product, people are more likely to make a purchase. Your affiliate email list may benefit greatly from remarketing.
HOW MANY FOLLOWERS DO YOU REQUIRE FOR INSTAGRAM AFFILIATE MARKETING?
There is no actual "magic number" of followers for Instagram affiliate marketing, which may come as a surprise to you.
In actuality, overall profile engagement is much more important than the following count. The number of followers you have does not matter as much as the level of engagement. The more comments, likes, and saves your posts receive, the better.
You might be shocked to learn that influencer status does not require you to have 100,000+ followers. Even accounts with 1,000 followers might be regarded as influencers.
Here are a few typical definitions of an influencer:
- 1,000–10,000 followers for a nano influencer
- 10k–50k followers Micro influencer
- A Mid-tier influencer with between 50k and 500k followers.
- 500k–1 million followers, macro influencer
- Mega-influencer: 1 million+ fans
On Instagram, you don't even need 1,000 followers to begin affiliate marketing. As soon as you register, you may add your URL to your bio.
However, your chances of success increase as you gain more followers and engagement.
HOW TO SET UP AFFILIATE MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM
The secret to becoming an effective Instagram affiliate marketer is making the commitment to consistency and constant content improvement based on your audience. Here is a starting point.
1. PICK A NICHE AND LAUNCH YOUR PROFILE
Selecting a specialty should come first. What sort of profile are you looking to make? What sort of followers are you hoping to draw?
Picking a specialty that you genuinely enjoy and/or are knowledgeable about is the greatest place to start. When you are knowledgeable about a niche or subject, it is much simpler to produce relevant content.
Create a new Instagram Business profile once you've chosen a niche.
Although it is not necessary to have a business profile, having analytics is extremely beneficial for growth.
Instagram analytics will show you which of your posts do the best as well as the best days of the week to post as well as what time of day your followers are most active.
2. AFFILIATE NETWORKS SIGN UP
It's time to join an affiliate network (or several), once you've chosen your niche, so you can start pushing things.
There are numerous affiliate networks and affiliate programs to pick from. You can market millions of tangible things on Amazon, for instance, thanks to Amazon.
You could choose to merely join up for jewelry affiliate programs or clothing affiliate programs if you want to build a fashion account.
However, a platform like JVZoo might be more appropriate for you if you want to concentrate on software or other digital goods.
3. INSTAGRAM AFFILIATE CONTENT CREATION
What does affiliate content on Instagram look like?
Because Instagram users are intelligent, you won't get many conversions if all you do is promote your affiliate links in an unnatural way.
Showcase physical goods in a natural way if you are promoting them. Lifestyle images and films are excellent for showcasing a product's benefits without seeming unduly promotional.
You'll need to be more imaginative if you want to promote digital things like software, services, or courses.
Present product results in the form of case studies, reviews, and testimonials in both photo and video format.
Show audiences what goes on behind the scenes to create the course materials or the software. Even creating tutorials is possible.
Once more, observe your rivals' product promotion strategies for ideas and base your material on what is effective.
DEVELOPING A NEW PROFILE: HOW TO DO IT
You want to begin acquiring followers as soon as you begin a fresh Instagram profile. To hasten the process, you can either do it naturally or pay for advertisements or shout-outs from influencers.
Here are some tips for developing a new profile's fan base.
- Generate quality and pertinent content.
- Apply the correct and trendy hashtags.
- Socialise and grow.
- Think about sponsored posts.
SUCCESSFUL INSTAGRAM AFFILIATE MARKETING GUIDELINES
Especially for a beginner, building a new Instagram profile can feel intimidating.
Instagram affiliate marketing is a long-term commitment, and with practice, you will learn and improve at it. Here are some pointers to help you succeed right away.
- GET SKILLED IN CONTENT CREATIVITY
To start, you must learn how to produce high-quality content. Develop your own style and voice while keeping an eye out for what other successful accounts are doing.
Try out various content formats, such as photo posts, carousel posts, Stories, Reels, and short videos.
Keep an eye out for the content kinds that perform well on your account and strive to repeat them as frequently as you can.
A post or video that becomes popular online once is likely to do so again. For comparable outcomes, try reposting previously popular content.
Every day, you should interact with new accounts and post to your account.
You ought to at the very least publish once per day. The Instagram algorithm places a high value on consistency, and if you are less active on the platform, it will start to limit your reach.
To increase engagement, you should also like and reply to each remark left on your images. By posting a question in your captions and in reaction to comments on your posts, try to stimulate repeat remarks.
- CHECK YOUR ANALYSIS
When building an Instagram profile, analytics is a crucial tool. You'll be able to see the following when you monitor your analytics:
The best day for engagement and posting (but I still post every day) and the most effective times of day to post
How many people came across your material via feed, explore page, or hashtags? Which images and videos got the most attention?
By monitoring metrics, Instagram affiliate marketers can produce better and more interesting content.
- PURCHASE SHOUT-OUTS FROM BIG INFLUENCERS
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 view your profile or follow you.
The size of the influencer, the level of engagement, and the sort of post all affect prices.
THINGS TO AVOID WHEN MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM
There are a few things you should never do if you want your Instagram marketing to be successful. The following are some dos and don'ts:
- NEVER SOUND SPAMMY
Users of Instagram are wise. Avoid spamming!
Spammy behavior might, at worst, result in a permanent Instagram suspension. You just won't experience any following increase or product sales, at best.
The follow/unfollow approach, participating in comment pods or groups, DMing users, etc. are examples of spammy activities.
Spammy content is highly promotional and meaningless. Even though it may be tempting, stuffing your profile with promotions will never result in sales.
- NEVER PURCHASE FOLLOWERS.
Despite the temptation, you should never buy followers for your account. Don't be fooled if you receive DMs from individuals or businesses attempting to sell you, followers.
You'll experience a surge in new followers after purchasing followers. But the majority, if not all, of these "followers" are phony accounts or automated programs. Your follower count may increase, but your account engagement rate will decrease as a result. None of these new followers will engage with your content.
Instagram will stop showing your account to new users if your engagement rate drops. Although the increase in numbers might appear positive at first, it could ultimately harm your entire profile.
- AVOID STEALING CONTENT
Instagram users frequently repost content. Reposting popular content might help you get followers and build your account, but you should never do it without giving credit to the original creator.
There are those who advise against reposting without first obtaining permission, yet there are no laws that forbid it.
Make sure to cite the original author in both the caption and the image when reposting content from another account. Additionally, act quickly if someone requests that you remove their post.
BOTTOM LINE
You can utilize Instagram affiliate marketing on its own or in conjunction with your other affiliate marketing tactics.
Whatever method you use to advertise your affiliate links, social media is a priceless tool for expanding your influence and fan base.
Through direct linking, driving traffic to your website, or promoting a lead magnet to gather email list subscribers, you can advertise affiliate products on Instagram.
To advance your knowledge, enroll in an Instagram marketing school, research other accounts in your niche, and maintain consistency. You can quickly notice results on Instagram if you put up constant effort.