Affiliate programs for Instagram are a fantastic way to generate clicks and commissions from your social media following.
Instagram is a veritable affiliate marketing goldmine. People browsing their Instagram feed are often in the buying mood, with 47% of consumers favoring the platform for purchase inspiration — more than any other social network.
It’s especially popular among younger audiences, with 59% of Gen-Zers and 51% of Millennials most likely to use Instagram for inspiration on their next acquisition.
So if you can find products and services that resonate with your Instagram audience, you’re well-placed to drive traffic and earn plenty of passive income.
Conversely, if you bombard people with spammy marketing and low-quality products, it won’t matter how many followers you’ve got or how much traffic you generate — you’re not going to succeed as an affiliate marketer.
To help you out, in this blog post, we’ve rounded up the nine best programs and networks for affiliate marketers on Instagram.
Affiliate Programs & Network for Instagram
- Amazon Associates
- Rakuten Advertising
- ShareASale
- CJ Affiliate
- ClickBank
- ShopStyle Collective
- Awin
- FlexOffers
😎 Why You Should Trust Us
We don’t pretend to know much about rocket science or brain surgery, but we definitely understand affiliate marketing.
We’ve been building and monetizing authority sites across multiple niches for more than a decade now.
Along the way, we’ve shared countless best practices and case studies to help thousands more affiliate marketers make money through The Authority Site System and our free training.
1 Amazon Associates
Amazon is comfortably the world’s biggest ecommerce company, with a market cap of over $1 trillion — three times higher than its closest competitor.
Almost two million small and medium businesses worldwide sell via Amazon, with the company’s various sites offering more than 350 million products across hundreds of categories and subcategories.
So Amazon is a great platform with a vast product range. But does it run the best Instagram affiliate program?
It all depends on your niche. The ecommerce giant’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates —the most popular affiliate program according to our affiliate marketing statistics page — offers varying commissions across product categories.
You can earn 20% per sale promoting Amazon Games and a respectable 10% on luxury beauty products. But commissions drop to just 1% in several categories, including physical video games and consoles.
Amazon also offers a stingy 24-hour cookie duration. However, if a customer adds a product to their shopping cart within 24 hours of clicking your affiliate link, that window extends to 90 days.
(Learn more in our in-depth Amazon Associates review and our step-by-step guide on how to become an Amazon affiliate.)
- URL: Amazon Associates affiliate program
- Payment Methods: Direct deposit, Amazon gift certificate, check
- Products sold: Basically everything
2 Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten is a Japanese advertising and technology company with its own affiliate network, which has been named best in the world for 11 successive years.
The B2C-focused affiliate platform offers thousands of affiliate programs across the finance, travel, and retail niches. It also attracts a lot of D2C brands. Over 150,000 active publishers use the network to join programs from their favorite brands and generate passive income.
As an Instagram affiliate, you can leverage Rakuten’s cutting-edge technology to increase sales and clicks. The platform automatically converts standard URLs into commissionable links and offers data-driven recommendations for brand partnerships that align with your audience.
Rakuten also has a wealth of affiliate marketing resources, training, and tools to optimize your strategy and boost your earning potential.
(Find out more in our Rakuten affiliate network review.)
- URL: Rakuten Advertising affiliate network
- Payment methods: PayPal, direct deposit, check
- Brands: Benefit, New Balance, Sephora, Sixt, Virgin Holidays
3 ShareASale
ShareASale is a major affiliate network owned by Axel Springer and United Internet Groups, which also owns Awin and Commission Factory.
The affiliate platform is a good fit for Instagram affiliate marketing, with a broad range of B2C-centric programs across 39+ niches — including clothing, food & drink, travel, and weddings.
The majority of advertisers on the network aren’t household names. However, ShareASale has a handful of high-profile partners, including Allbirds, Etsy, and Reebok. And with 260+ new programs joining the network monthly, you’re sure to find brands and products that resonate with your audience.
While some affiliate marketing networks are geared toward “traditional,” website-based affiliates, ShareASale is happy to work with social media users and influencers.
Once you’ve created your ShareASale affiliate account, you’ll get access to various helpful tools and resources, including real-time reporting and an expert affiliate management team.
(Want to learn more? Check out our detailed ShareASale review.)
- URL: ShareASale affiliate network
- Payment methods: Check, direct deposit, international direct deposit, wire transfer, Payoneer
- Brands: Allbirds, Etsy, Nectar, Reebok
4 CJ Affiliate
Founded in 1998, CJ Affiliate is practically ancient by affiliate marketing standards. The network — formerly known as Commission Junction — attracts some of the world’s largest affiliate advertisers, with twice as many IR500 brands using the platform than its closest rival.
The affiliate platform connects advertisers with over one billion customers monthly and drives more than 14 billion “meaningful interactions” yearly.
It also offers tons of Instagram affiliate marketing potential, paying publishers over $1.8 billion in annual commissions.
CJ makes it easy for affiliates to get started, offering a simple application form and the ability to join individual programs at the click of a button.
Like ShareASale, CJ Affiliate is happy to work with social media-based marketers. It even offers exclusive perks for qualified influencers, including higher commission rates from premium brands and access to advertisers seeking sponsorship opportunities.
