Top 8 Best Affiliate Programs for Instagram Creators to Earn Commissions

Looking to make money from your Instagram account? Affiliate marketing presents a huge opportunity to monetize your Instagram following.

In this article, we will discuss the best affiliate programs for Instagram creators that can help you effectively promote products and earn commissions. You’ll learn how to choose the right programs, creatively showcase products using Instagram’s features, and drive traffic to affiliate links in your bio and posts.

Whether you’re just starting out or already have an established following, this article will provide actionable tips to transform your Instagram account into a profitable affiliate marketing channel.

Best Affiliate Programs for Instagram that You Should Try in 2024

1. Amazon Associates

Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is at the top of our list. With nearly two million companies marketing and selling at least 75 million products to market, the planet’s biggest ecommerce company has plenty of items for affiliate marketers to link to their Instagram.

Amazon Associates help affiliate marketers leverage the platform’s colossal audience. It allows them to earn from “referral fees” for every customer-initiated action that leads to a sale on Amazon.

Rates vary from as low as 1% to as high as 20%, depending on the niche. For example, promoting Amazon Games on your Instagram can net you 20% of sale proceeds. The higher commission rates from premium brand beauty products can help affiliate marketers gain 10% for each sale.

How to become an Amazon affiliate? Joining this platform is as easy as opening the Associates page and hitting the “Sign Up” link.

Unfortunately, the affiliate link on your Instagram only lasts 24 hours. It’s stingier than other affiliate marketing platforms. But, given Amazon’s vast product collection, it’s understandable.

The good news is that the link gets an extra 90 days if the customer adds the item to their Amazon shopping cart. Amazon pays its affiliate marketers every 60 days and with a minimum of $10. You can request for an Amazon gift card, check, or have the amount deposited to your bank account.

2. Rakuten Advertising

This Japanese technology company was the world’s best affiliate program for 11 years. It still is. It’s a driven brand that leverages cutting-edge technology to boost clicks and ensure sales to become a successful affiliate marketer.

An advantage of Rakuten over others is its data-driven recommendations to help publishers or affiliate marketers pick the right products that align with their respective audiences. Affiliate marketing tools, resources, and training are aplenty.

The largest affiliate advertiser, with 7.4% share of commissionable links, has at least 2,500 brands across retail, travel, and finance niches.

Some examples are  Virgin Holidays, New Balance, Sixt, Benefit, and Sephora. Rakuten Advertising has a built-in mechanism for converting standard URLs into affiliate marketing (commissionable) links. This enables you to optimize your Instagram for generating passive income.

Here’s the deal! Becoming an affiliate marketer can be a hit or miss. It is because the platform involves the majority of advertiser partners in the screening process.

Hence, brands must vet on you before you can start marketing their products on your Instagram account. Hurdle this obstacle, and dedicated publisher success team the rest should be easy, according to a reputable Rakuten affiliate network review.

Take note, Rakuten requires generating at least $50 before withdrawal. You can withdraw via bank deposit, check, or PayPal. It is higher than Amazon’s required $10 minimum earnings.

3. ShareASale

ShareASale is a sister company of Awin and Commission Factory under the Axel Springer and United Internet Groups umbrella organization

It is an excellent fit for Instagrammers who want to leverage the social media platform’s reach to earn some money.

This platform is perfect for aspiring affiliate marketers because it provides the necessary tools to succeed. Blogs, training materials, webinars, and other affiliate education materials abound.

ShareASale also makes it effortless to create custom links (with trackable cookies), analyze affiliate campaigns, and track clicks in real-time.

ShareASale has at least 6,000 partner brands. It allows affiliate marketers to access tens of thousands of high-quality products to push on Instagram. And when you’re lost about your affiliate marketing journey, you can always depend on the platform’s dedicated publisher success team to help you.

Creating a ShareASale affiliate account is easy and free. It will give you access to helpful tools and resources. The platform also offers multiple payout modalities, including international direct deposit, Payoneer, and wire transfer.

4. FlexOffers

At least 10,000 brands partner with this performance marketing company to spread awareness and increase usage of more than 650 million high-quality products across multiple categories.

The platform’s most significant draw is its RevShare Model. This feature allows affiliates to monetize client referrals, adding another income stream. You can influence businesses visiting your Instagram account to advertise on FlexOffers, enabling you to share in the revenue generated.

Joining FlexOffers is free and effortless because partner merchants don’t have a say in vetting. You’ll receive a special affiliate partner profile, allowing you to generate a unique affiliate marketing link you can use on Instagram.

Unlike Amazon’s 24-hour cookie limit, FlexOffers’ lasts a lifetime. Here’s the kicker. Its $100 withdrawal threshold can dissuade affiliate marketers from using this platform, but it depends on your chosen payment method. The good news is the 20% commission rate is within industry standards, making it one of the most attractive affiliate programs for Instagram.

5. CJ Affiliate

Stable, easy to use, and with excellent link-creation resources, Commission Junction was, for a time, the world’s best network for affiliate marketers. Sadly, limited payment options and lackluster customer service have knocked the platform off its pedestal.

Still, CJ Affiliate remains a worthy network for beginner affiliate marketers, especially with Instagram. At least a billion customers visit the platform monthly, allowing advertisers and merchants to derive at least 14 billion meaningful brand-customer interactions annually.

