If you are wondering whether you should take advantage of Instagram Shopping as an affiliate marketer, the answer is yes! It has paved the way for affiliate marketers and content creators to work together to achieve a common goal and has emerged as one of the most successful and profitable avenues for affiliate marketers to follow with over 1 billion active monthly users currently registered on the platform and counting. In the past couple of years, however, the social media platform’s latest feature, Instagram Shopping, has emerged as a great opportunity for affiliate marketers to harness the limitless power of word-of-mouth marketing and boost their existing influencer campaigns. To familiarise yourself with a guide to Instagram Shopping as an affiliate marketer, continue reading.
Make the most of feed posts
If you already maintain an active presence on Instagram as an affiliate marketer, you may already be aware of the social power of feed posts. They can be a great way to market goods and services to their intended target audience and allow your followers to discover brand-new products that are likely to be relevant to their individual hobbies and interests in the process. If your content tends to generate substantial traffic and engagement, however, incorporating Instagram Shopping into your feed posts can allow you to earn commission and your followers to not only be inspired but also converted in just a couple of quick taps. To boost your feed posts even more, Instagram Shopping also gives users the opportunities to tag other accounts in their feed posts. This can allow you to publish user-generated content and tag both the creator and the product they used.
Link to Instagram Shops
In the affiliate marketing world, driving traffic and engagement should remain at the forefront of everything you do. In 2020, however, the highly anticipated launch of Instagram Shops revolutionised the social media platform for a wide range of users with affiliate marketers, in particular, heralding the brand-new feature as a game-changer when it came to expanding their reach and generating conversions. By linking to Instagram Shops, you can lead your followers to the brand that produces the goods and services you are marketing and encourage them to find out more by browsing similar products in the hopes of ultimately becoming loyal customers. This entire process is possible without even leaving the app with Instagram Shops also available through the social media platform’s recently launched Instagram Shop tab which gives users the opportunity to browse and explore brands, collections, images, videos, guides, and special offers and promotions at a glance.
Don’t neglect Stories
It can be tempting as an affiliate marketer to focus solely on feed posts when it comes to Instagram Shopping but with the platform’s algorithm continuing to undergo changes at a seemingly rapid pace, it has become somewhat unpredictable and unreliable in recent years. The familiar swipe-up call-to-action may have been the only way affiliate marketers could promote products in the hopes of earning a commission in the past but thanks to the introduction of product stickers, your followers can tap on a sticker to learn everything they could ever want or need to know about a particular product, such as sizing and price, and decide there and then whether they wish to proceed and ultimately complete a purchase. If you have only recently become an affiliate marketer or are looking to take a slightly more subtle approach to your affiliate marketing efforts, Instagram Stories can successfully highlight product details and promote a product catalogue whilst still remaining somewhat indirect as you find your feet. This also marks the first time that small businesses can lead their followers to their website to drive traffic and sales with the swipe-up feature previously reserved for accounts with a minimum of 10,000 followers.
Produce Reels
If you have mastered the art of feed posts, Instagram Shops, and Stories, it may be time to start producing Reels. It can sound complex or daunting if you are unfamiliar with the various steps required to produce an Instagram Reel from start to finish but as one of the latest features to take the social media and affiliate marketing worlds by storm, it can end up becoming a crucial asset in your affiliate marketing toolbox. Just as a feed post or Story can allow you to tag the relevant business owner or brand, so too can a Reel so your followers can find out everything they could ever want or need to know about a particular product in a matter of seconds and without even leaving the app.
If you are an affiliate marketer, Instagram Shopping can be a great way to boost your existing traffic and sales. If you are relatively unfamiliar with Instagram Shopping or how to make the most of the cutting-edge feature, however, this can be done by making the most of feed posts, linking to Instagram Shops, not neglecting Stories, and producing Reels.
