This is the fastest way from a brand-new Afflow account to a real, tracked post landing in a real Telegram channel. Six steps, about ten minutes if your credentials are handy. Each step links out to the deeper article in the matching module — come back here for the orchestration.
Step 1 — Connect AliExpress
Open Settings → Marketplaces and fill in the three AliExpress fields: App Key, App Secret, and Tracking ID. All three come from your AliExpress Affiliate Portal. Click Save — the badge flips to Connected. Connecting AliExpress is what unlocks the Explore Products button on the Products page and lets Afflow generate clean affiliate links.
Step 2 — Connect Telegram
On Telegram, message @BotFather and send /newbot. Follow the prompts; BotFather replies with a bot token. Back in Afflow, open Settings → Integrations, paste the token into the Telegram card, and click Save. The full walkthrough — including how to add the bot to your channel as an admin — is in the Groups section's Connect your first group article.
Step 3 — Create your first category
A category in Afflow is a container — it sets the language, tone, schedule, AI templates, and which groups receive its posts. You need at least one before you can import products or connect groups. Open Categories, click Add Category, give it a name (e.g. Home Deals), pick the content language and currency, and save.
Step 4 — Connect your Telegram channel as a group
Add your bot to your Telegram channel as an administrator with permission to post messages. Then in Afflow open Groups, click Add Group, choose Telegram, paste the channel ID (either @username for a public channel or the numeric -100XXXXXXXXXX form for any channel), pick the category you just created, and save.
Step 5 — Import a product
Open Products and click Import Products. Paste the URL of any AliExpress product, choose your category, and confirm. Afflow fetches the title, images, video, price, discount, coupon, rating, and sales volume. The product lands in your catalog — but no post exists yet.
Step 6 — Create the post and publish
On the imported product's card, click Create Post. Afflow's AI writes the title, body, hook, and any configured variants in a few seconds (this uses 1 AI credit). Open Posts, find the new post in the Pending tab, review it, and click Approve. From the approved post, click Publish, pick your Telegram group, and confirm — the post lands in the channel within seconds, with a tracked affiliate link.