17 Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Links For Free In 2024

Most people trying to earn affiliate commissions make the same mistake: they think promoting means spamming links everywhere. They drop their affiliate URL into Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and comment sections, and then wonder why nobody clicks and nobody buys. Alston Godbolt spent years testing what actually works, and the answer is consistent across all 18 free promotion channels he covers in this video: be genuinely helpful, optimize your profile to tell people who you are and how you can help them, and let curiosity do the selling for you.

This post walks through every single method Alston shares, in the order he covers them. If you are looking for a structured way to figure out which of these methods fits your situation, skills, and time, head over to finder.platformproof.com to get matched with the right starting point.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A complete breakdown of all 18 free affiliate promotion methods Alston uses or has tested personally
The single biggest mistake people make on Facebook groups, Reddit, and Skool that guarantees zero sales
Why Alston tells everyone to ditch Linktree and what to use instead
How Pinterest pins can rank on Google and drive traffic to your affiliate offers without touching paid ads
The ManyChat Instagram strategy that ran on autopilot without Alston logging in
How to build your Reddit karma so you can eventually control your own subreddit community
Why TikTok requires a completely different content approach than every other platform on this list
Not sure which method fits your schedule and skill set? Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com

The One Rule That Applies to Every Method on This List

Before getting into the specific platforms, Alston makes one point that he returns to throughout the entire video: if you add value, if you help solve problems, and you are genuinely helpful, you will make money. His exact framing is that people will just hand you money and you will barely understand where it came from. Every platform covered below operates on that same principle. Spam never works. Helpfulness always compounds.

He also gives an honest timeline warning. None of these methods will take you to $10,000 per month in two weeks. You need to pick one method and work it every single day, sometimes multiple times per day. If you try something for two days and quit, no method on earth will work for you. With that said, here are all 18 ways.

Methods 1, 2, and 3: Facebook Reels, Other People’s Groups, and Your Own Group

Alston groups the first three methods together because they share the same Facebook-based approach. Method 1 is Facebook Reels, method 2 is engaging in other people’s Facebook groups, and method 3 is running your own Facebook group.

The wrong way to use Facebook groups is something Alston scrolls through live in the video: post after post of people dropping links, promoting offers, and asking for attention without giving anything in return. He says this fails 100% of the time. The right way is to search for questions using terms like “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how,” find people genuinely asking for help, and then answer those questions without including your affiliate link in the reply.

When you do that consistently, people get curious. They click your profile avatar to learn more about you. That is where the actual selling happens. Alston recommends turning your Facebook profile into something close to a landing page: a clear photo showing you are a real person, your name, a one-line description of who you are and what you do, and a single clickable image that takes people to your Skool community, lead magnet, or free PDF. He builds this in Canva for free. He shows his own profile in the video as a live example of how a simple header image with “who I am, what I do, and how I help you” does all the selling without a single spam post.

For your own Facebook group (method 3), you create a community around your niche and pin posts pointing to relevant products and services. The key is staying inside your niche. People often create content in one niche and then try to redirect their audience toward make-money-online offers. Alston says this breaks trust. Affiliate products exist for every niche, so pick one and stay in it.

Method 4: YouTube

YouTube works best with long-form content. Short-form is possible but harder. The approach is to create videos answering questions people are searching for in your niche and then place affiliate links in two spots: the video description for every upload, and the channel’s About section.

On the About section, Alston is direct: do not use Linktree. He says it kills conversions. Every additional option you give someone forces another decision, which introduces friction, which reduces the likelihood they take any action at all. Put one link. Make it go to your email list opt-in, a free PDF, or your highest-priority affiliate offer.

A second YouTube tactic Alston mentions is answering questions in the comments of other people’s channels in your niche. He uses the example of subscribing to a woodworking channel, turning on bell notifications so you get alerted when they post, and then leaving substantive, helpful comments. Not spam. Not links. Real answers. When viewers click your channel name, they see who you are, and if you have content and a clear About page, some of them will follow. This is how you grow views and subscribers without running a single ad.

Method 5: Email Marketing

Alston notes that email marketing is technically not free because most platforms charge a monthly fee. However, once someone joins your list, you own that relationship for as long as they stay subscribed, and sending emails to your list costs nothing extra. He frames it as a one-time cost that becomes a free channel over time.

One specific tip he gives: stop setting up auto-replies on your Gmail account. When you send a broadcast email to your list, some subscribers have Gmail configured to automatically reply to every email they receive. Alston says he never reads those auto-replies and never clicks the links inside them. If you are doing this, you are wasting your time.

Method 6: Pinterest

Pinterest stands out on this list because it is one of the few social platforms that actively allows you to send people off the platform to external content. That makes it ideal for affiliate marketers who want to drive traffic to a blog post, YouTube video, or landing page with affiliate links embedded.

