Instagram has announced additional monetization opportunities for creators, including a new affiliate marketing program that will make it easier to earn money from product promotions and the Instagram donation process.

Creators will be able to use the affiliate tool exclusively for products that are accessible for purchase via Instagram Checkout, an Instagram’s in-app payment mechanism.

Not only does this provide new opportunities for authors and influencers to earn money on Instagram, but it also means that companies can benefit from a completely revenue-based kind of influencer marketing.

How Instagram’s Affiliate Tool Works?

Previously, chosen influencers were able to tag products from brands with which they collaborated on Instagram.

Instagram Introduced An Affiliate Program - New Revenue Option for Creators -

However, unless the marketing was part of a sponsored agreement, there was no monetary incentive for creators to drive products on behalf of businesses.

Affiliate marketing tool fixes this.

“In the coming months, we will begin testing a native affiliate tool that will allow creators to discover new products available at the checkout, share them with their followers, and earn commissions on the purchases they generate – all within the Instagram app,”

Instagram explained.

Instagram will test the tool with a small set of US-based creators and businesses, including big brand names like Benefit, Kopari, MAC, Pat McGrath Labs, and Sephora.

First, Instagram claims it will begin testing a new ‘native affiliate tool’ in the coming months, allowing authors to find new products available for purchase in the app, share them with their followers, and earn commissions on any subsequent transactions they generate.

The new process will allow authors to sign up for the Insragram’s new affiliate program, which will then allow them to select products from the app to include in their posts. 

Suppose users click through on their post and make a purchase. In that case, the author will receive a commission – effectively, it’s an influencer marketing process without the author having to do any of the negotiating or legwork to put the incentive package in place.

Instagram Introduced An Affiliate Program - New Revenue Option for Creators -

It’s an intriguing concept, and it will undoubtedly offer up new pathways for monetization, which is a critical importance for every social network in light of the expansion of eCommerce and the increasing desire to provide more incentive to keep their top creators posting more frequently.

However, it appears to be vulnerable. 

Through this process, it appears that brands will have no direct say in who supports their products, which might be problematic in a variety of ways. Would you want a creator with a shady track record to promote your company?

Instagram is likely to have some sort of approval process in place for this. 

Instagram Introduced An Affiliate Program - New Revenue Option for Creators -

If it does, it may be a significant step forward in enabling creators to make money from their Instagram photos fast and efficiently. However, the details appear to be a little sparse at this stage.

Instagram says it will first test the feature with “a select set of US-based creators and businesses.” In the future, the affiliate program will expand to include more partners and locations.

What is the Instagram’s Affiliate Program Commission Rate?

Instagram’s affiliate payout model has yet to be revealed in detail, but it commonly ranges between 5-25% of the final sale amount, depending on the product category.

Similarly, it is unknown how long the payment process will take from start to finish.

Most affiliate programs wait for a sale to be fully closed before releasing the commission payment, which means the refund or exchange time has expired. This normally takes 60-90 days. However, it can vary depending on the brand partner.

How Does Instagram Affiliate Program Disclosure Work?

Instagram will show a label above all posts that contain affiliate links to brand products in terms of disclosure.

“[People] will notice “eligible for commission” at the top of the post, making it obvious that their purchases benefit that creator,”

Instagram explained.

However, the FTC cautions creators not to “assume a platform’s built-in disclosure tool is adequate” and instead to use these tools in conjunction with clear and accurate disclosure.

Instagram Introduced An Affiliate Program - New Revenue Option for Creators -

Instagram is also adding a new feature that will allow users to link their existing shop to their personal Instagram profile, in addition to their business or creator account.

This will provide more avenues for direct promotion and audience reach. 

Instagram is also adding another shop option, allowing creators with their own merchandise lines to set up a new shop more easily by linking their account with one of four merchandise partners.

This will effectively ease the on-platform selling process for creators by just linking through to the provider rather than uploading and constructing their own catalog.

What Does Instagram’s Affiliate Tool Mean for Businesses?

To begin, Instagram’s affiliate tool will be offered to a select group of firms and creators. So, not only it’s “not for everyone”, it’s actually just for the very few selected brands.

How to Promote Affiliate Marketing Products Without A Blog?

Therefore, it’s too early to say what will it mean for businesses in a global scope.

On the other hand, Instagram has indicated that the affiliate tool will “expand to other partners in the future.”