(Find out more about the network in our in-depth CJ Affiliate review.)
- URL: CJ Affiliate network
- Payment methods: Direct deposit, check, Payoneer
- Brands: Barnes & Noble, IHG Hotels & Resorts, J.Crew, Klarna, Office Depot
5 ClickBank
ClickBank is a global ecommerce company and affiliate marketplace that connects 100,000+ vendors and marketers.
Sellers on ClickBank offer over 4,000 products, all of which are vetted for FDA/FTC compliance. ClickBank also pays close attention to the quality of products on its platform by monitoring refund rates.
ClickBank is one of the longest-standing and most popular affiliate platforms, having paid more than $5.7 billion in commissions over the past 25 years. In all that time, it claims to have never missed a payment.
As an Instagram affiliate on ClickBank, you can choose from two commission models:
- Revenue Sharing: Earn a percentage of each sale you generate, increase sales through upselling, and receive recurring revenues from rebills.
- CPA: Earn a fixed dollar amount per sale, with no refunds to affect your commissions.
ClickBank makes it easy for new affiliates to get started, providing in-depth online training through its Spark platform.
(Want to learn more? Read our ClickBank review and our guide on How to Make Money with Clickbank.)
- URL: ClickBank affiliate network
- Payment methods: Payoneer, check, direct deposit, wire transfer
- Brands: Thousands of vendors worldwide
6 ShopStyle Collective
ShopStyle is a digital shopping platform that allows consumers to search for products across 15,000+ leading beauty, fashion, and home brands.
It also runs ShopStyle Collective, an influencer marketing platform that helps thousands of content creators to monetize their social media followings.
In many ways, ShopStyle Collective is the perfect Instagram affiliate platform. It offers various tools built with creators in mind, including an easy affiliate link creator, and offers dedicated Android and iOS apps to build links and check performance data on the go.
You need an Instagram Business or Creator account with a connected Facebook Business page to join the Collective. You must also have an engaged audience and consistently post original, shoppable content.
Approved ShopStyle affiliates receive commissions via PayPal from the 19th – 22nd of each month.
- URL: ShopStyle Collective
- Payment Methods: PayPal
- Brands: Adidas, Carhartt, MAC, SpaceNK, Valentino
7 Awin
Awin is part of the affiliate marketing mega-company that owns Affilinet, Commission Factory, and ShareASale. Combined, the group works with over 241,000 active affiliate marketers, paying approximately $1.3 billion in commissions in 2022.
The affiliate network partners with 21,000+ advertisers across dozens of verticals, including computing, fashion, finance, and web hosting.
With its vast reach and massive portfolio of brands, Awin is one of the world’s most popular affiliate networks. So it’s no surprise the platform was named Publishers’ Choice of Network at the Performance Marketing Awards 14 times in the past 16 years.
If you’re an Instagram affiliate with an established following, you can take advantage of Awin’s dedicated influencer offering.
Its customizable payment system is built with non-traditional affiliate marketing models in mind, offering influencers a fixed commission for every sale they have a touchpoint in — no matter when the last click occurs.
Awin affiliates receive support from a dedicated publisher success team, which provides advice and training on the platform’s various tools.
- URL: Awin affiliate network
- Payment methods: BACS, international wire transfer, ACH
- Brands: MyProtein, LookFantastic, Marks & Spencer, Clarks, The Hut Group, Asos, Glossybox, Boots, boohoo
8 FlexOffers
FlexOffers is a performance marketing company that works with 10,000+ advertisers and over 75,000 publishers through 65 networks.
Affiliates can join programs across 25+ categories spanning 27 countries, with new brands joining the platform daily.
FlexOffers provides a wealth of tools to help monetize your social following, including automated affiliate links, data feeds comprising over 650 million products, and a promotions feed featuring all the latest coupons and deals.
As well as helping publishers earn money through affiliate marketing, the platform offers a RevShare model, allowing partners to tap into new revenue streams by referring clients and concepts.
FlexOffers pays commissions via bank transfer, wire transfer, check, or PayPal on a Net 60 basis. However, top performers enjoy expedited payment terms of Net 30 or even Net 7.
(Find out more by reading our FlexOffers review.)
- URL: FlexOffers affiliate network
- Payment methods: Bank transfer, wire transfer, check, PayPal
- Brands: Kohl’s, Macy’s, Nike, Nordstrom, Samsung, Wayfair
Conclusion
With its high purchase intent and colossal audience, Instagram makes it possible to do affiliate marketing without a website.
But we wouldn’t recommend it.
Social media algorithms are notoriously fickle; a single update could destroy your reach overnight. So relying wholly on Instagram (or other platforms) is just too risky.
That’s why the best way to leverage Instagram in your affiliate marketing strategy is to use the platform to drive traffic to your own website.
Don’t have a website? Unsure where to start? Never fear because Authority Hacker is here to help.
Sign up for our free training and we’ll give you seven top tips for building high-performing affiliate sites — including one fantastic, tried-and-trusted tactic for finding profitable hidden niches.