Alston recommends using video pins and idea pins. Idea pins now support links, which makes them especially useful. For scale, he mentions a software called Tailwind that automates Pinterest posting at around 300 pins per month, which works out to about 10 pins per day. You can create multiple Pinterest pins pointing to a single piece of content as long as the pins themselves look different. One blog post can support five or ten separate pins.

Another reason Alston likes Pinterest: pins can rank on Google. That means a single pin you create today can continue driving traffic for months or years without any ongoing effort on your part.

Method 7: Reddit

Alston describes Reddit as the front page of the internet and one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. He compares it to Facebook groups without filters or training wheels. Reddit is organized into subreddits, which are niche communities covering virtually any topic. People ask and answer questions inside those communities constantly.

The approach is the same as with Facebook groups: join relevant subreddits for your niche, find questions, answer them with real information, and do not drop your affiliate link inside the answer. Build your Reddit profile just like your Facebook profile: who you are, what you do, how you help people.

To get your own subreddit, you first need to earn karma, which is Reddit’s points system for posting and answering. Once you have enough karma and your own subreddit, you can build an audience, post helpful content, and occasionally share affiliate links in a way that serves the community rather than spamming it.

Method 8: Quora

Alston originally planned 17 methods and added Quora live during the video as a bonus, making the total 18. Quora is a question-and-answer platform where people ask questions and the community provides answers. It is similar to Reddit but slightly more moderated, which Alston describes as “Reddit with one training wheel.”

One critical rule: do not include affiliate links directly in your Quora answers. Your answers will get deleted and you risk being banned. Instead, write a helpful answer and link to a blog post, YouTube video, or free PDF that contains your affiliate links. The goal is to send people to content you own, not to direct-link to offers.

For a more targeted approach, Alston mentions using Ahrefs (a paid keyword research tool) to find questions where Quora already ranks on the first page of Google. You search Quora’s domain inside Ahrefs, filter by keyword, and find questions in your niche that already have search traffic. Then you write a strong answer to those questions so your answer appears at the top of the Quora thread, which in turn shows up in Google search results. The more upvotes your answer earns, the higher it ranks inside Quora, and if you get enough engagement, Quora will send your answer to subscribers interested in similar questions.

Not sure which of these 18 methods is right for you?

Take the free Platform Proof quiz at finder.platformproof.com and find out which online income path fits your schedule, skills, and starting point.

Method 9: LinkedIn Blog Posts and Groups

LinkedIn has a built-in blog publishing feature where you can write long-form articles and embed affiliate links inside them. The platform is free to join, so publishing blog posts on LinkedIn costs nothing. Like Quora and Reddit, LinkedIn content can rank on Google, meaning you are borrowing the authority of a major platform to get your content seen in search results.

LinkedIn also has groups that work similarly to Facebook groups. Join groups in your niche, answer questions, be helpful without spamming, and let your profile do the selling. Alston notes that when people see a thoughtful, substantive comment and click the commenter’s profile, they want to learn more. Having a few blog posts and a clear profile description with a link to your lead magnet or offer closes that loop.

Method 10: Twitter and X

Alston still calls the platform Twitter. The strategy here is a bit different from groups and forums. Twitter moves fast, and one effective approach is searching for “where to buy” queries. When you find someone asking where to buy something in your niche that has an affiliate program, you can reply with a genuine recommendation and your link. This is one of the few places where a direct link in a reply can work naturally because someone is explicitly asking for a product recommendation.

Beyond replies, Alston has been going live on Twitter and reposts video content from other platforms to build his presence there. Video content and live sessions get attention on the platform and give people a reason to follow and check your profile for more information.

Method 11: Instagram

Alston admits he has never been great at Instagram and treats it mostly as a place to repost content from other platforms. That said, he shares one Instagram-specific tactic that ran almost entirely on autopilot: using ManyChat to send automated direct messages.

The setup is simple. You create a post, write a caption telling people to DM you a specific word, and ManyChat automatically sends them a message with your free masterclass link or offer. Instagram approves this type of automated DM flow, and ManyChat even posts a reply on the public comment thread saying “message sent,” which adds social proof. Alston set it up in about five minutes and then had conversations happening in his inbox that he never manually logged in to start. ManyChat has a free plan that handles the basics.

As with every other platform: profile optimization matters. Put your affiliate link, a lead magnet link, or your community link in your bio along with who you are, what you do, and how you can help people.

Method 12: Medium

Alston is not a huge fan of building on other people’s platforms because those platforms make money from your work without sharing the revenue with you. But he acknowledges that Medium works as a free promotion channel. You can write long-form articles on Medium, embed links in those articles, and Medium posts frequently rank on Google for competitive keywords. He found a Medium article ranking for a term he searched in real time during the video, demonstrating that the strategy works right now.

