The main difference between having a hobby and pursuing a passion full time is money. Not necessarily how much you’re bringing in, but how committed you are to making it. Unfortunately, for most of us, it’s impossible to commit full time to a hobby without having a real business plan that results in profit. Luckily, I put together a few steps you can take to start seeing a profit as an influencer!
Step 1: Stop Selling Product
Listen, I’ll scream it until I’m blue in the face, stop selling products. Selling products is the easiest way for influencers to stifle their income. The best way to encourage followers to use your affiliate links is to not push them. Share a product out of genuine (at least faked genuine) interest and excitement. Make the follower think, “Wow, this is great! She’s letting me in on her secret!” and they will undoubtedly click your shared link. When followers see #ad #____partner*, it’s immediately a turn off. Analytics will prove it to you, authentic shares see a much higher return.
Step 2: Make Sure Your Links Are Easy To Access
Popular affiliate sites like an Amazon Storefront or Like To Know It often have a profile page. When linking this page, make sure it’s obvious to your audience. Renaming your Like To Know It as “Shop My Closet” in your linktree will help audiences understand what they’re clicking on! Getting your audience to move over to a new social media platform is difficult enough, don’t let semantics stop eager followers from engaging with your content. If they aren’t familiar with LTK, explain it to them! If they don’t know where something is on your Amazon storefront, be incredibly specific! Don’t make people eager to use your affiliate link hunt for the right product.
Step 3: Use Affiliate Programs Authentically
Try to post on LTK once a day. Use your Amazon storefront and don’t share every product. Keep your folders active and ever changing! At the same time, make sure there’s somewhere on your page where links can live forever. But keep top content cycling so that audiences never get bored! When followers see that you’re actively using these platforms and not resharing every post or product, they’re more likely to actually follow you on the product. How great would it be for your LTK post to turn a profit without needing to push it elsewhere? You need to give audiences some sort of incentive to follow you in multiple places. Putting some content up on LTK that isn’t linked on IG will give audiences a lot more reason to follow you there as opposed to following you there only to see posts repeated on IG everyday.
Step 4: Be Patient!
Post Authentically. Post Often. Be Patient. Don’t be discouraged when you find, after posting on LTK for two weeks, you’ve made next to nothing. You’re always one video/post away from your goal. You want to make sure when you do hit your stride, your account is full of content for consumption. You don’t want to go viral, have zero content, and zero plan. That’s where you’ll often see creators sputter out after having one viral video. If you stick to your schedule and keep posts (seemingly) genuine and honest, success will follow.
*Now, if you’re doing a brand deal or sponsored post, these are often required. Don’t lie to your followers either! Include these where necessary, but for day to day affiliate links, keep shares authentic and seemingly impromptu