The cool kids on Instagram use it. They have a link from picker.me in their Instagram bio. But what is picker.me, exactly?

How does Picker work, and how can you, as an Instagram user, make money with it?

Let’s take a look!

Overview

Picker is a recommendation app for your favorite products.

Sounds as easy as it is.

You visit picker.me in a browser of your choice, or download the Picker apps for iOS or Android (you’ll need them for a lot of the functionality).

Then, you create a Picker account, connect your Instagram profile (YouTube and Twitter, if applicable), and post products, so-called “picks” online.

To do this, you search for the corresponding products in your favorite online stores from within the Picker app and link them to your Picker profile.

The platform is not picky (pun intended) about the type of products. It works with countless online stores and product categories, like furniture, clothes, technology, or decoration. There is something for everyone.

Pickers History

The Barcelona-based company was founded in 2017 by the three social commerce professionals, Daniel Ramos, Conan Moriarty, and Enric Gabarró. Gabarró was previously employed at Zalando.

The main idea behind Picker and its link system is to counteract the sheer over-selection of products with more and less helpful, often even fake customer reviews on common store platforms.

The vision

Picker aims to enable potential buyers to discover products based on recommendations from influencers, friends, or the growing Picker community. Not on anonymous reviews on giant shopping websites.

Every Pick has a face behind it. Here’s mine:

What’s the point?

What is Picker good for? Picker itself promotes the platform as follows:

Buy better, thanks to picks from people like you👌
In Picker people share their experience and opinion to help the community find the best products out there.

However, the clue with Picker is not the recommendation system itself, but the revenue opportunities for content creators, influencers, and social media professionals.

This is the idea

You create your Picker profile and apply to be a creator on the platform. You can do that on the website.

I didn’t quite understand whether this step was necessary, because when I opened a Picker account, I was directly approved for earnings. I repeated the whole thing with another account. Same result. Try it out for yourself!

Once you are a Creator, you can earn money from the picks you add.

Here’s how it works:

1. You create a pick for a product from an online store, for example, H&M Home.
2. describe this pick with one or two short lines and save it.
3. The pick now has a promotional link. You can share this link directly via messaging services or in the form of Instagram Stories, Posts, or Reels, Tweets, YouTube videos, and more.
4. If a “customer” clicks (in this case, customer means one of your followers or readers), you can get a commission for the sale.

Proven system

This system of linking products is certainly familiar to many of you. It is nothing new. It’s affiliate marketing. You market products and collect a commission.

Many platforms offer similar services. The best known is the Amazon affiliate program.

The interesting thing about Picker is the combination of countless online stores within a single service. This is also not new, there are numerous affiliate marketing networks. However, Picker is one of the simplest and most well-designed ones.

The catch

Picker has a small catch. In addition to the fact that presumably not every account and user is eligible to become a creator, not all stores and products are commissionable.

Furthermore, the commissions vary greatly. According to Pickers website, they range between 4 and 10% of the purchase price of qualified products. Payments are made via PayPal.

The advantage

Your followers can quickly find and directly buy everything you put online. You simply share your Picker profile on your social media platforms, bio, or website links. Here’s an example:

The Design

Unlike many affiliate marketing networks, Picker is sleekly designed. The focus lies on a minimal interface that showcases the products and images. This makes the overall look a good fit for the main platform Picker uses to advertise: Instagram.

In addition to individual picks and products, each user can create collections where relevant products are bundled together.

Tips for Picker

Now, if you’re all fired up about Picker, here are a few tips to keep in mind to get the most out of the platform.

Picker works best for larger accounts that have built up some respectability and following.

Newcomers do have a chance as well, though. The devil lies in the details. Here’s what to consider.

1. An easily accessible link. If you use Picker on Instagram, it makes sense to link your Picker profile directly in the Instagram bio, or in the website field below the bio.
2. Your Picker profile should do justice to your Instagram account, i.e., it should contain a meaningful bio, as well as a visually appealing feed of products, ideally sorted by categories in collections and reasonably named.
3. Your Picker profile should contain a nice profile picture. This builds a bond with users.
4. The Picker profile should not be overloaded with tons of products, but rather show a certain taste, for example a certain color palette. See the focus on black and white in the following profile!

The bottom line

1. Picker is interesting. Anyone on Instagram, YouTube and/or Twitter should take a close look at this relatively new platform.
2. Even if the commission for individual products with 4–10% of the purchase price does not seem to be astronomically high, it quickly adds up.

Short summary

• Picker was founded in Spain in 2017 and has been available in German since 2019.
• The platform is ideal for Instagram users. YouTube and Twitter accounts can also be connected.
• Compensation follows the affiliate marketing model. Creators receive between 4 and 10% of the purchase price of the qualified products.
• Many online stores are a part of the Picker community.
• Picker is well-designed and focuses on the product feed and the faces behind the recommendations, unlike common models with anonymous customer reviews.

If you jump directly to Picker.me now, feel free to follow me here.

Also, please follow Laura from @ohne.viele.worte on Picker and Instagram.

Happy picking!