Hitting Q3 Running, let’s make it our best quarter yet! I hope you have all your partnerships lined up and ready to go. If you’re part of my email list, you also got a reminder to start applying now for those holiday collaborations. They fill up fast and are highly sought after, so now, yes I know it seems early, is the time to start pitching and getting to know brand managers. If you’re new here, or you didn’t know, I have a Brand Contacts Directory of 150 or 250 public brand contact emails ready to be pitched to! Since we’re hoping to make this our best quarter yet, I wanted to spend a dedicated post talking about Instagram’s new affiliate program, which is 1 of 5 ways that I talked about in my How To Make Money On Instagram post.
If you’ve been creating for a while, you’re probably used to the Amazon Affiliate program and LTK (Like To Know It). Those platforms have been driving traffic away from Instagram for years, so it was only time that Instagram came up with a way to get brands and creators linking directly and monetizing from the platform to keep users on the app. Is this an update that we needed? Maybe not, but at least they’re giving creators more options to monetize!
This feature is only available for business and creator accounts on Instagram. Instagram affiliate creators will earn a commission on sales that are made from product tags in in-feed static posts, stories and reels, and from products in their shop.
How to set up Instagram Affiliate
Not everyone has access to this option though, as usual with Instagram since they like to roll things out slowly to its users. You can find it in your Professional Dashboard as “Affiliate” and it will prompt you to “Set up Affiliate”. Once you have the Instagram Affiliate option activated, you’ll be able to tag affiliate products in in-feed posts, stories, reels and live broadcasts.
Do you need a certain follow count?
No! Although with any creator profile, you should have at least 2,000 followers, with at least 100 posts, and minimum 3% engagement rate to thrive as an affiliate. That’s because it shows you have established authority in your niche and your engaged audience are enjoying that products that you are sharing.
What you can do as an Affiliate
- Make commissions directly on Instagram when your followers can tap to learn more and purchase.
- You can edit previous posts to add affiliate product tags.
- Be able to promote your affiliate posts to boost your potential earnings.
To Note: Instagram has confirmed that Instagram Affiliate will allow brands to set their own commission rates, so brands will be in control and influencers can see our payout rate upfront.
What are the benefits of Instagram Affiliate
Using this tool will make it easier for brands to find you for partnerships! It will also make it more likely that brands will comment asking to use your photo for their feed.
Remember to charge your worth!
If they like your photo enough to use it, they can pay for that. UGC (User-Generated Content) is hotter than ever, allowing influencers of any size to make money. Don’t give your content away for free! Exposure doesn’t pay the bills, and hardly ever brings enough followers to be worth it.
What are your thoughts?
It’ll be interesting to see if the payout beats third party competitors and Instagram sees the results they want. What are your thoughts? Are you excited to start using Instagram Affiliate?
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