Over the past years, social media affiliate marketing has become one of the most significant revenue sources for businesses of all scales and types. And the trend is about to continue: as more people join social media platforms, ever more companies will promote their goods and services there.
The good thing is that there’s still room for crafty affiliates with a social media presence and advertisers looking for reliable revenue streams. Regardless of which end of the stick you’re holding, you can grow your revenues sustainably with the right social media marketing strategies and tools.
Read on to learn how to monetize your content through social media affiliate marketing.
What Is Special about Social Media Affiliate Marketing?
At its core, affiliate marketing on social media isn’t different from promoting products on other platforms: publishers place tracking links in their posts, videos, and other types of content and get paid when users who have clicked on these links make a purchase or complete any other target action.
For anyone who has experience promoting products on third-party sites, the social media avenue of affiliate marketing won’t be a problem. It mostly boils down to enrolling in the right affiliate program and following their guidelines.
For example, you can choose a program that pays a percentage of the sale – if your commission is 5%, then every $100 worth of sales to your affiliate lead will bring you $5 – or you can sell leads at a flat price (for example, $10 per qualified lead), or you can even sell click, downloads, installations, or impressions.
Owners of proven channels on YouTube, social media platforms, or personal blogs can use their existing traffic to attract new potential customers to advertisers in scale, making hundreds of thousands of dollars annually without much effort.
Social Media for Affiliate Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| The biggest social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter unite billions of potential customers globally, granting you unlimited exposure | It can be difficult to gain traction in the beginning due to high competition, especially if you are new to social media affiliate programs. |
| You can capitalize on trends, with TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram being excellent platforms for vital content. | Trends are usually fleeting, so you should act quickly and be among the first companies to follow the emerging trend |
| Social media unites users of all ages, with more seniors joining social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter | Users are not distributed evenly among social media platforms (for example, on TikTok, seniors are heavily underrepresented) |
Overall, affiliate marketing through social media can be very profitable. Platforms with visual content, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok, can drive thousands of leads over time, becoming your major lead acquisition channel.
How To Generate Affiliate Leads on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Less-Known Platforms
One thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media lead acquisition is that targeting varies heavily depending on the platform. For example, B2B lead generation works best on LinkedIn – case studies, research papers, and other tech content are welcomed there – whereas Instagram and TikTok are better for promoting with visual content.
With features like Reels, Stories, and IGTV, Instagram is a visual paradise for affiliate marketers. It’s only natural to use eye-catching visuals, captions, and relevant hashtags to promote your affiliate products.
Advertising solar panels, equipment, and services is generally easy because solar panels are tangible products. You can share insights into the installation process, educate potential customers about new products and technologies, and advise on solar panels’ use and how cost-effective they are.
Here’s an example of educational content around solar panels:
Посмотреть эту публикацию в Instagram
But it gets much harder when it comes to intangible products like insurance – simply because you cannot show the product itself. That said, it’s also an opportunity for affiliates who can overcome the challenge.
For example, you can calculate insurance savings while linking to your advertiser’s online calculator, share a story of what you could afford due to the savings you had made after switching to a specific insurer, and so on.
Your complete Instagram affiliate marketing guide.
Facebook is the biggest social media platform, so it might be the one to focus on if you’re unsure where to start or your target audience is unclear. Among the promotional opportunities are dedicated pages, groups for niche communities, ads, and your business account, where you can post all types of content.
Here’s an example of a Facebook group uniting over 100,000 people:
With Facebook groups, it’s simple: first, sieve through the biggest groups to shortlist the ones with the required location. Next, contribute to these groups or explore the advertising opportunities there.
One of the most effective ways to generate affiliate traffic on Facebook is through lead generation forms, which you can embed there to get qualified leads and direct them to your advertisers. Speaking of which, Profitise provides ready-made lead gen forms, so you only need to embed the Javascript code to display the form.
Your complete Facebook affiliate marketing guide.
