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Affiliate Marketing on Instagram: How Your Business Can Get Started

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By now, we’re sure you’ve heard about affiliate marketing Instagram programs. And you’re probably wondering what creating one can do for your business. Maybe you’re even thinking about starting an affiliate marketing Instagram program for business but you’re just not sure where to start or how? 

This blog post will explain everything you need to know about affiliate marketing Instagram programs. So, keep reading to find out the benefits of using affiliate marketing and how you can get a suitable program running for your business.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a promotional approach that enables a brand’s partners or collaborators to market their products or services. In the affiliate relationship, the brand pays the person they are collaborating with to promote their content. It is a commission-based structure. 

Sounds familiar, right? Of course it does, because affiliate marketing is the concept underlying influencing. Influencers share brand posts and content and earn money when someone buys a product through their link. 

Often with this kind of promotion, affiliate marketing Instagram programs have influencer-specific links. When people click on these links, the brand can track various metrics for each of its affiliates, like the number of clicks and sales. 

The Difference Between Affiliate Marketing & Referral Marketing

Now, there is another kind of marketing approach that brands can use on Instagram. This is referral marketing. Often, the two get confused with each other but they’re actually very distinct. 

Referral marketing is more like a ‘word of mouth’ or ‘tell a friend’ strategy. Businesses reward customers for how many people in their network they introduce to the brand. This approach is quite popular and used by a range of companies like Airbnb and Uber. 

The fundamental difference between affiliate and referral marketing? The customer refers, while the influencer or affiliate promotes and earns a commission. 

The Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing Instagram

Anyway… back to affiliate marketing! Why would you want to run an affiliate marketing Instagram program? What benefits does marketing in this way have for your business? 

Well, there are many benefits of using this marketing technique and these are some of the best: 

Improves brand awareness and engagement

Influencer marketing is a huge deal on Instagram. Influencers are respected figures followed by other users for their expertise and niche knowledge. When an influencer tags a brand in their post, they are telling their followers that they trust in and recommend that brand. 

Because of the status that these influencers have over their following, these posts can pique their interest in your brand. So, it makes it more likely that people will follow the affiliate link to find out more about the post.

Influencer promoting affiliate product

Fosters and nurtures relationships (online and offline)

A clear benefit from implementing an affiliate marketing Instagram program is the new relationships your brand can forge. With more brand awareness and engagement come new followers and users interacting with your business. These present opportunities for your brand to create new, trust-filled relationships. 

Further, you can also nurture professional relationships with the affiliates and affiliate networks you work with. If your influencers have a wonderful experience supporting your program, then they may be open to more collaborations in the future. How you work with them affects your professional brand reputation and image.

Increased conversions and revenue

Finally, with greater awareness and engagement, and new and strong relationships, you have the opportunity to increase your conversions and profits. If customers trust the public figure or influencer that recommends your products through the affiliate marketing Instagram program, they are more likely to trust in the products and services you want them to spend their money on. 

How To Get Your Business’s Affiliate Marketing Instagram Program Started In 4 Steps

Follow these three steps to set up your brand’s affiliate marketing on Instagram.

Create your affiliate marketing Instagram program

You need to build a creative and worthwhile program to connect with potential influencers. To do this ask the following questions: 

  • What kind of commission structure will you use? Pay per click or cost per acquisition?
  • How much do your competitors pay their affiliates?
  • What are your goals for this program- financial and otherwise?
  • In addition to commissions, will you provide other incentives or rewards for motivation?
  • What are your expectations for the affiliate partner? (ie: link-sharing or number of posts per day, engagement rates, etc)

Choose an affiliate network

Affiliate networks help you manage your program successfully with a range of tools. These include things like link-tracking, payments, and access to a database of viable influencers who use affiliate links in their content. 

Through an affiliate network, you can find some suitable partner options. Moreover, you can manage the important numbers relating to influencer commissions. 

Find affiliate marketers to work with 

You have to find the right partners to work with. The influencers or affiliate marketers you select need to complement your brand and the goals of your program. 

While you can find partner options through your affiliate network, you can also headhunt or select influencers whose content you follow online. It’s important to get the right person to work with. You want somebody who has influence over your target market and offers quality content.

Reflect and revise

It’s not time to rest once your program is on the move. Yes, the affiliates are responsible for the content creation bit. But, you still need to oversee the content quality, track metrics and sales, and update any company info the influencers have when necessary. 

Monitor data on your affiliate networks to see the success of your affiliate links. Wherever necessary, make adjustments and communicate with your affiliate to keep the program up to scratch! 

Putting money into pocket

Conclusion

Brands and businesses can gain a lot from introducing affiliate marketing to their Instagram strategy. Working with influential figures on the social media platform can do wonders for your Instagram branding as well as your brand awareness and engagement. 

It’s all about getting the right influencers to work with and setting up a program that suits your business’ vibe. Overall, this is a fantastic way to get your brand on the right users’ radars!

Account Manager | Contentellect - Intelligent Content Creation

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