This creates a big opportunity for brands trying to generate sales on the platform, as affiliate marketing is sometimes regarded as a much safer return on investment.

Affiliate payments are often provided only on closed sales, making them a more dependable kind of influencer marketing.

Instagram’s move into affiliate marketing is unsurprising; it is the final component of a successful three-sided social commerce marketplace:

this makes the inspiration-to-purchase process easier than ever for Instagram users, with endless opportunities for growth.

What is Instragram’s Cut?

Despite these clear benefits, marketers should be aware that Instagram imposes a processing fee of 5% on each shipment or a flat price of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less.

how much can you earn with affiliate marketing

Similarly, marketers miss out on crucial client data (such as emails) because all communications for checkout and transactions are handled by Instagram rather than the company directly.

With this in mind, it’s recommended to combine Instagram’s native e-commerce facilities with a traffic-driving approach for your own business domain.

When to Expect it?

Shops on personal accounts will be available starting today, and the new merchandise linking option will be available to all eligible creators in the United States by the end of the year.

Finally, Instagram is adding additional incentive features to its Stars donation system for creators, which is aimed primarily at giving money alternatives for live-stream broadcasters in the app.

Starting this week, Instagram creators will be eligible to receive an extra payout if they reach certain milestones while utilizing badges in Live, such as going Live with another account, while Facebook will offer Stars Challenges. Creators participating in the program can earn rewards from Facebook in the form of free Stars if they reach certain milestones, such as broadcasting a certain number of hours or earning a certain amount of Stars within a certain time period.”

The new options will essentially add a gamified element to the Stars monetization process, providing a financial incentive for creators to stream more frequently. This is beneficial for Facebook/Instagram because it ensures more content is available on their platforms while also providing another method for creators to make money, a win-win situation.

Well, it’s probably not a win-win situation. 

Without a doubt, Facebook will benefit more from having more content, but this will not completely tilt the scales in favor of the creator. 

But, on the other hand, the incentives appear to be adequate. According to the screenshot above, completing one work will give the creator a $150 bonus if they get 5,000 Stars. 5,000 Stars are presently worth roughly $50, making them rather valuable.

The drive, then, is primarily aimed at getting more streamers to share more frequently. If they end up making real money from their efforts, they will likely broadcast more content, broadcasting Facebook and Instagram a more decisive partner in their process.

What is the true goal of all of these options? 

Despite Facebook’s numerous efforts to hinder it, TikTok continues to grow. While Facebook hasn’t been able to outrank the short video app with its sheer scale, it can still offer better monetization and incentive options. This, in turn, may keep users from straying and bring more top creators over to Instagram instead.

Instagram Introduced An Affiliate Program - New Revenue Option for Creators -

It’s also worth mentioning that Instagram is developing a new ‘Bonuses’ payment system for top Reels creators, which is similar to Snapchat’s Spotlight payment process. This currently records Snapcat paying out $1 million per day to the top Spotlight creators to increase interest in the option.

TikTok is still figuring out its monetization capabilities, and if more creators discover that they’d be better off making money from their content elsewhere, that might become a critical tipping point for the site if it can’t give comparable, or better, incentives.

That is where Instagram is heading with these new monetization features, piling additional pressure on the competition while simultaneously attracting more users to its apps.

Conclusion

Instagram will begin testing a native affiliate product built on top of the shopping abilities in the upcoming months. Creators will be able to start a business by recommending products to their followers. The technologies will enable creators to discover products at checkout, share them with followers, and earn a commission on purchases influenced by the creators.

Sellers will be able to select their own commission rates, and affiliate posts will be labeled “Eligible for Commission” so customers know their purchase will benefit the author.

Instagram will make it easy for those who wish to sell their own products to start a new shop on their personal profile. The possibility to connect a shop to a personal profile is now available globally.

According to Zuckerberg, the site would include options for creators to “earn extra revenue” for reaching milestones when using badges similar to Facebook’s Stars.

Creators who go live on Instagram using Badges on a consistent basis for four weeks may be eligible for an additional Instagram and Facebook reward.

Last Updated on May 24, 2023

Author

Elizabeth is a Senior Content Manager at Scaleo. Currently enjoying the life in Prague and sharing professional affiliate marketing tips. She's been in the online marketing business since 2006 and gladly shares all her insights and ideas on this blog.