Instagram is adding adding new monetization features to help creators earn multiple streams of revenue.
At the end of April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri held an Instagram Live broadcast to announce three new functionalities: affiliate commerce, creator shops, and a brand new marketplace.
This is excellent news for all influencers, bloggers, vloggers, and creators who wish to monetize their creative efforts on Instagram. And we’re excited as well!
In this article, we’re going to bring you up to speed with these latest features. Plus, we’re going to help you understand how you can leverage them to create a long-lasting and fruitful Instagram presence. Let’s get to the fun money-making part!
New monetization feature #1: Affiliate commerce
In April’s broadcast, Mark Zuckerberg made it very clear that he believes “[creators] should be able to get a cut of the sales that they’re building.” Not only that, but together with Mosseri, he plans to introduce an affiliate commerce program to help creators make money on Instagram.
While the mechanism of the new monetization feature is not yet set, creators will earn commissions each time they generate a sale for a brand.
Instagram experts believe that to track conversions, the platform will limit commissions to purchases made through creator shops and/or Instagram checkout.
Currently, influencers can track affiliate commissions only through third-party apps from their link in bio. However, the new affiliate commerce feature will open new doors for creators looking to boost their revenues by making their efforts more visible to customers and transparent to brands.
If you’re wondering just how big a percentage you’ll be able to make from sales of branded items, it appears it will be somewhere between 5% and 30%. However, officials declined to reveal, at this point, just how big the cut will be.
No matter the exact number, Instagram is definitely making a move to support affiliates. In fact, it’s among the latest platforms that are going above and beyond to make things simpler for their creators. After all, it’s in their best interest to nurture and help influencers monetize their content — that’s how they’ll stick around.
New monetization feature #2: Creator shops
Creator shops will allow creators on Instagram to sell items directly through their profiles.
Mark Zuckerberg didn’t reveal many details about how these new creator shops will work. Still, he stressed their importance for boosting the creator business model.
What we do know is that creators will be able to gather various brand products into their personal Creator Shop, which will be visible on their profile page. This will dramatically help creators land more brand collaborations, as conversions will be easier to track and reward.
The idea is not entirely new. Last year, Instagram introduced Instagram Shops after already having shoppable posts on a roll for several months. While these features were mainly directed at boosting e-commerce businesses, the new creator shops aim to do the same for individual professionals.
“That’s been especially important in the last year. A lot of physical stores have had to close during lockdowns, but online stays open,” said Zuckerberg.
New monetization feature #3: Marketplace
Influencer-brand collaborations are becoming increasingly important to Instagram. That’s mainly why it plans to launch new features to help creators start brand collaborations with ease.
The recently announced market place will help brands and creators match based on compatibility. Various aspects, such as audience and content, will be factored to reveal several highly successful matches.
Both Zuckerberg and Mosseri declared that they want Instagram to help emerging creators connect with big brands.
“We should be able to help brands find creators that are uniquely aligned with the work they’re trying to do and vice versa,” said Mosseri, who also referred to the marketplace as a “branded content marketplace”.
With this new feature, Instagram aims to help mid-range creators earn more money and level out the playfield, dominated right now by influencers with massive followings. This change will also benefit brands, who can enjoy more cost-effective campaigns by reaching out to nano and micro-creators.
The marketplace will also reduce costs for in-house social teams who spend tons of resources finding and assessing the compatibility of influencers. With Instagram’s new marketplace, brands will have a more straightforward way of landing the right fit.
What could the new features mean for the future of Instagram?
It’s clear that Instagram is trying hard to help creators make money and empower micro-influencers to land more brand collaborations. While there are still many unknowns regarding Instagram’s new monetization features announced this April, one thing is for sure: the future looks bright for creators on Instagram.
Essentially the new features will:
- Help creators monetize Instagram more efficiently
- Change the way brands find and connect with influencers
- Shift how customers discover products
If you’re a creator or micro-influencer yourself, we’re sure you can’t wait to use these new monetization features. While it might be a while until you actually manage to try them, simply knowing that they’re coming can bring you a ton of hope for the future. In these uncertain times, any help is genuinely welcome.
And, if you need extra hands on deck, remember that Preppr is here to have your back when it comes to scheduling and finding the best times to post.