Your Complete Guide to Instagram Affiliate Marketing (Without Paying for Ads)

If you want to learn how to successfully promote affiliate marketing offers using Instagram, without paying for ads, you're in the right place...

Over the years, Instagram has turned into a ‘marketer’s delight’ rather than being a mere online photo-sharing application. ​​Today, customers are looking for brands on Instagram - with many considering a business’ Instagram presence as a stamp of authority and authenticity - and for products to buy online. 

Hence, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when we state that Instagram is the best friend of affiliate marketing. 

With an engagement rate greater than Twitter, Snapchat, and even Facebook, Instagram offers a plethora of opportunities for affiliate marketers to actively promote brands and products. 

But where to start? 

And more importantly, how do you successfully promote other people’s or client’s products using Instagram affiliate marketing? 

Let’s dig in.

Two-Step Process to Fuse Instagram and Affiliate Marketing Perfectly

Assuming that you have already found an affiliate network or platform, such as Digistore24, to browse affiliate offers, below are two steps to use Instagram to promote the best affiliate marketing products:

How To Promote Affiliate Products on Instagram

Step 1: Build a following for yourself

Unless you’re running ads, without a sizable number of followers, there is no point in using Instagram for your affiliate marketing needs if you’re looking to seriously cash in and replace your full-time income. 

However, when we say build a following, we don’t expect you to become a Kylie Jenner or Ariana Grande. 

If you have around 5,000 to 10,000 followers, you’re good to become a successful affiliate. 

Also, when a non-celebrity has 10K followers, it clearly indicates they’ve been posting quality content consistently in their preferred niche for quite some time now. Remember, choosing one of the best affiliate marketing niches is an essential key step to succeed on Instagram. 

We also understand that many of you wouldn’t have hit the magic number yet. 

Hence, here are some more ways to build a following for yourself:

Pro Digistore24 Tip: Engage in joint ventures with other popular Instagrammers in your niche, such as to get shoutouts. A shoutout is a feature where one user promotes another user on their own Instagram account.

Step 2: Place the affiliate link at the right places

The rule is simple - you can add affiliate links wherever Instagram allows links. For example, you can place the affiliate link in your bio. This is ideal if you’re always promoting the same brand, product, or link - say, a brand ambassador for a particular brand or product. 

Similarly, you can add affiliate links to your picture posts (or stories if you’ve hit the 10K follower mark). All you have to do is end the caption of your post with the affiliate links. However, affiliate URLs are typically long and ugly, which may spoil the aesthetics of your post. 

Pro Digistore24 Tip: Always shorten the affiliate link URL. A popular URL shortener is bitly.com. Once shortened, your URL will look less messy and easier for the eyes. Also, it will enable you to embed the links directly to the picture. The user can also easily remember the URL and manually type it in their browser.

Key Takeaways

If you aren’t on Instagram, you’re missing out on one of the easiest and most effective social media opportunities for affiliate marketing. The high engagement, trust, and billions of users make it a powerful medium for you to grow with your affiliate marketing efforts. 

So get out there and start your affiliate marketing journey right away on Instagram.

Want to become a Digistore24 affiliate? Simply go here to register for free.