On a recent call I had with an affiliate manager from a company generating hundreds of millions in revenue for creators in the financial space, Instagram affiliate marketing was called “a gold rush.”
This was echoed at a publishers’ conference I attended, where data showed a shift in affiliate clicks from websites to social.
Instagram affiliate marketing lets creators earn commissions by recommending products through their IG accounts. You can link to affiliate offers in various ways, such as directly through stories, using your profile link, or setting up DM automation to drive clicks.
This guide covers the seven best practices for making money on Instagram with affiliate marketing, from beginner basics to advanced strategies.
Best Practice #1: You Need A Niche
Key takeaway: Focusing on a specific niche helps you build a loyal and engaged audience on Instagram, positioning you as an expert they’ll want to turn to for product recommendations.
Instagram is filled with creators, but people are not looking for more accounts to follow. Instead, they’re seeking content that resonates with their personal experiences — content from someone who understands their unique interests, challenges or aspirations.
That’s where you come in as a creator: by focusing on a niche, you can tailor your content to speak directly to your audience’s circumstances. This personal connection makes your followers feel seen and understood, increasing their likelihood to engage with your content and ultimately trust the product and service recommendations you offer.
If you talk about credit cards one day and your favorite cereal brand the next, you risk alienating your audience.
As important, if your content is too broad, you’ll struggle to engage your audience. And, if your audience doesn’t consistently engage with your content, Instagram will not show your posts, even to your followers.
Unfortunately, this is how the algorithm works.
For more tips on choosing a niche, check out our guide to picking a freelance niche. The principles apply whether you’re targeting a market on Instagram or selling services.
Best Practice #2: Build A “Quality Over Quantity” Following
Key takeaway: Focus on building a loyal and engaged audience within your niche by consistently providing value and building trust over time. This dedicated following is more likely to act on your recommendations, which is how the most successful creators make a living.
You don’t need a large following to succeed in affiliate marketing.
While a big audience may seem appealing, audience quality matters more than audience size.
Success comes from being known for providing value to people in a specific area (e.g., your niche). When you consistently help solve problems, educate and entertain, people trust your expertise and take action on your recommendations.
For example, credit cards are among the highest-converting offers in the financial niche. Having 100 followers who are genuinely interested in credit cards is far more valuable than having 10,000 random followers.
Every piece of content you create on Instagram is an opportunity to build a curated audience that needs the products or services you promote. Going viral with unrelated content may bring followers but it will not convert affiliate offers.
Building a quality following takes time and consistency.
In affiliate marketing, I’ve learned that profits often come not from the first recommendation but from the fifth or tenth, as your audience grows to trust your expertise and values your advice. The goal isn’t to make a quick buck off someone but to be their go-to source for products and services in a specific niche.
Best Practice #3: You Should Focus On A Handful Of Affiliate Offers
Key takeaway: By centering your content around a select few affiliate offers that genuinely solve your audience’s problems, you can repeatedly engage your followers with valuable insights, building trust and increasing the likelihood of conversions.
The Ways To Wealth has around 100 affiliate partners. That works because when someone searches for something specific, like a product review, we can capture their attention with an organic post right when they’re looking for a solution.
For example, if someone searches “Capital One Shopping Review” on Google, they will visit the site to read the article.
But on Instagram, it’s the opposite.
Nobody on Instagram scrolls to be sold — they’re there to consume content that serves them.
They may only have a few seconds while scrolling.
That’s why if you promote an offer just once, your followers will likely miss it.
Instead, the goal is to align your brand and niche with a few key affiliate offers that solve your audience’s problems and then talk about them repeatedly in different ways.
For example, if I’m promoting my favorite credit card, I can create content around:
- Why it’s my favorite card.
- How I use the card.
- How to improve your credit score to qualify.
- How to maximize rewards.
Compare that to creating random one-off content about different credit cards, where I only mention my favorite card — the one I think is best for most people — once.
My followers would lose focus on which card is right for them.
Best Practice #4: Follow the 80/20 Rule and Balance Organic Content With Promotional Content
Key takeaway: To build an engaged audience, prioritize providing valuable content that addresses their needs before introducing affiliate offers. Constantly pushing affiliate products can disengage your audience, lowering your post reach and engagement. A recommended balance is 80% value-driven content, such as tips and solutions, and 20% promotional content.
No one wants to be constantly sold to. If you’re constantly pushing affiliate offers without providing value, people will lose interest.
What happens next?
You’ll stop getting engagement from your existing audience, so your posts are unlikely to get any reach.
That’s why you want a good balance of value-driven and promotional content.
A standard best practice ratio is 80% value and 20% promotional.
Value-driven content is anything that genuinely helps your audience.
This includes offering practical tips, sharing insights, or addressing their pain points with solutions. It’s content that serves them first, builds trust, and makes you someone they want to follow.
The key is understanding that value-driven content can make you money.
How?
- It grows your audience.
- It builds trust.
- It gives you better engagement.
Whether it’s a Story, Reel or post, the goal is to build a loyal following of people who are excited to hear from you — both when you’re offering value and when you’re selling.