The tradeoff is that you are building on rented land. If Medium changes its policies or ranking behavior, your traffic disappears. Use it as one channel in a broader strategy rather than your only channel.

Method 13: TikTok

TikTok requires a different content approach than every other platform on this list. On YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, people are searching for answers to specific questions, which means they are already aware they have a problem. TikTok’s audience is different. Most viewers on TikTok do not know they have a problem yet. They are scrolling, they are entertained, and their awareness level is very low.

That means your TikTok content needs to speak to dreams, challenges, pain points, and frustrations. You are not answering “how do I do X?” You are making people realize they have a problem they have not named yet, and then showing them there is a solution. Alston earned affiliate commissions on TikTok before the platform even allowed links in videos, which tells you that building trust and curiosity works even without a direct clickable call to action.

Method 14: Niche Forums

Niche forums still exist for almost every interest area, and they still get traffic. Alston uses the example of basket-weaving forums to show that no matter how specific your niche is, there is likely a community of people already talking about it online.

The forum strategy follows the same pattern: join, answer questions, be helpful, build a reputation. The specific wrinkle with forums is that many of them let you include a signature or profile link. Alston recommends using that spot to link to a free PDF. Inside that PDF, you include your affiliate links. Someone gets value from you in the thread, clicks your profile to learn more, downloads your free PDF, and encounters your affiliate recommendations in a context where they already trust you. That is a much better conversion pathway than dropping a raw link in a reply.

Method 15: Gumroad

Gumroad is a platform that lets you upload PDFs, e-books, templates, and other digital files and either sell them or give them away for free. You embed your affiliate links inside those files. When someone downloads your free guide on woodworking tools, affiliate marketing basics, or whatever fits your niche, they see your recommendations with links attached.

The important caveat Alston gives: Gumroad does not generate its own traffic. You still need to use one of the other 17 methods on this list to send people to your Gumroad page. Think of it as a delivery mechanism for your affiliate links, not a traffic source on its own.

Method 16: Skool Communities

Skool is a community platform, and Alston has seen firsthand how people misuse it. Someone gets approved to join a community and immediately starts posting “join my WhatsApp group” within minutes. He says those posts get reported by 20 members almost instantly. Spam does not work on Skool any more than it works anywhere else.

The right approach is to join communities in your niche, answer questions, and be the person people want to learn more about. When someone sees a helpful comment and clicks your profile, you can have a link in your Skool bio. That link can go to a free PDF, a lead magnet, your YouTube channel, your other social profiles, or a Google Doc with resources and affiliate links. Alston shows his own Skool profile in the video as an example, with social links attached and a clear bio explaining who he is and how he helps people.

Method 17 and 18: Amazon Live and the Amazon Influencer Program

The final method surprised Alston when he first learned about it: you can promote affiliate products directly inside Amazon’s own platform. Amazon has a live video feature where creators go live, talk about products, and earn commissions when viewers click and buy. Amazon also has an Influencer Program that lets you create TikTok-style short videos inside the Amazon mobile app, recommending any product on the platform, not just products you own or sell.

When someone watches your Amazon video and then buys the product you featured, you earn a commission. Alston notes this is a channel most affiliate marketers have never thought to use, and that lower competition often means easier visibility.

A Step-by-Step Starting Plan

With 18 methods on the table, the biggest mistake would be trying to run all of them at once. Here is a practical sequence for getting started:

Pick one platform. Start with the one where you already spend time or where your target audience is most active. If you scroll Facebook daily, start with Facebook groups. If you watch YouTube constantly, start with YouTube comments and your own channel.
Optimize your profile. Before you write a single comment or post, build your profile so it works as a landing page. Clear photo, your name, who you are, what you do, how you help people, and one link. Do this on every platform you join.
Find questions every day. Search for people asking questions in your niche. On Facebook, type question words into the group search bar. On Reddit, sort subreddits by new. On Quora, filter by date. Your daily habit is finding questions and answering them.
Create a free PDF or lead magnet. This is the bridge between being helpful and earning commissions. Write a short guide related to your niche, embed your affiliate links inside it, and link to it from your profile across every platform.
Do this for at least 30 days before evaluating results. Alston is clear in the video: two days of effort proves nothing. Thirty days of consistent daily effort starts to show you whether your niche, platform, and content approach are working, and gives you real data to improve from.
Add a second platform only after the first is a daily habit. Once you are answering five questions per day on Reddit without thinking about it, add Pinterest pins. Once Pinterest is automated with Tailwind, add email list building. Stack channels one at a time.

