Recently, streaming virtually from Facebook’s first-ever Creator Week, Mark Zuckerberg proudly announced that Instagram is rolling out new monetisation features to further allow creators to earn commission from purchases driven by their influence.

Seeing the impacts from the likes of TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat investing in talent, and clearly feeling the pressure to maintain relevance, Zuckerberg claimed these newest functionalities will facilitate Instagram’s goal to be the best platform for creators to make a living. 

In an unprecedented move for Instagram, one of these features is a ‘native affiliate tool’, launched so that creators are fairly compensated for sales driven by product promotions or brand partnerships. Creators will be able to set their own commission rate, and affiliate posts will be signposted, so that followers are aware their purchases will support the seller in some way. 

What does Instagram affiliate mean for the industry?

Instagram is clearly pushing hard to be the platform of choice for content creators. Seeing bigger platforms leading the way in putting the creator first is hugely promising – it makes an important statement that creators should be correctly remunerated for their creative work and recognises the legitimacy of influencer marketing. 

What we often see is that influencer marketing comes second versus traditional media, and many still struggle to understand the value of it. Affiliate marketing is also often seen as an add-on, but when executed correctly can be such an effective ROI tool. With Instagram’s bespoke affiliate program marrying the two, brands will be able to trace and attribute their investment into influencer activity. They’ll be able to do this by directly tracking sales. 

Tracking influencer ROI

Historically, tracking ROI from influencers has been possible – examples include:

  • Using trackable links through stories to measure conversion
  • Direct sales reporting through using creator content in paid social ads
  • Sales lift studies, which help assess sales based on econometric modelling over a specific period vs marketing output over the same period

However, despite these functionalities some brands have still been hesitant to engage, opting for traditional marketing avenues instead. Instagram’s newest tool will make ROI attribution even easier and more effective – it’ll be an exciting time for the industry, working with brand partners to figure out the most successful way to implement influencer affiliate marketing on Instagram. 

We know that an increasing number of influencers make a full-time living through content creation and brand partnerships. It’s only fair they’re correctly financially rewarded and incentivised for their outputs. 

Instagram has announced the tool will be available in-feed, suggesting that smaller creators will have access to the programme too, making it hugely accessible. This could change the game for how influencer ‘value’ is perceived – another potential gamechanger for the industry. 

To learn more about Instagram’s latest announcements, catch up on BDB’s webinar with Instagram and Clarks Shoes. 

If you want to learn more about Instagram’s latest announcements and how this could impact your brand’s strategy, get in touch with the BDB team to find out how we can help. 

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