For years, we’ve been posing for the ‘gram. Taking selfies of our best angles. Snaps of delicious dishes. Shots of our favourite holiday spots. And photos of anything you can think of and sharing them with our many followers. Since the first photograph went live in 2010, millions of images and videos have been posted, some of which promote products and services for different businesses. What does this mean for Affiliates? Well, you have the potential to generate revenue on Instagram by simply posting an image or video. 

What makes Instagram ideal for affiliate marketing

Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social media platform. In Q3 2021, Instagram had two billion active users, and it has since maintained a stable growth rate. On schedule, it will surpass 2.5 billion this year. Added to the high traffic numbers, Instagram has content formats that showcase a 360-degree view of products to consumers before making their purchases.

How to use Instagram for affiliate marketing

1.     Set up a creator or business account

The first step is not required but it will help you establish some credibility and legitimacy with your followers. For bloggers, influencers, and content providers, Instagram has created business profiles. Setting up a business account will give you access to resources such as user insights and streamlined messaging that will enable you to expand your affiliate business on the platform. By segmenting your Instagram DMs, you can manage inquiries from people interested in your affiliated items as well as track your follower growth and audience demographics.

2.     Build your audience

On Instagram, the quality of your content is more important than the number of posts you put out. You don’t need tens of thousands of followers to establish a successful affiliate revenue stream. What you need is an audience who likes what you share, trusts what you say, and as a result, clicks and makes purchases from your affiliate links.

• Post at optimal times which are highlighted in your Instagram insights.
• Consistency is key. Posting content regularly provides an opportunity for your audience to engage with your content.
• Don’t spam your timeline with affiliate-related content. Your content shouldn’t be dominated by affiliate posts. Try to use the 1-in-20 principle – that is, 5% of your posts should be affiliate posts.

Ways to succeed as an affiliate on Instagram

1.     Follow the Instagram guidelines

Instagram has strict guidelines on how affiliates should disclose their relationships with brands. This means adding your affiliate content with a “paid partnership” or “I am compensated for purchases made using the links in this article” reference.

2.     Use hashtags

Your success as an affiliate marketer depends on having a growing Instagram following. Hashtags (#) help you reach a larger audience without too much effort. Before adding tens of hashtags to your post, check that they aren’t on Instagram’s banned hashtag list.

3.     Keep track of your performance

Instagram’s creator account gives you key insights and analytics that you can use to track the success of your affiliate marketing campaigns. Look for profile activity, engagement rate, and brand awareness metrics. These will inform you on how well your content is doing and guide you on which areas you should work on for improved results.

4.     Align your products to your niche and your content

When choosing whom to partner with, be sure to select a business that sells services or products that are related to your audience, the content you create and your niche market. For example, if you’re a florist, partnering with a gaming company would not align with your audience and your content.

•   Add product tags with stickers to all your posts. You can go back and edit your previous post to add affiliate product tags.

5.     Don’t forget to share your affiliate links

To make money as an affiliate, your followers need to purchase through or click on the affiliate links you share. Don’t forget to add that link to your IG stories, reels, and your posts and even add it to your bio. If you’re a creator with over 10k followers, you can add a swipe-up link to your stories.

Use tools like Tap Bio to build landing pages that contain more than one affiliate link.

6.     Record product demos

Consumers want ease. They don’t like navigating pages to look for answers to their ‘how to’ questions. Create videos demonstrating how to use the product you’re promoting through stories, reels, or do an Instagram LIVE. try to avoid a sales pitch and instead simply demonstrate how to utilise the product or service.

An important factor when using Instagram as an affiliate is to make sure that the business you work for is trustworthy. You must trust the company you’re an affiliate for and the services they provide. Your audience trusts your recommendations and if their experience with the company doesn’t go well, you could potentially lose your audience’s trust.

Not yet an Affiliate Marketer?

It’s easy to become an Affiliate and even easier if it’s with Alison. There is no application form so once you’ve created your Alison account, you can become an Affiliate with a click of a button.

Go to our Affiliate Page and click the button “Become an Affiliate”. Once you accept the T&Cs, you are fully registered. It’s that easy! You can also join one of our informative webinar sessions and speak directly with an Alison representative to learn more about empowering others as an Alison affiliate.

Using the Affiliate link generator, share your Affiliate links online with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and anyone else you can think of who might benefit from our free educational and professional tools. 

You will receive 20% of the revenue generated by the new learners who come to Alison through your Affiliate links. 

There you have it. All the tips and tricks to take your affiliate marketing career on Instagram to the next level. To learn more about rules, your eligibility, and how you can make a success of your affiliate career on Instagram, read here.