Affiliation on Instagram: how does it work?

How to set up affiliation on an Instagram account?

Before embarking on affiliate marketing, and whatever the medium (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, a website or blog), it's crucial to be honest with your community. Trust - in you, in your helpful advice - is at the heart of it all. Affiliation allows you to earn money by talking about your passions, without ever deceiving your followers:

• Clearly state whether your content is linked to partnerships (this is now a legal requirement for influencers).
• Be honest about the products you promote: if a product doesn't seem reliable to you, if you wouldn't recommend it to a friend, don't promote it. It takes time to build a strong community, and it's easy to lose it.

Where can I share affiliate links on Instagram?

In affiliation, it's possible to share affiliate links to products simply via copy and paste. However, Instagram is quite restrictive when it comes to link placement. For example, URLs embedded in publications are not clickable. To share affiliate links on Instagram, the following locations are recommended:

• In the account bio: the bio is a key place to share affiliate links. Use a URL shortener to communicate them.
• In stories: since 2021, it has been possible to add links to stories. Please note, however, that they remain online for 24 hours only. You can create stories that are permanently accessible and highlighted on your account by adding them as Highlights.

💡 A URL shortener lets you create links that are shorter than the original link. Affilizz integrates such a solution right out of the box, so you don't have to do a thing. Now, if you use another solution, use bit.ly or Tiny URL, for example. For example, the link"bit.ly/3w3Ptcq" goes to"https://www.affilizz.com/fr/blog/pourquoi-est-ce-quil-ne-faut-pas-regarder-uniquement-le-taux-de-commission/".

How to make a success of your affiliation on Instagram?

Whether you tackle light or serious subjects, your personality is a key element of your success. The authenticity that emanates from your account and your content will help you attract followers and build a solid, loyal community.

To do affiliate marketing on Instagram, it's therefore essential to publish content regularly, use the different formats at your disposal (Stories, Real, Posts, Lives...) and choose wisely which videos to Highlight.

Then, analyzing your publication statistics will help you understand which formats work best and bring you the most affiliate commissions. You can then take a closer look at the benefits offered by the Creators program.

💡 Some key figures about Instagram, from a 2022 Moderator Blog study:
- the male/female ratio is fairly balanced, 56% women, 46% men (2022 statistic)
- commonly optimal posting times: between 5pm and 10pm
- commonly optimal posting days: Wednesday and Sunday

The Creators program

To get a Creator account on Instagram, you must first meet the following criteria:

• Have a professional account on Instagram
• Have a public profile
• Have a certain number of followers and regular posts

Once these criteria have been met, you can access advanced content creation options, such as :

• Performance analysis tools to track your account statistics, including views, interactions and conversions of your affiliate links.
• The ability to create polls and quizzes to interact with your community.
• Access to exclusive content creation tools, such as filters and video editing tools.
• The ability to broadcast high-quality live content
• A more advanced messaging system to streamline your exchanges
• Partnership opportunities with brands and companies.

These features are a real asset for managing your Instagram account, and will help you optimize your content for greater success in affiliate marketing. To activate the Creator program, go to your account settings and click on Switch to a Creator account.

Affiliate marketing on Instagram: advantages and disadvantages

Benefits:‍

👍 Inexpensive: a simple smartphone is all you need to create affiliate content featuring products you want to promote
👍 Easy to set up
👍 Huge audience potential (24 million users in France)

Disadvantages‍

👎 Restrictive on affiliate link placement
👎 Know how to take great photos or put your best foot forward on videos to create engagement and drive traffic to your links
👎 Tedious: you need to think about managing your Highlights and creating frequent content
👎 Lots of competition among influencers