If you click through Ashley Dorough’s Instagram stories, you’ll see that almost every story contains a link to purchase the clothing items she’s trying on. Dorough’s Instagram bio reads “your plus size bestie,” and much of her content revolves around modeling plus size clothing — and offering her followers the opportunity to purchase them through affiliate links.
“I’m going to connect things all day long because my audience that I built here is so loyal to me now,” the 39-year-old tells Yahoo. “We feel like we’re family and friends in real life even though we’re not. My mission is to represent plus-size women and size representation is huge for me.” When viewers purchase an item of clothing through the links Dorough posts, she earns a commission on the purchase.
Welcome to the wild world of affiliate marketing, a system through which influencers share products and brands they ostensibly use, then recommend those products on retail sites, cutting into their bottom line. Those sites can range from corporate giants like Amazon to platforms like LikeToKnowIt (LTK) and ShopMy. Depending on the platform and brand, the influencer who creates the link can earn a commission ranging from 1% to more than 20% on every purchase made through their link. The customer doesn’t even necessarily have to buy what the influencer posted about. If he clicks on the influencer’s link and fills his cart with other must-haves, the influencer still earns a commission. Industry insiders say the average commission is around 10%.
One influencer, who wished to remain anonymous, told Yahoo that they are on track to make more than $70,000 through affiliate links in the month of December.
For years, the number of affiliate links on the Internet has skyrocketed – it seems like everyone has something to offer. Wanted to use the same pots as your favorite cooking content creator? She will link it. Wonder how she gets her teeth so white? Click on her shoppable link to teeth whitening strips, conveniently available on her Instagram story.
But the number of affiliate links is never greater than during the holidays, when consumers shop the most and influencers generate the most revenue. One influencer, who wished to remain anonymous, told Yahoo that they are on track to make more than $70,000 through affiliate links in the month of December.
Affiliate linking has also been lucrative for Dorough, the 39-year-old plus-size influencer. She estimates that affiliate marketing makes up 80% of her monthly income. And her followers and viewers are eager for more content this holiday season. “From November 1, people will say: When will your gift guides be published? I want to see them. I want to shop,” she says. Dorough has a whole host of gift guides on her Instagram account, including gift guides aimed at husbands, trendy girls and bakers.
These operations may seem like small, homegrown businesses, but they are often supported by a professional team. To balance the burden of affiliate marketing, Dorough, like many other influencers, hired the Creator Society, a full-service influencer marketing agency.
Madison Weaver, chief marketing officer of the Creator Society, explains that her company’s role is multi-faceted, including creating affiliate links and posting them so the influencer doesn’t have to do it themselves. It is often the Creator Society team themselves that log into creators’ accounts to post partner content. “We probably see a profit increase of 20-30% [during the holidays] compared to the rest of the year,” says Weaver, adding that the Creator Society represents influencers who earn more than $100,000 per month in affiliate revenue alone.
Interestingly enough, the profit doesn’t seem to be directly related to the number of followers. “It’s clear that the influencers with millions tend to generate less in affiliate revenue than some of our creators who have 100,000,” Weaver says. “We just see that these creators with these smaller followers have a more engaged and trusting audience. I have a creator with 150,000 followers who makes six figures a month in affiliate income.”
But some consumers are growing tired of the culture of endlessly pushing and marketing them online. On Redditusers share discount codes that are not linked to influencers, as a kind of small solution to deny influencers their commissions. “This is super helpful and useful! I don’t like supporting influencers’ pockets,” read one comment. Dorough says she’s noticed the resistance to hookup culture. “I didn’t want to be an annoying person who constantly connects,” she says. “I used to be too preoccupied with that. But I eventually let go of that.”
I didn’t want to be an annoying person who is constantly linking. I used to be way too busy with that in my head. But I eventually let that go.
There is a feeling of exhaustion when it comes to affiliate marketing, explains Tiffany Fergusona popular YouTuber who creates content criticizing internet culture. “It’s like we’ve lost the plot,” she says. “[Influencers used to] link products they used, their actual recommendations. Now it’s like, “I might like the idea of this product, if you’re the type of person who wants it.” What are we actually talking about?”
Consumers are also aware of how affiliate marketing works: they know that an influencer will occasionally earn a commission on a customer’s entire shopping cart, depending on the affiliate program. They’re also more aware of the tens of thousands of dollars that creators can make by acting as regular (and covert) sellers. “When consumers find out, they feel even more duped,” says Ferguson.
It’s not just the influencers who are raising the bar when it comes to affiliate marketing this holiday season; it is also the companies and brands. Another influencer, who wished to remain anonymous to maintain personal and professional business connections, showed Yahoo how Walmart is changing its commission structure during the holidays. While an influencer regularly receives a 10% commission for fashion-related items, that commission doubles to 20% during the holidays. The commission for electronics increases from 3% to 8.1%; for household items this changes from 7% to 13.5%.
In fact, while talking to other influencers, she learned that some of them buy Temu versions of clothing or goods and then link to the more expensive Amazon versions.
“Amazon offered me $700 for a Black Friday story share and $5,000 for a set of Prime Day story shares, on top of the affiliate commission,” says the influencer, who has more than 100,000 Instagram followers. “I’ve turned down both. I never want to rely on my followers buying things to make or break my income.”
The influencer also notes that it seems to be becoming increasingly difficult to land brand deals. Affiliate marketing is cheaper for brands and easier for creators (who don’t have to negotiate rates, reshoot content, and submit it for approval). “Influencers would rather spend $1,000 a month on new things to film and then give back or give away because they make so much money and all that stuff is basically worthless anyway,” she says. In fact, while talking to other influencers, she learned that some of them buy Temu versions of clothing or goods and then link to the more expensive Amazon versions.
Although mother influencer Bekah Martinez (@bekah) has 854,000 followers on Instagram, she doesn’t do much affiliate links. She tries to encourage her followers to live and shop sustainably, by posting content about thrift shopping or fixing something that’s broken instead of replacing it.
But she sees the appeal of affiliate marketing. For starters, followers are constantly asking her to link everything she uses. “People ask for links on literally everything,” she says. “’Can you link to the binder clips you use?’” Bekah once linked a watercolor set her kids were using and made $2,000 from affiliate sales. But she usually stays away from it, despite the huge profits up for grabs. “There’s enough people encouraging people to buy shit and I don’t really need to be a part of that anymore.”
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