By Ivy Hutson, VP of Creator Success at Mavely

Whether you just created your Mavely account or you’ve been linking for a few months and want to level up, this guide covers everything you need to go from getting set up to building a sustainable creator income. Think of it as your roadmap, from your very first affiliate link all the way to landing brand campaigns and growing a loyal audience that buys.

We’ve structured this guide around the full creator journey, so you can jump to wherever you are right now or read it straight through. Either way, every step here is actionable, Mavely-specific, and built on what our most successful creators actually do.

Step 1: Get the Foundation Right (Day 1)

Before you share a single link, getting your account set up properly makes everything else easier. Start by downloading the Mavely app and enabling push notifications. Those notifications surface commission boosts and time-sensitive opportunities you’d otherwise miss, so they’re worth turning on from day one.

Next, download the Mavely browser extension (available for Chrome and Safari). Once installed, you can generate a Mavely affiliate link from any product page with a single click while you’re already browsing. From there, link your social profiles, set up your payment information, and you’re ready to go.

One thing worth understanding before you dive in: what makes Mavely different from traditional affiliate networks. Mavely gives creators access to thousands of brands, transparent commission rates, and tools built specifically for how creators actually work. Knowing that from the start helps you approach the platform strategically rather than treating it like just another link-in-bio tool. For a deeper look at how Mavely compares, this breakdown is worth a read.

Step 2: Share Your First Affiliate Link (Days 1–3)

The goal here is simple: create your first link and get it in front of your audience. Mavely works across every major platform, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and even text message or email newsletters, so you can start wherever your audience already is. For a step-by-step walkthrough of the linking process itself, check out how to link with Mavely in the web app or mobile app, or get started with Mavely in 30 seconds.

You don’t need a massive following to start earning. Micro-creators have real advantages that larger accounts often don’t, including deeper audience trust and higher engagement rates, which translate directly into conversions. Creating and sharing at least 10 links by the end of your first week helps you build the habit of linking as a natural part of how you create content. The data backs this up: creators who make a sale within their first seven days are 87% more likely to earn $5k in their first month.

When it comes to the content you build around your links, the core principle is authenticity. Your audience clicks because they trust your recommendations, so lead with products you genuinely use or love, explain why you’re recommending them, and make it easy for people to act. We cover content strategy in depth in Step 6, but if you want to get a head start on thinking about your content approach, feel free to skip ahead.

Once your links are live, check your Mavely analytics to see what’s resonating. If your first links aren’t converting to sales right away, that’s normal. Conversion is a skill you develop over time, and understanding your audience’s behavior is the first step to improving it. If you want to dig into common reasons links don’t convert, we’ve got a guide for that too.

Step 3: Build Your MyShop Storefront (Day 4)

MyShop is your customizable, shoppable home on Mavely: a storefront you can link to from your social bios, share in content, and update as often as you want. It works for you passively, converting browsers into buyers even when you’re not actively posting, which makes it one of the most powerful tools on the platform.

Setting up MyShop is straightforward from within the app. There are two key formats to know: MyShop Pages, which are curated collections organized around a theme or category, and MyShop Posts, which are individual shoppable moments tied to specific content. Using both gives your storefront more depth and keeps it useful for followers with different browsing habits. For a full walkthrough of both formats, the MyShop guide for influencers covers everything you need.

Add at least five MyShop posts using the links you’ve already created, then add your MyShop link to your social media bios. From there, make a habit of refreshing your storefront weekly with new products you’re genuinely loving and linking. A stale storefront is a missed opportunity, because your audience is always looking for what’s new from you.

Step 4: Boost Your Earnings with Referrals and Bonuses (Ongoing) 

Two of the fastest ways to accelerate your earnings on Mavely are the referral program and the bonus tier structure, and most new creators don’t fully take advantage of either.

With Mavely’s referral program, you earn 10% of each referred creator’s commissions for their first six months on the platform. That means when you bring in other creators who are actively linking, you earn alongside them. Sharing your referral link with even three or four creators you know who’d benefit is a genuinely low-effort way to build a passive income stream alongside your affiliate earnings. 

Alongside referrals, take a look at Mavely’s bonus program tiers and set a goal to unlock at least one bonus in your first month. Bonuses reward consistent activity and are structured to be achievable even for newer creators. They’re designed to build momentum, not gatekeep it.

Mavely Boosts are also worth keeping an eye on. Located in your Opportunities feed, these are elevated commission rates on specific products, exclusive to Mavely, that let you earn more on the same content you’d be creating anyway. Building content around active boosts is one of the most underused tactics among new creators, and it costs you nothing extra.

Step 5: Optimize How and Where You Share (Ongoing) 

Getting links live is the starting point. Getting those links in front of the right people, on the right platforms, in the right context is where your strategy deepens.

