How to do affiliate marketing on Instagram

You do affiliate marketing on Instagram in four steps. Join a programme that allows sharing on social media. Put your tracking link where people can reach it: the link in your bio, a Story link sticker or a DM. Say clearly that you earn from it. Then track which posts lead to sales. Most people skip the first step. Each programme decides where its links may be shared, and a Reel or post caption can’t hold a tappable link, so the link has to travel another way.

Expect small numbers at first. Commission is paid only on the sales a programme counts, so you are building trust that people act on, and nobody can promise an amount. The sections below cover where links can go, what to read in a programme before you post, how a comment-to-DM flow fits, which label to use in India, how to track results, and the mistakes that cost creators their programme accounts.

Take Amazon Associates India, the programme most Indian creators meet first. Its Operating Agreement, which we opened in October 2026, talks about displaying links on “your site” and in approved mobile applications, and says you must identify your site in your application. It restricts the use of links in “any email or other offline mechanism”, with an allowance for members of its Influencer Programme, and it does not let you alter links. The text we read did not set out rules for Instagram profiles in particular.

That gap matters. Before you put an Amazon link in your bio, read the current agreement and application in your own account and look for guidance on social profiles. If you can’t find a clear yes, ask Amazon’s support and keep their answer. The same habit works for every programme. Read these points first:

• Where links may be shared: websites, social profiles, email, private messages, or only some of them.
• Whether you must list your Instagram profile when you apply, and whether a profile counts as a place to share links.
• Whether you may shorten, wrap or add tags to the link. Amazon’s agreement bars altering links.
• The tracking window, what counts as a qualifying sale, and when returns cancel your commission.
• The payout minimum and the wait before you are paid.
• The disclosure wording the programme itself requires. Amazon asks for a clear statement that you earn from qualifying purchases.
• Who can end your account and why. Amazon’s agreement allows it to end an account at any time, with or without cause.

Tip: A programme that says nothing about Instagram has not said yes. Ask in writing and save the reply, because the answer is what you will point to if your account is ever questioned.

Instagram captions can’t carry tappable links, so many creators ask viewers to comment a word and send the link in a DM. It works well for a Reel that shows a product in use, because the people who comment are the ones who want it. Meta’s rules shape how it can run: one private reply per comment, sent within 7 days of the comment, and only Business and Creator accounts can use the messaging tools. Here is how a flow looks for a Reel about a desk setup.

1. The Reel shows the desk and the caption says: “Comment DESK and I’ll send the list of what I use.”
2. A viewer comments DESK. An auto-reply answers under the comment, and a private message goes out as plain text: “Hi! Reply YES and I’ll send the list. These are affiliate links, so I earn a small commission if you buy.”
3. The viewer replies YES. Now the message can carry the link, because the person has answered you.
4. That follow-up has to go within 24 hours of their last message, so send it straight away.

Two cautions. First, some programmes restrict links in private messages, so confirm yours allows it before you build the flow. Second, don’t message people who never asked. Meta’s official tools don’t allow mass DMs to followers, and an unrequested link from a stranger is the quickest way to be reported. DMFast, which publishes this guide, runs this kind of flow for Instagram professional accounts and Facebook Pages. It doesn’t work with personal accounts, WhatsApp, TikTok or Threads, and you can build the same thing by hand by answering each DM yourself.

This is general information, not legal advice. In India, ASCI’s influencer advertising guidelines list “Affiliate” among the accepted disclosure labels. They say the label must be upfront and hard to miss, and they warn that a disclosure is likely to be missed if it sits only in a bio, at the end of a post, behind a “more” tap or inside a pile of hashtags. For a Story or any video without caption text, the label has to be superimposed on the picture or video. For a video of 15 seconds or less it must stay on screen for at least 3 seconds. In practice, say it in the first line of the caption and show it on the Reel itself.

Your link-in-bio page needs a line too, since that is where the commission is actually earned. Our guide to affiliate and sponsored post disclosure rules in India goes through every ASCI format rule with examples.

A programme’s report tells you how many clicks and sales you got, but not which Reel or Story sent them. UTM parameters help. Google Analytics describes five: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content. It says to always use the first three, and that Analytics is case sensitive, so utm_source=Instagram and utm_source=instagram show up as different sources. Pick lowercase names and stick to them.

Here is the catch for affiliate marketers. Don’t add UTMs to the affiliate link itself, because programmes such as Amazon’s bar you from altering links. Put them on a link to a page you control, such as your link-in-bio page, and let the affiliate link sit behind it. An example, with your own domain in place of the placeholder: yourname.example/desk?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=reel&utm_campaign=desk-setup. You then read the visits in the analytics tool attached to that page. If a programme lets you attach its own tag or sub-ID, use one per post.

• One spreadsheet row per post: date, product, where the link sat, clicks, sales from the programme report, and what you changed.
• Use the same lowercase names every time, so “reel” never becomes “Reels” on another day.
• Compare formats after a month. Often a Story with a product in use sells differently from a carousel, and the sheet shows which.

DMFast offers tracked links and a link-in-bio page that count clicks without any analytics set-up, and its limits are the same as above: Instagram and Facebook only.

• Posting links with no label. It breaks ASCI’s guidelines and can break the programme’s own terms.
• Using a programme in a place its terms don’t allow, such as email or private messages, without checking.
• Altering or shortening affiliate links when the programme forbids it.
• Recommending products you haven’t used. Followers notice, and a recommendation you can’t defend costs more trust than the commission earns.
• Reposting other people’s Reels with your links on top. Instagram’s monetisation rules cover only content you made, helped make or appear in, and non-original material needs your own commentary or edits.
• Buying followers, joining engagement pods or asking people for their logins. All are against Instagram’s rules, and none helps a link sell.
• Health or money claims. “This cures acne” or “this will make you rich” is the kind of line that ends accounts, so describe your own experience only.

Tip: Treat every programme account as something you can lose without notice. Keep your audience reachable somewhere you own, such as an email list, so that one closed account does not end your income.

1. Day 1: list ten products you already use every week. Pick the niche where followers ask what you use.
2. Day 2: read one programme’s terms from start to finish and write down where links may go, the tracking window and the payout minimum.
3. Day 3: apply, listing your Instagram profile if the form asks for a site. Wait for approval before you share a link.
4. Day 4: write your one-line disclosure and add it to your link page.
5. Days 5 to 7: post one Reel with a product in use, one Story with the label on screen, and answer every comment honestly.
6. Days 8 to 14: add UTMs to the page link, fill in the spreadsheet, and change one thing next week based on what the numbers show.

Don’t judge the idea after two weeks. Affiliate income builds slowly, and most new accounts earn little at first. The aim of the first fortnight is to learn which post type your audience acts on.