Instagram makes affiliate marketing accessible to everyone

Instagram is the leading social media platform for influencer campaigns, helping increase brand recognition and drive sales by leveraging the engaged audiences of the platform’s creators.

Currently, it’s a challenge for affiliates to promote brands through trackable links on Instagram. Although larger accounts with over 10,000 followers have more in-app tools and features, smaller influencers struggle to monetize content on the platform - restricted to a link in bio to direct followers to purchase recommendations.

But this is all set to change following this week’s announcement.

Now, all Instagram users will be able to add links to their Stories using the link sticker feature. With this, products, links, brands or anything else the content creator wants to share can be easily linked for their audience to click on and, ultimately, to make a purchase.

Why is this important for affiliate marketers?

The rollout of link stickers means Instagram users, regardless of their follower count, can now include affiliate links directly in their Stories alongside the content they’re promoting, versus potentially being restricted to a ‘link in bio’ option – opening up more avenues for creators and brands alike, as they’ll no longer be limited by benefits afforded to macro-influencers. The resulting effect is more partnerships, sales, revenue and commissions.

For creators on Awin, to start promoting  advertisers in your Instagram Stories with the sticker, all you need is an affiliate link for the page or product. Once you have added content to your Story, simply select the tool from the top navigation bar and paste in the Awin affiliate link. You can then add it to your Story.

Outside of the link sticker functionality, there are a few other ways to include affiliate links in your content:

• Link in bio: This is a great, prominent place to add an external Awin deeplink that is evergreen and permanent.
• Save as a highlight: This allows users to click on your links beyond the traditional 24-hour Instagram Story lifetime.
• IGTV: Incorporate Awin links within the video description of an IGTV and add it to an Instagram Story (you can click to access your content library).
• Discounts: Using Awin’s cookieless technology, creators can use voucher and coupon codes to encourage conversions. This is assigned individually via the Coupon Attribution Tool within the Awin platform, meaning you will earn commissions without needing a link.

If you are an influencer and not already part of Awin’s network, sign up here to start promoting our 25,000+ advertisers in your Instagram Stories. If you are a brand not working with Awin and would like to leverage the reach of our 270,000+ partners, please get in touch.