As a whole, CJ’s affiliate marketers gain an average annual commission of $1.8 billion, making the platform one of the industry’s best networks for generating passive income.

It is especially attractive to social media influencers (i.e., Instagram), earning highly-qualified influencers more attractive commissions from leading brands (i.e., Barnes & Noble, J,Crew, and IHG Hotels & Resorts).

And if you have a substantial Instagram following, you can expect CJ to give you access to partner merchants seeking sponsorships.

The minimum threshold to get paid is $50 via direct deposit or $100 through check. Alternatively, publishers can also receive payment through Payoneer, following the standard payment schedule of CJ Affiliate. If you’re a credit card or PayPal user, the network currently doesn’t support any of these two.

Payments are released within 20 days of the month’s end.

Although payment options are limited, CJ compensates by streamlining the application process. Joining affiliate marketing programs in the network is also a cinch.

6. Awin

This affiliate network is perfect for Instagram users, allowing them to join without requiring a website. Unfortunately, joining Awin affiliate program as an active publisher or affiliate marketer is not as easy as other platforms.

The network performs a compliance assessment to validate an applicant affiliate’s qualifying information. It also requires aspirants to deposit $5 to their account. Although the amount is reimbursable, some affiliates might find this requirement a red flag.

Still, once in, Awin can be an excellent tool for generating passive income. Like CJ, Awin has a special eye on social media influencers, especially Instagram. Instagrammers can enjoy a fixed commission irrespective of touchpoint. An Instagram follower might click on a 30-day-old link, and you still earn.

Awin’s reach is impressive. More than 21,000 merchants across web hosting, computing, finance, and fashion niches are partners with this platform to deliver unlimited income opportunities for affiliates (i.e., Marks & Spencer, Boots, and The Hut Group).

Its extensive portfolio of brand partners and massive affiliate network earned this platform a record-breaking 14-time Publishers’ Choice of Network awardee.

The platform’s minimum withdrawal is $20, and you can only get your money via international wire transfer, ACH, and BACS. On the plus side, you’ll receive your previous month’s commissions twice monthly.

7. ClickBank

Established in 1998, ClickBank remains a solid contender for the best affiliate program for Instagram. The best part about ClickBank is its product vetting process. It only fields items that meet FTC and FDA regulations, saving you from worrying about product quality and safety.

ClickBank gives affiliates one of two commission schemes. The revenue sharing commission model allows affiliates to earn a fraction of each generated sale. The program also empowers affiliates to boost sales by upselling while leveraging rebills’ income-generating potential.

The second method (CPA) enables affiliates to obtain a fixed amount in dollars for every sale, while freeing affiliates against refund-related issues. You might want to know that ClickBank merchants will pay you 50 to 70 percent commission.

ClickBank’s payment cycles are also generous at weekly or once every two weeks. You can receive your commissions via direct deposit, check, Payoneer, or wire transfer.

8. ShopStyle Collective

If your Instagram Stories feature fashion- and style-related content, ShopStyle Collective (SSC) is for you. More than 15,000 brands consider SSC their home, bridging them to customers through an extensive affiliate network.

SSC’s advantage over other affiliate programs is its social media influencer-specific initiatives. Instagram influencers and other social media marketers can leverage the platform’s ingenious tools to make life easier.

You can optimize SSC’s iOS and Android-based apps to track affiliate marketing performance, create links, and evolve widgets for easier updating on Instagram. The process makes sharing high-quality home, beauty, style, and fashion products with followers easier and faster.

Unfortunately, SSC requires an Instagram Business account to join. Moreover, the IG account must have an active link with a Facebook Business page.

The platform also demands authentic posts, an engaged audience, and consistently shoppable content. Payment is limited to PayPal, but you can receive your commission monthly.

How to Choose the Best Affiliate Program for Instagram?

Choosing the best affiliate programs for an Instagram account is easy if you observe the following pointers.

Consider your niche

You can do affiliate marketing without a website. But recognizing your niche is crucial when marketing as an affiliate. Ideally, you must be passionate about something to make products on your Instagram account more “believable” and “relatable.” You’ll want audiences to click on the link because you have “solutions” to their “perceived needs.”

Look for high-quality products and services

Are there products or services in your chosen niche you can “market” as an affiliate? Do you have a favorite brand? Do they provide a program for affiliate marketers? For example, Nike, Adidas, Prada, and other recognizable brands have their respective affiliate programs anybody can join.

Check the commission rates

Affiliate marketing platforms offer varying commission rates. Some are higher but with stringent requirements. Others are the opposite. Hence, determining the commission entails more than the earnings. You might want to consider the ease of obtaining commissions.

Read the terms and conditions

Most companies have this section in fine and extended print, preventing aspiring affiliate marketers from reading every detail. But, the affiliate marketing platform’s terms and conditions are crucial because they determine how easy (or difficult) earning a passive income can be with them.

Conclusion

The best affiliate programs for Instagram vary across marketers, often depending on their various niches. And while Instagram’s reach is impressive based on case studies, you might think you can succeed in affiliate marketing with this platform as your one and only channel. Unfortunately, we don’t advise it.

The ideal setup is to leverage your Instagram to encourage followers to check your website, where the affiliate links are located.

Engaging your Instagram followers, providing them meaningful and relatable content can make your job of driving them to the affiliate marketing-rich website easier.