Instagram is working on brand new features that help influencers and creators make money on the platform.
The company introduced it is developing three major new monetization features for creators. They are Creator Shops, affiliate commerce, and a “branded content marketplace.”
Here are all the things you should know:
What Are the New Instagram Features for Creators to Make Money?
In the latest Instagram Live broadcast, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri had an announcement. They shared the way Instagram is evolving to “help creators make a living in a long term.”
As a part of these plans, Instagram will launch Creator Shops, affiliate commerce (i.e commission payments for product sales), and a new “branded content marketplace” to allow influencers and brands to connect to each other.
These features will financially reward influencers and creators that improve sales for brands by using Instagram’s shopping features.
Creator Monetization Feature #1: Creator Shops
Through the broadcast, Zuckerberg announced that Instagram has plans to release Creator Shops.
Creators will likely have the ability to curate shoppable products from brands into their own “Creator Shop”. That will be available from their profile page. However, the exact details for this feature haven’t yet been shared.
“We see lots of creators organizing shops. One part of being a content creator business model is to create compelling content. And then you’ll be able to sell stuff, and so having Creator Shops is awesome,” mentioned Zuckerberg.
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Creator Monetization Feature #2: Affiliate Commerce
Alongside Creator Shops, Instagram will introduce a brand new affiliate commerce program for influencers and creators.
This means that creators will earn a commission fee (usually a percentage cut of the wholesale amount) when they generate a product sale for a brand on the app. They will complete the 3-sided marketplace of social commerce.
In the Live broadcast, Zuckerberg mentioned: “[creators] should have the ability to get a cut of the sales that they’re building.”
It’s still unclear how Instagram’s affiliate commerce program will work. However, it will likely require sales to be completed entirely within the Instagram platform, using Instagram Checkout, for end-to-end tracking target.
Affiliate commission rates sometimes range from 5-30%, depending on the brand and product, but it is at present unknown what model Instagram will adopt for their program.
Creator Monetization Feature #3: Branded Content Marketplace
Finally, Instagram introduced plans to help brands match and discover emerging influencers whose reach would be a perfect fit for their audience.
Similar to TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, this is able to be the first move by Instagram to step into the influencer-brand collaboration space.
Mosseri says that Instagram should be able to help brands find creators that are uniquely aligned with the work they’re trying to do and vice versa. If Instagram can help with matchmaking, they may help drive more {dollars} to the smaller creators who can do amazing work for brands.
No exact details were announced on how deals might be created. However, Zuckerberg mentioned they provide “very favorable terms” to creators.
Neither Zuckerberg nor Mosseri confirmed 100% when the brand new creator monetization features would be available on Instagram, or how widely they would affect.
However, given how fast Instagram is moving in the e-commerce space, this could be in the not-so-distant future.