Honest Drawbacks

Every one of these methods is free, but none of them is fast. If you are looking for a way to earn commissions this week without any prior audience, experience, or content, this strategy is not going to deliver that. The free methods Alston covers compound over time: the Reddit karma you build today makes your subreddit possible six months from now, the Pinterest pins you publish this week can rank on Google next quarter, and the YouTube comments you write today turn into subscribers who find your channel over the next year.

The trade is time for money. You spend time instead of ad budget, and the payoff arrives later. That is a perfectly reasonable trade if you are patient and consistent, but it is not the right fit for someone who needs income immediately or who cannot commit to a daily content and engagement habit for several months.

Find Your X

Eighteen methods is a lot of options. The worst move is to read this list and try all of them at once, spreading yourself across every platform without going deep enough on any single one to see results. The best move is to figure out which one fits your current reality: your schedule, your existing skills, the platforms you already understand, and the niche you genuinely want to create content in. If you want help narrowing that down, take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to get a matched recommendation based on your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be on all 18 platforms to make affiliate marketing work?

No. Alston is explicit in the video that trying to do everything at once is a path to burning out with zero results. Pick one platform, work it consistently every single day, and only add a second channel after the first is a reliable daily habit. Most people who earn meaningful affiliate commissions got there by mastering one or two channels, not by doing all 18 poorly.

Why does Alston recommend against using Linktree?

Every extra option you give someone forces them to make a decision. Decisions take mental energy, create friction, and reduce the probability that someone takes any action at all. A single link to a single destination keeps the path clear. Alston says people ask him why they are not making money and when he looks at their profile, they are using Linktree. He recommends one link to one destination: your email opt-in, your free PDF, or your highest-converting offer.

Can I put my affiliate links directly in Reddit or Quora answers?

Do not do this on Quora. Your answers will get deleted and your account can get banned. On Reddit, it depends on the subreddit’s rules, but most niche communities penalize or remove direct affiliate links. The standard approach on both platforms is to write a genuinely helpful answer and then link to a blog post, YouTube video, or free PDF where your affiliate links live. Let the content do the selling, not the comment.

How does ManyChat work with Instagram and does it cost money?

ManyChat automates direct messages on Instagram. You write a post telling people to DM you a specific word, and ManyChat sends them a message automatically with whatever link or information you want to share. It is approved by Instagram and even posts a public “message sent” reply on your comments for social proof. ManyChat has a free plan that handles the core automation. Alston spent about five minutes setting it up and then had ongoing conversations in his inbox without logging in to manage them manually.

Is email marketing really free if you have to pay for an email platform?

Alston acknowledges it is not free upfront. You pay a monthly fee to the email platform. But once someone joins your list, you own that contact relationship until they unsubscribe, and sending broadcasts to your list costs nothing additional. Over time, the cost per contact sent becomes very low, which is why Alston frames it as free after the initial platform cost. Many email platforms also have free tiers for small lists, which means you can start without spending anything until your list grows large enough to justify a paid plan.

Why is TikTok different from all the other platforms on this list?

On platforms like Reddit, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, people are actively searching for information. They know they have a problem and want an answer. TikTok’s audience is in a discovery mindset, not a search mindset. They are scrolling without a specific goal. That means your content needs to make people aware of a problem, dream, or challenge they have not fully named yet, rather than answering a question they already typed into a search bar. Alston says TikTok content should speak to dreams, challenges, pain points, and problems. Once viewers feel understood, they become curious about solutions.

What is the Amazon Influencer Program and who can join?

The Amazon Influencer Program lets you create short video content inside the Amazon mobile app, similar to TikTok-style posts. You can feature any product available on Amazon, not just products you personally sell or own. When someone watches your video and buys the product, you earn an affiliate commission. Amazon also has a live video feature where you can go live, talk about products, and earn in real time. Requirements and approval criteria can change, so check Amazon’s current influencer program page for the latest eligibility details.

How do I build Reddit karma and why does it matter?

Reddit karma is a points score that goes up when other users upvote your posts and comments. You earn it by participating in communities, asking good questions, and giving helpful answers. Karma matters because Reddit requires a minimum karma score before it allows you to create your own subreddit. Your own subreddit gives you a community you control, where you can post consistently, set the rules, and eventually share affiliate recommendations to an audience that already trusts you. The path is: join communities, answer questions, earn karma, create your own subreddit.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “17 Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Links For Free In 2024,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/PO_FOok3RAE
Tailwind app for Pinterest automation: tailwindapp.com
ManyChat Instagram automation: manychat.com
Ahrefs keyword research tool: ahrefs.com
Gumroad digital product hosting: gumroad.com
Amazon Influencer Program: amazon.com/influencer-program