Instagram makes up more than a quarter of Facebook's total revenues and 60% of consumers state to discover new products at Instagram.

At Adtraction, Instagram is the social media platform that has seen the largest increase in conversions in recent years. The channel has grown to become nearly 8 times bigger than Facebook and more than 4 times bigger than Youtube for affiliates. The platform is becoming increasingly influential and is a channel that works well with affiliate marketing.

How do Instagrammers make money?

There are primarily three ways in which Instagrammers can make money:

• Paid collaborations with brands. Posting content sponsored by businesses is perhaps the most traditional strategy when it comes to influencer earnings on Instagram.
  
• Affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is another option that allows Instagrammers to promote content and earn a fee or percentage for every sale.
  
• Open an online store. Instead of an influencer using their personal brand to sell other brand’s products, they can sell their own.
  

Is it easy for Instagrammers to monetise their content

Influencer marketing over all has been estimated to become a $5-10 billion industry by 2020.

While larger Instagram profiles have been appealing for brands over a longer time period, micro influencers have seen increasing interest from brands in recent years. Micro influencers are influencers with smaller, niche oriented audiences. The niche orientation leads to increased engagement.

Even though larger sized profiles are still more inclined to be offered paid collaborations with brands, the inclusion of micro influencers makes it easier in general for Instagrammers to monetise their content than it used to.

Why should Instagrammers consider affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing can offer a number of advantages for Instagrammers:

• Some influencers have been known to pull in 7 figure salaries
  Done right, there is a lot of potential in affiliate marketing not only to influencers in general, but also Instagrammers. There has been a drastic increase in conversions for Instagram as a platform also at Adtraction.
• Instagrammers can monetise their channel regardless of size.
  The swipe up functionality simplifies the process, but voucher code tracking and bio link tools are other mechanisms that makes it possible for any Instagrammer to make money on the platform.
• Affiliate marketing can facilitate direct partnerships with relevant businesses.

How can advertisers work with Instagrammers in affiliate marketing?

With more than 1 billion active users, running an affiliate program and partnering with Instagrammers can potentially allow brands to reach a broad and profitable audience.

Below are a few tips for advertisers that want to include Instagrammers in their affiliate strategy:

• Ensure that interests and values are aligned. Influencers are like brands – they prefer partnering with businesses that are a ‘good match’ to their profile.
  

• Actively look for Instagrammers that are a good fit for your brand. An affiliate network sure has a huge selection of channels, but in order to find Instagrammers with the best possible match advertisers, agencies and networks need to lay the groundwork.
  

• Utilise voucher code tracking. There is one particular challenge working with influencer profiles of different sizes across platforms; tracking results for those influencers who do not have the swipe up function. To work around this issue Adtraction provides voucher code tracking. This function allows us to track incoming sales from an affiliate promoting a voucher code without requiring an affiliate link.
  

• Offer the Instagrammer a unique discount code. Offering a unique voucher code can help increase audience engagement while at the same time serving as a tool to track conversions.
  

Most affiliate marketing promotions on Instagram are link or text based. They will normally be placed in an Instagram story using the swipe up function or in the profile bio.

If you are an advertiser wanting to find Instagram partnerships, or if you are an Instagrammer interested in monetising your channel, please reach out to us at hello@adtraction.com.