Best Practice #5: The Content You Sell From Should Still Be Really Good
Key takeaway: Even when selling, prioritize creating content that captivates your audience on its own. This strategy enhances engagement, fosters trust, and ultimately leads to better conversion rates.
A good question to ask yourself when promoting an affiliate offer is: Would my audience like or share this content if they saw it somewhere else?
You want the answer to be an undeniable “yes.”
When they like and share, you expand your reach and get your message in front of more people (for free)!
If your followers feel like they’re just getting a sales pitch, they’ll scroll right past (and eventually unfollow). There’s too much other good content on the platform.
An excellent example of this is a career channel @advisewitheric. Watch how she entertains, offers value, and then provides a solution:
The formula that you’ll find across social media is as follows:
- Hook. Grab attention with a relatable or intriguing opening.
- Entertain, inspire or educate. Bring value that makes people stop scrolling.
- Create need. Highlight a problem your audience faces, making them feel it.
- Share the solution. This is where the product comes in (focus on how it solves their problem).
- Call-to-action. Tell them exactly what to do next (more on that next).
Best Practice #6: Conversions Happen Through Conversations
Key takeaway: Conversions on Instagram now happen through conversations, not just bio links or discount codes. By using comment-to-DM strategies and automated tools like ManyChat, you can engage followers, drive them into tailored funnels, and increase conversion rates through personalized follow-ups.
Converting on Instagram isn’t just about slapping a link in your bio anymore.
The game has changed and customized conversions are winning.
Here’s how it works:
1. Boost engagement. Asking followers to comment with a specific word (e.g., “INFO” or “LINK”) triggers Instagram’s algorithm. Higher engagement means your post gets shown to more people, which is exactly what you want.
2. DM automation. With tools like ManyChat, you can automate follow-ups right inside your DMs. It’s like running an email funnel, but within Instagram, where your audience already spends their time. After someone comments, they’re added to a sequence where you can share links, send product info, or guide them through a decision-making process.
3. Tailor your funnel. With ManyChat, you can use an “If this, then that” approach, similar to best practices in email marketing. If they open your link and engage, follow up with more valuable info or a special offer. If they don’t, send a reminder. These targeted follow-ups increase the likelihood they’ll click your affiliate link.
By driving engagement and using DMs as mini-conversion funnels, you’re not just hoping they’ll click a link—you’re guiding them through a process where they’re much more likely to convert.
Best Practice #7: Take Advantage of Stories
Key takeaway: By leveraging the interactive and ephemeral nature of Stories, you create multiple touchpoints that deepen connections, build trust, and increase conversion rates
Instagram Stories offers a powerful and unique way to promote affiliate offers. As discussed above, you can use DMs to automate conversions, but with Stories, you can also insert links, making it easy to direct followers to affiliate offers. Stories convert exceptionally well for products you’ve already discussed in posts and Reels, as they create multiple touchpoints with your audience.
Keep in mind, though, Stories disappear in 24 hours. To make the most of them, be consistent with posting value-driven content. This keeps followers engaged and accustomed to seeing your Stories, increasing the likelihood of clicks on your affiliate links when you do promote.
Tips for Finding Affiliate Offers
When looking for affiliate offers to promote on Instagram, it’s important to remember that many big brands are selective about who they partner with.
If you’re just starting out, you may not be accepted immediately, so managing your expectations is important. Brands want to avoid spammers and typically prefer working with people who demonstrate consistent, genuine content creation.
However, this doesn’t mean beginners can’t find opportunities. Some brands will work with smaller accounts, especially if you show consistent engagement and authenticity over a month or two.
They mainly want to confirm you’re a real person with an engaged following.
Here are a few other tips for finding referral partners as a beginner:
- Individual referral programs. A great place for beginners to start. Many companies have referral programs that are open to customers. Be sure to review the guidelines of these programs, as some may restrict how and where you can share links. However, many allow you to post your referral links publicly.
- Affiliate networks. Platforms like ShareASale, Impact and CJ Affiliate offer a wide range of affiliate programs. These networks let you browse offers, apply to programs, and access your personalized affiliate links.
- Amazon Associates. It’s one of the easiest programs to join, but the commissions are generally low, especially for low-cost items. You’ll need to drive substantial traffic to make significant income through Amazon. That said, if you’re in a niche with higher-ticket items (like gym equipment or electronics), you may find better earning potential.
- Niche-specific brands: Sometimes, smaller or niche brands have more flexible requirements for affiliates. If you’re promoting a specific type of product), it doesn’t hurt to reach out and ask once you’ve established some consistency with your content.
Final Thoughts
Instagram affiliate marketing is an excellent opportunity for content creators. It’s by no means passive income (although with social search picking up, it one day can be), but it represents a high-effort, high-reward opportunity and comes with little upfront cost.
Those who will benefit the most are those willing to play the long game, because building an engaged audience takes time, consistency, and effort.
While creators make very good money with Instagram affiliate marketing, they didn’t achieve that overnight.
Like any content business, it requires a lot of upfront unpaid work, honing your skills, and learning what resonates with your audience.
The rewards can be significant if you’re patient and committed to providing value. And the best part? Many of these principles apply to other platforms, too. If you want to expand beyond Instagram, check out our guide to best practices for making money on TikTok.
