Instagram recently ended its native affiliate marketing program. When the program first launched in June 2021, it was billed as one of many in Meta’s latest suite of features for content creators. The sudden move to sunset the fledgling event translates into a jarring change of course for Instagram, whose parent company is investing heavily in user-generated content on its social media platforms and in the metaverse. What makes this all the more interesting is that Instagram’s new Creator Market, where brands can discover and connect with creators, only recently launched on an invite-only basis.
On the heels of Instagram’s announcement, Reuters reported that Walmart has filed trademarks for “Walmart Creator” and “Walmart Creator Collective,” further hinting at the possibility of Walmart launching an in-house platform to support influencers and consulting to its third-party sellers to offer. , which number more than 100,000.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of Instagram’s sudden decision is that Meta appears to be scaling back affiliate transactions on Instagram. However, this does not mean that you should back off your affiliate or partnership strategy, whether you are a creator, an affiliate or an advertiser.
On the contrary, according to the Performance Marketing Association’s 2022 Performance Marketing Industry Study, the affiliate and partnership channel continues to grow even after the retail highs of the pandemic. According to the association’s research, affiliate marketing investment reached $9.1 billion in 2021, a 47% increase in spending compared to 2018. The study also indicated that affiliate marketing investment drove $71 billion in e-commerce sales in 2021 and boasts a impressive 12-to-1 return on ad spend. But there’s more to the content creators’ effectiveness story, according to the Partnerize platform’s data.
Specifically, for the period examined by the Performance Marketing Association study, the Partnerize platform observed that content partners consistently contributed more than a 45% total commission share—the highest of all partner categories. In May 2022 alone, Partnerize’s content partners’ gross revenue growth rate was 36% higher than the same month last year, while their share of spend stood at 47%. And as of May, the revenue share of new customers for content publishers on the Partnerize platform is at 54%—higher than coupon, loyalty and cashback.
The data performance supports that content creators—and the brands that support them—win with the right expertise and platform. Want to learn more? Download Partnerize’s eBook, “13 Ways to Accelerate Influencer Growth With Partnerize,” here.
—Charlie Calabrese, vice president, operations, partnership