Start with your bio. Your bio is often the first place a new follower decides whether to trust you, so make sure your MyShop link is prominent and your positioning is clear. Think of it less as a list of links and more as a first impression that sets up everything you create. For specific tips on making your bio work harder, our bio optimization guide is a useful reference.

From there, think about how you’re showing up across platforms. Different platforms have different audience behaviors and monetization dynamics. Instagram and TikTok tend to reward short, visually compelling content with a clear call to action. Pinterest drives longer-tail discovery and is particularly strong for product categories like home, fashion, and food. YouTube is powerful for in-depth reviews and hauls where you can explain the “why” behind a recommendation. If you’re active on more than one platform, tailoring your approach to each one will significantly increase your conversion rates. For a full breakdown of what each platform requires, our social media network monetization guide has the details. Creators looking to expand beyond social might also find our guides on monetizing with Mavely and Substack and diversifying your influencer platforms worth exploring.

One tool that can meaningfully expand your reach is LinkDM. Once set up through Mavely, LinkDM unlocks 200,000 free DMs, automatically sending your affiliate links to anyone who comments a specific keyword on your posts. It’s one of the most effective ways to convert engaged followers into buyers without adding more work to your content calendar.

Step 6: Create Content That Actually Converts (Ongoing)

Conversion ultimately comes down to trust, relevance, and clarity. The creators who earn the most on Mavely are the ones whose audiences believe in their recommendations, and that trust is built through consistency and authenticity over time, regardless of follower count.

Content that converts starts with clear positioning: your audience should understand what you’re about and why your recommendations are worth acting on. From there, it’s about matching the right products to the right moments. A seasonal haul performs differently than an evergreen “things I use every day” post, and knowing the difference helps you plan content that has a longer earning window. Our guide on how to promote the best brands and products walks through how to make that match well.

For shoppable content specifically, the formats that tend to perform best are honest product reviews, before-and-after comparisons, tutorials that naturally feature a product, and curated roundups organized around a theme your audience already cares about. In each case, the affiliate link should feel like a natural next step rather than the point of the post. For a deeper dive, our creator crash courses on shoppable content and how to create content that converts on demand are two of our most practical resources.

AI tools can also support your content workflow in practical ways, from generating caption variations to brainstorming product angles to repurposing a single piece of content across platforms. Experimenting with these tools as part of your regular process can save real time without sacrificing the personal voice that makes your recommendations trustworthy. Our Mavely University tutorials on how to use ChatGPT in your creator business and a guide to the modern creator tech stack are good starting points if you want to explore this further.

One topic that doesn’t get discussed enough: FTC disclosures. Sharing links with integrity protects your audience, your brand, and your business. Disclosing your affiliate relationships clearly and consistently is part of what separates creators who build lasting trust from those who don’t. Here’s what you need to know about FTC disclosure rules.

Step 7: Build Your Creator Brand for the Long Term

Once you’ve got the mechanics working, the bigger question becomes: what kind of creator do you want to be, and what kind of business do you want to build?

Building a creator brand is about more than aesthetics. It’s about having a clear point of view, a specific audience you’re genuinely serving, and a reputation that compounds over time. The more specifically you can define who you’re creating for, the more effective every piece of content becomes, and the more valuable you become to the brands that want to reach that audience. Our guide on finding your target audience as an influencer is a useful starting point for thinking this through.

As your audience grows, brand partnerships become a real part of the picture. Approaching those conversations with confidence means understanding your value clearly: your engagement rate, your audience demographics, your niche authority, and what you can realistically deliver for a brand. A well-crafted media kit and a clear sense of your rates go a long way toward establishing yourself as a professional partner rather than just a promotional channel. For more on navigating brand partnerships, our guides on succeeding at brand campaigns, what makes brand partnerships last, and leveraging cultural moments in your partnerships are all worth bookmarking before the opportunities arrive.

For creators thinking further ahead, the key to a resilient creator business is diversification. That means building across multiple platforms so you’re not dependent on any single algorithm, developing owned channels like an email list or a Substack, and treating your MyShop storefront as a destination that exists independently of whatever platform you’re posting on that week. Our guide on how to future-proof your creator business offers a useful framework for thinking about this.

Your 90-Day Roadmap

If all of this feels like a lot to absorb at once, that’s completely normal. The creator journey isn’t linear, and you don’t have to have everything figured out on day one. Our 90-day roadmap to success with Mavely maps out a practical progression from setup to sustained growth, and it’s a great companion to this guide as you move through your first few months. The most important thing is to start. Create your first link today, get your first sale this week, and build from there. Remember: every top Mavely creator started exactly where you are right now.

Download this checklist to help you keep track of your achievements along your Mavely creator journey.

Ready to get started? Join Mavely and take your first step toward building a creator business that works for you. If you have questions along the way, our creator success team is here to help.