We all know that affiliate marketing is a fantastic way to earn money online. It just is. We can agree on this.
That being said there are several places that you can do this effectively and all of them have their own little nuances if you want to master them. Instagram is one such place. The growth that has been exploding from the Instagram platform is undeniable. people like this place and what I have found is that where the people are, there is money to be made…almost always.
As marketers it’s our job to figure out how that puzzle works.
When I first started trying with Instagram…it was a fail. What I found was that it was very easy to build followers but very difficult to generate traffic. Does that mean that Instagram sucks for affiliate marketing?
No.
What it means is that I didn’t crack the code. I didn’t solve the puzzle. So I have decided to re-examine this platform because I assure you with over 400 million users, it is worth our time to do so.
So let’s take this by the numbers here. the 5 biggest problems on Instagram and how to solve them as I see it:
[thrive_headline_focus title=”1. How the heck do I get started?” orientation=”left”]
Inevitably when you start something in a new place you ask that age old question, ” How do I get started?” To find my answers I looked to a fantastic article on Shopify written by Neil Waller called, “The Beginner’s Guide To Influencer Marketing on Instagram.” Neil does a fantastic job of setting the groundwork and getting you started quickly and efficiently.
[thrive_headline_focus title=”2. What do I do for content on Instagram?” orientation=”left”]
The second question I had after getting started was what kind of content should I really be focusing on? What has been successful in the passed? What kinds of things are people really engaging with on this platform. To find my answers on this one I looked to a really great article on Hubspot by Lindsay Kolowich entitled, “What to Post on Instagram: 18 Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration.” So much inspiration and insight can be gleaned from this one.
[thrive_headline_focus title=”3. When is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?” orientation=”left”]
Next, after I start getting an idea about content and what direction I want to go with that, the issue always comes up. When is the best time to post my updates? When will I reach the most people? After all we put work into this stuff. We don’t want to do it for nothing. The answer to this question came to me in a superb post by Dara Fontein called, “The Best Time to Post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.” The answer might surprise you…
[thrive_headline_focus title=”4. How big of an audience do I need to be effective on Instagram?” orientation=”left”]
At first I thought this was a no brainer. I need the audience to be as big as I can get it right? Well what happened was When I was really into facebook groups I started to notice that there was a point of “critical mass” you could say where your audience starts to become less effective. There is definitely a sweet spot. “The rise of ‘micro-influencers’ on Instagram” is an excellent article is by Yuyu Chen and will give you a great benchmark to aim at when getting started.
[thrive_headline_focus title=”5. What about paid advertising on Instagram?” orientation=”left”]
Let’s be honest. Everything moves faster when you start throwing money at it…as long as you know what your doing. That’s just the way it is. So is it beneficial to throw some money at Instagram and start learning how to master paid advertising here? Of course. It just depends on what kind of a budget you are working with. You can make money online by just investing your time, but once you start making some of that money…you need to invest back in your business. Paid advertising is a prime way to do that. Ellen Bartolino wrote an excellent article on Hubspot called, ” A Step-by-Step Guide to Advertising on Instagram” that is a perfect place to start if you are ready to throw some money at this thing and speed it up!
[thrive_headline_focus title=”Wrapping Up” orientation=”left”]
So these are some of the big problems that I faced when trying to start seeing results with Instagram. Maybe you face similar obstacles in your quest to actually get traction on this platform. These are 5 articles that I found to be extremely powerful and helpful to me. I hope that they help you as well!
I’m Kam, some people call me ZeroFatz and that’s all I’ve got! I’ll see you in the next one!
Nice one Kam. I have not ventured into IG advertising as of yet, but I like the article you highlighted to get started with that aspect of marketing on the IG platform. Thanks for putting this together.