With Instagram boasting roughly one billion monthly active users, it is more important than ever to work Instagram into your strategy as an affiliate marketer. The UK alone places in the top 3 countries worldwide for Instagram posts and post engagement so the potential is vast. It is no longer a platform reserved for teens or twenty-somethings; its appeal stretches far wider than that with its reputation as being the more ‘positive’ social media platform. Now is the time to take advantage. This guide outlines the 5 key steps for success on Instagram as an affiliate marketer.
- Build your following
One of the first steps when using Instagram as an affiliate marketer is to build your follower base. This is true of any social platform so of course if you have seen success on other channels, you can aim to replicate this on Instagram. You must be consistent so take time to create a social calendar in order to plan what content you are putting out and when. You should also be active so that followers are kept up to date with your brand or affiliates and don’t become bored. Use relevant hashtags but make sure to research these thoroughly as if they are too common, they will get lost amongst other brands and on the other hand, too niche means your audience won’t be able to find you. Be responsive to followers’ messages and comments as this will improve your trust-ability as a brand, placing you as an industry expert and making follower interactions more likely to lead to conversions.
- Partner with the right brands
If you are looking to partner with a brand as an affiliate make sure you choose the right ones for you. The brands you choose must be relevant to the regular content that you create or your followers will not see the partnership as genuine. Take some time to analyse your audience to find their true wants and needs as this will help you to decide whether a partnership is worth pursuing. Equally, if you are an affiliate marketer looking for influencers, again look for individuals who would represent the brand authentically and align with your values and goals. Instagram now has a new ‘Paid Partnership’ tab which guides you through ad-disclosure requirements and allows you to easily disclose your affiliate connections to your audience.
- Monetise your content
It may sound obvious but as an affiliate or affiliate marketer, you can monetise your content on Instagram. This can be done in a number of ways for example creating sponsored posts and using affiliate links to promote products. Make sure to include some sort of call to action so that followers understand where to click through to and take immediate action. Try breaking up this sort of content by running competitions and giveaways for followers as this will not only improve your image to current fans but is also an effective way to grow your audience. The monetisation features on the platform are more developed than that of TikTok for example so this could allow you to get ahead of rival platforms or affiliates not already using Instagram.
- Make use of Instagram Shopping
Instagram Shopping is a feature that allows you to make your organic posts ‘shopable’, making the process much easier for your followers and as a result more conversions for your brand. Research shows that 70% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery so it is vital that you have these tools in place. This focus on shopping, particularly within clothing and fashion products is why Instagram is a great place to start for finding affiliate partners relevant to your brand.
- Utilise the new Creator Lab
Instagram recently launched the new Creator Lab initiative which aims to help creators improve their performance on the platform. The lab is divided into specific sections such as strategy channel growth tips and monetisation. The content itself is in short video form and is created by established Instagram stars who can share their knowledge and experience. This insider knowledge could prove invaluable as it allows affiliate marketers to gain important insight and tips, especially if you zone in on creators relevant to your industry. After you have gone through the other stages of our guide, it is well worth taking the time to get to grips with Creator Lab and use the knowledge to further your strategy and posts.
It is clear that Instagram is as popular as ever and this does not seem to be fading. It is therefore important to utilise this platform to its full potential with affiliate marketing. Instagram itself has many in platform tools to help you get started and develop your strategy so take time to familiarise yourself with these. If you would like more guidance on using Instagram or other social channels as an affiliate marketer, get in touch today.