Among all social media networks, LinkedIn occupies a special place as the biggest network for B2B advertising. The approach here is more website or blog-like: you publish valuable content, including technical content, that people can avail of.
Here’s a simple example of where to start from:
To kick things off with LinkedIn affiliate marketing, you can solve one of the existing customers’ problems around the advertised product. For example, if your leads keep asking how to charge solar streetlights, you can write a blog about it and measure the engagement to see if you should continue.
Your complete LinkedIn affiliate marketing guide.
TikTok
TikTok affiliate marketing can be very profitable, but it’s usually all or nothing. If it goes viral, you can generate tons of leads in a day, but more often than not, it doesn’t, bringing aspiring brands next to nothing.
Nonetheless, TikTok is worth a try as long as it’s legal in your location. Here, you can unleash your creativity, try unconventional promotional strategies, and appeal to the youngest audience.
That said, insurance and solar products are hardly a good fit, so you should find a unique way to present traditionally boring products (with all due respect, insurance is quite boring to most customers).
Here’s a way to do that:
@solar.lilli Installation of photovoltaic system #solar #solarsystem #electrician #foryou #foryoupage #construction #pv #solarpower ♬ TRIPPIN’ (Prod. by Leeder) – YVNG DYXRD
You know what Twitter is about: short killing messages. Not for nothing do the powers that be use Twitter to represent themselves and their businesses.
You don’t have to be verbose to win customers on Twitter, nor do you need to burn the midnight oil writing long-reads – instead, you need eloquence that is so sharp and precise that they can’t help but click to explore it further.
Here’s an example:
YouTube
YouTube needs no introduction; there’s no doubt you spend at least a few hours on YouTube weekly, recognizing its marketing power. As an affiliate marketer, you can promote with in-video ads or simply leave an affiliate link in the description.
The gist of YouTube affiliate marketing, though, is creating compelling videos of various lengths and thematics. You can build a video library for your brand, covering the most burning topics on your channel and then diversifying it into affiliate marketing, placing links where they reinforce your core content.
Join Profitise To Earn More on Your Social Media Affiliate Traffic
On the one hand, the market is abundant with affiliate programs. From Amazon Associates to thousands of smaller programs, there’s no shortage of supply, allowing you to choose the one that pays the most and fits your business model.
However, it’s getting thin when it comes to narrow-focused affiliate programs that only cover one or several niches. Seasoned affiliates know why these programs, Profitise included, are in great demand: expertise and customization.
Here’s why Profitise beats other affiliate programs:
- Gigantic pool of advertisers. Selling your insurance or solar leads is one thing, but selling them to 100% relevant advertisers is another thing. Uniting thousands of advertisers from various sub-niches, Profitise makes it so simple to find a perfect match.
- The highest commissions in the niche. The numbers vary depending on the quality of leads you generate and multiple other parameters, but the price per lead is generally higher than with other affiliate programs of a kind.
- Niche-specific lead generation forms. As an affiliate, you can get the Javascript code (for free) for a lead qualification form that will generate affiliate leads for your advertisers without any effort on your side.
- Around-the-clock support. Should any problems arise, you can get qualified assistance from Profitise professionals via a phone call, by email, or any other convenient communication channel.
Register as an affiliate or an advertiser to buy or sell qualified insurance or solar leads.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does affiliate marketing work on social media?
Yes, it does. People trust the recommendations of their favorite bloggers and influencers. When you recommend a product, for example, by implementing TikTok ads affiliate marketing, you actually confirm its quality with your authority.
How many Instagram followers are necessary for affiliate marketing on social media?
For stable earnings from affiliate programs on Instagram, the optimal number of followers ranges from 5,000 to 15,000. With 2,000, you can already generate some income.
What social media are the best to start with as an affiliate?
If you’re an aspiring affiliate, start with the social media where you have the most followers. At the same time, make sure that the affiliate content you present and the products you advertise provide added value to your audience.
